Ladies and gentlemen I am glad to say that there is still room for some innovation in the gaming peripheral industry, to prove my point, today I will be reviewing the Gamdias Zeus, a mouse that has a few features that will probably set it apart from the competition, this is particularly good to see from a newcomer company such as Gamdias.
If you don't know Gamdias I don't blame you, they have been designing and producing all different sorts of gaming peripherals since 2012, because of that a few rookie mistakes are to be expected, here's a bit of information from their website:
"GAMDIAS Technology was founded 2012. Not only do we aim to set the bar for quality and practicality, we also go above and beyond with our designs to enhance your gaming experience. GAMDIAS products will continue to impress on design and practicality, supporting our motto “Gaming Art in Motion.” We will continue to invest heavily on designs, transcending GAMDIAS products to an artistic pantheon."
Starting with the packaging as always, you will find the Zeus enclosed in a very stylish and informative white box, as you can see in the pictures above and below, Gamdias as nailed it in that department, the box is tough and durable and it also has all the necessary information and features concerning the product.
Upon opening the box and removing all the plastic protections you will be greeted by a cool looking card with some more info about the Zeus, a quick installation guide, the mouse itself and two stickers with the Zeus logo.
For all the required software and drivers you will need to visit Gamdias website as no optical disk comes included.
The mouse presents itself in a matte black that works well in keeping fingerprints away, aside from that you will notice that the visual design has a futuristic feel to it and may actually be a bit too much for some people, personally I find the Zeus attractive and good looking with all the different shapes and LED colors.
Unfortunately most of the mouse construction is plastic, gaming mice these days have a thin rubberized surface that improves grip and comfort, the Zeus main problem is exactly that, because all the construction is plastic, the mouse feels a bit cheap and awkward in your hand.
The Zeus has your typical weight calibration system, 11 programmable buttons, a laser sensor that can go up to 8200DPI, 512kb of onboard memory and a decent braided cable, nothing too out of the ordinary.
What really sets this product from Gamdias apart from the competition is the "Grip Calibration Area", underneath the Zeus you will find three small scroll wheels that can be easily rotated to adjust the spots where your fingertips should ideally rest, basically this means that the width of the mouse can be altered according to your personal preference.
Testing the "Grip Calibration Area" in several different games, from shooters like Killing Floor to MMO's like Guild Wars 2, I gotta say that the three small wheels really make a difference. If you're like me and prefer a wider resting area for your hand when playing MMO's and RTS's you got it, on the other hand if you prefer a thinner surface that will not get in your way when shooting some bad dudes, then you can also adjust the Zeus for that. All in all this adjustable grip area is something that sets this product apart and almost makes up for some of the rookie mistakes made by Gamdias.
The software provided by Gamdias while not extremely intuitive was at least functional and most importantly allowed you to configure everything about the Zeus.
Final Thoughts
While the Gamdias Zeus is far from a perfect product, it certainly has most of the features that a modern day gaming peripheral should have, programmable buttons, a weight tunning system, adjustable DPI, on-board memory and a braided cable among others.
What really sets the Zeus apart though is the adjustable grip area, with it Gamdias really distinguishes itself from the competition and makes the Zeus an interesting gaming solution for people with both big or small hands .
The issues I had with this product were mainly the steep price ($100 on Newegg) and the plastic surface, hopefully in the future Gamdias will fix these issues and deliver us even more innovative features.
The Good
-"Grip Calibration Area"
-11 Programmable buttons
-Weight tuning system
-Braided cable
-On-Board memory
-Adjustable DPI (up to 8200)
The Bad
-Expensive
-Lack of rubberized surface
Oy, this mouse looks really funky and cool! Want it now!!!!!!!
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