ROG Keris Wireless Gaming Mouse Review

INTRODUCTION

ASUS Republic of Gamers recently dropped a bomb with their ROG Falchion, earning a lot of positive reviews from tech reviewers for making a 65% wireless keyboard for both enthusiast and gamers alike. Now, they also listened to the request of some gamers who have smaller hands like me, thus creating a wireless gaming mouse intended for small to medium hand size gamers who are probably Asian and naming their product as the ROG Keris wireless.

UNBOXING

SPECIFICATIONS

PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES

• Keris wireless mouse
• 2m paracord cable
• 2.4ghz receiver
• Extra PTFE skates
• Electropunk and gray side button replacement
• 2pcs Omron Japan switches
• Stickers
• Manual

DESIGN, LAYOUT & BUILD QUALITY

The ROG Keris wireless gaming mouse has a solid build quality despite having 79g of weight since most lightweight gaming mice have holes punched on the body to reduce their weight and sometimes sacrificing build quality. The shape is a small-medium ergonomic, intended or rather compatible with most Asian hands since we have a smaller-medium hand size. In addition, it is one of the sleekest ergonomic mice out in the market, having a 54mm grip width.

As for the Left/Right mouse button, they incorporated a PBT material to ensure gamers a better grip than the typical ABS material. Often do you see mice with shiny left and right clickers because of the human oil being naturally secreted in our hands.

Underneath the mouse, you can see 4 PTFE feet which are quite sharp and not rounded as other PTFE feet out there. It has also a switch to change from wired to 2.4ghz or if you want to pair it with your mobile device, you can use its Bluetooth function. Also, you can see a little hole underneath where you can put the 2.4ghz receiver when not in use.

PERFORMANCE

The ROG Keris wireless is almost perfect when it comes to performance. No jitter or delays while in wireless mode, the only problem I’ve encountered is the software update. It is sometimes buggy and not responding properly.

SENSOR

The ROG Keris wireless is equipped with the Pixart PAW3335 sensor, which is now commonly seen in wireless gaming mice since it a low-powered sensor but it’s quite decent in terms of performance. As you can see in the graph, the polling rate is still consistent most of the time (1000hz) testing.

CONNECTIVITY

The ROG Keris wireless has a Tri-connection option. You can either use it in wired mode (why would you?), 2.4ghz wireless (less latency than BT), or BT mode (mobile/laptop or PC). I highly suggest using it with the receiver it came with rather than bluetooth to attain more stability and less latency.

ERGONOMICS AND COMFORT

When it comes to ergonomics, it is very subjective on how you grip your mouse. This is actually made for those people with small to medium hands who are having a hard time looking for an ergo wireless mice since most are too big for us with smaller to medium hand sizes. You can either use a claw grip or a palm grip with the ROG Keris wireless.

SOFTWARE & LIGHTING

The ASUS Armoury crate is still quite buggy sometimes. It often requires you to update the device even if you just plugged it now for the first time. It somewhat forces you to update your peripherals before you can even use the Armoury crate itself.

First tab is the button. You can reassign keys here except for the left button. You can disable some buttons also if you keep on accidentally pressing it like the side buttons.

The second tab is the most important of all, it’s all about performance. Here, you can change the DPI up to 16000 (which no one can use I think). Also here, you can set the polling rate from 125hz up to 1000hz and the button response rate which is also known as the debounce time. I suggest testing what debounce time you are comfortable with because sometimes when you set it to the lowest, you can experience some double-clicking issues. The last setting (angle snapping) should be always turned off to avoid acceleration.

For the last 3 tabs, it’s just all about lighting (RGB), calibrating the lift-off distance, and checking the battery power with lighting alert.

ARMOURY CRATE

CONCLUSION

So as for our final recommendation / conclusion, I can say that ASUS ROG outdid themselves with this ROG Keris wireless. It has a flagship specs but priced competitively. Retailed at only 4,400 pesos from a local store (Softbox Solutions), this is definitely a must-have gaming mouse from ASUS if you have a small to medium hands. In addition, the exclusive push-switch sockets will come in handy when your mouse switches fail you in time. You can easily replace it with no hassle and you need not replace your mouse skates since the screw hole underneath is not inside the mouse feet. It can support any switches you like (TTC, Kailh GM series, Huano or the included Omron Japan).

I tested the ROG Keris wireless in MOBA particularly in League of Legends and also in Valorant, it surprised me with its performance. It can track well on my Tiger Longteng SE, using 800 dpi and in 2.4ghz wireless mode. Also, the battery performance is quite good if you don’t turn on the LED, it can stay up to 1 week with 8 hours of daily use.

To sum it up, if you have a small/medium hands and you want an ergonomic wireless mouse, then the ROG Keris wireless is really for you although it’s quite narrow on the sides. If your current gaming mouse gives you cramps because it’s a little big for your hands, then try the ROG Keris wireless, you won’t be disappointed with this.