Review: Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro

by Parm Mann on 7 April 2020, 14:00

Software and Summary

No Corsair mouse is complete without tight integration with the firm's iCue software utility. It's worth pointing out that the mouse can be used as a plug-and-play solution - it'll work just fine without any additional software - but you'll want to download the app in order to customise settings and make use of the latest firmware. At the time of writing, that's v1.6.25 for the mouse and v1.3.9 for the USB dongle.

Lighting is easily adapted to suit your taste using static colours or preset patterns (or switched off if you prefer), and all eight buttons are easily remapped or assigned a choice of actions. These include macros, text strings, media shortcuts, application shortcuts and timers, and each takes little time to personalise.

DPI presets can be configured on both X and Y axis, and any of the eight available buttons can be remapped as a low-DPI sniper shortcut. iCue will also let you adjust the sleep-mode interval, which by default is set to 15 minutes of inactivity, and there's now an option to place a battery gauge in the taskbar, making it easy to keep tabs on how much juice is remaining.

Three onboard profiles allow users to take their settings with them between PCs, though do be aware the advertised hyper-polling technology isn't enabled by default. To use the feature, head over to the settings tab and select 2,000Hz from the Dongle Polling Rate drop-down menu.

Summary

...a precise optical sensor, more lighting zones, and a USB-C charging port.

Corsair has improved its Dark Core gaming mouse in a number of meaningful ways. The new RGB Pro model touts greater battery life, streamlined buttons that are easier to locate, a precise optical sensor, more lighting zones, and a USB-C charging port.

Each of the aforementioned upgrades is welcomed, making this the best interpretation of the Dark Core series to date, and users who appreciate the familiar form factor will immediately feel at home on a mouse that ticks most of the relevant boxes.

Performance is excellent, yet comfort can be just as important, if not more so, and for my tastes, Dark Core RGB Pro is a little on the heavy side, the distinctly notched scroll wheel could be smoother, and the optional pinky rest isn't going to suit everyone.

Bottom line: Corsair's latest has the technical prowess to appease most gamers, but its weight and profile may divide users.

The Good		The Bad
Choice of wired, 2.4GHz or Bluetooth Improved battery life USB-C charging port Precise optical sensor Eight programmable buttons		Optional pinky rest is hit or miss 133g a little on the heavy side Scroll wheel could be smoother Pricing starts at £90

Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro

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The Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro will be available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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That is one ugly lil bugger.

I got a wireless something or other Corsair, pretty much same as this - RGB, billions of buttons, and best of all doesn't look like it has genital warts. Cost me 50 quid. Why anyone would pay so much for this STD riddled thing is beyond me

No, Corsair… MORE buttons, not fewer!!

to expensive not enough buttons…

Quote - “Corsair reckons ”the chassis is designed for multiple grip styles, such as palm or claw,“ though for my large hands I would prefer a little extra height in the arch.”

As a person with large hands, I am always disappointed that there are not more wireless mice (lat alone any mouse) which are made for larger hands.
I will go over to friends places to fix their PC and most have these little tiny things which are a pain in the butt.

The Iron claw is supposed to be better for larger hands (personally not tried one, anyone with one or has compared both of these models please left me know what you think), but there is no Qi chargeable version of the Ironclaw and as for my country, last year's Ironclaw RGB is sold at the same price as the non Qi version of this ($130) - but I suppose you get more for the same price in that it has more buttons. :-)

I have a Qi charger on my desk for my phone and tablet (the tablet has an adapter fitted under the case) which is why I would prefer a Qi version (Logitech's proprietary wireless charging mat will cost way too much for my budget).

whatif
Quote - “Corsair reckons ”the chassis is designed for multiple grip styles, such as palm or claw,“ though for my large hands I would prefer a little extra height in the arch.”

As a person with large hands, I am always disappointed that there are not more wireless mice (lat alone any mouse) which are made for larger hands.
I will go over to friends places to fix their PC and most have these little tiny things which are a pain in the butt.

The Iron claw is supposed to be better for larger hands (personally not tried one, anyone with one or has compared both of these models please left me know what you think), but there is no Qi chargeable version of the Ironclaw and as for my country, last year's Ironclaw RGB is sold at the same price as the non Qi version of this ($130) - but I suppose you get more for the same price in that it has more buttons. :-)

I have a Qi charger on my desk for my phone and tablet (the tablet has an adapter fitted under the case) which is why I would prefer a Qi version (Logitech's proprietary wireless charging mat will cost way too much for my budget).

I have the wireless ironclaw. It's definitely a bigger mouse, but depends how big your hands are, I wouldn't say it's large, it's just..bigger than most. If you've got monster mitts it might still be too small. I've got normal sized hands and it's comfy, but I like the feel of a full mouse so maybe ? lol. This ain't much help is it ?

Price wise, I dunno where the hell you're getting those prices, or maybe I was just incredibly lucky, but I paid 50 quid for the ironclaw wireless RGB. Although I just looked it up and it's gone up to £67 quid. Still a very reasonable price considering the gear. I'd pay that for a wired one tbh, purely because it's the first mouse I've seen in ages that has the right amount of buttons (although the “sniper” button placement is absolutely useless as a sniper button, I don't use it so it's not a loss. But if that's a feature you use in your mice, this places it in an awful way)

EDIT: to add on, I just realised, you can always re-bind the sniper function to one of the more convenient buttons. Also something I feel worth mentioning, the weight on this mouse is PERFECT. I prefer a heavier mouse, because I'm at 4k and use an insanely high DPI, a light mouse moves the pointer far too much