UtechSmart Venus Gaming Mouse RGB Wired, 16400 DPI High Precision Laser Programmable MMO Computer Gaming Mice [IGNs Recommendation]

UPDATE: UTechSmart reached out and provided a replacement at no cost to me shortly after I placed my original review. The issues I had previously were definitely due to an unfortunate faulty product. The replacement mouse lasted a week of solid use that my original could not have come close to. The issue I mentioned before about the #10 button being loose is also not a problem on the replacement. I am very happy with the level of support and the speed at which it was handled. I can now once again fully recommend this mouse and will be back in another (hopefully) 10 years to buy the latest model when this one finally gives out. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I ordered this mouse after 10 years of using the same mouse as a wired version. I thought it was going to be a great upgrade since I love the wired version which has not failed me. The software that is required to assign functions to each button is not as good as the one that works on the wired mouse. And the main issue is the battery does not last as long as advertised. I get a day and a half of light use max. Really defeats the purpose of having a wireless mouse if I constantly have to plug it in to keep it powered on. Last notable thing is that the #10 button on the side is very loose. It can wiggle side to side with little pressure.

I moved to this mouse from a Razer Naga 2014. I must say that I prefer the Venus for a variety of reasons. I like the Venus so much, I sold my Naga to a buddy for $45. This review will compare and contrast the two, as I was unable to find a review that discussed a few things I had questions about. Weight: I prefer a heavy mouse. With that in mind, the Naga felt surprisingly light in my hands, almost to the point of being cheap. It weighs only slightly more than the Naga with no weights inside the carrier. Surface: The surface of the Naga was very nice. I actually liked it quite a bit, though I must say I find the surface of the Venus to have more grip. The slick looking portion on actually grips quite well when my hand starts to heat up. The surface of the Venus does need to be cleaned much more frequently, though. It is quite convenient, then, that is much easier to clean than the Naga surface. Overall Construction: The plastic the Venus is made out of seems to be a bit thicker, but just may be slightly less rigid (in a good way). In addition to this, I prefer the shape of the Venus. The Naga felt good when I would first rest my hand on it, yet my hand would ache after extended gaming sessions. I think the Nagas palm rest just didnt quite fit me right. Also of note: the Naga is a $80 that does not even possess event the smallest amount of on-board memory for storing default button mappings (more on this point later). Buttons: This is the primary reason for this style of mouse. The side buttons on the Naga win... by far. A quick click, with just the right resistance. Middle row just slightly raised at one end or the other, to feel where your thumb is on the pad. This is the best feature of the Naga. The Venus side buttons are not bad, just not as good. Pressing the Venus side buttons results in a slightly muted, but satisfying click that requires more force than the Naga. I do like that the Venus has a button just to the left of the primary mouse button, but the Naga has a tilting scroll wheel. Both put the forward/back buttons behind the mouse wheel. Software/Button Mapping: This is where the Nagas feature set is absolutely unacceptable for me. Razer Synapse 2.0 requires you to register to utilize any functionality. This includes button mapping and even local backup of profiles created. As the Naga is recognized by OS and treated as a mouse, with the side buttons registering as 1 through = on the top row, not installing the drivers might be an option. An issue arises, though, because the default mapping (without drivers installed) maps the mouse wheel tilt left/right to scroll up/down, respectively. This eliminates 2 buttons on the mouse when Razer software is not used. This is why on-board memory would be useful. Razer requires you to login to their driver software with your registered account to access your profiles if you wish to use your Naga on another computer. It should also be noted that you have to login to the driver software and be online to backup and restore profiles saved to the local computer. Seriously. On top of all of this, Razer has no plans for Linux drivers. Needless to say, I was disappointed to find that I paid more for limited functionality. The Venus has simple driver software that looks a bit outdated, but works. The Venus also has on-board memory, for 5 profiles. This is important to me, because I was able to install the driver software, configure my preferred button mapping, save this button mapping to the mouse, back up the mouse config to my HDD, and then uninstall the driver software and have my mouse function consistently, regardless of the operating system I boot into. A final note on Lighting. The Venus has more options for lighting than the Naga. The emblem lighting can be on/off/pulse while the Naga only allows off/pulse. I believe it is the same for the side buttons and headlights, but dont quote me on that. I sold the Naga months ago. Colors for the emblem, side buttons, and headlights can be selected from a pallet, with varying shades of luminosity on the Venus. Naga says no, you get green. I was able to match the green on my Razer Tournament Edition very closely. The lighting on the mouse wheel is not configured in this way. There are 5 presets, for the 5 profiles stored on the mouse. These are accessed via software, or a button on the bottom of the mouse. This makes for a strong, consistent indication of the profile one is working in. It should also be noted that any button can be configured for the profile button, if one wishes, not just the bottom one.

I now own two and I love this mouse. I’ve got one at the office on my desk and one on my rig at home for gaming. If you like an mmo mouse at all you would like this one if it fits your hand of course. I understand personal preference but this mouse is great.

The Good: The mouse is comfortable and feels pretty solid. The left and right click feel great, the wheel has a nice soft ratcheting that is very quiet and just barely felt but gives a slight haptic feedback and keeps the wheel from just spinning freely. Most of the side buttons feel nice and clicky but there are a couple (Notably the 5 and 10 for me) that are a little more mushy and dont provide much feedback. Im sure it varies between mice, you may have no mushy buttons or several. The buttons are also small and close together so it can sometimes be difficult to hit a middle row button without hitting the top or bottom row, but the columns are easy to distinguish thanks to the opposing angles. The Bad: So the mouse itself is pretty solid for the price, although longevity has yet to be determined. However, the driver software is not great. It has decent configuration options to map pretty much any action you might want and is not difficult to use, but the combination button assignments (Alt or Ctrl + another key) only work about 10% of the time, randomly. The majority of the time, it will only register the key as if alt or ctrl were not being held, making the feature useless. There is a workaround by setting up a macro, but that is a tedious process that shouldnt be necessary. The software is also somewhat barebones. It has 5 profiles you can set up that are stored on the mouse, and you can also save profile configurations to your hard drive for later recovery. The profiles have to be selected manually, there is no option to set profiles to run with certain programs. There is a button on the bottom of the mouse that cycles through the profiles, or you can select them manually within the configuration utility. For some reason after spending a good chunk of time setting up all the macros and keybinds for the side buttons, after the first time I restarted my computer the config tool just said disabled under every button and wouldnt let me change any bindings. The problem persisted after uninstalling/reinstalling both the config software and the mouse itself, and rebooting. The mouse continued to work under the profiles I had already set up by using the profile select button on the mouse itself, but the software was unable to communicate with the mouse to detect the profiles or change them. Somehow, after a lot of wasted time and frustration, the situation corrected itself when I moved the mouse to a different usb port. Im still not sure what caused this, but it could be unique to my computer. TLDR; It feels well made for the price, is comfortable to use, with an ergonomic design, ringfinger rest, and a textured, grippy surface, and most of the buttons feel nice and crisp, but the configuration software is somewhat lackluster compared to G-hub or Synapse.

TL;DR: Very useful, comfortable, durable and well built for the price (have dropped it on edge many times and cat tried eating the cord and still not a scratch) and not as obnoxious looking as other LED gaming mice. Thumb rest is a thumb saver too, wish other name brand numpad mice had them, I would consider them then. Updated 2018: After 3 years of use the side 6 button stopped working completely, and then the scroll click broke, doesnt even depress and make a sound, and I finally had to replace the mouse. Scroll click would work intermittently for about a year, sometimes just re-plugging fixed it, sometimes a reboot would not, but it would start working again few days later. Update 2021: 3 more years and no buttons have worn out or died, but the texture has started wearing under my fingers. Now the palm rest feels more textured than the front, the left click has a spot the size of a pin head worn down to the plastic, with the right click probably a year away from doing the same. Planning on having my new job pay for one though, becasue Id rather get something I know than an ergonomic mouse that may not feel right, and those are more expensive and usually wireless (I dont want to deal with batteries or the inevitable why wont my mouse connect?) Update 2022: made it almost 4 years this time, left click has started double clicking. Trying to do a hold click like drag-and-drop, or holding a click in a game it does an initial click, releases, then holds the click. Annoying, but worth $30 for another. The newer versions of this no longer have the smoother rubber-like coating and are now noticeably textured, likely because of complaints about the coating scratching or becoming slippery with use. It never scratched for me and it didnt get slippery even after gaming all day, but maybe mine happened to be a good one. Its only noticeable when you move your fingers across he surface and only feels slightly different during normal use. Update 2021: 3 more years and no buttons have worn out or died, but the texture has started wearing under my fingers. Now the palm rest feels more textured than the front, the left click has a spot the size of a pin head worn down to the plastic, with the right click probably a year away from doing the same. Planning on having my new job pay for one though, becasue Id rather get something I know than an ergonomic mouse that may not feel right, and those are more expensive and usually wireless (I dont want to deal with batteries or the inevitable why wont my mouse connect?) Initial Review: For two years of college I unplugged this, coiled it up, and put it in my backpack to use with my laptop. Every. Day. The plug never felt loose after so much plugging and unplugging, the cord has no kinks or frays, and never had any issues with the mouse disconnecting, so the cord is VERY durable. In fact, I hit the plug while it was in my laptop once and it broke the port: the plug didnt bend at all. The mouse buttons have a short travel, dont require a firm click, are a bit quieter than than the cheap $10 mouse I used to have, and have a more pleasant click tone than a normal mouse. The side buttons are very useful and are mechanical switches that require a bit more pressure than the left/right click but are very responsive: they do not travel until you apply enough pressure and then the response is instant. They have a more muted and lower pitched click sound. . The rows of buttons are angled in opposite directions to make them identifiable, however the back two rows are more awkward to use if you rest your hand to easily reach the front row becasue of how you have to bend your thumb. The 5 and 8 buttons have bumps that are supposed to distinguish them, but theyre hard to notice unless you rub the tip of your thumb back and forth. The double-click button Ive found very useful in several games, though it requires a slight grip alteration to reach it. Its also mechanical, requires barely more pressure to press than the left/right buttons, and makes a bit lower pitched click thats also a bit less pleasant sounding but is not louder. The thumb-rest is great and I would not go back to a mouse without one now, which brings me to a minor complaint of not much of a pinkie rest, as this mouse seems ergonomically designed for your middle finger to rest on the scroll wheel instead of the right mouse button, so my pinkie rests on the side, but does not drag on my desk (though I have below-average sized hands hands) and is still more comfortable than a normal mouse. The driver software is very functional and does everything it needs to well, with no useless gimmicks or half-functional features. The LEDs color and brightness are fully adjustable (three brightness options, but can make it dimmer using the custom color selector). The new driver version released this year (V 1.2) supposedly now allows changing the scroll wheel LED color, but only for the newer mouse version, which I keep forgetting to test. All buttons can be customized and can have macros assigned (my brother set his double-click button to the profile switch. I got him one too). From experience, its best to add probably 5-10ms delay between key inputs in a macro, or weird stuff can happen. In one game as soon as i used a macro of a click and key without delay I was unable to click on anything in the game, even menus, and had to force-close it. The really nice part is the profiles are saved to memory in the mouse, so it will be fully functional - DPI settings, macros, and all - on a computer without the drivers. Just be warned that installing the drivers on a new computer will not load the profiles from the mouse and will override the profiles saved on the mouse, so if you plan on putting the driver on more than one PC export the profile to a file with the driver software to copy over.

This mouse is absolutely amazing. I dont even know where to begin. The headline speaks for itself. I have not used it for gaming, but I have used it for work. My job requires me to do repetitive tasks. This mouse is not only saving me time, but its making me money. I am able to program a single key to work a lead. The colors are bright and vivid. This is super customizable. Honestly just buy it and see for yourself. The only two cons I have is that the battery life isnt the best Ive used and it is heavy and feels weird to pick up the mouse without pushing buttons or dropping it. Other than that is amazing and would suggest everyone to own this product.

So my first impression looking at the box made me worried. It looked like a typical walmart offbrand design with bold arial font and red lettering like it was supposed to be some cool hi-tech product you could compare to Razer or Logitech. It didnt fool me in the least, and my heart sank because I depend on amount of reviews + star rating, and I know Amazon has some funny tricks when it comes to products being rated highly despite poor quality products. I opened the box, and immediately set the thing on my lap and - despite odd looks from my friend who was there - started clicking the buttons and getting a feel for them. From the get go, I was satisfied with the click feel and its responsiveness, the location of the buttons, and (most importantly) the size of the mouse. I have large hands, so Im not sure where some reviews are coming from by saying large hands arent recommended, but the mouse fit perfectly without me resorting to an uncomfortable grip. I wasnt quite convinced yet, so I plugged the puppy in and popped the CD in to install the driver (and eventually update it online). If youre a gamer, or anyone who has worked on a computer for at least a year, the software was easy to set up and understand. You should know how to unzip files, install basic programs, set your DPI, navigate basic menus, and understand basic terminology. Its not rocket science, and therefore the setup was a breeze. Its a basic program with little to question, and Ive already got it pulsating red like a black gaming setup should (in my opinion, heheh). I was worried the number pressing might be a problem for my big thumb. Its... not perfect, mainly because of my thumb, but with enough practice I have no doubt it should be as easy as any other mouse Ive had, and this is coming from a Logitech fanboy. Yes, yes, Razer is fine too, but for the price and the quality I cant deny that this is a quality mouse. The texture on the left and right click is satisfying as it allows for a good grip despite sweaty hands, and the fire button just to the left of the left click makes it an easy reach in case you want to program it as an ultimate ability in gaming (or an undo button in graphic design, for instance). Programming buttons, by the way, is very easily customizable, and with enough options to choose from Im satisfied that any need I have to satisfy can be done with this mouse. Even the DPI arrow buttons under the scroll wheel can be remapped, which is great when youre like me and like to have as many buttons mapped to your mouse as possible for ease of use. As far as the entire shape goes, its comfortable for my large hands and the thumb rest is a nice touch so youre not rubbing your mouse pad all the time. On the opposite side, theres a protrusion that allows you to rest your ring finger there so it allows you to have a stronger grip on the mouse itself, which should be an important feature in any gaming mouse. Overall, this mouse is one of the better mouses Ive had the pleasure of using. The weights came already installed and, again, as a big handed fellow, I like the heavier weight so it has some give to it. The material its made out of has a nice tactile feel so that it wont slip out of your grip, and while having color pulsating from the buttons isnt a necessary aspect to a gaming mouse, its still pretty cool. I write this review having had my heart drop with worry that this mouse wasnt going to cut it and Id have to return it like some cheap knockoff, but Im pleasantly surprised. The drivers were easy to find, and I have no doubt if I needed customer service to help out they would. I feel like I invested well into a cheap but quality product. Dont take my word for it though, if youre a gamer with a hunger to customize macros and assign functions to your mouse (or even a graphic designer who hates memorizing hotkeys) you should try it out yourself! You wont be disappointed.

Pardon my long review, Im staring to review purchased items and want to be as informative as possible. I use cap to show you sort of whats gonna follow. FIRST THINGS FIRST: 1) I come from a free Asus mouse so am no expert, but wanted something with more buttons. 2) Recently learned about the different mouse grips. I am medium hand using Claw grip so my review on Palming or Palm grip is assumptions and not from prolong or professional use. RESEARCHING A GOOD MOUSE (AMAZON, GOOGLE, AND YOUTUBE HANDS-ON REVIEWS. After countless hours reading and watching reviews Ive decided this because: 1) There was a $5 off coupon so it was $34 2) Reviewers like this more than their Logitech g600($39) although they miss the pinky trigger and dont need the fire trigger on this mouse, the grip is very pleasant. 3) Reviewes mention the Redragon M901 Perdition($35) is more awkward to hold. 4) Lots of Naga reviews saying theirs broke after a year. Im not assuming every model break, I just stumbled on too many saying so and didnt want to roll the dice. WEEK ONE PROBLEMS The lightning was acting weird but uTech was kind enough to sent another. Also I didnt mentioned this to them because they already sent a replacement but the left-click started squeaking randomly so it sounded like click click, click click, squeak squeak. Take in mind that I game almost daily so I threw every game I had at it but it shouldnt start sounding like it needs oil already, should it? PERFORMANCE Noise: The clicks are much louder(Maybe 40%) than my free mouse but at least makes a satisfying click. Productivity: I understand this is advertised as mmo gaming mouse but all the buttons are mighty useful as my daily driver and productivity was my main reason, gaming second. Mmo: I gotta be honest I dont play a lot of MMO atm but might update on that another time. Rts: I play a lot of rts and the thumb buttons helps a lot. Still testing... Fps: Most of my games are shooters and this is definitely not for them! The thumb buttons can get confusing so I only use 3 at the moment. For shooters, Im leaning towards a 2-thumb optical that is smaller and maybe lighter that has a good laser since lifting and repositioning is necessary (This mouse is quite heavy without the weights and being fat doesnt help so it probably adds delay that you dont want in a competitive setting). PROS +Very nice texture covering the mouse but wish the middle also had it. +Customer support responds quickly within a day CONS -I can barely reach the fire button and reaching for it is painful. I have to lift my hand to reach it comfortably. -Since I use Claw grip my thumb always rests with the thumb rest provided by the mouse so for quick access I use the first 2 bottom row buttons (1 & 4) for primary actions, 2 mid row for secondary (2, 5), etc...the 7-10 are probably gonna distract you in gaming unless you use it as intended, for mmo gaming. -Random left-click squeaks questions durability CONCLUSION I beleave the mouse was made for either medium hand palm grip or large hand claw grip to be able to reach all buttons comfortably without having to lift your hand. Despite all the CONS and what others might see as small PROS, I am enjoying the mouse! The noise was not part of the reason I deducted a star, just the CONS. REGRETS Wish I found out about the HAVIT MMO mouse ($28). Consider that while picking productivity or mmo mouse too!

I just got this mouse, so I dont have a lot of experience with it yet, but I wanted to give my first impressions. Pros: 1. Do all mice come with replacement Teflon pads? Because this mouse does. Thats new to me, and while I havent bought a new mouse in a few years, I typically buy high-en peripherals. 2. The side buttons dont accidentally click when you pick the mouse up! This is a big deal for me, as my last mouse did this so often that I had to disable one of the three side buttons in the profile. 3. The fit is really quite good. Fit and feel are things you just cant glean from a review online, so take this with a grain of salt. Your hands may hold this mouse just perfectly, or not. You wont know until you try it. I expected it to be on the large side, because it has 12 side buttons. But it fits my hands very well (I wear mens medium gloves). 4. It comes with a printed manual. This may not seem like a big deal, but its nice to be able to see what each button is, without having to load up a PDF. 5. The braided cable is nice. It helps identify your mouse if you plug in to a USB hub. 6. Adjustable LED coloring lets you select a color that suits your preference. Cons: 1. The DPI indicator LEDs color is not adjustable (fixed at red). This doesnt really bother me. 2. The Velcro cord organizer is not removable. Minor issue, Im gonna leave it on for now. If it bugs me, Ill cut it off. I have lots of Velcro cable organizers, so it will be easy to replace if I need to. I have the polling turned all the way up to 1ms (1 KHz), and have not noticed any issues yet. I quickly found the DPI that I like is around 7,000. I will need to play around with that a bit. The software makes this easy. Since the mouse has 4 adjustable DPI increments, Im leaving #3 at 7,000, and will set #1 and #2 a bit lower, with #4 and #5 a bit higher. Then I will adjust the DPI in game (and in Windows) until Im happy. I also put acceleration at one notch above zero. For the price, this is an amazing mouse. I got it on sale, which made it an even better value. One feature that I would like to see is an DPI assignment that lets me toggle between my current DPI and any other. I would love to be able to hit side button 1 and instantly be in the lowest DPI (for sniping), and hit it again to be back at whichever DPI I was just using. I may be able to do this with a macro, so Ill try to figure that out before I post a feature request with UtechSmart. I will update my review after Ive spent some time gaming with it (probably Far Cry 5 / New Dawn).

I mean, simply put, its great! Side keys all work with very little effort. In WoW and RS3 they are registered as the NUM keys, which is fine. In fps, like CoD or Destiny, it has that odd LMB addition (tiny little button on the far left), that counts as 1-click, even if held. When using auto fire ... THINGS in game, this will fire ONE TIME - which is super cool for precision with an auto arm. This cannot be remapped, however, but no problem. Neat to have. It is super short throw, too, so popping off fast clicks is easy. Your automatic is now semi-auto, or back to auto, with just a tiny finger movement. Both operate without any setup, its like a physical mod. At about $60+ less than the razer MMO mouse, this is absolutely a great replacement. Feel is fairly similar. It is a BIT light, but I think anyone who uses razer would be fine with it. I like heavy mouses. It doesnt feel cheap, if that helps. Ergonomics are a little strange. Not bad by any stretch, just not the norm. Hugs the hand like TOO WELL, and that was weird to me, with giant hands. It is right-handed, obviously, because of the side buttons. It does have RGB software if you want to find it. They include it on a thin USB card, as well. If you dont use it, it will just cycle rainbow. You dont really need it otherwise, unless you just want absolutely insane DPI. You also have the choice for OFF, ON (with lights), and ON (without lights) on the bottom. It does only have single zone rgb, however. So its all or nothing. Great if you like a single static color. For 40 bucks, this is fine. Does charge with USB C, so if you already have a cable for a USB C wireless keyboard, two-birds one stone. Battery on standby absolutely lasted a month, with like a decent amount left. With active use, I charge it once every other week, but have yet to have it die on me. Maybe 10-15 hours of gaming a week. Responsiveness is comparable to any leading peripheral brand, noticed no difference. USB dongle is a BIT chonky, but not abnormally so, just maybe not as thin as it could be in 2021. And the mouse does have a storage holder for the dongle on the bottom. All around, great! I wasnt paid to write this, I just dont want people to pay 150 bucks for something that can be had at a fraction the price for minimal sacrifice in quality.