Sharkoon's FireGlider mouse is a sweet surprise

An innovative from local newcomers Sharkoon that should please gamers looking for an alternative to Razer and Logitech.

Ah, the humble mouse. We're pretty sure that Douglas Engelbart never had the kind of gaudy, button-tastic mice we all know and use today in mind back in 1963 when he invented the first computer mouse. Be that as it may, the FireGlider from Sharkoon is as colourful packed with buttons as they come.

It's got a smooth upper surface and more or less matte lower shell, punctuated by a very grippy grooved rubber pad where your thumb will sit - well, where it would if you're a righty, anyway. There's two buttons under your thumb, the two main buttons and the scroll wheel clicks left and right as well.

Perhaps the most interesting button - at least right out of the box - is on the left button. It's a smaller, textured button that you can just reach if you stretch your index finger. But what does it do?

Well, in our CoD4 kill-house testing, it proved very interesting indeed - it comes pre-programmed (six of the seven buttons can be programmed by the user) to deliver three quick left-button clicks when it's depressed. In gaming terms, that's three trigger pulls, delivering some pretty good on-target accuracy, and effectively turning even a semi-automatic pistol into something with a three-round burst. Cheating? Maybe. Cool... yeah, we kinda like it.

In raw performance, the FireGlider's ultra-smooth feet offer good speed while still being accurate; we cleared the training level of CoD4 much faster than using our baseline Razer mouse. It's a little odd to hold, though; the rubber pad is very good, but the smooth right-hand side is a little harder to grip, leading to a slightly cramped grip.

However, for the price, this is a hard mouse to ignore if you're at all strapped for cash. It's programmable, features weights if that's your kind of thing, and some really nice touches for those looking for an edge in online shooters. It's not going to beat our beloved Microsoft Sidewinder, but it's worth considering.