Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless review

The Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless is a strange mouse, in that it’s a downgrade from what came before it. While the Corsair M65 design has been one of my favorite gaming mice for years, the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless has a significant design flaw that drags the whole experience down. The device offers tunable weights, which is good. But said tunable weights could scratch up your mouse pad, which is bad.

Granted, the tunable weights are an optional feature, and you could just eschew them entirely. If you do, then the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless is a perfectly respectable wireless gaming mouse, although it arguably falls short of competitors such as the Logitech G502 Lightspeed, or the Razer Basilisk Ultimate. The ergonomic design is comfortable to hold, and the Corsair Utility Engine (iCUE) software is as comprehensive as ever.

Still, other gaming mice offer tunable weights as well, and manage to do so in a way that won’t damage your mouse pad — or your desk. With an asking price of $130 — more than double what the wired model costs — it’s simply too much money for a product with such a glaring flaw. Read on for our full Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless review.

 Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless review: Design

To its credit, the Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless is mostly a well-designed gaming mouse. It has a right-handed ergonomic design with a curved body and textured grips on either side. The thumb rest protrudes just enough to be comfortable, and the front and back of the device feature a cool industrial silver design, which contrasts with the rest of the black plastic chassis.

There are eight buttons: a right click, a left click, a clickable scroll wheel, two dots-per-inch (DPI) sensitivity adjustment buttons, two thin thumb buttons and one “sniper” button on the left side, which can temporarily lower DPI. The palm rest features an RGB Corsair logo, which you’ll rarely see, but there are a few more RGB lights below that, which give the mouse a pleasant underglow.

At 5.1 x 2.8 x 1.7 inches, the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless is neither too large nor too small. The weight is adjustable, between 3.9 and 4.5 ounces. This, however, is where the mouse runs into trouble.

Unlike the G502, or the SteelSeries Rival 600, the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless does not use an internal compartment for its tunable weights. Instead, you have to attach each of the three, small circular weights with a metal screw.

At first, I was sure there was some kind of cover to go over the screw, but the system really is as simple as it looks. If you use the M65’s tunable weights, you’ll wind up with up to three metal screws on the bottom of your mouse.

I was not brave enough to try this setup on my desk’s wooden surface, but I did confirm that the screws left tiny scratches in my hard gaming mouse pad, and scuffed the material on my soft mouse pad. I can only imagine how this pattern might continue over the course of months, or years.

If you forego the tunable weights, your mouse pad and desk will be safe. But it’s simply bizarre that such an expensive mouse could present such a hazard to other expensive gaming and office gear.

Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless review: Features

Apart from the tunable weights, the Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless has all the standard features you’d expect from a Corsair mouse. It runs on the iCUE software, which lets you reprogram buttons, customize the RGB lighting and set up profiles for individual apps. There’s an onboard profile for tournament play; otherwise, you can program as many software profiles as you like.

While iCUE is still a complicated program, the latest version adds some brief tutorials, which walk you through how to program shortcuts and alter lighting options. The app can still be abstruse at times, simply because it offers so many variables. You can, for example, stack lighting effects on top of each other, or unlink the mouse’s horizontal and vertical DPI, or connect multiple wireless devices to a single USB hub. Generally, though, you’ll be able to get iCUE to do what you need to do, even if you never fully learn its ins and outs.

The M65 RGB Ultra Wireless also has two types of wireless connectivity: USB dongle and Bluetooth. Both modes work as advertised, although Corsair recommends USB connectivity for gaming, and Bluetooth connectivity for everyday work. Personally, I think USB connectivity is fine for productivity work as well, although it does mean you’ll use up the battery a little bit faster.

I emphasize “a little bit,” however, as the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless has pretty generous battery life overall. Corsair advertises that the mouse can last up to 90 hours on USB with the lighting off, and up to 120 hours on Bluetooth with the lighting off. Since I tested the mouse with the lighting on, I can’t vouch for these figures firsthand. But I can say that after three days of heavy use, the mouse’s battery indicator was still on “High.”

Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless review: Performance

Like most other Corsair mice, the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless performs beautifully in-game. I put the device through its paces with Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, Deathloop, Baldur’s Gate III and Final Fantasy XIV.

Like its wired counterpart, the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless worked particularly well with first-person shooters, such as Deathloop. The mouse’s straightforward, ergonomic design made it easy to aim and fire, while the sniper button was legitimately helpful when — as you might expect — wielding a sniper rifle. I didn’t have any issues with other genres, however, making the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless a good all-purpose gaming mouse as well.

Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless review: Verdict

While the Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless gets a lot of things right, I can’t recommend it unless you’re absolutely sure you won’t use the tunable weights — or that your desk or mouse pad is impervious to scratching. A few hours of use caused minute scratches in my mouse pad, and I can only imagine what a longer exposure time might do.

On the other hand, the M65 RGB Ultra Wireless isn’t all bad. It has a comfortable design, pretty lighting and excellent wireless connectivity. If — and only if — 3.9 ounces sounds like the perfect weight, then you should be in the clear.