Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless Review
A contemporary MMO gaming mouse
Verdict
Though the price might seem bewilderingly high for a mouse, the cost of the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless sits between top-tier FPS clickers and competing dozen MMO gaming mice. And, compete it does. A great fit, feel and adjustable where it counts, it’s perfect for long sessions of grinding gear and running raids. It’s just a little under-engineered compared to the competition right now.
Pros
- 16 programmable buttons
- Adjustable side panel
- 2000Hz polling rate
Cons
- Right-handed only
- No bells and whistles
Key Features
- 16 buttonsDesigned for input-heavy titles, 12 buttons are always under your thumb to speed up the execution of any action you can imagine.
- Optical switchesTo ensure minimal input lag and maximum speed, the main mouse buttons used optical mechanical switches.
- Bluetooth and 2.4Ghz wirelessCapable of <1ms wireless connectivity over the included 2.4Ghz receiver and Bluetooth encourages multi-device use.
Introduction
As someone who’s been putting MMO gaming mice through their paces since around 2007, I’ve seen the best brands put out the worst iterations, and relative newcomers justifiably take the throne from the lines that pioneered the whole idea. The Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless is intimately close to kissing that lofty position.
At the core of the MMO gaming mouse is a simple idea that quickly bewilders anyone who hasn’t tunnel-visioned an action bar before. Right where your thumb goes, an MMO gaming mouse situates an array of buttons. The best use 12, mimicking the numpad of a keyboard. Brands have tried time and again to mix this up under the guise of unwanted ergonomics, with most still preferring to replace their tired clicker with an updated model rather than looking for something better.
In fact, Corsair did this itself when the niche mouse market kicked off in the late noughties. Looking to compete with the Razer Naga’s numpad array, it “intelligently positioned” the thumb buttons of its Corsair VENGEANCE M95 to suit rolling your thickest digit around it. It was ergonomic, but it wasn’t natural. Corsair learned its lesson and began iterating on its Scimitar line instead. In fact, this is a spruced-up (and wireless) version of the Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite mouse from a few years back.
Design
- Soft-touch finish
- Large, curvy size
- Shifting side panel
On first inspection, the Corsair Scimitar Wireless Elite is as bulbous as a gaming mouse can reasonably get. Designed for long sessions by virtue of the addictive nature of the genre it’s built around, its heavy curves encourage a palm grip as opposed to the light and speedy claw or hybrid styles, but any will work just fine.
If you’re going to be at your desk mashing buttons all day, you want your wrist on the mat and your palm properly supported. Is it good for your skeleton? No, I don’t think so. But neither is sitting in a chair for 12 hours. The brain wants what the body does not.
When you take it out of the easily recycled packaging, you’ll be more focused on the soft-touch finish of its black plastic chassis than much else. Textures are a wonderful thing. It’ll mark up with fingerprints easily, so greasy fingers aren’t recommended, but it’s a nice touch regardless.
To complement its portable potential, there’s even a hiding space for the tiny 2.4 GHz wireless receiver on the underside. You’ll find the switch to enable snappy Bluetooth 4.2 for quickly switching to other devices there as well.
Another thing that solidifies it as an MMO gaming mouse is the thoughtful inclusion of a roughly textured pinky rest — an option that shouldn’t wear down over a short period of time like rubber non-slip grips applied in the factory. Each odd column of number keys on the side is bumpy to the touch, too.
The main two buttons lack indentation or curvature to guide and hold your digits in place, but the whole package is big enough to make it difficult to fall off them in the first place. Sure, they’re likely to be slippery in intense moments, but I had no issue keeping them in the game, and in keeping sleek, they encapsulate an almost robotic look to the mice as a whole.
With a shifting side panel (that’s annoyingly adjusted via an included key), its gargantuan physique, and other inclusions, the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless should prove comfortable for the vast majority of grinding gamers out there. And with it not being especially heavy like the AGON AGM600, there’s little reason to swap it out for something like another Razer DeathAdder or the cheap and cheerful HyperX Pulsefire Haste II when playing fast-paced shooters on the odd occasion.
Performance
- High DPI ceiling and low floor
- 2000Hz polling (wired or wireless)
- 16 buttons with optical-mechanical main two
Running a custom Corsair sensor, it’s hard to compare this aspect of the Scimitar Elite Wireless against the competition. These days, however, it’s much harder to find a mouse that simply doesn’t work well. A saturated market means you have to hit the important parts hard to have even the slightest chance of standing out. What that means is that the custom sensor here works just fine.
I had no issues with hitching, and the asymmetrical PTFE feet didn’t have any issues sliding around my thick mouse pad. All good on that front. Coming from a similar (but stumpy) Aerox 9 Wireless, it didn’t take long at all to readjust to a chunkier clicker. Right out of the box, I was able to win my first competitive Overwatch 2 match in at least half a year, and I didn’t have to fiddle around at all to heal a dungeon run in Final Fantasy XIV with the side buttons as my crutch.
But the sensor isn’t just there to ensure your cursor or crosshair doesn’t skip a beat. It powers the various metrics like polling rate, DPI, and lift — most of which are little more than marketing fluff for the average player at this point. Just look at the settings of seasoned veterans. You’ll struggle to find anyone getting remotely close to the five-figure sensitivity settings companies are flaunting on the packaging. They’re just trying to differentiate and best their rivals. Noble.
The sensor on the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless can drop all the way down to 100 DPI. That’s good news for low-res retro gamers. We won’t fixate on the 26,000 highs. One important thing as refresh rates continue to climb, however, is the 2000Hz polling rate ceiling that applies not only on a wired connection when enabled, but by default when using the miniature 2.4Ghz wireless dongle. If you’re not climbing high above 144Hz with something like the Alienware AW2523HF, you can save some juice by turning it down to 1000Hz. There’s a pro tip.
In use, the dizzying number of buttons on offer is a joy. Though only the main left and right paddles use clicky mechanical buttons with a fast-as-light optical sensor, the side buttons are punchy, pronounced, and reliable as well. There’s a bit of wobble to them, but if you like to fidget, that’s somehow a bonus.
Sticking to the Numpad grid design, there’s immediate familiarity if you’re coming over from a Razer Naga or older Logitech G600. And unlike the Steelseries Aerox 9, the grid actually zigzags a little horizontally, which makes it a little easier to rock your thumb back and forth. Hitting buttons with your inside joint is a more advanced skill for sure, but the cradled design does gently encourage the speed-enhancing practice.
Software and Lighting
- Intuitive and feature-rich software
- Limited RGB zones
- Hardware-level lighting with plenty of profiles
I’ll admit right now that RGB lighting on a mouse isn’t a massive focus of mine. There are outliers, like with underside lighting on a reflective surface, or particularly bright arrays on a white mouse, but paired lighting on a black clicker isn’t a huge selling point personally. The Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless doesn’t do much to change my mind. But it might change yours.
Through the iCUE software suite, you’re able to synchronise the lights under your palm with that of your other iCUE items. Video reactive lighting like that’s possible on the LS100 and LT100 line won’t really apply here, but you can still set the logo on the butt of the device and the wide array of buttons to shine in any which way you want.
As always, lighting will dramatically reduce battery life: something support for add-ons like the Razer Naga V2 Pro charging cradle could have rectified. If a completely illuminated setup is your goal, you’ll have to take the hit. The ‘mural’ visualizer in the software helps the typically nonsensical RGB peripheral presets make sense and immediately apply to other applicable hardware for those who want quick desktop illumination efforts.
Beyond lighting, the iCUE software is what you’ll need to tweak essential settings like DPI stages, lift, surface calibration, and standby time. Toggles allow you to change wired and wireless behaviour independently, and the mouse’s onboard profiles can store lighting choices as well, meaning iCUE won’t need to be installed on every machine you flit between.
Your preferences are safe and secure, and you should have enough onboard memory to suit just about any game you’re likely to play on the go. These days, it’s good for connecting up to something like a Steam Deck or another device with drastically different specs to your main PC. Handy.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
You’re an MMO fan who values comfort
With a large body and an adjustable 12-button side panel, the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless should suit the majority of long-session gamers.
You want a more feature-focused device
No wireless charging or display dock and the omission of side panel switching means the line that inspired the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless is still the king of convenience.
Final Thoughts
Though you’ll get many more new and interesting features with something like the Razer Naga Pro Wireless with its interchangeable side panels and optional charging cradle, the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless is a refined take on the original idea of an MMO gaming mouse.
Comfort is key with this one, and solid battery life on both 2.4Ghz wireless and Bluetooth solidify this as a hyper-reliable mouse that’s unlikely to let you down during frantic PvP brawls or tense dances with death in a raid scenario. It would have been nice to see a few fancier bells and whistles applied here to sweeten the deal but if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. If you do fancy some extra features or aren’t tied to an MMO mouse, it’s worth perusing our best gaming mouse and best wireless mouse guides.
The biggest concern coming from other similar mice is always durability. It just happens over time. But as someone who has both heard of and experienced countless issues with the Razer Naga line over the decades, and even fallen victim to a defective sensor on the discontinued Logitech G600, the fact that I’ve never had an issue with a Corsair mouse has me believing this one will last. Just remember that you’ll put it through its paces. Nothing lasts forever.
How we test
We use every mouse we test for at least a week. During that time, we’ll check it for ease of use and put it through its paces by playing a variety of different genres, including FPS, strategy and MOBAs.
We also check each mouse’s software to see how easy it is to customise and set up.
Used as a main mouse for over a week
Tested performance on a variety of games
You might like…
FAQs
The included braided cable is 1.8m long.
The side panel and be moved forward and backwards by loosening a screw on the base with a small hex driver/Allen key.
Yes, you’ll find and store the Slipstream wireless receiver in a recess on the base of the mouse.
Full specs
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
