I'm sure a lot of gamers will wonder just what the big deal is with a lightweight gaming mouse and fantastic mouse pad. But I'm sure there are also some of you out there who, like me, appreciate these finer things in life. In particular, I'm speaking to gamers who like competitive FPS gaming.
To this end, my absolute favorite desk-dwellers are on sale for Black Friday. The mouse is a relatively new one that I've been incredibly impressed with and frankly shocked to feel how light it is in my hand. This has now had its first ever discount of $20 at Amazon. The mouse pad, on the other hand, is simply the most premium and smooth cloth pad I've tried to date, and is at its lowest ever price of $28 at Amazon.
Quick links
- Corsair Sabre V2 Pro | $80 @ Amazon (save $20)
- SteelSeries QcK Performance | $28 @ Amazon (save $12)
The deals
I first got my hands on the Corsair Sabre V2 Pro at Gamescom earlier this year, though I've since been able to spend a more extended period of time with it. Upon that initial showing, though, my immediate and repeated response was "holy s***", because this thing is light.
In fact, it's the lightest mouse I've tried at just 36 g, and I've been trying quite a few ultralight mice of late. What makes this feat even more impressive is that there aren't any holes poked into it, neither on the top or the underside. In fact, it's a very solid, premium-feeling mouse.
It does sacrifice pretty much everything else for this light weight—RGB, buttons, a big battery, the lot—but for competitive FPS gaming you don't need more than something that feels great under the fingertips, is lightweight, and has a great sensor. The Sabre V2 Pro delivers on all this, and while its 70-hour battery life isn't the best on the market considering its lack of lighting and so on, it's enough.
The SteelSeries QcK Performance line of mouse pads, released early this year, innovates in exactly the right ways for competitive FPS gaming.
Usually mouse pads offer variations of the same basic cloth-atop-rubber design, with some slight changes to texture on top. Not so, here. Here, SteelSeries has made every aspect of what is ultimately a very simple kind of product—the mouse mat—as close to perfect as I've seen to date.
It's achieved this in a number of ways. The most obvious way is by honing in on the top textures, which feel better than any other cloth pads I've tried—and I've tried many over the years.
The Control version is what you'll want to go for if you're focusing on precise control, but it's not great for other things as there's a lot of friction on your hand/wrist. The Speed version is what I use these days, which I find works great for low-sens gaming, too, and is what I think most will prefer.
Apart from focusing on these textures, the neoprene base, rather than a rubber base, not only helps with wrist comfort and keeps the mouse pad stable, but it also makes mouse movement feel a little nicer as the whole mouse pad is very slightly softer than the usual cloth pad. Throw in some edge stitching that sits lower than the pad to prevent it digging in, and you have a genuinely premium pad worthy of its price tag. A perfect pairing for the Corsair mouse.
👉 Shop all of Amazon's Black Friday gaming mouse deals 👈
1. Best wireless:
Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro
2. Best wired:
Logitech G502 X
3. Best budget wireless:
Logitech G305 Lightspeed
4. Best budget wired:
Glorious Model O Eternal
5. Best lightweight:
Corsair Sabre V2 Pro
6. Best MMO:
Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless SE
7. Best compact:
Razer Cobra Pro
8. Best ambidextrous:
Logitech G Pro
9. Best ergonomic:
Keychron M5
10. Best customizable:
Orbital Pathfinder
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