By: Hai Wang
February 10, 2017
Every time a school term begins, my professor always asks us to keep one thing in mind: If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. As required by our professor, all the graduate students in our research team have to make very detailed research plans at the beginning of a term. Even though it takes some extra work, the results turn out to be good for everybody. Actually, we all have some sort of good contributions at the end of term. Making a good plan is by no means an easy task. This is because it not only requires the setting of a reasonable goal, but also determining realistic steps to achieve the goal. For me, most of time I could not finish everything I have in my plan, but at least I have a clear direction where I am heading. I believe that the same rule applies to the consumer electronics industry. To design a good product, a clear goal should be set before the actual design procedure. Take a gaming mouse design for example, first there must be a theme, then according to the theme, several design goals should be carried out to support the theme. These efforts are necessary for the product to have its own characteristics or personality. In other words, we cannot just use a normal mouse and add some "gaming" features, like RGB LEDs or a fancy logo, and claim that it is a gaming mouse. The designer should have a clear vision of what the mouse’s theme will be like, and how the designed features will match the theme. Above that, the designer should also think about how to make the product unique. For today’s review unit, the GAMDIAS Zeus P1 optical gaming mouse, as implied by its name, should have something to do with Greek mythology. Furthermore, Zeus is the god of all gods in Greek mythology, therefore we are looking for something unusual; something that is not borrowed or inherited from average mice made by GAMDIAS. Will the product meet our expectation of a good gaming mouse? Let us get into details of the review to find out.
The GAMDIAS Zeus P1 arrived via Purolator Ground to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The package was sent from the Link Computer Canada in Markham, Ontario, instead of the GAMDIAS’s American offices in Berea, California. As you can see from the picture, the parcel is clean and in good shape. Very few dents and scratches are found on the box. I can confidently say that the mouse inside the shipping parcel is safe and sound.
After peeling the shipping package off, we can see the retail packaging of the GAMDIAS Zeus P1. The background color is in accordance with the GAMDIAS website’s theme color -- black. In the middle of the cover lies the view of the mouse. The black background makes the major selling point of the Zeus P1, the double level RGB lighting, which is very obvious in the picture. From my first glance of the retail package, I noticed the double level RGB lighting feature and the 12000 DPI sensitivity. This is a seriously high DPI value, which we will discuss in more detail later on in this review. All the other features, like the textured design, adjustable DPI, eight smart keys, and the ergonomic design are nicely displayed at the bottom of the retail box front cover. On top of the black background, there is a smaller white background section, where the company name, product name, and company logo are printed. It is interesting to see that the company name “GAMDIAS” is written in a very gaming-esque font. The company logo is located at the top right side of the box. The overall design of the package is very successful, since we can receive the most important information about the product in a short amount time. More specifically, the Greek mythological theme can be expressed by the retail box design, while the shining features, like the double level RGB lighting and the 12000 DPI sensor, can also be easily noticed. Long story short, just by looking at the retail box, I can tell the product is marketed as a high performance gaming mouse with a Greek mythological theme.
Before digging into details, let us take a look at the specifications of the GAMDIAS Zeus P1, as borrowed from the manufacturer's website:
Specifications
Tracking Method: Advanced Gaming Optical Sensor
Dimension (L x W x H): 127.26 x 72.45 x 40.85 mm
Weight: 125g
Keys: 8 Keys
Resolution: 1600/2400/5600/8200/10800/12000 DPI (Default 1600)
Polling Rate: 1000Hz
Switch Lifecycle: 20 Million
USB Cable Length: 1.8m
Graphical UI: Yes (GAMDIAS HERA)
After opening the retail box from the top, the user can pull the black cardboard container out. The GAMDIAS Zeus P1 is held inside of the container. There is not a lot of stuff in the box; just a mouse in a plastic plate, and a quick installation guide. The card indicates the proper steps of how to use the mouse, which I think will not be necessary for a real gamer, right? Unsurprisingly, the driver disc is not provided, since it is 2017, after all.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
