Hands-on with PROLiNK"s Hesperus and Xanthinus gaming mice - VR

Yesterday at a media event held at Clarke Quay in the sweltering heat of Singapore, long-time IT equipment vendor PROLiNK unveiled its latest line of bat-themed gaming peripherals, as well as their collaboration with local gaming mousepad specialist Barracuda Technologies. We go hands-on with some of their latest offerings…

First up is PROLiNK’s flagship gaming mice – Hesperus (“evening star”). Built for right-handed homo sapiens, the mouse is loaded with a slew of features usually found on high end offerings from the likes of Logitech, SteelSeries and Razer – including an adjustable weight cartridge system, braided cable with gold-plated USB connector and teflon mouse feet (an additional set is included in the package). All these ingredients help to ensure longevity and and consistency during extended gaming sessions when the stakes and emotions are running high.

From the top of the Hesperus, we see a glossy plastic shell with rubber coatings at the sides, which I personally feel is a tad gaudy (one of our writers thinks it looks like “Darth Vader’s helmet”). A typical 5-button system (left/right/center and two at the sides) is deployed here, with no major complaints about its ergonomics for palm-grip gamers. The “4D” scroll-wheel also has additional button relays on its sides to allow for horizontal input.

Two minature buttons on the in the middle controls the active DPI (four steps, defaults to 800/1600/2400/3200) and profile mode respectively. The bundled software utility can be used to redefine button/dpi assignments which will then be saved onto the persistent onboard memory of the mouse. This eliminates the need to install software/drivers when you are playing somewhere else (for instance, at a LAN venue).

 

At the bottom of the rodent, we see the compartment for the six pellet weights under a spring loaded cover. The laser sensor is positioned right in the middle, which some mouse aficionados say can help avoid unwanted Z-axis issues.

 

Inside the mouse, we observe the use of Japanese-made Omron switches for the primary left-right buttons and a TTC mechanical encoder scroll wheel, augmented by the best in class Avago ADNS-9800 laser sensor (1000Hz polling, 8200dpi) for high precision across various hard/cloth mouse surfaces and sensitivities.

 

During a quick test of the Hesperus, we found no anamolies with its stated technical qualities and no pesky mouse prediction behaviour when attempting to draw straight lines. Real world in-game performance with CS:GO and BF3 was good as well, with this reviewer still topping the frag charts as usual.

 

In a bid to differentiate itself from the competition, the company also shared details about its custom skinning services for buyers who wants a personalized mouse design.

 

Overall, we found PROLiNK’s first foray into the local gaming peripherals market to be promising. The Hesperus (SGD$109) has a rubberized counterpart in Xanthinus (SGD$89), which uses the same laser setup but forgoes the weights system. Also on show at the event was the Nivatis mousepad (developed in collaboration with Barracuda) and the TRON-inspired Volaris LED backlit keyboard.

Hands-on with PROLiNK"s Hesperus and Xanthinus gaming mice - VR