Most ultra-lightweight mice sacrifice pointless choices, akin to RGB lighting and Bluetooth connectivity, to shave off a gram or two. Nevertheless Asus’ newest ROG Keris II Ace mouse has every of these choices, along with as a lot as 4,000 Hz wi-fi polling (8,000 Hz wired), and it nonetheless manages to be lighter than most of its opponents.
Designed to compete with the best gaming mice, the Asus ROG Keris II Ace is an ultra-lightweight wi-fi gaming mouse that weighs merely 1.9 ounces (54g). It’s the ergonomic counterpart to the Asus ROG Harpe Ace Objective Lab Model, and it choices Asus’ 42,000 DPI ROG AimPoint Skilled optical sensor, 5 programmable buttons (seven programmable controls, along with scroll up/down), and as a lot as a 4,000 Hz wi-fi polling payment and an 8,000 Hz wired polling payment with the included ROG Polling Cost Booster. The Keris II Ace is available on the market now, in every black and white, for $159.99, which is expensive nevertheless on par with completely different firms’ flagship ultra-lightweight gaming mice.
Design and Comfort of the Keris II Ace
The Keris II Ace is an ergonomic, right-handed ultra-lightweight wi-fi gaming mouse with 5 programmable buttons, along with the scroll wheel click on on. It’s out there in two colorways: black and “moonlight white,” or white with mild gray accents.
The Keris II Ace is an ultra-lightweight gaming mouse, and it’s positively very mild, weighing merely 1.9 ounces (54g) with out gear. That is comparable as Asus’ symmetrical ultra-lightweight mouse, the ROG Harper Ace Aim Lab Edition and Razer’s newest symmetrical ultra-lightweight mouse, the Viper V3 Pro. It’s lighter than every the symmetrical Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 (2.12oz / 60g) and my favorite ergonomically-shaped ultra-lightweight mouse, the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro (2.22oz / 63g).
It’s on the shorter aspect, measuring 4.76 inches (121mm) prolonged, 2.64 inches (67mm) huge, and 1.65 inches (42mm) extreme — but it surely certainly’s nonetheless designed primarily for people with on the very least medium-sized fingers. It’s wider and taller than the ROG Harpe Ace Objective Lab Model (5.01 x 2.51 x 1.56 inches / 126.5 x 63.7 x 39.6mm) and the DeathAdder V3 Skilled is greater all through (5 x 2.67 x 1.73 inches / 128 x 68 x 44mm).
It feels wonderful — though I’ll admit it’s pretty powerful for a mouse this mild to essentially really feel like… numerous one thing. The suitable-handed type is pretty pronounced, with a fairly extreme left-side hump. It’s housed in a slightly-textured matte nylon chassis that feels premium and wouldn’t get too slippery (though the sides are grooved for additional grip — and, in spite of everything, there’s the non-compulsory grip tape). Asus’ ROG eye model is printed in mild gray on the palm rest, and the mouse’s solely RGB zone is found inside the textured rubber scroll wheel.
The mouse has 5 programmable buttons: left click on on, correct click on on, two thumb buttons, and the clickable scroll wheel. You may too program scroll up/down (not technically buttons) using Asus’ peripheral software program program Armoury Crate. There are two further buttons on the underside (DPI change and pairing) along with an affect change, nevertheless they aren’t programmable.
The Keris II Ace comes with 4 small 100% PTFE mouse toes, which work properly — that could be a significantly lightweight mouse, and I didn’t have any factors with glide in my testing (significantly not on my favorite glass mouse pad). Nevertheless when you’d like one factor even smoother, Asus does embrace greater substitute mouse toes, very similar to the toes on the Razer Viper V3 Pro.
The mouse comes with quite a few gear inside the area: a 6.5-foot paracord-style USB-C to USB-A cable, non-compulsory pre-cut grip tape, and greater substitute PTFE mouse toes. Together with the grip tape and the substitute toes to the mouse brings its weight as a lot as 2.01oz (57g), which continues to be solidly inside the ultra-lightweight class. It moreover comes with the mouse’s 2.4GHz wi-fi USB-A dongle (saved on the underside of the mouse), along with Asus’ ROG Polling Cost Booster and a USB extender.
Specs
Sensor Model | ROG AimPoint Skilled Optical Sensor |
Max Sensitivity | 42,000 DPI |
Max Tempo (IPS) | 750 IPS |
Max Acceleration | 50G’s |
Polling Costs | 4,000 Hz wi-fi 8,000 Hz wired |
Programmable Buttons | 5 |
LED Zones | 1 |
Cable | USB-A to USB-C |
Connectivity | 2.4GHz wi-fi, Bluetooth, wired (USB-C) |
Measurements (L x W x H) | 4.76 x 2.64 x 1.65 inches / 121 x 67 x 42mm |
Weight (excluding cable) | 1.9oz / 54g |
MSRP / Price at Time of Consider | $159.99 / $159.99 |
Launch Date | Row 12 – Cell 1 |
Effectivity of the Keris II Ace
The Keris II Ace sports activities actions Asus’s ROG AimPoint Skilled optical sensor, which has a most sensitivity of 42,000 DPI, a most velocity of 750 IPS, and will take care of as a lot as 50Gs of acceleration. That’s positively the most effective DPI I’ve seen on a gaming mouse, nevertheless needless to say DPI wouldn’t really suggest rather a lot by itself, and that the majority avid avid gamers aren’t going to go above 4,000 DPI, to not point out get wherever shut to 1 factor like 10,000. It’s a great optical sensor that tracked on every flooring I tried it on — along with glass (every a glass mouse pad and an exact glass desk) — with near-perfect accuracy and precision, and it’s on par with the top-of-the-line sensors you’ll uncover in practically every completely different premium flagship mice.
The mouse moreover choices Asus’ ROG Optical Micro Switches, which can be rated for 100 million clicks. They’re correctly clicky and actually fixed. They’re about as loud as Razer’s current optical mouse switches, if a bit deeper-sounding, and they also’re a bit crisper and quieter than the Logitech Lightforce hybrid optical switches on the G Pro Superlight 2.
Gaming with the Keris II Ace was unbelievable: the mouse is so lightweight that it quickly begins feeling like an extension of your arm. The 100% PTFE mouse toes provide an excellent simple glide — the substitute toes are even smoother — and the mouse is nearly unattainable to not select up, it weighs so little. The primary mouse buttons have flippantly contoured grooves to keep up your fingers in place, and the thumb buttons are well-positioned and I had no factors clicking them. The Keris II Ace is smaller than numerous its opponents — it’s smaller than the DeathAdder V3 Skilled in all options — not by fairly a bit, nevertheless it’s. I’ve medium-sized fingers and prolonged fingers, so I haven’t bought factors with greater mice, but it surely certainly’s good to see some variance in measurement.
If you’re looking out for an ultra-lightweight mouse to take you via aggressive eSports and FPS video video games, the Keris II Ace is it. I’ll admit I nonetheless barely favor the DeathAdder V3 Skilled’s type — that mouse is rattling cozy — nevertheless the Keris II Ace’s lighter weight (54g vs the DeathAdder V3 Skilled’s 63g) locations the two on pretty even footing. The Keris II Ace moreover has quite a few additional choices over the DeathAdder V3 Skilled, akin to Bluetooth connectivity and RGB lighting. Constructive, avid avid gamers who’re solely captivated with velocity, latency, and effectivity won’t care if a mouse lacks Bluetooth connectivity, but it surely certainly’s a nice operate to have (significantly in case you don’t even must give up points like weight or battery life).
Choices and Software program program of the Keris II Ace
The Keris II Ace is configurable using Asus’ widespread peripheral software program program, Armoury Crate. Armoury Crate just isn’t my favorite peripheral software program program, nevertheless the Keris II Ace is a fairly simple mouse — so configuring it’s not too troublesome. You must use Armoury Crate to program the mouse’s 7 programmable controls (it is best to program on the very least one with the primary click on on function, however), modify DPI steps and effectivity settings, customise (or flip off) the one RGB lighting zone, calibrate the mouse for various surfaces, and configure a handful of vitality settings.
You’ll be capable to program the mouse’s buttons to do a wide range of points using Armoury Crate’s dropdown menus — perform mouse, keyboard, or multimedia options; run macros or House home windows shortcuts; and take screenshots or enter strings of textual content material. There’s a macro recorder in Armoury Crate (but it surely certainly’s separate from the gadget you’re programming). Throughout the effectivity tab, you might modify the mouse’s DPI and alter the default DPI steps (4 steps), change the mouse’s polling payment, modify angle tuning and toggle angle snapping.
Armoury Crate has various gamer-friendly choices akin to “state of affairs profiles” (profiles that launch with specific video video games or apps) and Aura Sync for syncing lighting all through various peripherals. For in all probability essentially the most half you’ll have to run Armoury Crate inside the background to reap the advantages of those gaming choices, nevertheless the mouse does have onboard storage with room for as a lot as 5 hardware-based profiles.
Wi-fi Experience & Battery Lifetime of the Keris II Ace
Like many of the best wireless mice, the Keris II Ace choices three forms of connectivity: 2.4GHz wi-fi, Bluetooth, and wired (by means of USB-C). This already makes it significantly distinctive, as Bluetooth connectivity is the very very first thing most ultra-lightweight mice ditch — Bluetooth is just too high-latency for gaming; it’s only a consolation operate for avid avid gamers who can also want to use their mouse for non-gaming features, or whereas touring. The mouse can hook up with as a lot as three Bluetooth models concurrently on excessive of its 2.4GHz wi-fi or wired connection.
The mouse will get as a lot as a 4,000 Hz polling payment over 2.4GHz wi-fi, if the dongle is linked to the included ROG Polling Cost Booster. The ROG Polling Cost Booster is a USB-A dongle which you could possibly plug instantly into your laptop, or which you could possibly be part of by means of USB cable. In any case, in case you’re using the included USB-C to USB-A cable, you’ll most definitely moreover need to make use of the included USB extender, which lets you plug the dongle into one aspect (USB-A) and the USB cable into the alternative aspect (USB-C), so one can find your self with a significantly chunky trio of linked dongle…kind points in your desk. It seems like this may be a bit smaller and/or further helpful, nevertheless…on the very least you might have decisions. What’s fascinating is that when you want to reap the advantages of the mouse’s non-compulsory 8,000 Hz wired polling, you’ll moreover need to connect by the ROG Polling Cost Booster. In any case, whether or not or not you need a polling payment of 8,000 Hz and even 4,000 Hz is… debatable. Nevertheless quite a few firms are offering better polling expenses now, so it’s sensible that Asus would, as properly.
Asus expenses the Keris II Ace’s battery life at 107 hours over 2.4GHz wi-fi with the lighting turned off. I assume that’s with a daily 1,000 Hz polling payment — the Keris II Ace did do job of retaining its battery life after I had the polling payment set to 4,000 Hz, principally on account of it was good at switching off routinely when not in use. Nevertheless the battery life started to drop pretty quickly as quickly as I started actually using it. Nonetheless, 107 hours over a 2.4GHz wi-fi connection is (merely) on the higher aspect of widespread.
Bottom Line
The Asus ROG Keris II Ace is an excellent mouse, although stripped-down, ultra-lightweight gaming mice with extreme polling expenses are attending to be pretty widespread recently. It’s one among many lightest ultra-lightweight gaming mice and, whereas it didn’t pretty encourage me within the an identical method as a result of the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro, it feels very, wonderful. It has a speedy, appropriate sensor, low-latency wi-fi connectivity, non-compulsory 4K/8K polling expenses, and it comes with precut grip tape and additional mouse toes inside the area.
It is usually packaged with Asus’ Polling Cost Booster, which provides it a small profit over the DeathAdder V3 Skilled — whereas the DeathAdder V3 Skilled can reap the advantages of Razer’s HyperPolling Wi-fi Dongle for an 8K wi-fi polling payment, Razer’s dongle will worth an extra $15 (if purchased bundled with the mouse) to $30 (if purchased individually). (Razer’s latest mouse, the Viper V3 Pro, does embrace the HyperPolling Wi-fi Dongle in its $160 ticket, however.)
If you’ve been looking out for a premium ultra-lightweight wi-fi gaming mouse, the Keris II Ace is an excellent choice (it’s also barely smaller than a great deal of the alternative decisions within the market, though it’s not made for small fingers) — it’s merely not the one choice (faraway from it, in reality). Glorious’ Model D 2 Pro 4K/8K is heavier (2.19 ounces / 62g) however as well as choices an ergonomic type and 4K/8K polling expenses — and it’s about $30 cheaper.
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