Team Scorpion Zealot Jr. Review

[FoxWolf1]

I just put this up at OCN...

Whee!

[Hyde]

Ohhhh nice review.  I have to say this mouse look quite nice, very tasteful design.

However I have a few questions:

1.  Is the color swappable?  Like can I do blue LED for 1600 dpi instead of green for 1600 dpi?
2.  How's the build quality?  Consider this is a new company I wonder if it will break in 1 month.
3.  No side buttons eh?  That's a shame, I really just want 1 thumb button for "back".

Otherwise a nice review man good job !

[FoxWolf1]

Thanks! I'm still pretty new to mouse reviewing, but I tried to do my best to be rigorous in testing methodology.

To answer your questions...
1. The color on the Zealot Jr. is not swappable. In fact, there's no software for the mouse whatsoever; sensitivity and polling rate are adjusted by switches on the bottom of the mouse, but that's it as far as configuration goes. The original Zealot has more flexibility, since it does have software (as well as the ability to display more colors), different profiles, etc.

2. It's hard to tell build quality for sure on a newly arrived product, but it certainly feels solid, with no creaking, rattling, or other signs of fragility. My original Zealot has survived 9 months of intensive use and, aside from a couple of aesthetic blemishes where a bit of the electroplated coating on the side grips has worn off, still seems as good as new-- or perhaps better, now that the braided cord has had a chance to break in and gain a little extra flexibility. If the Jr. is put together as well as the original, it won't be breaking anytime soon.

3. Nope, no side buttons. The original, on the other hand, does have a thumb button-- by default, it cycles the sensitivity, but you can set it to whatever you want. At the moment, I have it set to "Alt", so that I can do alt + scrollwheel for forward and back. Can't do that with the Jr., though, since there is neither a side button nor any software by means of which to set a function for one.

[Hyde]

Damn that's a shame, I actually like the look for JR better than the regular one.  Maybeeee I'll try CM Storm Recon first 

[All The Fire]

Can you confirm something about the Zealot pro for me. I've seen a screenshot of the driver software, and it seems to me if you want different sensitivities on your x and y axis it's by a percentage?

Can you set a dpi for the x and y axis separately at all?

EDIT: And if not, can you set the percentage at 75% or is it just in increments of 20?

[FoxWolf1]

For the actual DPI on Zealot Sr., the way the driver works is that you can have up to five profiles, each of which has four DPI settings, each of which has exactly three options, as follows:
Setting 1: 400, 800, or 1200
Setting 2: 1200, 1600, or 2000
Setting 3: 2000, 2400, or 3200
Setting 4: 3200, 4000, or 5000
Then, in addition to your settings for each of the four levels, you can adjust the DPI by a percentage, which can be independent for each axis. These percentages are not infinitely flexible, but it's a bit more fine-grained than the markings on the scale indicate-- think it's by 10%, though the graphics of the scale are very "form over function", so it's hard to be exact. My usual setup is to leave the base DPI at 2400 (i.e. middle option of setting 3), but then percent-scale it down to what feels like around 600 dpi on both axes.

[All The Fire]

Interesting.

I could probably work around 10% increments but it sounds like too much hassle... I could set 5000 then put vertical at 40% (so -60% right?) of it and horizontal at 30%... I'll just stick with the G9x...

Thanks, looks like a good mouse otherwise, great size.

[Glenn315]

"screw introductions. they're a waste of time." xD

[TotalChaos]

Is there any way to hack this mouse to forcibly turn OFF the overpoweringly huge LED light?

I really love the good features of this mouse!  But I can't deal with a super bright LED shining in my eyes all the time.  Its annoying.  Also my friends complain when we are trying to watch a scary movie in a pitch black room and the mouse is shining light all over the place.

I was going to simply tape over the Light Holes to block the light from escaping but they went to a lot of work to make huge zig zagging light holes all over the mouse.  Taping does not seem to be practical for this mouse.   Also to make things worse, bright piercing light comes out of the mouse wheel, which is something that can't be taped over.

Is it possible to open up the mouse and go after the LED with a pair of wire cutters?  If I cut the LED will I otherwise break the mouse?

[FoxWolf1]

Is there any way to hack this mouse to forcibly turn OFF the overpoweringly huge LED light?

I really love the good features of this mouse!  But I can't deal with a super bright LED shining in my eyes all the time.  Its annoying.  Also my friends complain when we are trying to watch a scary movie in a pitch black room and the mouse is shining light all over the place.

I was going to simply tape over the Light Holes to block the light from escaping but they went to a lot of work to make huge zig zagging light holes all over the mouse.  Taping does not seem to be practical for this mouse.   Also to make things worse, bright piercing light comes out of the mouse wheel, which is something that can't be taped over.

Is it possible to open up the mouse and go after the LED with a pair of wire cutters?  If I cut the LED will I otherwise break the mouse?

Assuming you mean on the Jr. (optical) version, I had the feet off once, a while ago, but I did not see any screw holes, so I haven't been able to figure out how to open the Zealot Jr. without breaking it.

It's kind of weird, actually, because the older version does have screws under the feet and can be opened without much difficulty-- but the Jr. seems to be put together differently.

[scorpionred_sky]

nice review...  I have to say this mouse look quite nice, very unique design.