Travel mice can be both a blessing and a curse, especially when you’re not sure what kind of mouse you’re looking for. If you want a mouse that can travel, looks as fancy as a gamer mouse, and has ergonomic capabilities, that can be even more difficult to find. Enter the VicTsing Wireless mouse. It has the gamer look, is cordless, and can last up to 15 months on a single AA battery. Read on for our thoughts on design, versatility, and comfort.
Design: A gamer’s delight
Whoever designed the VicTsing clearly designed it to reflect a gaming mouse’s aesthetics. Most of the black shell is smooth, but the thumb rest has a grip meant for grasping. Instead of having a simple interface with the three main buttons, the VicTsing takes it to the next level. While it has the main button, a wheel button, and a right button, it also comes with a forward and back button just above the thumb rest for optimal internet surfing. In the center of the mouse is a CPI button. This button can be used to swap between CPI settings ranging from: 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, and 2400. The nano transceiver can be secured at the bottom of the mouse, where it has its own little place to be stored and removed as needed. This makes for easier travel, as it’s harder to lose the nano USB adapter once it’s been stuck in there. This little transceiver also makes it great for both laptops and PCs alike; because it’s so tiny, it only usurps one USB port, leaving others open for flash drives and charging that phone’s low battery. The mouse also comes with a complimentary mousepad, complete with smooth stitched edges. It’s a plain black mousepad, allowing for versatility both in the home for a gaming system, in an office setting, or even on the go for a meeting out of town. A nice perk to the pad is that while it has a silicone bottom grip, it’s also washable. The main issue we ran into with the design is that it’s so large that it might be hard to shove into a carry-on. It doesn’t fold, so what you see with the dimensions of 4.06 x 2.76 x 1.54 inches (LWH) is really what you’re paying for. If you’re short on luggage space, look elsewhere for a mouse.
Setup Process: Simple to start
Setting up the VicTsing is really simple. Firstly, it will need a AA battery, which unfortunately isn’t included. Insert the battery on the bottom of the mouse. Remove the nano transceiver from the bottom of the mouse and plug it into either your laptop or PC’s USB port. It comes with plug and play software, meaning that all you have to do is plug it in. Within moments, it will register movements from the mouse onto the monitor. Finally, if you choose to utilize the mousepad, stick it under the mouse and you’ll be ready to surf the web.
Performance: Minor issues came to light
One of the first aspects of the VicTsing we noticed was the CPI button. Normally, this would grind our gears—after all, accidentally hitting this in-game could alter mouse CPI speeds and mean the difference between your character’s life and death. Looking at the mouse from an office perspective, though, the CPI button takes on an entirely different, and positive, light. If you’re working in Photoshop or Lightroom and need to alter digital images, the CPI button comes in handy, as you’re able to swap between speeds to get that vacation photo just right once you’re in the final editing stages. The first two stages left us bumping the sensitivity up to higher levels, as it was painstakingly slow for our tastes. However, those who need a low CPI for office purposes will really like being able to shift back and forth between low and high rather than having to alter it under the Control Panel every time. Our biggest gripe about the VicTsing mouse isn’t with the mouse itself. The mouse pad promises anti-slip grips thanks to a silicon base, but it doesn’t specifically state the effects the pad has on the mouse. As we shifted between CPIs and surfed the web (and played some games, because why not), we noticed that the mouse was still really slow. It wasn’t the sensitivity settings on our PCs and laptops, since we had catered those settings to our previous mouse and it was fairly high. Naturally, we altered it the easiest way we could think of—we removed the mouse pad. Immediately, we saw results. The CPI registered on the mouse reflected on-screen, and we cruised through our office projects with ease. For those who like a mouse with high sensitivity, the 2400 CPI will do wonders for you. Combined with the scrolling buttons next to the mouse and the two polling rates, the VitTsing is a gem. One thing to keep in mind though with the polling rates is that the more hertz (Hz) the polling rate uses, the more CPU the mouse requires. While we didn’t experience any issues with this, if you’re running on an older machine, you might experience some polling issues on the higher, 250Hz setting, especially when coupled with its 2.4GHz transmissions. It’s a small, useful mouse that could pack a potentially negative punch on older machines.
Comfort: Amazing for the hands
The designers of the VicTsing really hit the ball out of the park with this mouse. Over the span of 30 hours, three of those being eight-hour office days, our right hand felt comfortable and didn’t cramp up at all with extended usage. In terms of comfort, this was our favorite travel mouse we tested, as the mouse has grooves designed for even the smaller fingers on the right hand. Our only beef with the comfort is that it’s completely unusable for left-handed folks, thus limiting the market.
Battery Life: Solid overall
Because it’s a newer, 2017 release, we expected lithium-ion batteries that would last for eons in this mouse. To our surprise, it relies on an AA battery that’s capable of up to 15 months of wear and tear. This is good battery life, especially when considering other, older brand models can only promise up to six months of battery life. While we obviously didn’t test it for 15 months, the VicTsung was still going strong when we finished testing.
Price: A steal
At around $12, this mouse really nails it. It combines amazing features that can be seen in fancier models with a price point and a guaranteed 5 million clicks lifespan. There are other, simpler models out there that cost more. This model, however, is one we could live with.
VicTsing Wireless Mouse vs. Sabrent Mini Travel Mouse
The Sabrent mouse also doesn’t have the internet scrolling buttons like the VicTsing sports near the thumb rest, which could be a dealbreaker for some. If size and portability are an issue, we recommend going with the Sabrent. However, if you would prefer a fancier design and really don’t want a cord, then we recommend going with the VicTsing. Initially, we were turned off by the VicTsing mouse’s lack of ambidextrous capabilities. However, in combining cost, optimal CPI settings, and comfort, this is by far the best deal on the market. While we wouldn’t include the mouse pad in the future, it’s a nice, thoughtful touch to completing a traveler’s potential work needs.
