CM Storm Havoc – Hardware Review
Last time we took a closer look at Dragon War’s budget priced Dragunov, which proved to be great value for its price. Sadly, it might come a bit short for the more hardcore gamers among us and thus we are able to present you with something with a lot more settings and options. Will Cooler Master’s Havoc, wreak enough Havoc against its predecessors or the ‘gods’ GAMDIAS throws at us?
Going off on appearances Cooler Master’s Havoc looks like a combined version of the Sentinel Advance II and the Recon model. It looks as if both their great qualities have been combined to create one great piece of gaming hardware that pleases the eye. The Havoc has a slighter dent on its left side but in essence it’s the same curved shape as the Sentinel Advance II. When it comes to the finish, the rubberized grip comes from Cooler Master’s Recon model. The shiny surface on the right, simple as it may be, gives the mouse a fairly unique look.
Whilst the finish is already great, the mouse will offer you five extra buttons above what a normal mouse has to offer. Three of them are on the left side and are easily reachable and of course they are customizable. The two extra buttons on top of the Havoc are needed to switch between different dpi profiles.
The Havoc is not shy of customizability either, even though they are not as expansive than the really expensive models on the market. You’ll be able to give each of the four profiles on the mouse a specific LED color. When choosing a color this will change the color of the mouse wheel, the dpi buttons and the logo on the back of the mouse.
You’ll be able to adjust your dpi settings, which can vary between 100 and 8200 dots per inch. You can adjust the X and Y-axis on each profile and save up to four profiles on your hardware. Your selected profile will be marked on your mouse with a small white LED light.
Comfort wise the Havoc feels very soft and provides a lot more grip than other plastic finished mice. The extra rubber on the left feels pleasant and shows that the creators kept comfort in mind. The Havoc has a slightly higher base than a lot of gaming mice and sadly the rubberized finish tends to stain easily.
The software needed to adjust all the settings the Havoc has to offer has to be downloaded through Cooler Master’s official gaming site. Whilst the menu’s are simple and straightforward, the software itself takes a really long time to open. This might only be a small ‘annoyance’, seeing the mouse stores your preferred settings afterwards.
Own opinion
Cooler Master’s Havoc might look simple but the mouse is still quite enjoyable to look at. The extra finishing touches show a great care coming from the designers.
The rubberized grip feels comfortable, especially during longer gaming sessions. The higher base tends to get familiar fairly fast and the buttons prove to be easy to reach. Sadly the surface of the mouse tends to get easily stained and greasy. The stains can easily be removed with the same cloth some of you clean your glasses with.
Everything proves to be easy to adjust, seeing the software points of what you have to do in order to create the desired settings. Sadly the software proves to be quite slow to boot up and Cooler Master does not provide only one program for all their pieces of hardware. They create a separate program for each of their products and thus if you wish to have a full CM set-up you’ll need a specific program for all pieces.
Personally for a mouse of this caliber it would have been great to add some options such as the ability to add or remove weight.
Conclusion
Cooler Master’s Havoc proves to be another great piece of hardware in their portfolio. The design is great, comfort proves to be of great quality and the extra buttons will surely please the more hardcore gamers among us. A great piece of hardware to keep in mind when shopping for a new mouse for your gaming setup.
Note: for a full list of specs click here
CM Storm Havoc - Hardware Review,
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