Mad Catz R.A.T.9 Gaming Mouse for PC and Mac

Cyborg R.A.T. 9 Wireless Gaming Mouse for PC and MacI have the R.A.T. 9. I was cautious in getting this mouse cause of the funky batteries I can't seem to replace easily. As it turns out they are the weakest point of this mouse, but I love wireless and I hate buying batteries all the time. Now I am a heavy gamer. I tend to only get about 8-10 hours out of a battery while on a gaming spree. I did find while using it for work I can get about 2-3 days out of the battery. This is all OK because it comes with 2 batteries that charge back to full in about 2 hours. The battery is very nicely positioned I can swap mine in less then 5 seconds. Almost as quick as it takes my avatar to reload his M16. Gotta love that. The true test will be if these 2 Lithium Ion batteries will stand up to the abuse of my non stop use.Onto the software I cannot say much for the stuff that came in the box as I never use the stuff that comes in the box of any product. All that is usually good for is a coaster anyhow. I downloaded the most current software from there site. I love this software. It is simple and easy to figure out. I was simply amazed how I could seamlessly get so few buttons to do so much while playing my MMO. The multiple profiles is a great feature as well. Every game is my way. I love that. Now my old mouse did that as well but went and complicated it by making the profiles launch with the particular game I was playing. This caused so many issues I almost had to go to anger management. It takes me I think a second to change profiles as I switch games. The customization options for the laser are so very wonderful. We are not talking 1 setting here this thing can have 4 different settings with a precision button to boot. Iions cannot say enough about the simply perfect software. Its the right combination of customization and lack of system integration that makes it stay consistent and running flawlessly.Now the mouse itself. Cannot say anything bad about all the options for customization. I have mine set the way I love and my son has one set totally different for what he likes. This is the one thing that makes this mouse the best in the business. It is unrivaled in its customization options. The best thing for me is the the thumb piece moving back and forth easily. When I am playing a first person shooter I like it back a little to make the precision cursor button easier to hit. Then in MMO mode I like to move it forward so I can easily use the other buttons seamlessly. Although it is by far the ugliest piece of equipment I have on my desk it is the one thing I cannot live without now. II will not that this is my second mouse. The first one the pinky plate insert fell out but that was no issue really. As with any of my Amazon returns they made sure I got to keep my old one while I waited for the new one. Once it arrived it was bam bam out the door. The new mouse I cannot seem to see any issue so I may have just got a defective mouse. Which obviously is not effecting my review of this great product. It seems to be a very solidly and well built product. So I must say at this point this is the best mouse I have ever owned and the combination of this great mouse and Amazon's great customer service my experience has been wonderful.

I'd like to start by saying, this is the first wireless mouse i've ever had, and i was extremely skeptic. Between its steep pricetag, and wireless's inherent issues of just having general problems, the R.A.T. 9 put any doubts i had in their graves. This is by far the best wireless mouse i've ever used. There are at least half a dozen issues that i've seen in other reviews, and frankly i just dont see them.The people have said the mouse rocked/rolled when they pressed on it. I cant get my mouse to move at all by pressing in any one part, that includes the palm rest while its fully extended.I'll go over some things people have said...Twin laser mice have a problem with violent jiggling when you lift them up. Frankly, all mice have SOME tracking issues when you pick them up, but i gata say, the tracking when you lift it off is phenominal, even on high sensitivity it hardly moves, only a few pixels. I saw a review once where, when the dude clicked the mouse button, the pointer moved. I thought that was an extremely odd quirk. A couple people suggested that it could be his mouse pad or surface... But frankly i dont see that either. It was more then likely that he was jamming the mouse button too hard. Tight thumb wheel? Nope. Its actually extremely smooth. That goes for the scroll wheel as well. The only substantial complaint i've read was the battery removal. It is definitely a pain, however by fiddling with it i've found a way to remove it with neither clicking nor having grip problems. Shouldnt have to actually try, but the battery is very nice and discrete so i dont mind. Its not hard once you figure it out either. People have seen on the R.A.T.7 and have "reportedly" seen on the 9 some the jiggly palm rest. If you look around, its been stated and i confirm that its actually held on extremely well, no loose parts what so ever.As you can see, knowing people have felt it enough to have put these cons down several times, i was a bit nervous. Again, every doubt i had was shot down when i got it.Now the body of my review and my experience with it.Being a wireless mouse, you'd expect some problems with tracking, consistency, or lag. The first thing i'll tell you is no, absolutely not. This mouse is phenomenal. The fact that its wireless is non existent, in fact if you strapped a cord onto it, and told them it was wired, nobody would be the wiser.The buttons all feel pretty good. The only one i dont like is the back button on the mouse, its too far under my thumb so it feels like i wont hit it, but its there. I'll sometimes fat finger the forward button with it, but not if i'm careful. The right/left click are very nice and extremely responsive. All the buttons are easy to press, and fit well where they are. The DPI button is probably the most comfortable i've ever used as well. The new thumb wheel also deserves some special attention. Its a fantastic little perk on the mouse. You can program it to do whatever, be either a spamable move in a mmo, or to scroll through weapons.The real meat of the R.A.T. is its ability to be morphed to your most ideal palm style. I bought it to be able to experience this aspect, and i gata say, its pretty amazing. It took awhile of playing with it, but i found an extremely comfortable setup that felt very natural in my palm. It comes with multiple pinkie grips and palm rests, each have their own tactile aspect. They have a smooth plastic, rubber and raised palm rest. The smooth one feels very nice, while the rubber gives you that extra bit of grip on that end. The raised palm is well suited for people who use a claw type grip, and i've tried its also a very nice feel. There are also 3 pinkie grips, one of which is quite peculiar and has never really been done before. You have again, smooth, nice feeling plastic, gripy rubber, and the peculiar one, the pinkie rest. I tried the pinkie rest and frankly, i fell in love with it. Its pretty comfortable, and i no longer have to hover my pinkie in the air. It makes it feel like you have a true, full palm grip on the mouse. For me, it also insures that i have my hand on the mouse properly when i want to game. For the other adjustments, they are very nice. The palm rest can extend or retract to fit whatever size hand you have, or just however feels comfortable for you. I personally rest my hand pretty far back on my mice, so its nice to have a bit of support there. The thumb rest is the other mechanically adjustable piece. You can slide it to where ever your thumb rests most comfortably, and then rotate it as well to either further make it more comfortable, or the buttons more easier to press. There are also interchangeable weights inside the mouse so you can its mass.Some people will glare at the fact that it uses batteries. This of course should be a concern for any customer. I'll go ahead and say that, yes, the battery life is a mere 7-9 hours of average use. Maybe 4 days if you just left it alone. This would be a tremendous problem, except the mouse comes with 2 batteries, which completely nullifies any concerns. Between the two, you have infinite battery life for gaming. You get at least 7 hours of charge, and the battery only takes 3 hours to re charge. Another aspect of the battery though, is replacing it. Its extremely well held into the dock, where its actually tough to remove. I usually have to hold the dock down to get it out. The battery in the mouse is also a toughie. At first you'll likely mash buttons trying to get a grip on the battery. Alot of people remove the palm rest to gain full access to the battery, which makes it incredibly easy to pull. What i do is i grab the mouse by the palm rest, flip it over with my left hand, then grab the aluminum bottom with my right hand placing my thumb under the upside down thumb rest, and my index finger in the space that lets you see the weights. Then i grip the battery placing my hole thumb on it and pull it out. I can swap a battery in under 15 seconds if i really have it. The fact that this mouse has 2 batteries is its saving grace about battery life. I hardly knocked it at all. If it only had 1 however, it would get a straight zero since it does have a short individual life span.The software is definitely this mouse's weak side. There should have definitely been more options here, and some of the buttons, such as the DPI buttons and precision aim button arnt customizable. This is a big hit for MMO gamers, but not so much for the FPS community. Quite honestly, nothing beats the Razer Naga for MMO purposes though, but this will out shine the Naga for most other applications that dont need a massive array of macroable buttons. Other then its slight flaws you can do some pretty fancy customizations. For most purposes, i like having my thumb wheel as a volume control, and have the forwards and back buttons control my media. For games, i'll custom map them to things like grenades, melee, ammo types, weapons, the or whatever i feel would be best suited.Other then that, every thing is just a technical aspect, and this has it all. Customizable buttons, 5600 DPI, high response rate, the works. This mouse successfully crams everything you want into a gaming mouse, in a wireless outfit. No more cord holding you down. It looks awesome and works extremely well. The feet are smooth and keep the mouse stable, it tracks very well and the buttons are graceful to press.The only bad things i have to say about it are that the mouse MAY be a little heavy for some, even with out weights. I personally like the feel of it myself. The battery is also difficult to remove, more then it should be, but with some practice you should be able to pull it out no problems. Again, thats more work then you should have to put in however. And lastly, the forwards and back buttons, for me, i'd like to push them forward a bit more. The back button is a bit awkward but is still easily pressed.