ASUS Cerberus Gaming Mouse Review

Named for the Greek mythological multi-headed hound guarding the gates of the underworld and joining the company’s existing Cerberus headsets. ASUS’ new Cerberus gaming peripherals cover the three basics: a keyboard, a mouse, and a mouse mat, each featuring aggressive imagery and a dedicated Cerberus logo. The Cerberus product line is ASUS’ answer for budget oriented gamers.

FEATURES

The ASUS Cerberus gaming mouse has a dedicated DPI button that enables switching among four customizable sensitivity levels which is indicated by a convenient LED indicator through its logo. The mouse has an ambidextrous design to fit both right & left handed gamers and to accommodate different grip types. Both sides of the mouse are equipped with rubber side grips to reduce slipping from sweat.

Specifications

• Connectivity Technology
  • Wired
• Tracking
  • Optical
• Dimensions
  • 124.86 (L) x 68.72(W) x 40.11(H) mm
• Contents
  • 1 x Cerberus Gaming Mouse
  • 1 x Quick Start Guide
• DPI Stages
  • 4 levels (500/1000 (default)/1500/2500 DPI) with LED indicator
• Buttons
  • 5
• Shape
  • Ambidextrous shape for both right & left handed gamers
• Cable & Connector
  • 1.8m Braided Cable with gold-plated USB connector

UNBOXING

The way ASUS packed its mouse is neat and quite convenient for those who want to “test grip” the mouse before committing to buying it as the packaging holds an exposed mouse body which is protected by a plastic to prevent damage as the users try it on. Moving on to the back is the mouse’s key features presented by a pictures together with its specifications

Opening the box and you’ll find the mouse itself with the standard issue Quick Start Guide and Warranty card. There is not much to expect considering that this is a budget oriented mouse.

The mouse houses a matte black finish with some glossy accents on the side and DPI buttons. The logo has an LED illumination and it acts as an LED indicator that illuminates a certain color based on the current DPI setting. The mouse shares my opinion regarding the color choice in terms of aesthetics with the ASUS Cerberus Keyboard. Nonetheless, this is more of a personal preference and doesn’t affect performance at all.

The cable of the mouse if braided to provide some rigidity. And some minor complaint as regard to my earlier complain is lighting. While the pinkish-red color of the bottom housing of the mouse is justified as it gives a stronger red glow, few dark spots can be seen specially while gaming in the dark.

Moving on to the sides of the mouse you can see a more than usual surface area of the rubber grips. This is not bad in particular, and some of you might think that this will be a sweat magnet but sweaty palm users rejoice as the rubber grips included ain’t that greasy compared to other mic such as my personal experience with the Razer deathadder chroma. The side buttons on the other hand is a different story. While Asus did a fair job in the price-to-performance of the mouse by adding side buttons, these buttons can be irritating to the user as they are so mushy specially the 2nd side mouse button.

User Experience and Conclusion

Here’s our breakdown:

Performance. The Cerberus mouse is considerably performing well for its price range just like its keyboard counterpart. The sensor isn’t your typical mediocre sensor you’ll find on the sub 1,000 price range. Every feature that ASUS put in on here is not just pure gimmick but worth every bang for your buck.

Build Quality. The mouse, for a ₱1,000 offering is built pretty darn well considering how much features Asus has crammed in this product. The mouse itself is not that hefty like other premium gaming mice nor is it that much light compared to your standard issue A4tech or CDR-King mouse. The mouse itself is very surprisingly grease resistant. While I wipe my hand from time to time because of  the oil that my hand produces whenever I play using my deathadder, it was not the case for the Cerberus mouse. However, keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that users shouldn’t be concerned of their hygiene because of the sturdiness of the mouse.

Functionality. With all of their marketing material set aside, the Cerberus mouse’s ambidextrous design is fairly neutral. But the mouse is still catered for right hand users as ASUS decided to omit another set of side mouse buttons on the right of the keyboard as seen on most ambidextrous mice.

Bundle. Again, ASUS was able to cram as many features as it can to the Cerberus mouse. A dedicated 4 level DPI button that ramps up to 2500 DPI that you can adjust by 500DPI increments. Each DPI level indicating a different LED. As I’ve said earlier, the side buttons although underwhelming, are still a great addition in the price-to-perfomance aspect of the mouse.

Value. Priced at $20(₱ 1,060), the mouse offers a great bang for your buck and beats almost any other budget mice in the market(at least in the PH market cause availability).

To wrap it up, the Cerberus Mouse delivers solid price-to-performance. This is indeed for budget oriented Gamers who want gaming grade features at a very minimal cost. The scalloped Left & Right mouse buttons are standard when it comes to ergonomics as seen on other mice. The sensor, although not great, performs well considering the price. It has a decent tracking on some surfaces (we’ll talk about that more later) and the DPI levels are intuitively segmented with 500 level increments. As mentioned, the side mouse buttons for me are underwhelming because of its springy and mushy as I cringe every time I use it during use. The sides creak and squeak if you grip on tightly and that, combined with the highly picky sensor, makes this a bit tough to work with. But as I’ve said over and over again, the addition to the SMB is great for budget gamers out there, so if this is your first outing in gamer products, the Cerberus is a decent choice.

With ASUS backing this mouse with a 1-year warranty, B2G also backs this up with our Value Award!