ROG Keris Wireless Mouse - 3 ways to use awesome

Okay, doing so much work remotely lately that I am getting tired of trackpads, so I need a good mouse.  I'm also playing Stadia more often so I need a good mouse that can track well for games too...

That means I'm looking at an ROG mouse.


Today, I'm reviewing the ROG Keris Wireless Mouse - which runs about $129CDN ... which seems like a lot, but a good mouse these days aren't cheap.  I bought a Logitech wireless for about the same at my office and it doesn't have near the cool factor this does.

Let's dive in.


Okay, so I've unboxed it and then you quickly realize, this isn't just some wireless mouse - this is a '3 in 1' wireless mouse.  

But, most importantly for me, is that the device has its own battery built in to charge... no more chasing around trying to find a AA battery.

And it's so much more than just a rechargeable wireless mouse.  Let's dive in.

So first up you unbox it and find way more stuff in the box than you would any other mouse.


There's a cord (USB-A to USB-C), some extra little rubber nubs, some electrical looking bits, coloured buttons... neat.

The extra bits are replacement, and it's gotta tell you something that it's a bit confident to say "you're going to love this mouse so much you'll use it so much, so just here, take some replacement bits".  Nice!

But let's set it up first.

You'll first want to charge it up.  Now, I have a Pixelbook, so I have no USB-A ports, so I needed to use a USB-C to USB-C cord, or find that little adapter.  I ended up using a single cord as I don't like using the adapter unless I absolutely have to.  Which is a shame, the cord they provide is a braided cord and is like 2m long, so definitely enough movement space.

Once charged up you now have 2 options on how to use it.  Wired or Wireless.

If you choose wired, you can just leave it plugged in, but you'll want to change the switch on the bottom to the middle spot, what looks like the power icon ⏻.

Simple

If you choose wireless, you now have 2 more options.

Using RF 2.4GHz take out the little dongle it has hidden away on its undercarriage and plunk that into your laptop.  This time you'd move the switch on the underside to the top spot, what looks like the antenna icon 📡.  Again, for me without a USB-A port, I'd have to use the adapater with the dongle and... for me that just looks silly.


Alternatively, you can switch it to Bluetooth and then just pair it up with your device.

Either method was super simple to use.

I've had it using Bluetooth for ... probably about 5 hours of use so far and no indication of it needing to be charged yet.  Funny, there used to be a % rating on the control panel of my Pixelbook - but I can't see it anymore, it just says connected.

It works just fine, just like you'd expect a mouse to.  The buttons for left/right click, middle click, the mouse wheel scrolls just enough without going crazy, the incremental little rollers aren't annoying.  It's comfy.

It has back/forward thumb buttons which I love and wonder how I ever used mice in the past without them, but they're just slightly a little high for me for that back to bend my thumb backwards enough, so I kinda just tap it with my thumb's joint.

If you want to adjust the sensitivity, it's the DPI button on the underside.  Tapping it cycles through from turtle sluggish to adderol jackrabbit speeds.  It takes some finding to figure out what option you like (there are 4 speeds to pick through.  I would have rathered to have that option on the top of the mouse instead of underside, but it's a smaller mouse.  Plus, once you have it you should just leave it where you want it.

But wait, there's more.

First, let's play with how it lights up.

In the manual it shows how to change the lighting cycle modes.


Just hold the "DPI" button underneath and then pick another button.  Cool.

Then there are the other accessories.

Don't like the side buttons, well you have 2 extra colour options to plunk in instead.


Pinkish or Greenish.

Mix and match for like 9 options.

Lastly are replacement pieces.  You have replacement 'feet pads' and then 2 electrical component looking things.


These are replacement switches so that if you wear out the buttons shooting up the baddies you can do your own surgery and it'll be like new again.


That should save you having to buy a new mouse all over again!

Bet you there aren't many other mice that offer that for you.  Break a button... buy a new one.  ROG understands these things are going to be used repetitively, so awesome that they can just be swapped out by the user (YAY right to repair!).

Overall, $130 seems like a lot for a mouse, but besides being a good mouse it has a lot of options to customize plus that thinking ahead of spare parts should be a real clincher that this is a mouse you need.

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