A mouse can make all the difference in your in-game performance and is undoubtedly one of the most important peripherals for one’s PC. A good mouse is not only important for gamers but for PC users in general as well, given the fact that the mouse is the most used computer peripheral. There are a number of things to keep in mind while choosing a gaming mouse, including the sensor’s efficiency, the mouse’s ergonomics, and the presence of macro keys, to name a few. Rapoo recently launched the V26S gaming mouse in India targeting the budget segment, the segment dominated by the G402 and G102. The V26S has some flashy RGB, and an alluring design, but does it perform equally good as well? Let’s find out.

Rapoo V26S USB Gaming Mouse

Detailed Review

Design & Comfort

The Rapoo V26S is a pretty large mouse, and perfect for users with medium to large sized hands and those who prefer a palm grip. The V26S has an illuminated webbed design on top, along with the VPRO branding. At the sides, we have the rubberized grip, similar to what we saw in the V600 Gamepad. The rubberized grips are pretty well placed and improves the grip significantly while using the mouse.

On the left-hand side, we have the macro keys, which are placed towards the upper edge of the mouse. The macro keys are a bit weirdly placed for people with claw grips, but people with palm grips won’t face any issues as such. Though Rapoo claims that the mouse has an ambidextrous design, the macro key’s placement is much better suited for right-handed users, and left-handed users will definitely face issues.

The mouse features a fabric coated wire which ensures that the 2m wire long wire doesn’t get entangled quickly. The mouse scroll-wheel has a rubberized grip around it as well which adds an aesthetic virtue to it, apart from making the scroll wheel significantly efficient. Just below the scroll wheel, we have the DPI button which can be used to cycle through the various DPI ranges.

Performance & Features

The V26S is a pretty great mouse as far as ergonomics and comfort are concerned, but as soon as we get down to the mouse’s performance, some issues start popping up. First, let’s talk about the most important element of a gaming mouse, i the sensor. Rapoo claims that the mouse supports 14 DPI including a range values from 500 to 7000 DPI and has a tracking speed of 80 is. Out of the box, the Rapoo V26S doesn’t support up to 7000 DPI and we had to download the software from the website to select the various DPI options.

The mouse’s sensor is pretty decent and we faced nearly no issues with it, except a few rare cases where the mouse didn’t record quick swipes properly. This is, mainly due to the presence of positive acceleration on the mouse, but it is rarely much of an issue. We tried fast-paced games like CS: GO, PUBG, and Rainbow Six Siege with the mouse and we were impressed by the mouse’s performance, given that it is a budget gaming mouse.

Coming to the software, the software is pretty well equipped even though the UI is a bit junky. The software allows users to change a wide array of settings, as per their needs. There are a number of customizable LED effects to choose from, including cycling multi-color mode, breathing mode, constant color mode, intelligent spectrum cycling mode and apm breathing cycling mode. The main tab allows users to select the range of DPIs which they can cycle through using the DPI button, as it can cycle through only up to 7 DPI options at a time. Apart from that, users can also change the Windows pointer rate, USB reporting rate (or polling rate, to 125/250/500/1000 Hz) and the Windows Scroll wheel rate setting.

The most striking feature of the Rapoo V26S is the presence of onboard memory for storing different configurations. Given the price range of the mouse, this is not something we expected to be present in the mouse. Users can save up to 5 profile configurations and cycle through them via the software itself. Users can also manually configure macro keys for each game using the software. What’s more interesting that user can customize the pre-assigned keys as per their preference as well. The flexibility Rapoo provides with the V26S Gaming Mouse is a feature rarely seen in mouse priced at this range, and it definitely gives it an edge over other mice in the price range.

Verdict

If you are looking for a budget gaming mouse, the V26S Gaming Mouse from Rapoo is undoubtedly one of the best choices at this price range, along with the G402. The V26S comes packed with a load of more features, and has a better and more versatile design as compared to G402, and the G402 only boasts a slightly better sensor than the V26S but lacks in rest of the departments.