Mountain burst onto the PC peripherals scene earlier this year with the launch of its intriguing Everest customisable mechanical keyboard on Kickstarter. This hot-swappable Cherry MX switch packing keyboard was based around a TKL RGB backlit design but offered a full suite of add-ons; a media dock with IPS display and rotary dial control, a num pad with quartet of programmable colour display keys, and a plain and simple (but ergonomic) wrist rest.
Obviously emboldened by its success, the German company has now seen fit to move into mice. Today Mountain emailed HEXUS about the Makalu 67, its first gaming mouse, and the world's first to come packing PixArt's new flagship PMW3370 sensor with up to 19,000 DPI, 1-2mm lift-off-distance, and 0.5 per cent error rate. The new sensor is "significantly outperforming its predecessor 3389," asserts Mountain.
Another aspect of the Makalu 67 gaming mouse that Mountain wishes to emphasise is its mid-to-large physical size (127×70.2×42.2mm) but light 67g weight. You can see straight away that some of the weight has been saved by the 'ribcage design' which reduces body mass much like the popular perforated designs do - this design extends beneath the mouse, which is bordered by PTFE glide pads. Mountain asserts that the mouse structure is still very robust and can withstand 5kg of force. Moreover, if you are worried about moisture ingress, Mountain says that the Makalu 67's circuit board has a water resistant coating.
As well as the top flight 400ips sensor, Mountain has equipped high quality L/R switches here. There are six buttons and the two main buttons are Omron made, rated for 50 million clicks. Another big boast is about the 1.8m Mountain Lifeline cable which the firm says is "bordering on magic," in the way it is light and flexible, and "the last stop before wireless".
RGB lighting is present, as one might already expect of a Mountain peripheral. Some screenshots show the Makalu 67 controls are provided in the same Base Camp software utilised by Everest. Here you can tweak RGB lighting and syncing, as well as create/edit macros, key bindings and so on. Lighting isn't just for frills, the DPI settings are togglable through four settings and there are a corresponding four indicator LEDs between the DPI toggle button and scroll wheel.
Mountain told us that the Makalu 67 Gaming Mouse will become available in October this year, priced at GBP 54.90 / EUR 59.99 / USD 59.99. Pre-orders are open now.
