Corsair Nightsword RGB Gaming Mouse Review
Software
As with most Corsair peripherals, iCUE is something that adds a lot to the experience rather than being a gimmicky addition. The software is very confusing to use at first. However, it’s hard to imagine a better user interface with the level of control offered. If you’ve used other Corsair peripherals in the past, you should feel right at home configuring the mouse however you want. Being a central control point for Corsair’s products, you can control them all products from a single place. You can even sync lighting effects between them if you so desire. If you can think of a lighting combination or macro, even if that entails typing a paragraph of text at the press of a button, iCUE can do it.
The mouse has integrated memory for profile storage, and up to three profiles can be saved. Once configured and saved to the device, you can remove iCUE altogether if you want to avoid clutter. iCUE can be a bit memory intensive, but for most people it shouldn’t make much of a difference. The main advantage of the profile storage is that you can connect the mouse to a computer that doesn’t have iCUE installed and still have your configured macros and lighting effects available.
You can have up to three different CPI settings as well as three different profiles stored at a time. These can be changed by the two buttons below the mouse wheel. There are RGB LEDs on the left side of the mouse just in front of the thumb grip to indicate the currently selected CPI setting. These LEDs can be customized to colouring of your choice or even disabled altogether. Of course, these buttons can be remapped to basically any function or macro you can think of. There is virtually no limit to the amount of control you have over the mouse. This is not limited to the additional buttons, and every button and even the scroll wheel can be remapped. Whether it be a macro, opening a game, or even disabled altogether, the buttons are at your full command.
The lighting is bright and vivid with very smooth transitions as you’d expect from a Corsair product. There are a total of four individually controllable RGB zones. The first is up front buried within the scroll wheel – perhaps a little too deeply. Next, there is another at the Corsair logo towards back of the mouse. The last two are the vents at the top and bottom of the mouse. However, as the scroll wheel lighting seems buried deep in the mouse and the Corsair logo is small. Each zone can be individually disabled, so it isn’t an issue if it isn’t your thing.
