Zowie EC EVO CL 1 and 2

[Novus]

Hey Geeks,

Just got my new toys in the mail today
After being thoroughly disappointed with many name brand rodents I've made the push and gotten 2 Zowies.
I present to you the Zowie EC EVO CL 1 and 2 side by side.
Gallery

I've played around with the Zowie EC EVO CL 1 for a few hours and it's quite nice. I'll switch over to the EC 2 in a few days.

These are my first Zowie devices.
I wish somebody had told me earlier to stop being an idiot and buy Zowie devices.
This is a really nice change from mouse devices that have terrible precision and noticeably input delay.
I love the soft cable these devices have - they work great with my mouse bungees.
I know some people don't like the color scheme of this mouse but I think it's great.

I'm not going to be doing a general review because those are pointless, a waste of time (although I probably already wasted your time making you read all of this) and don't say much of anything (opps).
I won't be doing a technical review because I'm probably not qualified to do that.

Hopefully this will be of some use to those considering the EC EVO CL.
If you have any questions ask away!

TLDR: Look at the gallery.

[Elrick]

Hey Geeks,

Just got my new toys in the mail today
After being thoroughly disappointed with many name brand rodents I've made the push and gotten 2 Zowies.
I present to you the Zowie EC EVO CL 1 and 2 side by side.
Gallery

I've played around with the Zowie EC EVO CL 1 for a few hours and it's quite nice. I'll switch over to the EC 2 in a few days.

These are my first Zowie devices.
I wish somebody had told me earlier to stop being an idiot and buy Zowie devices.
This is a really nice change from mouse devices that have terrible precision and noticeably input delay.
I love the soft cable these devices have - they work great with my mouse bungees.

Yep the Zowie EC EVO CL 1 just rocks  .

I've got mine attached to a ROCCAT Apuri Mouse Bungee and it works beautifully.  Simple to adjust the Zowie with the slim red coloured button underneath the mouse to it's 3 speed selection.

[jwaz]

I've been very tempted to pick up the EC2 eVo but ended up with a Xornet. Still might grab one if I can catch a sale, they sure ain't cheap.

[Elrick]

I've been very tempted to pick of the EC2 eVo but ended up with a Xornet. Still might grab one if I can catch a sale, they sure ain't cheap.

I think it's the standard price here in Oz at around $60AUD.  Which is in the same realm as some cheap SteelSeries, Logitech and Roccat mice that are currently available.

[osi]

Zowie will definitely be the next brand of mouse for me. I think I read somewhere there is a model with a smoother 24 step scroll wheel?

[Novus]

Zowie will definitely be the next brand of mouse for me. I think I read somewhere there is a model with a smoother 24 step scroll wheel?

This is the one!

[osi]

Zowie will definitely be the next brand of mouse for me. I think I read somewhere there is a model with a smoother 24 step scroll wheel?

This is the one!

!!

[Emospence]

EC1 eVo CL will be my go-to mouse until Zowie comes up with something new

[Novus]

My friend saw my mouse and said it reminded him of the IME 3.
How close are these babies (design wise) to the IME 3?

[Elrick]

My friend saw my mouse and said it reminded him of the IME 3.
How close are these babies (design wise) to the IME 3?

For myself they have almost the EXACT same shape.  Although the Zowie EC1 eVo CL is such a delight to behold.

I suspect it's quality is just a little better than the original IME-3 but it's so comfortable to hold and move around the pad/mat you just wish all mice could be made this way.

[LifeIsGooD2]

does anyone here have the EC1 Evo regular that has used the EC1 CL ?

hows it compare ?

Also is there ANYWHERE that is carrying the mouse besides Zowie's officail site ?

I looked at buying it and it would cost me something like 110 dollars including shipping to the US which Im not gonna pay lol.

[Novus]

For the staes - You can buy this on http://www.superbiiz.com/ for 60-65 bucks including shipping

[Novus]

Balls, after a week of usage a smidgen of the top coating of ec evo cl 1 peeled off. 
That's really ... unfortunate since this is my first Zowie.
Anyways, I emailed support and they approved my RMA within one hour.
They asked me to send in my mouse as soon as they follow up on some QCing.
I hope this doesn't affect my ec evo cl 2 as well.

Also, it's a shame I didn't wait for Amazon prime to stock this mouse (have to pay for my own RMA shipping haha).
 

[adion227]

Ohh the CL looks nice. I recently picked up an EC2 eVo. My deathadder finally broke so I decided to try out zowie and I love it. Does anyone know if there is any noticeable difference between the CL versions and the eVo versions besides like color?

[Novus]

This mouse also uses IR-LED like the FK (I think).

[Grim Fandango]

I have the Zowie FK and I love it
+light
+good scroll wheel (heavy, rubberized, no known issues)
+feel of the side and main buttons (huano switches, but lighter than in some other mice, more like omron)
+Great sensor (no acceleration, prediction or angle snapping, good LOD and max tracking speed)
+Simple ambidextrous design works great for my claw grip. This mouse is very comfortable for me
-I am not a fan of the coating

I have also used the EC2 and thought it was a great mouse. The one thing I do  not like about it is the scroll wheel. Overall the wheel has a great feel, but it has too much "play" which leads to certain issues. If you google the issue you will find out what I am talking about.

I am just hoping that at some point they release and FK with a different type of coating. I tried the AM (since you can get it in glossy version), but the shape does not work for me as well as the FK does.

[Stevenator21]

Does anyone know the difference between the CL and non-CL versions?

[Grim Fandango]

Does anyone know the difference between the CL and non-CL versions?

There is not too much difference

-different colors *(cooler, quake inspired)
-It has the coating of the FK, which is a rubberized coating that feels almost like normal plastic. I for one am not a fan, but as far as rubberized coatings go, I guess it is alright.
-"faster" 25 step rotation scroll wheel, however the issue with the scroll wheel of the EC evo's (that is due to the mold) has not been addressed. Though I will say that for most people, the scroll wheel thing is a non-issue that they will not notice unless they apply a lot of force when scrolling.

I personally like the Glossy EC evo's better. Both in coating, look, and in feel of the scroll wheel, but those things are of course subjective.

[ctbear]

Does anyone know the difference between the CL and non-CL versions?

There is not too much difference

-different colors *(cooler, quake inspired)
-It has the coating of the FK, which is a rubberized coating that feels almost like normal plastic. I for one am not a fan, but as far as rubberized coatings go, I guess it is alright.
-"faster" 25 step rotation scroll wheel, however the issue with the scroll wheel of the EC evo's (that is due to the mold) has not been addressed. Though I will say that for most people, the scroll wheel thing is a non-issue that they will not notice unless they apply a lot of force when scrolling.

I personally like the Glossy EC evo's better. Both in coating, look, and in feel of the scroll wheel, but those things are of course subjective.

I hear a lot about this scrolling issue, but I can't seem to notice anything wrong with it. Can you explain a little more?

[Grim Fandango]

Does anyone know the difference between the CL and non-CL versions?

There is not too much difference

-different colors *(cooler, quake inspired)
-It has the coating of the FK, which is a rubberized coating that feels almost like normal plastic. I for one am not a fan, but as far as rubberized coatings go, I guess it is alright.
-"faster" 25 step rotation scroll wheel, however the issue with the scroll wheel of the EC evo's (that is due to the mold) has not been addressed. Though I will say that for most people, the scroll wheel thing is a non-issue that they will not notice unless they apply a lot of force when scrolling.

I personally like the Glossy EC evo's better. Both in coating, look, and in feel of the scroll wheel, but those things are of course subjective.

I hear a lot about this scrolling issue, but I can't seem to notice anything wrong with it. Can you explain a little more?

I also did not have too much of a problem, but one of the issues is that the scroll wheel can tilt, and will sometimes not register the scroll when tilted (you should notice that the scroll wheel in general just feels very loose). Whether this is a problem for you depends on how you hold the mouse and how you scroll. There was also a bug that people have reported that if you scroll 1 up and 1 down, the scroll down is not registered somehow. However, this was addressed and fixed by Zowie. There have also been other issues reported, such as the scroll wheel sticking when pressed. I think all of this is pretty much from the same problem, that the wheel has too much "play" and is too loose within the shell, causing all sorts of problems.

But that said, like I mentioned earlier, I had little trouble using it, but I should also mention that I really do not use the scroll wheel all that much actually. I have never been a fan of using any other button on the mouse than the left and right mouse button. In an FPS for example, I will have a dedicated key on the keyboard for whichever weapon I want to switch to, rather than scrolling through my weapons.  I do recognize that the scroll wheel in the FK feels a lot better simply because it sits more secure within the mouse, with no sideways movement or "play" for a more consistent feel.

[ctbear]

Does anyone know the difference between the CL and non-CL versions?

There is not too much difference

-different colors *(cooler, quake inspired)
-It has the coating of the FK, which is a rubberized coating that feels almost like normal plastic. I for one am not a fan, but as far as rubberized coatings go, I guess it is alright.
-"faster" 25 step rotation scroll wheel, however the issue with the scroll wheel of the EC evo's (that is due to the mold) has not been addressed. Though I will say that for most people, the scroll wheel thing is a non-issue that they will not notice unless they apply a lot of force when scrolling.

I personally like the Glossy EC evo's better. Both in coating, look, and in feel of the scroll wheel, but those things are of course subjective.

I hear a lot about this scrolling issue, but I can't seem to notice anything wrong with it. Can you explain a little more?

I also did not have too much of a problem, but one of the issues is that the scroll wheel can tilt, and will sometimes not register the scroll when tilted (you should notice that the scroll wheel in general just feels very loose). Whether this is a problem for you depends on how you hold the mouse and how you scroll. There was also a bug that people have reported that if you scroll 1 up and 1 down, the scroll down is not registered somehow. However, this was addressed and fixed by Zowie. There have also been other issues reported, such as the scroll wheel sticking when pressed. I think all of this is pretty much from the same problem, that the wheel has too much "play" and is too loose within the shell, causing all sorts of problems.

But that said, like I mentioned earlier, I had little trouble using it, but I should also mention that I really do not use the scroll wheel all that much actually. I have never been a fan of using any other button on the mouse than the left and right mouse button. In an FPS for example, I will have a dedicated key on the keyboard for whichever weapon I want to switch to, rather than scrolling through my weapons.  I do recognize that the scroll wheel in the FK feels a lot better simply because it sits more secure within the mouse, with no sideways movement or "play" for a more consistent feel.

My scroll wheel definitely feels very solid. In fact it is so solid that I can't find any wiggle room no matter how hard I try to pry it in any direction. Is it a problem for the original ec2 evo, and is later fixed in the cl version? Is there a rev 2 for the cl?

[Grim Fandango]

My scroll wheel definitely feels very solid. In fact it is so solid that I can't find any wiggle room no matter how hard I try to pry it in any direction. Is it a problem for the original ec2 evo, and is later fixed in the cl version? Is there a rev 2 for the cl?

I honestly do not know. I have only tried an EC2 Evo when it was just released, and did not use it for too long. The thing I noticed about the wheel can be seen here around the 4 minute mark

You can find more info about the CL on overclock.net. I am there under the name kazuyamishima. Apparently, some of the scroll wheel issues the Evo's had are also in the CL even though they have changed the scroll wheel for that mouse.

[Novus]

How's your Zowie holding up?
Any of you guys run into that coating issue or that weird light on mouse 4?

[mljs54]

I've been using the FK exclusively since early August and haven't had a single issue with it really.

I think Zowie has the best value proposition for gaming mice, or at least they have everything I look for: reasonably priced, no drivers, "classic" shapes, no LEDs or excessive boy gamer graphics, really good weight, optical sensor, etc.

I plan on picking up another EC2 Evo in either CL or glossy white (again).  I had it for a couple weeks and did not really give it a thorough try (was too obsessed with the FK).

[Elrick]

I think Zowie has the best value proposition for gaming mice, or at least they have everything I look for: reasonably priced, no drivers, "classic" shapes, no LEDs or excessive boy gamer graphics, really good weight, optical sensor, etc.

I plan on picking up another EC2 Evo in either CL or glossy white (again).  I had it for a couple weeks and did not really give it a thorough try (was too obsessed with the FK).

True, Zowie just makes mice that work with little fuss and above all else no stupid 'Synapse 2.0" crapola being forced upon you like with the Razer rubbish.  I still love using the EC1 Pro eVo in both the glossy white and the latest CL model (yes, I'm a Zowie addict now).

[Novus]

I do love their no fuss approach. Mouse drivers tend to be buggy and inconsistent across multiple desktops for me at least.
 

[ctbear]

Since there is no driver and software required from Zowie, if I want to map the side buttons I assume I have to use a 3rd party software?

[Emospence]

does anyone here have the EC1 Evo regular that has used the EC1 CL ?

hows it compare ?

I had the black eVo, new surface is less slippery. The old one had a sort of "powdery" feeling to it.

The new scroll wheel is much smoother and doesn't creak like the old one did, extremely pleased with this mouse

[Emospence]

How's your Zowie holding up?
Any of you guys run into that coating issue or that weird light on mouse 4?

Holding up just fine!

[rflux]

Hey guys.  Here's what I've gone through with this mouse so far.  I'm copying + pasting this from my reply in an Overclock.net thread.  Sorry, don't have the time to retype it.

"After hours upon hours of mouse research, I finally ordered a Zowie EC1 eVo CL. Within fifteen minutes of having it out of the package I discovered a few problems.  Lightly touching the wheel with the index finger from the left side would register one scroll without the wheel actually turning. Definitely defective. I contacted Zowie, who were very helpful, and mailed the mouse back to them at my expense. The replacement I received has the very same problem. Either I am incredibly unlucky or more likely, every EC1 eVo CL suffers from this terrible design flaw.  I won't be returning it to Zowie again since I've already paid for shipping two ways on a faulty product ($45 total). Massive waste of time and money.

Now onto the mouse's other problems. The maximum tracking speed and malfunction rate of this mouse are absolutely horrid. Playing a first-person shooter on low CPI and mouse sensitivity is undoable. With any quick swipe of the mouse, tracking ceases. Both units I've owned acted identically. My friend has a Zowie FK mouse which supposedly uses the same sensor, on the same mouse pad, and it doesn't have the tracking problem. I haven't run any mouse monitoring software yet so I don't have any measurements."

What do you guys think?  Has anyone else had the tracking problem?  Playing with proper first-person shooter mouse settings, ie. 450 CPI and very low in-game sensitivity, such as 2.3 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is utterly impossible.  The mouse cannot be used.

[daerid]

As far as I know, you one of a very, very small minority of people who have these problems. My EC1 CL is probably the most solid mouse I've ever owned. No matter what I've tried, I have not been able to get this mouse to malfunction, skip, or otherwise perform in a sub-par manner.
Also, the sensors in Zowie's mice are regarded as some of the best produced, by people who are probably certifiable in their level of mouse OCD.

[rflux]

As far as I know, you one of a very, very small minority of people who have these problems. My EC1 CL is probably the most solid mouse I've ever owned. No matter what I've tried, I have not been able to get this mouse to malfunction, skip, or otherwise perform in a sub-par manner.
Also, the sensors in Zowie's mice are regarded as some of the best produced, by people who are probably certifiable in their level of mouse OCD.

I don't understand.  There must have been a bad batch and I am ONLY receiving mice from that batch... Even though they were from two different corporations.  I just don't get it.  It's the most frustrating mouse I've ever used.  Thanks for your reply.

[Novus]

I don't understand.  There must have been a bad batch and I am ONLY receiving mice from that batch... Even though they were from two different corporations.  I just don't get it.  It's the most frustrating mouse I've ever used.  Thanks for your reply.

Well, you're not the only one.
There's tons of people on OCN who have issues with the CL.
I ordered 2 mouses and they both had defects.
I had that stupid light on my mouse 4.
I had my coating peel.
I've heard that zowie has significant input lag at the 450 cpi setting.

Anyways, I had a pretty nice impression of this mouse for the first few days but my impression soured after going 0/2.

Oh right sales pitch.
Anybody want to buy an unopened CL2?
After my exemplary endorsement?
 

[daerid]

My EC1 EVO CL has had none of those problems. Not saying that nobody has, but perhaps Zowie's fixed up their manufacturing issues.

Also, my point wasn't necessarily in the housing or buttons, but the quality of the sensor. I could've worded that better.

[Novus]

Hey guys.  Here's what I've gone through with this mouse so far.  I'm copying + pasting this from my reply in an Overclock.net thread.  Sorry, don't have the time to retype it.

"After hours upon hours of mouse research, I finally ordered a Zowie EC1 eVo CL. Within fifteen minutes of having it out of the package I discovered a few problems.  Lightly touching the wheel with the index finger from the left side would register one scroll without the wheel actually turning. Definitely defective. I contacted Zowie, who were very helpful, and mailed the mouse back to them at my expense. The replacement I received has the very same problem. Either I am incredibly unlucky or more likely, every EC1 eVo CL suffers from this terrible design flaw.  I won't be returning it to Zowie again since I've already paid for shipping two ways on a faulty product ($45 total). Massive waste of time and money.

Now onto the mouse's other problems. The maximum tracking speed and malfunction rate of this mouse are absolutely horrid. Playing a first-person shooter on low CPI and mouse sensitivity is undoable. With any quick swipe of the mouse, tracking ceases. Both units I've owned acted identically. My friend has a Zowie FK mouse which supposedly uses the same sensor, on the same mouse pad, and it doesn't have the tracking problem. I haven't run any mouse monitoring software yet so I don't have any measurements."

What do you guys think?  Has anyone else had the tracking problem?  Playing with proper first-person shooter mouse settings, ie. 450 CPI and very low in-game sensitivity, such as 2.3 in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is utterly impossible.  The mouse cannot be used.

45 bucks for shipping.
Sheesh, that's so much.
Do you live outside the US?

My EC1 EVO CL has had none of those problems. Not saying that nobody has, but perhaps Zowie's fixed up their manufacturing issues.

Also, my point wasn't necessarily in the housing or buttons, but the quality of the sensor. I could've worded that better.

Right, we got that 
I think we're pretty much in agreement on that.
The custom lens is something I really like from Zowie.

I was just venting on the coating peeling which I consider to be absolutely ridiculous.

[osi]

Had my ec1 evo cl for just over a week. Coming from a death adder 3g, these are my initial impressions.

- It's noticeably larger in the palm than what I'm used to.
- I like slow tracking mice but the lowest setting is unusable to me
- The side buttons are a little too mushy for my liking
- Gave it a good squeeze right out of the package and heard creaking. Hasn't happened since
- Can replicate the false scroll wheel roll or whatever it is called. Granted, this only happens with a light turn on the side of the wheel with a Tinkerbell fairy light touch
- Little bleed through of led on the back side button. Non issue for me but flaw nonetheless

+ The tracking is amazing
+ No noticeable acceleration
+ The purple scroll works well with my poker LEDs
+ No drivers--it just works
+ Slightly roughish texture
+ Scroll wheel speed is great. More feedback would be nice but not deal breaker
+ Left and right buttons are very crisp. Large range of even click acuation

Still early in but I know this is not my perfect mouse.

Overall good mouse.

Will keep.

[Novus]

Had my ec1 evo cl for just over a week. Coming from a death adder 3g, these are my initial impressions.

- It's noticeably larger in the palm than what I'm used to.
- I like slow tracking mice but the lowest setting is unusable to me
- The side buttons are a little too mushy for my liking
- Gave it a good squeeze right out of the package and heard creaking. Hasn't happened since
- Can replicate the false scroll wheel roll or whatever it is called. Granted, this only happens with a light turn on the side of the wheel with a Tinkerbell fairy light touch
- Little bleed through of led on the back side button. Non issue for me but flaw nonetheless

+ The tracking is amazing
+ No noticeable acceleration
+ The purple scroll works well with my poker LEDs
+ No drivers--it just works
+ Slightly roughish texture
+ Scroll wheel speed is great. More feedback would be nice but not deal breaker
+ Left and right buttons are very crisp. Large range of even click acuation

Still early in but I know this is not my perfect mouse.

Overall good mouse.

Will keep.

I also have issues with the lowest settings. Very annoying in low sens fps games. I think you should probably RMA the mouse and get a replacement though.

[osi]

Had my ec1 evo cl for just over a week. Coming from a death adder 3g, these are my initial impressions.

- It's noticeably larger in the palm than what I'm used to.
- I like slow tracking mice but the lowest setting is unusable to me
- The side buttons are a little too mushy for my liking
- Gave it a good squeeze right out of the package and heard creaking. Hasn't happened since
- Can replicate the false scroll wheel roll or whatever it is called. Granted, this only happens with a light turn on the side of the wheel with a Tinkerbell fairy light touch
- Little bleed through of led on the back side button. Non issue for me but flaw nonetheless

+ The tracking is amazing
+ No noticeable acceleration
+ The purple scroll works well with my poker LEDs
+ No drivers--it just works
+ Slightly roughish texture
+ Scroll wheel speed is great. More feedback would be nice but not deal breaker
+ Left and right buttons are very crisp. Large range of even click acuation

Still early in but I know this is not my perfect mouse.

Overall good mouse.

Will keep.

I also have issues with the lowest settings. Very annoying in low sens fps games. I think you should probably RMA the mouse and get a replacement though.

Interesting. I figured these were just nit picks.

The scroll wheel feels more crisp in corrected models I presume?  You've got me curious now 

[Novus]

The scroll wheel feels more crisp in corrected models I presume?  You've got me curious now

Right, I don't think the scroll wheel on the CL is supposed to have those issues.
Judging by the creaking and light bleed I think you definitely got one of the models from a bad batch.

[rflux]

45 bucks for shipping.
Sheesh, that's so much.
Do you live outside the US?

Yeah, I live in Canada.  I ordered it from an American online store called Gamejava.com.  They're a joke.  Their website is so broken I was unable to place an order.  They were the only retailer selling the EC1 eVo CL willing to ship to Canada though, so I sent them an email and they offered to sell me the mouse via Paypal which was great.  They shipped the items out quickly too.  I emailed them immediately after discovering my mouse was defective - no response.  Ever.  I sent a few more emails.  Nothing.  Thus, I returned the mouse to Zowie in California instead.

Right, I don't think the scroll wheel on the CL is supposed to have those issues.
Judging by the creaking and light bleed I think you definitely got one of the models from a bad batch.

Both of my defective EC1's had these problems as well.  The scroll wheel LED shined through both the left and right sides of the white body.  Creaked as well with light weight from your hand.  What complete pieces of junk.

[osi]

The scroll wheel feels more crisp in corrected models I presume?  You've got me curious now

Right, I don't think the scroll wheel on the CL is supposed to have those issues.
Judging by the creaking and light bleed I think you definitely got one of the models from a bad batch.

Cool. Thanks for the info. I'll send this guy back next week and see what happens

[Emospence]

I had 2 eVo CLs from a pre-ordered batch and both are perfect.

Smooth scroll wheel, no peeling coating, crisp buttons, best mouse I've had.

[daerid]

Seems like it's just shaky quality control. Hopefully they tighten up their production lines.

[dmbr]

Had my ec1 evo cl for just over a week. Coming from a death adder 3g, these are my initial impressions.

- It's noticeably larger in the palm than what I'm used to.
- I like slow tracking mice but the lowest setting is unusable to me
- The side buttons are a little too mushy for my liking
- Gave it a good squeeze right out of the package and heard creaking. Hasn't happened since
- Can replicate the false scroll wheel roll or whatever it is called. Granted, this only happens with a light turn on the side of the wheel with a Tinkerbell fairy light touch
- Little bleed through of led on the back side button. Non issue for me but flaw nonetheless

+ The tracking is amazing
+ No noticeable acceleration
+ The purple scroll works well with my poker LEDs
+ No drivers--it just works
+ Slightly roughish texture
+ Scroll wheel speed is great. More feedback would be nice but not deal breaker
+ Left and right buttons are very crisp. Large range of even click acuation

Still early in but I know this is not my perfect mouse.

Overall good mouse.

Will keep.

I also have issues with the lowest settings. Very annoying in low sens fps games. I think you should probably RMA the mouse and get a replacement though.

Almost all games allow you to reduce sensitivity in-game. No prob there.

[Emospence]

Seems like it's just shaky quality control. Hopefully they tighten up their production lines.

Yeah I've been off OCN (and geekhack) for some time as my desktop setup is all set for the next couple years at least, really surprised to read about the problems with the new Zowies.. I ordered early so there were no reviews to read but I was super confident there wouldn't be any problems (thankfully, there weren't)

[osi]

I'm optimistic. The mouse is indeed a good fit for me besides the issue I ran into.

[dustinhxc]

This looks like my next mouse Forsure. Which is better 1 or 2?

[Novus]

This looks like my next mouse Forsure. Which is better 1 or 2?

What's your hand size and grip style?

[Novus]

This might be of use.

[dustinhxc]

(Attachment Link)

This might be of use.

This is perfect, thank you! Looks like the EC1 would be closest to my current size. Thanks!