Verbatim Rapier V1

Verbatim get into the gaming arena with a deadly weapon of a mouse.

Verbatim and gaming. It's a not one of the most common word pairings in the English language, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that any gaming effort by a brand almost better known for making floppy discs would be disastrous. But the truth is that the Rapier V1 mouse might be the best pointer to cross our desk in a long time.

About our only complaint of this gunmetal grey, blue LED-lit, mouse is that it's a touch on the small side - for our tastes at least - and lacks good support for the heel of your palm in long gaming sessions. Your own mileage will of course vary.

That aside though, it's practically a success story from start to finish. Unless you're a lefty, in which case... we got nuthin'. You'll just have to live with the cack-handed pain.

The Rapier's sensitivity can be adjusted on the fly from 800 to 3200 dpi - truly, this mouse is a twitchy gamer's dream, yet just as comfy downsizing for smoother sniping performance. A tracking speed of 65ips helps keep things nice and accurate, too.

Speaking of smooth, it features just about the slickest teflon feet we've ever encountered. It's roughed up some now, but out of the box the Rapier practically slides of its own accord over even flat surfaces - push it and it keeps on sliding long after it leaves contact with your hand.

It's weight adjustable, too, with five 4.5g weights that sit under the back half of the mouse. With all weights, the mouse weighs a comfy 106g.

Macros are support in both software and on the mouse directly, plus it's possible to set up mouse and keyboard functionality in tandem. Pair this mouse with a macro enabled keyboard and you'll be in programmable heaven, with seven of the mouse's nine buttons themselves being programmable.

As an added bonus, once configured, all settings are stored on the mouse. Nor does it require any special drivers. Combined with the handy-dandy travelling bag, this is an excellent LANing device, especially if you're not sure of the machine you're going to end up playing on.

But it's one thing that really raises this mouse above the pack, and that's the placement of the scrollwheel. Verbatim has thrown out the traditional center placement; instead, the wheel sits just off center on the left mouse button. This makes scrolling between weapons or zoom levels a far easier activity, and actually increases overall mouse comfort and hand-endurance. Why no one's ever thought of this before is a mystery, but now we can't live without it.

Combined with the combination smooth upper surface and rubber textured sides, gripping and controlling the mouse is a breeze.

There's a Verbatim-branded mouse mat to go with the Rapier (and it's cousin, the V2, which we'll look at in a little while), but frankly this is a mouse built for almost any surface.

Check out our gallery for a full visual tour of what is now one of our favourite gaming mice.