Cooler Master Storm Sentinel Advance Gaming Mouse Review

Conclusion

When I first heard about the Cooler Master Storm Sentinel, I had some mixed thoughts. The cynical half of me thought that adding “fluff” like a LEDs, and an OLED screen was a lot like putting lipstick on a pig….sure the bacon will taste just as good but did it NEED the lipstick? The tech geek side of me drooled at the thought of all those high tech goodies and wondered if this was going to be as good as it sounded. I can honestly say that after looking at, holding…fondling….caressing and using this mouse my tech geek side bested every other though since this is one hell of a mouse. Is it perfect? No. But pretty darn close since opinions regarding what constitutes the perfect peripheral varies from one person to the next. As such, I can only give you my educated opinion regarding this product.

Over the years I have used many so called “gaming mice” and most are OK for playing games, but usually fall flat when it comes to the other 85% of my computing experience. Heck, many gaming mice are epic failures at mundane tasks like photo editing, surfing the web or even editing spreadsheets. In my opinion, a mouse has to be comfortable for long periods of time and be flexible enough to handle a variety of tasks while still holding its own when gaming. The Cooler Master Storm Sentinel Advance is one of those few mice that I liked enough that I would not only see myself buying but also recommend to my friends. That is high praise indeed.

The Sentinel has so many top-notch aspects that it is next to impossible to point to just one and say that it stood out. However, it is the OLED same OLED screen that we had initial doubts about that makes this mouse so darn flexible. The ability to scale from extremely low DPI to extremely high DPI without the need for any software may not be unique but knowing what DPI you are changing it to and being able to independently adjust the X and Y axis by just using the mouse controls is a godsend.

While the onboard memory may not be a unique feature, Cooler Master’s take on it is interesting to say the least. I personally love having the possibility for a ton of profiles and being allowed to only load the ones I need. This makes it infinitely more flexible and adaptable to any situation than nearly every other mouse I have used.

Is this mouse the perfect mouse we have all been looking for all these years? No, it is not but like I said before: it is pretty darn close in my opinion. For its kick ass performance, its flexibility and its good ergonomics we feel fully justified in giving our highest accolade: the Dam Good Award. As for its amazing and useful implementation of technology (the OLED screen and properly implemented onboard memory) we also feel justified in saying it is pretty Dam Innovative as well. Congratulations Cooler Master for getting it so right the first time out. We expect even better things in the future from the “Storm line” and can hardly wait to see what you have in up your sleeves for the enthusiast community next.


Pros:

- Comfortable
- FIVE OctoShade LED’s….which can be turned off
- On the fly DPI change
- Sub 1ms polling rate
- 5600DPI sensor
- FIVE useful onboard profiles
- Can adjust DPI (X and Y independently) using just the mouse
- Lightweight software interface program
- Powerful customization options
- Adjustable weights


Cons

- No Horizontal Scrolling
- Weights only come in one size, and there are only 5 of them
- Really needs grips on left and right buttons (can be slippery when abused)