ROG Chakram Mouse Review

The ASUS ROG Chakram gaming mouse is hands down one of the most feature packed, unique gaming mice on the planet. At the same time, it's one of the most expensive too. I've tested it, and I'm about to tell you if I think it's worth the money…..

Out of the box, the ROG Chakram is a very good looking mouse, it has that thumb fin that other market leading mice such as the Logitech G502 and the Razer Basilisk have, it has a frosted removable rear panel ( I will talk about this more later in the review ) and a very striking row of RGB across the front. There's no doubt that the Chakram is one of the best looking keyboards on the market. To be honest, much like the rest of the ROG gaming range, if there's one thing that ROG does well consistently, it's make good looking gaming equipment. The Chakram would have to be my favourite looking mouse that I've ever tried.

Let's address the elephant in the room. The Chakram is the only gaming mouse on the market to feature a thumbstick, which is both revolutionary and poorly utilized. This thumbstick has the potential to be an absolute game changer. However due to its positioning, it's more of a hassle than an edge. It's simply too far forward! Essentially , you should be able to use this thumbstick to pretty much game one handed, but it's simply not reachable in those clutch moments. I am extremely excited for this to be a more effectively utilized feature in the future but at the moment it seems like more of a gimmick than anything else.

In terms of overall performance, the Chakram is up there with the absolute best, it's every bit as good as the Basilisk and even my personal favourite the Logitech G502. It’s super responsive, it's clean, crisp and most importantly, it feels really nice in your hand and is in fact just a really pleasant mouse to play with. There was never a moment where I ever felt like I wasn't getting 100% out of the mouse and in fact my only downfall was in fact user inadequacy.

Other features of this mouse include a massive 98 hour battery life, the ability to wirelessly charge and the ability to swap out the switches with absolute ease. It comes fitted with blue Omron switches but also includes a spare set of grey switches with the ability to swap them over in approximately 30 seconds. This is another feature I think more gaming mice should include. One feature I have a massive dislike for is the lack of dedicated on the fly DPI buttons. To change the DPI of the Chakram you must press a button located on the bottom of the mouse. This is very difficult to do when wanting to adjust on the fly for things like FPS games where aiming down the sights and sprinting require very different levels of sensitivity. Having said that, the ability to press this button and adjust your DPI via scrolling through the wheel is a nice touch and really adds a level of personalisation about the settings.

Overall The ASUS ROG Chakram is absolutely one of the best mice on the market, one that features things that no other mouse does. However that price tag is a little steep and while it is packed with features, some are utilized a little less than they potentially should be. If you have a spare $230 and you want arguably the best mouse on the market with some of the coolest features available, then by all means, get the Chakram. But if you want a mouse that does the important stuff well without the gimmicks, I’d still recommend the G502 Hero at approximately half the price.