Hardcore PC gamers will do anything to improve their game. Back in the day it was all about bigger monitors with higher resolutions for crystal clear detail so you can see the sweat on your opponent’s face. It was about graphics cards that tap enough power to power a small third-world country, and cost enough to settle its debt. It was about water-cooled CPU’s so you can squeeze that extra frame per second out of the silicon. But often a good mouse is the second to last item on the list of required upgrades, right before the mouse pad. But that is in the past. These days mouses (or mice, depending where you are from) are as integral to a good gaming system as everything else.

Verbatim, better known for making optical media, has jumped on board the gaming peripheral bandwagon with their Rapier V2 Gaming mouse. I assume there has been a V1 along the line, or this may be a reference to the V2 rockets from WW2. Either way, the mouse has an incredible 3200dpi laser, making it as fast as a rocket. In plain English it can track movement as fine as 3200 dots for every inch of movement. Trust me that it is very accurate. This translates into rapid and very sensitive movements of the cursor on your screen, or if you tone is down, to silky smooth movements.

Like most mouses it comes with your left click and right click buttons, as well as the now standard scroll wheel which doubles as a third button. It sports two buttons on the side of the mouse which can be assigned with its accompanying software. On the top it has an “on-the-fly” sensitivity adjustment, which is really handy if you feel the mouse is too sensitive or too sluggish for your comfort. This can also be set in the software and then saved to the mouse itself.

Like most professional equipment, the Rapier also features a weights system. No, this will not build your muscles while you play. Rather you can adjust the weight distribution of the mouse to suit you playing style. Included are 7 weights of 4.5 grams each. I felt like such an amateur as I could not tell the difference with or without any weights installed. What did make a difference though was the foot pads of the mouse which could be reversed for different playing surfaces. The smaller pads certainly were a lot smoother than the bigger ones.

Finally, the mouse fits in my relatively large hands quite nicely. After a few hours of playing both strategy games and a few shooters, there was no sign of injury. The only real complaint I have with the Rapier is the soft grips on the side of the mouse. The mouse is not tapered at the bottom and with the smooth grips it becomes real hard to pick the mouse up. With fast moving action it’s often vital to pick the mouse up and move it to the other side of the mouse pad as quickly as possible, but I often dropped the mouse. It simply has no grip!

The Rapier is a fine mouse with a great laser sensor, but the ergonomics lets it down. I will stick with my old school optical mouse for now.