Closer Look: Mad Catz Cyborg Mouse

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Stealth Mouse has the same mechanical look as the R.A.T. mice as if it were a piece of some robotic structure. The vertical height lies somewhere inbetween the flatter razer mice and the taller curves of the MX series. The left and right mouse buttons are large a wide squeezing a failry narrow scroll wheel. The two main buttons are slightly concave with steep ridgess at the sides to keep fast fingers from wandering off the edges of the buttons.

The scroll wheel has a plastic core with a knobby rubber circumference. The rubber is soft and grips well for precise control, but the wheel spins so easily that the grip is hardly necessary. The wheel spins almost too easily to the point that it is hard to get just a single notch up or down. This is a major drawback for me since I often script my gaming inputs so that one click and two clicks perform different functions. Just behind the scroll wheel is a rocker switch that adjusts the DPI between four customizable values.

At the back of the mouse several features can be seen. The Stealth Mouse provides a large thumb pad which allows your thumb to rest without having to slide across the mouse pad. This is nice since a textured pad can get uncomfortable when playing with a heavy hand. The buttons on the thumb pad are connected to the main body with a transparent red cable. The mechanism for adding weights is located in the back under the palm rest. On the right side under the palm rest is the adjustment lever for extending the rest.

All of the mouse's extra inputs are located on the left side of the mouse. There is a red precision aim button, forward and back buttons, a thumb wheel, and a mode changing button located on the top-side.

The right side of the mouse is bare with exception only to the pinky rest. Although model CD74371200A1 doesn't come with any extra panels, I'd be surprised if the pinky panels from the R.A.T. series don't fit the CD74371200A1 body. While it would be a nice feature you'll have to get the panels separately as they are not included with the kit.

Underneath can be found the Phillips Twin Eye laser sensor, 6 teflon feet and the weighting system. The bottom of the mouse looks and feels much like metal,but it's really hard to distinguish it from hard-molded plastic. In any case the frame is stiff, strong and light, and the Stealth Mouse is well-constructed. Now we'll take a closer look at the individual features.

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