Review: Tt eSports Ventus

Performance

The Ventus is a decent mouse to use for gaming thanks to a high DPI sensor which comes in handy both at higher resolutions but also in fast-paced games. In particular the Ventus is better suited for games where you won't be in need of a large array of configurable buttons.

In real-world testing only the left click, right click, scroll-wheel click and single thumb button are easy to access in a quick manner, the two additional centre buttons and the second opposing side button are unnatural and difficult to access without diverting attention away from the screen. The jury is out on sensor acceleration from our testing, in practice we didn't detect anything noticeable but slight positive acceleration is a hallmark of the Avago ADNS 9500 so more sensitive gamers may pick up on it.

The mesh section does a reasonably good job of keeping the hand ventilated during gameplay which is one of the Ventus' strong points. In the long term we can foresee that the lower section might be a trap for dust and other dirt, although, the cleaning process is fairly simply as the mouse can be turned upside down to remove any dust or particulate build up.

The comfort of the Ventus will vary depending on the user's hand size and grip preference. The Ventus is long enough to support a palm grip for small and medium size hands but the mouse is quite thin and isn't extruded in an ergonomic way since it's ambidextrous in design. All the buttons are smooth to actuate and provide good feedback, so are unlikely to cause fatigue over time, although, the previous caveat about the centre buttons being awkward to access persists.

A final noteworthy point is that the mouse brings with it an OSD when certain buttons are pressed. The OSD entails small red pop-up windows up to 250 pixels wide when adjusting the mouse profile or DPI level and it persists on the lower centre part of the screen for around 5 seconds with about 50 per cent transparency. We found this to be intrusive to the gaming experience since if you bind a temporary DPI button, such as an 800 DPI preset for a precision shot when sniping, once you release that button to return to the normal DPI a notification is displayed each time.

Summary

The Tt eSports Ventus has an MSRP of $50 but street pricing is closer to $40. UK prices are yet to be confirmed but a credible estimate is £30~35. At that price the Ventus is a decent offering that benefits from some novel features for the price point including moderate weight adjustment and palm ventilation as well as a high-spec 5,700 DPI Avago laser sensor.

The Ventus does offer a lot of mouse for the money, especially compared to direct competitors like the Razer Abyssus and SteelSeries Sensei where the Ventus delivers more spec in most areas. One area where the Ventus is let down, however, is the software implementation and intrusive OSD which limits the potential of the customisable buttons and DPI flexibility.

The rest of the design is subjective depending on user preference. The ambidextrous design means the Ventus isn't ergonomically tailored for a specific grip, so comfort is not as high as native left- or right-handed mice. Furthermore, the Ventus is fairly compact in width and height making it unsuitable for gamers with large hands. In short the Ventus is a decent mouse for gamers with small hands who enjoy a uniformly shaped mouse and have minimal macro-button requirements.

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TBC

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