Today we test the Tt esports Theron, a fully customisable mouse with 128KB of on-board memory designed for RTS gaming.

Product on Review : Tt eSPORTS Theron

Manufacturer: Tt eSPORTS
Street Price: £47.99

Thermaltake have been churning out some excellent gaming peripherals under the herald of Tt esports. The Meka G-Unit mechanical keyboard we reviewed attained our prestigious Gold award which is proof indeed of the quality Tt esports pride themselves upon. Today we get to play with the Tt esports Theron, a mouse built from the ground up with an RTS flavouring that Thermatake hope will appeal to players of this genre.

While the Theron is touted as an RTS gaming mouse we at Vortez will be testing the mouse not only in its chosen arena but also in other areas as we believe a mouse should be capable of all round performance. It’s all very well having a specialist mouse which cuts the reaction time to milliseconds but when you have to change to a different mouse for a different game/duty, it cuts down the usability of such a peripheral. Pro gamers won’t be concerned with this but for the rest of us who need a ‘one size fits all’ mouse, we need a peripheral that is capable of multiple tasks. So while we will be having a blast on Starcraft II and Company of Heroes, we will also try the mouse out on First person shooters too along with the more mundane everyday tasks. This will hopefully give you a complete, all-round feel for the capability of the Theron.

Tt eSPORTS on Theron

“Tt eSPORTS pledges to deliver the best gaming experience possible; this mission in turn motivates Tt eSPORTS product development to be greater than spectacular. When mechanical engineering meets professional eSports, a special collaboration begins and the latest Tt eSPORTS pro gaming mouse—the THERON—is the product of that collaboration. Under the Battle Dragon, the THERON promises to become another beast in the gaming world. Cooperative design elements contributed by SC2 pro gamer Zhan “Softball” Zhenyu are incorporated to allow the THERON make you feel like a pro.”

Specification & Features

Color : black
DPI : 5600
Sensor Type : Laser
No. of Buttons : 8
Game Genre : RTS
Memory Size : 128kb
No. of Macro Keys : 40
No. of Game Profiles : 5
Lighting Effect : Yes
Pause-Break Effect : Yes
Color Options : 7
USB cable length : 1.8m braided
Weight-In Design : Yes
Graphical UI : Yes
Industrial Rubber-Coating : Yes
Gold-Platted USB : Yes
Dimension : 123.65 x 73.8 x 40.2mm

On-the-Fly Sensitivity
Adjust DPI according to your game, THERON lets you control your mouse with just a click on the Battle Dragon arrow!

Customisable Lighting
7 colors (Blue/Green/Light Blue/Purple/Red): pick the color that accessorizes your e-sports gaming!

40 Macro Keys
128kb internal memory allowing all personalized settings to travel wherever you are. Also, weight-in design (4.5g x 5 = 22.5g max) gives you the perfect grip for mouse gliding movement.

Battle Dragon
THERON is designed to boost your gaming realism and aesthetically created to define Tt eSPORTS spirit. Each angle and trim of THERON echo for tenaciousness, forging Battle Dragon’s superiority with Tt eSPORTS’ innovative gaming products, THERON makes you ready for the game and play like a pro!

Packaging & Accessories

Packaging Overview

Thermaltake Tt esports were kind enough to send us some additional accessories which they feel compliment the Theron mouse perfectly. We will cover these items later in the review but as you can see from the image above, the packaging theme of red and black is carried throughout the Tt esports range.

Box Front

the front of the Theron box features an image of the mouse itself on a backdrop of flames. Below the main picture we see the product title with ‘RTS Game Battle Ready’ emblem. Below the product title Tt esports have added four of the main features of the mouse which include a function lock button, battle mode, on-board memory and 7 individual colour schemes for the mouse.

Box Rear

Tt esports, as the name suggest is heavily involved with the both the grass roots of pro gaming and the highest level. They have been working with pro Starcraft II gamer, ‘Softball’ to create the Theron who regularly tops the Taiwanese eSports league.

Accessories

The accessories included with the Theron are as complete as you could expect. There’s the usual plethora of installation guides, warranty and product introductions. Tt esports have gone one step further though by including a couple of stickers and a very useful mouse pouch which is ideal for protecting your weapon on the way to your favoured LAN event.

Let’s take a look at the Theron itself…

Closer Look

Upon holding The mouse for the first time it is clear that Thermaltake have made some great strides with the quality of their peripherals. The exterior has a textured, rubberised feel to it which is ‘grippy’, yet very comfortable. It also looks great with the rubber being matt black in colour. Below the notched mouse wheel you will see two arrow buttons which enable the user to adjust mouse sensitivity on the fly. Thankfully these buttons do not stand too high so shouldn’t be operated unintentionally.

To left of the mouse we see that the Theron has two thumb buttons both of which are well positioned and micro-switched so will give an audible click when pressed. A further micro-switched button is provided to the right hand side which is perfectly positioned below the ring finger. All three buttons are glossy in appearance and made from rigid plastic. They stand proud from the mouse by 2mm however they are recessed perfectly near the base giving a very nice ergonomic feel. My one complaint is that the buttons may become slippery during use due to the glossy design.

From the rear you can see the dragon emblem of Tt esports which illuminates to your pre-configured colour (default red) which looks great at night and is laser etched into the rubber to perfection. From this view you will also note the ergonomic style of the mouse which has recessed finger buttons along with thumb grip and contoured right side for your remaining fingers.

From the front of the mouse you see the plastic mouse wheel which has a rubber insert. This combination is smooth in operation but also grants the notched effect which is perfect for choosing your weapon or group accurately and quickly.

The base of the mouse features just two extra large friction free mouse feet which allows the mouse to glide seamlessly during use.

Taking a closer look at the base we see that there are profile and polling rate buttons for cycling through profiles and polling rate respectively. The profile button also allows you to scroll through 7 different colours: Red, violet, 3 shades of blue and two shades of green, There is also a ‘battle lock’ button which changes the colour of the mouse automatically depending on clicking frequency.

The Theron has customisable weights too with 5x removable 4.5g weights so you can adjust the weight of the mouse to your preference.

Finally, we see that the Theron has a fully braided cable with a gold plated USB plug to assist with durability.

Let’s take a look at the optional extras…

Additional Accessories

First up is the Galeru, a neat little bungee device which is perfect for keeping the mouse cable of the Theron away from your gaming surface. The Galeru comes in two parts, a hefty base complete with magnet which keeps the stalk in place.

The rubber stalk attaches to the magnet and stays in place securely thanks to the magnetic base. Because the stalk is rubber there is very little tension which is perfect should your mouse cable length be adjusted too short as the stalk bends freely.

The stalk has a fine cut channel which grips the mouse cable securely.Should you wish to shorten or lengthen your cable-to-bungee setup this is easily done within seconds.

We also received a Pyrrhus ‘Colossal’ ‘Speed Edition’ mouse mat which is, as the name suggests an XL size fabric mouse mat measuring 350mm v 430mm. The mat has a non-slip rubber backing and while the mat itself is thin (2mm) it is extremely comfortable in use. The woven fabric on our sample was very, very smooth allowing the mouse to glide effortlessly, with minimal friction across the mouse pad.

Above we see the complete setup which certainly compliments each component perfectly. The Theron, Galeru and Pyrrhus are all very well designed and made and should you go for a setup like this you will be getting items that are designed to work together rather than buying individual items from separate companies which may not work so well in tandem.

Software

the software is very nicely presented and fairly easy to follow with separate tabs defining each function. The main page is not just an overview though but allows the users to select each individual button and configure it to perform a function, be it ‘T’ key, single key, default, launch program or any of the 40 customisable Macro functions you create.

The main fuctionality of the lighting is depicted by the Normal or Battle modes. Normal is always on your predetermined colour choice (one of seven) whereas the battle mode changes the colour depending on frequency of button activations. A gimmick for sure but good for keeping track of your performance in RTS.

Should you wish to change the colour of your Theron. Sadly, you are restricted to just 7 different colours unlike competing mice which allow of 16 million different colours. These colour variations can also be adjusted in game by clicking the profile button beneath the mouse to one of five profiles, each with its own identifiable colour.

the technical settings of the mouse are accessed under the performance tab. Here we see that there are four DPI levels: 800, 1600, 3200 and and ridiculous 5000 DPI. So if your a gamer who prefers low DPI or stupendously high sensitivity then the Theron has a setting for you. I would have preferred a slider with more flexibility but the range is fairly good nonetheless.

Double click, cursor and scroll speed along with polling rate can also be adjusted here.

Finally there’s a fully functional macro key setting which allows the usual plethora of settings you can expect such as delay time, start/stop and recording facilities.

All in all a nicely polished software suite which works very well. Most importantly, despite the lack of instructions it is easy to figure out and allows your mouse to be customised to your liking with ease.

Let’s see how the mouse performs under a range of conditions…

Performance Testing

General Use

In normal everyday tasks I have little to complain about with the Theron. There are however a few minor points which I feel are worth mentioning. The scroll wheel, while notched is not very precise as there is a little bit of play between notches and it doesn’t feel as solid as other mice. There are no left and right clicks on the wheel either which some may miss.

The sensitivity of the mouse is good with the buttons requiring just the right amount of force to actuate, an important feature for any mouse.Ergonomically speaking The mouse is rather wide so this may suit people with medium to large hands however the hump of the mouse is less pronounced so while it is wide, resting my palm on the mouse didn’t feel natural. I was also a little disappointed with the thumb/finger contours which didn’t feel deep enough to provide the ultimate comfort. that said, it isn’t an uncomfortable mouse by any stretch of the imagination save for left handers as this mouse dictates right hand use only due to the button placements.

Gaming Performance

After a few games of Starcraft it became clear that this mouse was designed for lovers of the genre. Fast actions per minute allowed for precise troop movement/adjustment and the macro capability worked very well too. Again, I found myself using the mouse in a claw like grip to get the best from it which then made the side buttons a little less natural to use. If Tt esports had made the right side contours a little deeper then the mouse would be so much more comfortable to use.

The mouse buttons clicks of both the finger and side buttons very good in use and the DPI switching was also responsive however the indication on the mouse was initially a little confusing as there are only two light indicators which light up depending on what level you have currently enabled. No lights signifies low, lower light illuminated to signify 1600, high light to signify 3200 and both lights for 5000 DPI. Sadly these lights are solid red and cannot be adjusted to match the rest of the colour scheme.

FPS gaming was also good with the Theron however it is unlikely a gamer would use more the 1600 DPI for FPS so the remainder is wasted and here is where a slider of DPI adjustment in the software would be much better. As for sniping, the lower the sensitivity the more accurate a gamer will be allowing for precise, yet small movements is the key to getting those crucial long distance head-shots. For general play though, the Theron neither excels nor disappoints.

Above we see the various colours available to the Tt esports Theron.

Overall, I liked the Theron. A few shortcomings have been observed however these are not major problems and in Thermaltake’s defence, the DPI switching is more suited to the genre this mouse was designed for, RTS and for that purpose, this mouse is a very useful tool indeed.

Conclusion

The Tt esports Theron provides us with an interesting choice. While it is very good for what it was designed for (RTS gaming) it does show weaknesses in other areas.

Ergonomically it is less than perfect. While it does have a sculpted surface, the contours were not deep enough to prove really comfortable. A mouse should either be sculpted such as the Logitech Performance MX with deep recesses or be rounded with no contours such as the SteelSeries Sensei. It seems that Thermaltake have opted for the middle ground which sounds good but in practice doesn’t works so well.

The similarities with Razer and Roccat product design are clear and this is no bad thing. Slap a Razer logo in place of the Dragon and you would be hard pushed to tell the difference visually between the two products, such is the quality look of the Tt esports Theron. Pick the mouse up and again, you get a sense of quality thanks to the rubberised texture used on the upper shell. the buttons give a satisfying click too so for the most part the Theron excels in functionality. My one concern is the mouse wheel which felt a little vague. the notched effect worked well however there is just a little too much play between the notches and not enough feedback. The Wheel is also quiet noisy in comparison to other devices.

It may seem that I have been overly harsh on the Theron however I feel it is best to give you the bad points first because what it does well, it does very well indeed. the button clicks are great with actuation points very close to the click allowing for multiple button activations with very little button travel between each activation. This will cut down on fatigue during lengthy gaming sessions but more importantly, give you the edge in combat. I liked the colour change functionality of the mouse, especially as these colours can be linked to profiles and the optional extras we briefly covered today compliment the Tt esports Theron mouse perfectly.

Price wise, the Theron weighs in at a competitive £47.99. While it may not be cheap at that price, few mice that are cheaper offer the same amount of functionality or features as the Theron. There are better FPS mice available for that price, including some from Tt esports own catalogue so gamers looking for a mouse from that genre may wish to look elsewhere, not that the Theron is a bad mouse for FPS gaming, it isn’t, but there are better for the money. RTS gamers on the other hand will appreciate the features the Theron has to offer and will see the price tag as good value for money as a good RTS mouse can mean the difference between victory or failure. So with that in mind the asking price is well balanced.

Overall then, the Theron is a great mouse for RTS fans. It will do everything you ask of it and thanks to the customising functionality it not only performs well but looks great too. Thermaltake have come a long way recently and should they continue to release quality products such as this, market leaders will be looking over their shoulder with worrying concern.

Pros
+ Fast actions per minute
+ Customisable features
+ Rubberised texture
+ Macro functionality
+ Good DPI range (if somewhat limited in choice)
+ Great optional accessories

Cons
– Limited customisable colour range
– Basic DPI indication
– Poor quality mouse wheel

Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

Tags:

Tt esports