Silverstone RVM01B RAVEN Gaming Mouse Review

Conclusion

Just from looking at the RAVEN, it is obvious Silverstone put a ton of effort into the design. Carbon fibre and durable plastic give the mouse the weight to scream high quality. Meanwhile, perfect balancing allows you to move this thing as fast as your little gamer arm can move without a chance of it feeling unbalanced. Independent X and Y dpi settings, a nifty OLED screen, and seven customizable buttons in five different configurations fill out a great set of features. Average users will like the styling and flexibility, hard core gamers will like the gaming profiles and customizability.

In terms of function there was a glitch where the pointer would fly to the right of the screen but this is a rare occurrence and may not be present for everyone. The main issue was the size of the thumb button. The way the mouse is designed, you have to put some leverage on the thumb button to move it, but if you put too much you switch your profile or dpi setting by accident. This does happen less over time as you get used to the feel, but can be very frustrating for new users. On the other hand, switching between tabs in Firefox with Flip 3D was a pleasure and only took a few minutes for that to become a favourite feature when web browsing. The problem is Normal mode must be switched on for Flip 3D to function so you would have to flip the switch on the bottom of the mouse after gaming. It would have been nice if Silverstone allowed full customizability of all 11 buttons and not just seven, especially the thumb control button and scroll. This would have allowed users to lock the thumb control if desired to avoid changing setting unintentionally. Everyone hates getting blown to bits in their favourite game because of clicking something by accident.

Another point worth mentioning, The RAVEN is not wireless. It is understood that many feature-packed gaming mice are using wires to run all of the bells and whistles. However, we live in a wireless world and it is hard to say how many average users will be willing to go back to a wired mouse no matter what the benefit. In spite of the few shortfalls, overall the RAVEN is a very good product, and will remain on our test bench until (if) something better comes along. It does take a few weeks of getting used to but once you get the customization you want, the performance makes the mouse worth the money in the long run. The price of the RAVEN is on par with competitor products and if users can get past a few minor inconveniences (cough – big thumb bulge) it should be a very successful product for both average users and gamers alike. For the customization, unique look and feel, OLED screen, and just plain coolness, we give the Silverstone RAVEN gaming mouse the Dam Innovative award.


Pros:

Nice design - carbon fibre surfacing, blue light, silver buttons
OLED screen to display settings
Five programmable gaming profiles
Independent X and Y settings up to 3200dpi
11 buttons, 7 customizable
Simple installation


Cons:

Thumb button is a little oversized and hard to scroll
Easy to mistake click with so many buttons
Takes some practice to use optimally
Not wireless

Thanks to Silverstone for providing the RAVEN for review!