The CORSAIR KATAR PRO Mouse Review - Cheapest and Dope-est!

Arka Mukherjee

May 16, 20214 min read

A solid mouse for the price, but with obvious caveats!

Overall Rating: 8.4

Connectivity: Wired Buy it here!↗ Model name: Corsair Katar Pro MOBA Gaming Mouse

The single LED gives you an edge over your colleagues!

VERDICT

8.7 Office Use

Decent lightweight mouse, and it isn't an attention grabber. The single LED will give you an edge over your colleagues though! The robust DPI and LED customization will suit pretty much any office environment.

7.5 FPS Gaming

Although the lightweight is a pro for offices, it affects the FPS gaming experience. Although it isn't bad, something's off for sure!

7.4 MMO Gaming

The sheer light-weightedness resurfaces in MMO gaming, and unless you have a firm grip, it can cause terrible issues. Also, palm grip users will have a hard time adjusting to its shape.

8.9 Casual Gaming

The simple design and the affordable price makes it an awesome choice for casual gaming. The smooth texture, coupled with 6 buttons increases the immersion in vast open worlds and RPGs!

9.5 Travel

If you are an avid traveller, the Katar Pro is made for you. Weighing at just 69 grams, you can carry it anywhere, without a hiccup. Also, the presence of an anti-tangle USB wire pretty much proves that Corsair built this mouse with travellers in mind!

In-Depth Review

Price

Starting at just ₹1,699 or $23 on Amazon, this mouse nails the price-to-performance values. If you keep an eye out for the prices, you can easily grab it for ₹1,399 or $19-and any other mouse at that price point isn't even close to the Katar Pro's quality or performance. Check out current prices on Amazon here.

The yellow and black themed packaging of the KATAR PRO

Design

The Katar Pro has a pretty unique design. It is mainly made for claw grip and finger-tip grip, and this keeps it a "gaming" mouse for pro gamers. Palm grip users a.k.a. casual gamers will have a hard time trying to adjust to it. The RGB on it is pretty bright and is completely customizable through the bundled iCUE software. Also, the minute small texturing on the sides, makes the grip a lot better.

The rather unusual shape of the KATAR PRO

The left and right clicks are super tactile. The middle click is okay, but the scroll wheel is a little heavy. Also, the thumb forward and backward buttons do a good job, but it requires a little more pressure to click them as compared to the left and right clicks. And that may not favour you in adrenaline-filled gunfights. Also, it has a terribly high Lift-Off Distance, over 4mm. That may cause serious issues in gaming. (P.S.: A quality gaming mouse has a LOD of 3 millimetres or below.) The body is completely made out of plastic, and though the overall build quality is okay, it feels cheap in hand. It doesn't have the premium feel of the M65 elite, and thus won't be that much of a showcase item. Also, you cannot customise weights on this, which bars it from being a choice of the hardcore gamer.

The terribly high Lift-Off Distance may cause serious issues while gaming.

Performance

The Katar Pro sports the 3327 sensor from Pixart. But it has been customised by Corsair to go from 200 DPI to up to 12,400 DPI, and not the 6,200 DPI that it natively supports. The polling rate for the 3327 is 1000 Hz. Although the Pixart 3327 isn't a very good sensor, it is good to see these kinds of sensors in this price range!

The Pixart 3327 sensor in the KATAR PRO

The DPI is completely customisable in hundreds through the iCUE software. Also, the iCUE software supports multiple DPI, which can be switched to with only one click of the mouse, and that is the DPI button.

In terms of real-life performance, the Katar Pro performs very well in short gaming sessions, as well as long gaming sessions. The good grip that this mouse offers gives an edge in half-an-hour long battle royale sessions.

Through multiple matches in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Fortnite, we can pretty much confirm that the upper limit of 12,400 DPI is pretty useless. The 3,400 DPI seemed to work the best for competitive shooters.

The Katar Pro performs very well in short as well as long gaming sessions.

Although the light weighted-ness may cause a few issues here and there, the Katar Pro performs too good not to recommend it to any budget gamer out there!

Final Thoughts

While there are caveats - it lacks a thumb rest, it is tapered towards the front, palm grip users will have a bad time, Corsair has pretty much nailed it. It is obviously better than most of the competition. Also, it is very small, so it won't be something that gamers with extra-large hands would want - get the Corsair Harpoon Pro instead if you have big hands. But if you fit perfectly in the product's target audience, you will love it more than any other mouse in the sub-₹3,000 range.

Buy it here!↗