Introduction

How weird is this? Razer, which has been known for its well done PC gaming mice products, has just come out with its first gaming keyboard, called the Tarantula. So it’s a mighty big coincidence that Ideazon, makers of its Zboard and Merc gaming keyboards, have just come out with its first PC gaming mouse product, the Reaper. This seven button mouse has it’s flaws but overall it’s a good first effort.

The Reaper’s tech specs are certainly solid, especially considering its pretty reasonable price of $39.99. The mouse supports up to 1600 dpi and supports on-the-fly switching for the mouse’s sensitivity via a small button in the top center of the design (it switches between 400, 800 and 1600 dpi when using this method). The two main buttons are fairly normal in size for this type of mouse and have a rubberized feel that supposedly makes them easier to use. Of course the mouse wheel can also be used as a button if one so desires.

The Reaper’s overall black plastic design is clearly made for righties; the asymmetrical design is quite comfortable for the right hand with the thumb resting on the left side. It’s on this side that you will see the Reaper’s three remaining buttons. All seven of the buttons are reprogrammable via’ the mouse’s special drivers. The Teflon coated mouse feet give the Reaper a smooth feel on a mouse pad surface and the USB 2.0 connection is gold plated which in theory provides for better conductivity. Finally in a small aesthetic touch the Ideazon logo on top of the Reaper glows red from the light below. In terms of size the mouse is slightly smaller than comparable Logitech and Razer mice and its plastic casing makes it fairly light. We did feel that the Reaper’s cord was a tad too long for our tastes.

The packaging of the mouse is pretty standard. There’s no printed manual; you simply get the Reaper and a mini CD-Rom where you install the drivers. It also leave a tray icon on your PC where you can access all of the Reaper’s various features. For gamers the most important is how you can adjust the pdi setting. You can set it so you can adjust it in real time via the top mouse button or the drivers will allow you to fix one setting. You can even set it so you can adjust it to use just two settings on the fly for faster switching between the two.


So is the Reaper the next great gaming mouse? Well it certainly does a good job while operating inside games. Playing with the mouse was a very comfortable experience while playing Counter-Strike: Source or Battlefield 2142 in our couple of days of using the Reaper. Even though the mouse was clearly made for righties like me I did find that it took a little getting used to using the three thumb access buttons for things like weapons reload and sniping. The speed of the mouse and cursor reactions while playing with the Reaper are as advertised and overall the comfort and speed of the Reaper is good while playing either a fast paced shooter or just doing some normal word processing.