Install and Drivers:

1.50Mb, 1 file, 1 CD. LOL.  I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting much when I saw that. The drivers however, installed just fine, and do everything that is expected of them. If you do have a problem with the drivers though, your options are limited. There is no support files, and currently the Fanatec website is just as lacking for product support. If you don’t want any macros or any other “extras” (I’ll get to them in a sec) you can always just plug the mouse in same as any other.

Light Controls

Macros

Profiles

The cord on the mouse is specially designed to clip onto the “arch” on the game pad. The cord is coiled to keep it out of the way (handy). However, if you don’t use the game pad, you are almost forced to find a USB cable extension. The cord is about 2 feet long once you stretch it out a bit, not long enough to reach the other side of a laptop with any room.

The arch

Disco Dancing?:

This, is where I laughed myself silly. I know the specs say “Illuminated cable arch and mouse are separately adjustable: multi-colour, brightness, and pulsing frequency” But I had no idea. Especially because when I was doing initial testing, I just plugged the mouse without drivers. All it did was glow blue, with no switches for controlling the lighting I was sort of confused how to change it (remember, no documentation).

Then, I installed the drivers and found the controls for the lights on both the mouse and the game pad. Red, Green, Blue and any two lights at the same time for the mouse. Same deal with the game pad, except that you can have all 3 colors at the same time. You can control the colors on both sides of the game pad independently of each other. Brightness controls (THANK JEBUS!) work great and all that would seem to be enough for most right? Wellllll then they decided to add the portable seizure maker. Blinking blinkity blink blink. Both lights on the gamepad blink together, then the mouse blinks on it’s own. The rate can be adjusted same as the brightness, and the results are.. well, see for yourself!   (3 minutes, the fun starts a 1:10) 

The meat and potatoes:

Ok, if you are still reading this, that probably means you want to know how the mouse actually functions and compares to the Razer Copperhead. Turning the mouse up to 4000dpi, the adjusting the sensitivity to where I like it I went to town. I gotta say, it is right on par with the Copperhead. It is a little bit heavier, and the coiled cord will try and bring it back to the centre of the game pad if you pull it near the edges. I could see that being a bit of a problem if you use a very low sensitivity. For me, it’s just amusing the pull the mouse on one side and watch it slide over to the other (yes the pad + mouse is that slippery).

Buttons

The default buttons will work just how you would expect. The scroll wheel can move side to side (which might not do anything depending on your settings). The forward and back buttons are a bit awkward to press. Personally I would want them on the side for my thumb to use, instead of being towards the front of the mouse on either side of the wheel. The other buttons on top of the mouse are for sensitivity. They work without drivers, but are still bindable to anything else when you do install them.

So..

Many..

Options..

Binding buttons to anything in the standard list of functions is very simple and works well. Though you can’t bind left and right main buttons to anything but the defaults. On top of that, I did not get the “record macro” function to do anything. It really doesn’t help that there is no documentation. According the saved profiles (which are just .txt files) the macros record, but something seems to be going wrong with the binding.

And more

No Arch

No arch again

Conclusion:

Dark? What's that?

I’m willing to let the lack of documentation and macro issues slide for now. Only because it seems like this is a very new product for Fanatec. They have the spots on their website ready for more information, so I have to think they are still working on things. I will also try and get more information about the macros, and do an update in a few days.

The lighting on the mouse is nice, because it can be completely customized to however you want it. I personally think that having it on the game pad is a bit much. Also for the reasons I mentioned before, I don’t think I will continue to use the game pad. It is too prone to getting grit on it, and it is too bulky for my setup. All my own preferences though, you can make up your own mind on that.

The rest of the mouse, I like quite a bit. I still prefer the Copperhead, but with the nicer feel and extra weight, it is a very close fight. The Copperhead’s onboard driver-less macros and better customization (both in options and usability) keep it ahead. I do happen to have 2 computers at my desk right now, so Fanatec will have a place in my setup for the foreseeable future.