The name “Mionix” is beginning to become synonymous with quality in my head. After my extremely pleasant experience with their premium headset – the NASH 20 – I had high expectations for the Avior mouse, which seemed possessed of the same build quality and attention to detail as I had anticipated. So where does the nine button, ambidextrous Avior rank upon the pantheon of gaming mice?
THE BUILD
Your Avior comes snugly packaged in a sturdy box with a couple of Mionix stickers. This is a mouse that has been built with ease of use and comfort over long gaming sessions in mind and it shows – the soft rubber coating offers both grip and a much more pleasant texture overall – those of you with sweaty hands rejoice, your perspiration will no longer be your undoing. LED customisation spirals off in a ridiculous number of possible effect and colour combinations, breathing, pulsating, blinking. Although I found it altogether more in line with Mionix’s exceptionally classy aesthetic to leave it on the soft white glow it came preloaded with, it’s no doubt nice to have the option.
It’s designed to be ambidextrous and suitable for all kinds of grips and it manages it well. Although I personally prefer my mouse to be built around my right handed palm grip (which to be fair are the majority of mice on the market) the SK works perfectly in either hand, whether it’s lightly spooning the mouse or clawing at it desperately. What’s really special is that it’s a great mouse right out of the box, and programming it with the downloadable software is just a sweet bonus – making those last few tweaks to the onboard profiles to get it just right. It’s got a bunch of cool features once you get into the grit of it, but you can get great performance out of it without even having to bother – for that rare breed of PC gamer that isn’t bothered about the little details.
THE SOFTWARE
If you do want to get into the finer points of your mouse Mionix make it easy – their software offers so much choice it can actually seem a little overwhelming at first, but the Avior SK is capable of a crazy amount of customisation and the software offers a straightforward way of getting it done. With a max of 7000 DPI and in-game, on the fly gradient adjustment the SK is dependable in tight sniping situations or lightning fast target acquisition. You can have up to five different profiles loaded onto the mouse itself for different games or players – which makes it an obviously good choice if you like a big LAN session or regularly take your own gear to game sessions.
There’s so much to tweak and adjust – pretty much every aspect of the mouse is up for customisation (Look for more details in the specifications below) and it’s all wrapped up in a lightweight, sturdy, stylish package. The only thing I can possibly complain about is the lack of physical weight adjustment, but it’s an astonishingly well balanced piece of kit anyway.
CONCLUSION
This is a premium product at a reasonable price and excels far beyond most Razer mice – just without as many bells and whistles. The software is easy to use and opens up an amazing array of customisation options. It looks sexy as hell, and it’s backed up with an insane amount of brains. For the price (as low as £40 from some sites) the Avior SK is an absolute steal. If it were a sentient being, I would be attempting to romance it. And by romance it, I mean slathering it in Dorito grease and crying on it. Obviously.
Simply perfect.
Technical Specifications
- 32bit ARM processor 32mhz
- Ambidextrous design, palm or claw grip
- Soft touch rubber coating
- 9 fully programmable buttons
- 3 steps in-game DPI adjustment
- 2 integrated LEDs in 2 colour zones
- Up to 16.8 Million LED colour options
- Color shift, Solid, Blinking, Pulsating and Breathing effects
- 128 kb built-in memory
- Large PTFE mouse feet
- Gold Plated, Full speed USB 2.0 connection with Plug and Play
- Cable 2m long braided cable
Sensor Specification
- ADNS – 3310 gaming grade IR-LED optical sensor
- Up to 7000DPI
- MAX tracking speed of at least 5.45m/sec (215 IPS)
- No positive or negative hardware acceleration
- Adjustable Lift Off Distance
Software Features
- Up to 5 Profiles saved to the in-built memory
- Adjustable X / Y Axis
- Adjustable Polling Rate
- Live record macro manager
- Up to 16.8 million color LED options
- Customize RGB manger
- Pulsating, Blinking and Breathing LED effects
- Color Shift lighting mode
- Angle Snapping adjustable in 15 steps
- Angle Tuning adjustable from -30 to 30 degrees
- LOD Calibration tool
- S.Q.A.T™ – Surface Quality Analyzer Tool
Dimensions & Weight
- 125.3×65×36.6 mm / 4.93×2.56×1.44 in
- Netto (w/o cable): 100 gr
- Netto (cable incl.): 146 gr
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
You must be logged in to post a comment.