Taken from the ancient Roman and Greek word for owl, Strix means the keenest hearing and sharpest eyesight. Strix means feeling your environment so that you detect and react to the slightest movement. Strix means survival on the very edge of instinct.
The Strix Product line debuted last Sep 2, 2014 with the release of the ASUS R9 285 STRIX. Strix is a new gaming brand from ASUS that targets performance-to-premium segment.For graphics cards it will both replace some standard DirectCU II models with additional features, as well as offer an alternative in both style and features to ROG’s pre-overclocked, or hybrid cooled graphics hardware. At the very high-end, as the premium brand ROG will remain king – with its Matrix, MARS and ARES graphics cards leading the performance crown.
FEATURES
Strix Claw is an optical gaming mouse with up to 5000 DPI, adjustable in increments as low as 50 DPI. There’s even a DPI clutch button that lets serious snipers reduce the DPI instantly for super-accurate aiming. An LED indicator shows the current DPI status. The Strix Claw packs high-quality Japanese-made Omron® D2F-01F switches for smoother click-action, keeping those pinkies happy, and inside it’s a clever mouse, packing 64KB of memory so it can remember software customizations.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Connector: Gold-plated USB connector
- Sensor: PMW3310DH-AWQT
- Switches: Japan-made Omron D2F-01F
- Frames per second: 6500 fps
- Inches per second: 130 ips
- Counts per inch: MAX. 5000cpi
- Maximum acceleration: 30g
- Lift distance: TYP. 3mm
- Maximum polling: 1000Hz
- Dimensions: 122.55 x 71.75 x 45.25 (mm)
- Operating system: Windows 10/8.x/7/XP
- Special features:
Hardware mode – this mode doesn’t require the strix software to be installed and using this automatically switches the DPI level to the second one.
Software mode – provides easy adjustments on the driver’s interface - Weight: 110g (without cable)
- Cable: 2m
PACKAGING
The front of the box contains an image of their Strix owl and a Photo of its mouse with the highlights of its features namely 5000 DPI optical sensor, Agile DPI control & Designed for all grip styles. At the back are labels of the mouse and a more detailed specification of the product.
When the front of the box is flipped open, you”ll see the Strix Claw mouse covered by protective see thru plastic. At the left is a more detailed description of its 3 key features.
When the packaging is opened you have a paper packaging containing the following
- VIP Member Warranty Notice
- Quick Start Guide
- Installer Disc
- Strix Logo Sticker
- Mouse Feet Replacement
I must say, hands down Asus for including an extra mouse feet. Not all
gaming brands include some actual pretty useful stuff ( *coughs* CDs).
The Strix Claw Dark Edition is coated with matte black finish across all sides. However, in the standard edition, the sides of the mouse has a grey finish instead of black.The logo is illuminated with a breathing Orange LED together with the Claw Stripe and the Scroll Wheel which has no animation.
The Strix Logo, Scroll wheel and the Claw mark are illuminated with an Orange LED which is the color theme of Strix products. The Strix Logo has a native breathing animation. The fade goes faster as the mouse turns idle.
The Body of the mouse is fairly large with the left side button area being larger resulting for the middle area to have a somehow unusual pointy curve highlighting the 2 Fast switch DPI buttons. This shape accommodates users of different grips specially hybrid ones. The right mouse button has a deep curve to allow your middle finger to rest more comfortably specially for palm type grips.
On the top-middle area of the mouse as I’ve mentioned are the 2 Fast switch DPI buttons which is capable of cycling between 4 levels. The current DPI level is indicated through the claw LED on the upper left are of the mouse. No LED light represent the lowest level and adds 1 more claw stripe LED per increase until you reach the 4th level which has the 3 claw stripes are illuminated. The DPI level is set to the 3rd level by default.
The cable of the Strix Claw is braided to prevent tangling with a length of 2m. At the of the cable is the Gold-plated USB connector.
Strix Software
The software is pretty decent and straightforward. It allows you to configure each button of the Strix Claw together with its sensitivity level and the Polling Rate of the optical sensor. It also allows you to calibrate the mouse for two types of Strix mouse pads that are available – the Strix Glide Control and the Strix Glide Speed – or you can manually calibrate it for your specific mouse pad. The software also features profile customization with its own unique settings.
The First Section allows you to configure each button of the mouse. You can assign different commands such as a Windows shortcut, a multimedia command or your pre-configured macro.
The Performance tab allows you to set different DPI sensitivities for each DPI Stages for the mouse. You can also adjust the mouse’s Polling Rate(Response Time) as well as the Surface calibration I mentioned earlier.
The Lighting Tab just allows you to turn on or off the lighting on your mouse.
The Macro Section allows you to create macros that you can bind to any button of the mouse.
User Experience and Conclusion
To test whether the mouse is a hit or miss, we tested it on three games with that requires fast response times and a ton of mouse movement namely DOTA 2, Battlefield 4 and Star Wars: Battlefront. While playing DOTA 2, I was able to play comfortable as this was the first game I tested after switching from my Razer Deathadder. I am a quickcast user in DOTA 2 and I must say that the mouse helped in improve my overall reaction speed, I am able to keep pace against enemy movements which greatly increased my APM( Actions Per Minute).
In Battlefield 4, my gameplay also increased thanks to its Omron mouse switches. The force required to register a click and the tactile feedback helped me score kills when running to enemies that I suddenly pass through. Using the 3 Side buttons as hotkeys however is a different story. The 1st side mouse button is set as the grenade key(Default: G), 2nd side mouse button being the gadget key(Default: 4) and the last & biggest mouse button is assigned as my melee(Default: F). The 3rd key(Melee) was the most useful among the three as this mouse key has the smallest travel time required as it its placed directly below where the thumb rests. It is also possible to rest your thumb on the 3rd button if you’re like me who doesn’t want his thumb feeling the texture of the mousepad while playing . The 1st side mouse button took me a while to get used to it because of the travel distance between my thumb’s initial position to the button. The 2nd button was pretty much useless for me as it produced the greatest travel time, having to actually move my thumb and it had a weird feel because of its shape and the required force to click it is different altogether.
Battlefront is where it all shine. I actually thought that I am not able to use the DPI switches throughout the review process. I was wrong. Battlefront delivered a different experience compared to other shooters. One of which is the sensitivity differs from infantry to piloting a vehicle. I use the 3rd DPI level when I’m playing as a ground unit or a hero. Then I switch to the 2nd one every time I man a turret or ride an AT-ST as there are slight changes when it comes to mouse movement specially when zooming. Using spaceships specially the A-wing and the T-47 Airspeeder brings a different feel specially mouse control and that’s the time I quickly lower my DPI level to the first one to be able to control the ship more easily.
Mice aren’t just used for gaming but also your tool when it comes to browsing, working and doing research( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) basically, your daily driver. I tested this based on what mouse will my subconscious mind will grab every I time go to my computer. After just 3 days I just unnoticingly grab the Strix Claw instead of my Razer Deathadder which is the best gaming mouse last 2013. This mouse also led me to procrastinate more during times of study as my hand can’t let go of this dear mouse(kidding aside). I also must say that I really like the well thought sides of the mouse for it using its shape for your thumb, ring and pinky to rest on instead of using rubber grips that become slippery or too moist specially when you have sweaty palms or during prolonged intense use.
Overall, The Strix is not just an excellent mouse because of its ergonomics, but also its jam packed features for a decent price. The Strix Claw caters different grip styles as well as different hand sizes. Its overall shape and curves might make you think that the mouse is too big for you but you’ll get a good feel the first time you’ll use it. With an excellent 4 level DPI switch, side buttons and a very impressive scroll wheel that will make you scroll uncontrollably thanks to its feel, the Strix Claw is one mouse that could replace your favorite gaming mouse.
B2G gives the Strix Claw our Gold Award together with our Recommended Badge!
4 Comments
can you also do a review of Logitech G402?
http://www.back2gaming.com/reviews/b2g-hardware/peripherals-review/kbm-hw/logitech-g402-hyperion-fury-fps-gaming-mouse-review/ 😀
You amaze me 🙂
Such wow for sir Grant, GOODJOB on this one.