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Corsair has made a big push into gaming mice recently, and it's doing a respectable job so far. From absolute standouts like the Corsair M65 RGB Elite to interesting experiments like the Corsair Glaive RGB Pro, Corsair has demonstrated that it holds its mice to the same high standards as its superlative keyboards. The company's latest gadget is the M55 RGB Pro ($40): an inexpensive, ambidextrous mouse that delivers high-quality craftsmanship with excellent functionality.
Ambidextrous gaming mice aren't incredibly common, and at worst, they can feel like watered-down compromises. That's not the case with the M55, which is small, comfortable and just as functional as Corsair's larger models. Aside from one minor button placement issue, I can't think of anything that's wrong with the mouse; it's easy to hold and a joy to use.
There are still some better mice on the market, since the M55's overall design may skew a little generalist for some players. However, the M55 is one of the best ambidextrous mice on the market — and at $40, also one of the most affordable.
Design
The M55 measures about 5.0 by 2.7 inches (it tapers in spots), and features a completely symmetrical design. The mouse is relatively low to the ground (about 1.5 inches), with a smooth black chassis and textured thumb grooves on either side. There's a left button, a right button, a textured scroll wheel and a dots-per-inch (DPI) sensitivity adjuster on the face, with two thumb buttons on each side. The "RGB" component of the mouse comes into play for both the DPI indicator and an illuminated Corsair logo on the palm rest, but neither one is a huge fixture.
In fact, that's almost all there is to say about the mouse's physical design. It's straightforward and elegant, and almost deceptive in how much like an "ordinary mouse" it appears to be. It's very comfortable, provided you've got small or medium-sized hands, but it definitely favors sleek aesthetics over anything showy.
The only issue I ran into was that as a right-handed player, I very often clicked the thumb buttons on the right side of the mouse by accident. Corsair seems to have anticipated that this might happen, though. By default, both right thumb buttons are disabled in the mouse's right-handed mode, while both left-handed buttons are disabled in left-handed mode. As a result, none of my errant clicks ever hampered gameplay, but it was still an obnoxious sensation.
Features
Like all other modern Corsair peripherals, the M55 runs on the Corsair Utility Engine software, also called iCUE. (The "i" does not appear to stand for anything.) With this program, you can reprogram any of the M55's buttons (except for the left-click), change the lighting and set up profiles for individual games.
I go back and forth about how much I like iCUE. Sometimes, I'm amazed by its depth (particularly for color options), and sometimes, I’m frustrated by how many clicks it can take to do something as simple as reprogram a button. For the M55, at least, I didn't need to use the software too much, and I was able to find every feature I needed pretty easily. As such, I'm inclined to say it works well, although you probably won't need to use it too often. (If you're the kind of gamer who loves assigning macros for everything, you're probably going to want a more elaborate mouse anyway.)
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One interesting feature of the mouse is that you can set it to a left-handed mode, a right-handed mode or an "all-buttons" mode. Most ambidextrous mice offer this functionality, but you have to enable and disable individual buttons to get it. The M55 simply lets you pick your handedness, and then disables the two buttons you can't easily access accordingly. I wouldn't necessarily recommend using the all-buttons setting, but if you feel extremely confident in your accuracy and need two extra buttons, it's nice to at least have the option.
Likewise, using different colors for each DPI setting is a welcome innovation, especially since you can customize the color scheme yourself. It's not a make-or-break feature, but it's a smart little touch that makes the M55 that much more user-friendly.
Performance
I put the M55 through its paces with Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and SpellForce III: Soul Harvest. Like other Corsair mice, the M55 proved its worth across a variety of genres, from the thoughtful RTS trappings of SpellForce III to the run-and-gun first-person shooting of Overwatch. Switching DPI on the fly was effortless, and beyond that, the mouse was simply comfortable to use for hours at a time without losing my grip.
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The only issue I ran into was accidentally clicking the right set of thumb buttons, as described above. If you choose to enable both sets of thumb buttons, my recommendation would be to avoid programming them with anything that could throw off your game in a vital moment.
Bottom Line
The M55 is, at its core, a simple mouse. It's small and intelligently designed, without any extraneous bells or whistles. It's inexpensive and comfortable. If anything, I wish that it had something to truly distinguish it from similar high-quality ambidextrous mice, like the Roccat Kova Aimo or the SteelSeries Sensei 310 — but since those two mice are also excellent, being similar to them is not such a bad thing.
Left-handed gamers should definitely check out the M55, and right-handed gamers who don't want to break the bank would be wise to give it a look as well.
Credit: Corsair
