Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
At first glance, the Corsair Katar Elite Wireless reminds me of a generic office mouse, being compact in size and having a simple design like the Katar PRO XT. The mouse has a symmetrical shape, suitable for both right- and left-handed users. Both sides of the mouse have textured grips, making it relatively easy to hold. I enjoyed how this felt in my hand when holding the mouse. The mouse shell is covered in a smooth black plastic with the Corsair logo located at the back and the KATAR logo just barely visible on the top of the left primary button. There is a hexagon-shaped button in the middle of the mouse to toggle the sensitivity. I found the presentation to be very standard for a computer mouse that will not break new ground, but is perfectly adequate from my experience.
The Corsair Katar Elite Wireless has smaller physical dimensions compared to an average gaming mouse. Coming in at 64.2mm in width, 115.8mm in length, and 37.8mm in height, this device is definitely on the smaller side. Corsair describes it as a "compact lightweight gaming mouse” on their product page. I agree with Corsair’s claim of the Katar Elite Wireless being a lightweight mouse, as it weighs only 69g. This weight is very light for a wireless mouse -- almost as light as the wired ROCCAT Burst Pro, and even lighter than its wired counterpart -- and I really felt that when using it in various applications. Like most mice today, the weight is balanced to the center, meaning it will feel balanced when you lift it up. When using the Katar Elite Wireless, I found that I was most comfortable using a claw or finger grip due to its small size. I still found this mouse to be generally comfortable to hold for short to moderate periods of usage, even though I am a person who prefers using a palm grip.
A regular cable is provided for charging the Katar Elite Wireless or using it as a wired mouse. A braided cabled would have been better, since a braided cable also provides less friction than a regular rubber-coated cable, allowing for smoother mouse movement. On top of that, braided cables offer better build quality when compared to regular cables due to having greater structural integrity. Since this mouse is meant to be used wirelessly though, this is not a big deal. The 1.8m length is industry-standard and does the job well if you need to charge your mouse in a port that happens to be further away. The cable connects to the mouse through a USB Type-C connector and to your device through a USB Type-A connector with the Corsair logo placed on the end. While adding gold plating would have looked nice, it would not affect performance. Not having a gold-plated connector makes sense in this case as it adds no benefit, but raises the cost. The cable is very flexible, making it easy to run through difficult areas when connecting it to a USB port.
The Corsair Katar Elite Wireless comes with the common buttons you would expect on a standard gaming mouse, including the forward and back keys on the left side and the sensitivity toggle in the middle. The primary buttons have Omron switches that are rated for 60 million clicks. Both mouse buttons feel very crisp when pressing them. There are five sensitivity settings that can be preset that increases the sensitivity every time you press the middle button. Since there is only one adjustable DPI button, the sensitivity will only cycle in ascending order, which is not as nice as having two DPI buttons to increase and decrease the DPI. The buttons are close enough to each other such that your fingers will not have to stretch much to reach them, but also far enough away from each other to avoid accidental clicks. I do realize that this could be different for people with larger hand sizes. All the buttons feel very nice to click with good travel and response times.
Continuing on with the scroll wheel, I began to see a theme with Corsair's triangular pattern. The grip on the wheel was good as I found no problem with the scrolling when I browsed the web. The scrolling performance was adequate and comparable to any other mouse I have used.
There are only two RGB LED lighting zones on the mouse, those being the logo on the palm rest and the RGB LED diffuser on the sensitivity toggle. The RGB LED diffuser will briefly change color whenever the DPI button is pressed, which I think is a good detail that allows the user to be more aware when they have cycled to a different sensitivity level. It will also change to a different color for each DPI level. With that said, the RGB LED diffuser will not shine any lighting when in a neutral state, and will only light up when the DPI is toggled. The lighting comes with a variety of modes that can change the display of the light. I tried all the different colors combinations through iCUE to see how it looked on the Corsair logo, and every color I tested looked reasonably accurately represented.
At the bottom of the mouse, the feet and sensor can be seen. The pads are made out of PTFE, commonly known as Teflon. This is fairly standard across mice in general, so you know what it is. The two Teflon pads allow the mouse to glide smoothly when being dragged across any flat surface. The Corsair Katar Elite Wireless uses a Corsair Marksman sensor, which is designed in conjunction with PixArt. This sensor can sense up to a whopping 26,000 DPI, 650 IPS tracking speed, an acceleration of 50g. This are impressive specifications and an upgrade compared to the Katar PRO XT, but we will see how this sensor actually performs in our subjective performance tests on the next page. A bit of spoilers here though -- the Corsair Marksman sensor is the exact same sensor used on the Corsair M65 RGB Ultra. When adjusting your sensitivity, you are able to adjust the DPI by intervals of 1, which is as precise as it gets. The Katar Elite Wireless runs at a maximum polling rate of 2000 Hz, which can be adjusted at four other settings of 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, and 1000 Hz.
The Corsair Katar Elite Wireless is compatible with the company's iCUE software, which is a 1.1GB file that can be downloaded from Corsair's website. iCUE works with all Corsair products to adjust performance settings, customize features, and synchronize RGB LED lighting effects. As seen in the screenshot above, the left side displays a tab where various configuration tabs can be accessed to change the lighting and performance of the mouse. The main display in the center allows the user to implement those changes based on the tab that is currently selected.
The Key Assignments tab allows users to change the function of the mouse buttons. Further actions include macros, text, launch application, timer, disable, and profile switching. Users can save configurations they might find themselves coming back to in the Assignments Library, which is a sub-tab found directly under the Key Assignments tab. The Hardware Key Assignments tab serves the same function, except with the option of adjusting tilt directions. The Lighting Effects tab, as the name implies, allows users to adjust the RGB LED lighting on the mouse. In the case of the Corsair Katar Elite Wireless, you will only see the lighting change on the logo at the back of the mouse. There is a decent selection of lighting effects to choose from under the three sub-tabs; those being predefined, custom, and lighting link. Users can save a lighting effect in the Hardware Lighting tab for when iCUE is not running, with the option to select a watercolor, color pulse, color shift, rainbow, or static lighting effect.
The DPI tab gives users the flexibility to adjust the sensitivity settings on their mouse at 1 DPI increments. Furthermore, there are six different sensitivity presets that users can save, although the sixth setting will only be tied to the sniper button, which I find odd since there is no sniper button on this mouse. These presets can be activated by clicking the two sensitivity adjustment buttons on the mouse, with the top increasing sensitivity and the bottom decreasing sensitivity. The Surface Calibration tab allows users to calibrate the mouse for their surface of choice. This is done through a test where users drag their mouse pointer across the screen for a set period at a constant speed, which will calibrate the sensor to that surface for the best performance. Finally, we have device settings, where users can adjust the pointer speed of their mouse along with an option to enhance the pointer precision. This is also the tab where the polling rate can be adjusted, up to the maximum rate of 2000Hz. On top of all that, one onboard profile is available on the Katar Elite Wireless, which can save DPI stage color, DPI settings, and RGB LED backlighting effects onto the mouse itself.
Overall, the iCUE software is a very effective tool that gives users the freedom to customize their Corsair products with ease. The user interface is quite clean with appealing graphics that make for an engaging customization experience.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
