Hi guys! Today I’ll be reviewing NRO-5 Starship III, a gaming mouse from Armaggeddon (a gaming gear manufacturer based in Singapore) that is tagged as the “The Ultimate Gaming Mouse”. It’s priced at RM199. This mouse comes equipped with many features such as weight-management, 9 programmable buttons, dynamic RGB lighting system controlled via software and best of all the mouse’s switches are OMRON brand and laser sensor is the AVAGO 9800. The NRO-5 Starship III I have with me is the Sable Soviets (Black Matte) version. The mouse joints are seamless and sleek plastic joints and finishing which makes it look elegant from a distance and closeup. Before diving into the review, let’s take a look at the features and technical specifications as listed below!

Features

• AVAGO 9800 Laser Sensor with up to 8200 CPI
• OMRON Button Macro-Able Gaming Mouse
• CPI Button On-the-Fly with light indicator
• 6-Level Weight Management System
• Fully Macro Programmable 9 Buttons + 4-way Click Scroll (12 = Macros)
• Customizable Light Indicator (RGB 16.8 Million colours)
• Rubberized Finish with additional rubber side grip for added comfort.
• Extra 1 set of high quality Teflon footpads included.

Specifications

• Macro-able Laser Class Gaming Mouse
• Up to 6-Level CPI adjustable on-the-fly (Default 500/1000/2000/4000).
• 9 buttons + 4-way click scroll (Save up to 12 Macro Scripts)
• Adjustable polling rate: 250Hz – 4 ms / 500 Hz – 2 ms / 1000 Hz – 1 ms
• High performance tracking speed: up to 150 inches per second.
• AVAGO Laser Sensor: AVAGO 9800
• Ultra durable 1.8m nylon cord
• High quality Teflon foot pad
• Frame rate: 12,000 frame per second
• Acceleration: 30G
• Mouse Dimension: 123mm x 83mm x 42mm (Length x Width x Height)

Packaging

Packaging-1: The front of the box displays the Armaggeddon brand along with the mouse model “NRO-5 Starship III – 9 Buton RGB Laser Gaming Mouse”. It also highlights 5 key aspects of this mouse: Avago 9800 Laser Sensor, 8200 CPI Gaming Mouse, Responsive Japanese OMRON Switches, 12 Maroable Buttons and Customizable RGB Lights. It’s tagged as “The Ultimate Gaming Mouse”. On the box’s rear, it lists the system requirements and various languages describing the mouse specs briefly. It has a stamp of 2 years warranty.

Packaging-2: Opening up the box flap reveals more description about Armaggeddon’s company and its products. It also displays the mouse protected in the plastic cover. The mouse have to be removed from the top or bottom flap.

Packaging-3: Looking at the sides of the box, you can find the features and specifications on the right side of the box. These details are listed above in this review for your convenience! On the left side, it displays the recommendations for FPS, MOBA, RTS, SPORTS, COMBAT, ACTION and OTHERS.

Accessories

Accessories-1: The NRO-5 Starship III packaging contents includes a CD (mouse drivers), user manual and teflon pads.

Accessories-2: Here is a closeup of where the weights are inserted from the right side of the mouse. To unlock/push-out the weight door, you will need to slide the button on the bottom of the mouse. The RGB lighting can be seen on the mouse scroll and on the rear of the mouse where the Armaggeddon symbol is located.

Accessories-3: Here is another perspective of the weight-chips with the whole weight-slider away from the mouse. Each mini weight measures 5 grams. All six mini weights provides a sum of 30 grams to the mouse for stability. If you prefer lighter mouse, you can keep these weights in the box.

Accessories-4: The mouse weight is 100 grams and the braided USB cable is 40 grams. The mouse cable length measures approximately 70 inches which is sufficient to place mouse far even when its connected to the rear of the computer placed under the desk!

Design

Design-1: Here is a an overview of the mouse top and bottom. The top has 2 up/down buttons to change the mouse CPI. The length and width of the mouse base is 9.5cm x 6cm (thumb to pinkie finger). The sensor used in this mouse is the Avago 9800 engine with 8200 CPI.

Design-2: The two left-right plastic buttons have slight curved-downwards/valley which makes it quite comfortable to lay your fingers in. Regular mouse have either flat or bump (curved upwards) that does not allow fingers to rest properly. The middle button (roller) has a translucent plastic which allows L.E.D. light to shine through.

Design-3: Here is a close look at the mouse from the right side. The right side is bumping out a little to provide space for your fingers to rest on to prevent them from rubbing onto the desk. The bump also acts as the opening to remove the mini-weights.

Design-4: Looking at the right side of the mouse, it has a nice slope that allows your fingers to rest on. The black plastic does not allow any lights to glow through, it would be kinda cool to have the lighting rippled/breathing from there.

Design-5: The curves on the mouse is subtle as you view it from a 30~45 degree angle. This curves allows your fingers to hold the mouse comfortably and have better sense of the buttons and grip.

Design-6: The rear of the mouse has the Armaggeddon logo which allows the L.E.D. light to pass through.

Design-7: The curves on the left side of the where the macro buttons are located has a subtle curve inwards to allow your thumb to position in an ergonomic position.

Design-8: The left side also has a mini flap on the bottom to prevent your skin from rubbing on the desk.

Design-9: There are 9 buttons in total (5 macro-able buttons + 2 click buttons + 2 CPI controller buttons). The orange L.E.D. CPI light indicator can be seen from the front left side (4 bars).

Software

Software-1: Armaggeddon NRO-5 Starship III software provides several features for users to customize their mouse. These customizations covers macro button assignment, macro manager (to manage custom shortcut-key combinations), X/Y Sensitivity Setting, M1-M5 (Macro Button) Light Button, CPI Setting, Lighting, USB Report Rate, Mouse Speed, Double Click Speed, Scroll Speed and Angle Snap.

Software-2: It also allows you to see different mouse angles (top and side) for the buttons. In total 12 button click types. The NRO-5 Starship III allows user to use the mouse wheel as 3-way click (pressing/tilting to the left, pressing directly on top, and pressing/tilting to the right), which is quite unique. These provides more alternatives for user to either use mouse-wheel or side macro buttons for their daily gaming/work.

Software-3: Here is a quick look into the Armaggeddon Macro Manager. In this screenshot, I created a simple “Back-Browser” button by holding right ALT and Left click. Right ALT (ALT Dn) and Left Click (Left Dn) after clicking “Start Recording”. The macro manager might detect other keyboard events such as lift ALT Up. Therefore, user will need to stop the macro recording, and delete the unwanted “Key Press Sequence”.

Software-4: Armaggeddon also provides a list of shortcut key combinations that is used by users. This will help save some time figuring out what shortcut key buttons but directly assign them right away! The only grip I have with this software is using the interface to adjust the setting such as “Mouse Speed”. It tends to lose focus. If I switched window and try to return to the same window, I’m forced to re-open by accessing it via the task bar (near the Windows clock area).

Conclusion

The Armaggeddon NRO-5 Starship III Gaming mouse is really a good mouse for its price compared to the current competitors in the market as it provides many features plus it provides cool L.E.D. experiences. The shape of the mouse is suitable for all grips which are fingertip, claw and palm. As a fingertip user, I would prefer mouse which is ambidextrous. Symmetrical mouse with curves on both sides reduces the plastic structure weight on the mouse which makes it easier to lift mouse up and re-position it if the desk has less space. If you are looking for a gaming mouse that comes with software that allows for further intricate customization such as specific cursor speed and macro buttons programming, I highly recommend you to try out this mouse in your nearby computer shop!

Pros

1. Has many macro buttons for customization. Macro buttons does not get into the way of thumb grip.
2. Has a orange light (4 bars) that indicates the speed of the mouse cursor.
3. Allow user to change mouse weight and mouse cursor speed directly from the mouse itself.
4. Curve design makes it comfortable for gripping and clicking the mouse.
5. Packaging provides additional teflon pads for ultra gliding experience.
6. Provides ample list of shortcut keys in Windows for macro buttons.

Cons

1. The mouse is still a little heavy weighting 100 grams despite removing all the weights.
2. The cursor speed L.E.D. and macro buttons doesn’t light-up using the same color as the mouse scroll-wheel and rear Armaggeddon symbol.
3. Software has some issues with loosing focus when adjusting mouse settings. If window is switched, need to re-open from task bar.

Armaggeddon NRO-5 Starship III Video

[youtube “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAVrLuxVZtQ”]