Corsair Raptor M45 review

Corsair’s Raptor gaming peripherals do without flashy gimmicks in favour of what matters most to players; the best possible performance at a reasonable price. The M45 is the best gaming mouse of the bunch, with customisable buttons, adjustable weights and a high-sensitivity optical sensor.

With an angular shape that creates a perfect fit for right-handed gamers and a combination of matt and rubberised plastic finishes, we were never worried about losing our grip on the M45 when gaming. It feels perfectly balanced with all three weights in place, but you can remove them individually to either lighten the mouse or move the weight to one side, based on how you like to use your mouse.

Although the Raptor series is more about performance than looks, Corsair has still added an illuminated logo on the palm rest. It’s subtle, but you can disable it if you find it at all distracting.

The tiny side buttons sit just above your thumb’s natural resting position so are always in easy reach, and you can customise what they do using Corsair’s control panel software. You can also assign functions to the scroll wheel. The wheel itself is satisfyingly firm for precise scrolling.

By default, the two buttons below the scroll wheel adjust sensitivity as high as 5,000dpi, with a set of red LEDs indicating how high you’ve pushed the sensor. At its maximum level the M45 is easily fast enough for the twitchiest of arena shooters, but importantly it’s still perfectly accurate at lower DPI levels too, thanks to the 1,000Hz USB polling rate that ensures the sensor is provided with as much data as possible as you move the mouse over your desk.

We were able to play comfortably for hours with the M45, and had no problems after weeks of daily office use either. The M45 is quick and responsive enough to help you top multiplayer leaderboards and its streamlined looks won’t look out of place in an office, and at £45 it’s excellent value. It’s a Best Buy mouse.