Tt esports Azurues mini [Evaluation]

Following my Tt esports Valentine's blog, I decided to take a closer look at the Tt esports Azurues mini and do a separate evaluation of the mouse to see how it fairs with current mice.

Technical Specifications:

Avago ADNS-A3080 (B1037C) Optical Sensor
Omron D2FC-F-7N Switches
400/800/1600cpi (400/1600 native)
114x62x37mm (lwh)
96g (weight in design, see below)
40ips
6400fps
15g acceleration 
Teflon feet
1.8m braided fiber cable
Gold-plated USB connector

Ergonomics/Build Quality:

Overall this mouse feels much like my Logitech mice of the past; Nothing feels loose or is rattling so it feels overall very solid. The long and inward-tapered design (see zsense link below) of the mouse \__/ feels very natural to my fingertip-ish grip giving me 3 solid contact points to work with. I feel that this mouse would work well with a fingertip or claw grip and is large enough that a palm grip also works, though people with large hands might want something a bit larger. The size and shape of the mouse reminds me of a G1, only taller. I find that this size and shape feel very natural to my hands, and it only took me a few hours to adjust to the new form.

The official weight of the mouse is ~96g and as part of an advertising feature they note that there is 'weight in design'. What this means is that there are two 10g weights inside the mouse that can be removed, however, in order to gain access these weights you have to completely open the mouse up. The mouse felt pretty good when I first used it (maybe a little sluggish in SC), but after removing those two weights, the mouse feels even better.

Two nice features are the plastic coating on the switches, and the rubberized grip on the sides. The switches plastic mold is more texturized, similar to my older Performance MX, giving a relatively nice feel. Coming from the Pyra which has almost the exact setup on the sides, I was a little worried that the glossy plastic would get slippery, though I haven't run into that as of yet. The grips are much more slick than that on the Pyra but still feel pretty stable. My hands sweat just a little when gaming, and as soon as that would happen my grip actually felt much more solid, which was a nice feeling.

There are a few other features that I think deserve a little more than a spec. The Teflon feet are large and out of the box were a little sticky on my qck. It took a little couple of hours but the skates eventually polished right up and the movement since has felt pretty fluid. The braided cable feels fairly pliable, certainly more so than the rubberized cable of my Pyra did. Because of that it moves well and doesn't ever feel like its tugging.

My only beef with this mouse, ok well two, are 1. That damned pause break-lighting system, and not having side buttons. The latter is something I would like in my perfect mouse, even just one of them, while the former I actually dealt with very swiftly by covering up the LED's with card stock.

There is another very minor issue regarding the top mold. The switches when both buttons are pressed in a diagonal fashion they hit one another instead of being flush with each other. The very easy solution to this is to file the space between them if that is a problem, but for most people this shouldn't be an issue.

For more pictures of the mini, see: http://zsense.net/tt-esport-azurues-black-wing-out-of-the-box-record-shark-mini.html

Inside/Sensor and Tracking Quality:
Ok I don't think I really have to say too much here about tracking quality. The sensor in the Azurues mini is the same sensor found in the Logitech MX518, the Avago 3080. ~~I was a little confused initially as to why they didn't just use the newer 3090 as the mouse is still fairly new, but I'll get into why in a little bit.~~Edit: It seems that the 3090 at the time was more in demand, and that the firmware would have been more difficult to configure, as lower steps would have to be interpolated.

The good thing about this sensor? ~~It has a very high malfunction rate at 4.5m/s, while the perfect control is ~2.03m/s (according to sujoy on ESR).~~ Edit: Sujoy's tests only involved the max cpi range, and that the Perfect Control on first gen 518's 400 cpi is much higher than 2.03m/s. Also firmware, MCU, Led intensity, and Lens can influence this to varying degrees. Tracking on this mouse aside from one 'issue' feels really smooth and responsive. The less than optimal about this sensor is that it has a fair amount of prediction that can't be removed (hard coded). This can either be a non-issue if you can work with more prediction, or if you absolutely cannot abide it, will be a deal breaker with this mouse.

I had to choose between the Pyra and the mini, and I am heavily leaning towards the mini because the 3080 just feels much better tracking wise, even with the prediction, and half the polling rate. It actually makes me wish that they could have raised the polling rate to 1000Hz to reduce the prediction, but I don't know enough to know if that is possible with the 3080 and the firmware. This probably the reason I was wondering why not use the 3090 (supposedly an open market version of the 3888 found in the Deathadder). You lose the prediction, have a better LOD, polling rate, and similar tracking performance.Edit: The 3090 has two firmwares where in v66 angle snapping is on, and in v67 it is off. Also LOd, polling rate and other things depend on a bunch of factors. Either way the 3080 is still a very good sensor in its own right. You can see the ms paint images I took regarding the tracking output of the mouse and the amounts of prediction you're likely to experience.

All testing on 6/11 settings and on a Steelseries qck

+ Show Spoiler [ms paint] +

+ Show Spoiler [enotus] +

+ Show Spoiler [MMR] +
This is the worst that tracking would produce, an occasional +/- pair, but fairly infrequently

The other maybe issue with this sensor is that the LOD is 4-5mm on a qck (~4CD's). This is much more of a personal thing for people, and if you don't lift your mouse it's a non-issue. I don't think I've used it enough to make a good determination, that and I thoroughly suck in CS:S, so there are other issues I need to work on before worrying about something minor like this. Overall, it's not 10mm, but also, it's not 1-2mm either.

Below are the images I took in opening up the mouse to confirm the sensor and switches, remove the weights, and deal with the LED's. There are two screws on the underside of the back skates that I just removed with an x-acto knife (if you do it carefully you can put the skates right back on, with no issues). The mold for the switches should be lifted from the back where they unlatch (after unscrewing), then apply just enough force to pop off the top off the base.

These are the two 10g weights

Drivers/Customization
Easy section. This is a plug and play mouse, so there are no drivers. ^_^ The only note is that the underside of the mouse (see above) has a switch that controls what CPI you are using, for everything else, see the Windows control panel.

Final Thoughts
I've been relatively excited about this mouse ever since I won it, and after testing a bit I think it will replace my Roccat Pyra as my main mouse. I believe that this mouse works quite well in either FPS or RTS tasks from my experience so far, though if I had to give an edge to one of them I would say that RTS might be slightly better for this mouse, but that's only because of what's on paper. For ~$39USD I feel that this mouse is a pretty solid addition to the market and should be able to compete with mice such as the Abyssus and Kinzu v2 as these mice are essentially the same size, but at $0USD this mouse is f#$*ing amazing!

A big thanks to Tt esports for giving these prizes for me to evaluate. Also Skylit for correcting some things.

Previous Mouse Evaluation: Roccat Pyra

Last edit: 2012-03-19 08:16:54

rkshox Taiwan. February 17 2012 15:25. Posts 302

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wow didn't know a mouse review could be so in depth! thanks!!

first we expand, then we defense it

curlfry Australia. February 17 2012 15:30. Posts 99

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Brilliant review, brilliant photos, very in depth.

Would love to see more reviews like this with the same amount of detail and the death of all the other mouse threads.

the French are effectively gypsies with a steady income

Mobius_1 United Kingdom. February 17 2012 15:35. Posts 2719

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One of the best reviews on peripherals that's not from a professional site. So much technical stuff that most people (including me) don't even care about/understand. Kudos!

Starleague Forever. RIP KT Violet~

dpurple Turkmenistan. February 23 2012 21:25. Posts 517

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Looks like good mouse. Except putting the screws under the mouse feet, especially when they advertise that youre supposed to be able to open the mouse to change weight.

wo1fwood United States. February 23 2012 21:47. Posts 2249

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On February 23 2012 21:25 dpurple wrote:
Looks like good mouse. Except putting the screws under the mouse feet, especially when they advertise that youre supposed to be able to open the mouse to change weight.

Pretty much every manufacturer put the screws underneath the feet, so this is expected. The big question is, because they worded it this way (optimal weight system to suit your preference) does that mean that by opening up the mouse you will not void the warranty? It's sort of a murky area.

dpurple Turkmenistan. February 23 2012 22:57. Posts 517

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On February 23 2012 21:47 wo1fwood wrote:

Show nested quote +

Yea I see that on my current mouse there are no screws, so I guess they are under the feet. But this one is not meant to be opened. But if you put weights in it and say that the mouse has adjustable weight, it seem very odd to put the screws there.

Last edit: 2012-02-23 22:58:07

BeMannerDuPenner Germany. February 23 2012 23:02. Posts 5146

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not my kind of mouse and i like my current one. but you did a nice job, esp after a few "hey look, i bought X, its totally awesome lol!!!11" reviews i saw here. nice info, pics, evrything good ~~

Last edit: 2012-02-23 23:03:31

life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery

0cc France. March 27 2012 22:58. Posts 1

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Hi, i have just receive this mouse, plugged in my comp, the mouse don't work..
the sensor make strange flashes ! i have bought about 16 mouses in my life never had an issue, 1st time i buy ttesports producs, never more..
+ tt.. "support" no responding to me.. NICE

tt.. mean T_T ?? it's look like

Paris

Jibba United States. March 27 2012 23:36. Posts 20135

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This is an absolutely awesome and thorough review. I'm really, really glad you're doing these.

I suppose an Abyssus review should be next since it's the current king of the small, uni RTS mice. I wonder if Razer reads this stuff.

Last edit: 2012-03-27 23:38:58

Now I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat

wo1fwood United States. March 28 2012 23:17. Posts 2249

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On March 27 2012 22:58 0cc wrote:
Hi, i have just receive this mouse, plugged in my comp, the mouse don't work..
the sensor make strange flashes ! i have bought about 16 mouses in my life never had an issue, 1st time i buy ttesports producs, never more..
+ tt.. "support" no responding to me.. NICE

tt.. mean T_T ?? it's look like

hmmm...If I understand you correctly do you mean the pause-break lighting is working (like in THIS video, watch the dragon logo, this is intended behavior)? When you turn over the mouse is the Red LED light for the sensor on (and constant)? You should also check to make sure that there's nothing obstructing the sensor cavity as that may screw up tracking (or prevent it altogether). Have you also tried using different USB ports? From the impression I'm getting, it kind of sounds like you may have gotten a faulty mouse altogether and should get a replacement, but you should check to make sure that is the case.

On March 27 2012 23:36 Jibba wrote:
This is an absolutely awesome and thorough review. I'm really, really glad you're doing these.

I suppose an Abyssus review should be next since it's the current king of the small, uni RTS mice. I wonder if Razer reads this stuff.

Thanks! If I had disposable cash I would love to evaluate lots of mice, but mostly I've covered newer mice that I own, and don't have really thorough reviews elsewhere. I also wouldn't be surprised if many manufacturers read OCN though. I know of a few people on that forum who worked (or work) at various manufacturers who actually talk to the community there.

For the Abyssus, the review below is a pretty good one, but then again it's OCN and Skylit, so it should be. It's too bad the Abyssus has jitter prolbems on a number of cloth pads, but heck, there's even a thread on ESR dedicated to which mousepads work with it.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1093946/abyssus-round-2-quick-impressions
http://www.esreality.com/index.php?a=post&id=1881007

Praetorial United States. March 29 2012 00:40. Posts 3631

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This is a very nice review, thanks. Unfortunately for me, I have very large hands and use a palm grip, so I won't be able to buy this mouse.

Also, I read the title as "Azureus", the torrenting client.

FOR GREAT JUSTICE! Bans for the ban gods!

TwilightRain Germany. May 06 2012 22:42. Posts 258

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hmm..i might consider buying this mouse instead of ordering an original Logitech G1 from Korea if the shape and feel of it is really similar to the G1. Does anybody else apart from the OP have this mouse and can confirm that?

wo1fwood United States. May 07 2012 01:09. Posts 2249

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On May 06 2012 22:42 TwilightRain wrote:
hmm..i might consider buying this mouse instead of ordering an original Logitech G1 from Korea if the shape and feel of it is really similar to the G1. Does anybody else apart from the OP have this mouse and can confirm that?

The inward tapered design \__/ in the front, and the height (5mm taller) are the only major difference in the design from the G1 (other than the obvious build differences). I should edit to say two more things about it, now that I've used it for a few months.

If you remove the weights, and have your fingers right at the very edge of the mouse you may rock the mouse a little (pitch), assuming your palm isn't stabilizing the back area at all (for a traditional fingertip grip, and if you have large hands). I think it's a minor thing, but design wise it could have been slightly better. Also I think the tapered design of the sides once they reach the front is perhaps a little much for my style. I occasionally feel that I may be slightly lifting the mouse if my grip is to far forward, but this could also be a weight thing as well. Overall I think coming from the G1 it might feel a little like the mouse doesn't feel as planted on the surface due to where the pressure of your hand is, but ofc that is going to depend on your grip style and where you hold the mouse.

Last edit: 2012-05-14 02:54:03

Geogun United States. July 18 2012 09:42. Posts 4

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I read this review a few days ago, and I just bought a brand new Azurues Mini mouse from a retail Micro Center near my house to replace my Abyssus (because I don't really like being able to feel my thumb getting caught in the gap between the mouse button and the side when I press down). This mouse is definitely the perfect size for my hands and claw-grip. Though I do see what you mean by the narrow \__/ shape at the front being an issue...I really don't like that...

There were also two odd things that I noticed right out of the box. There definitely is a loud distinct rattle inside the mouse. I mean just casually moving it side to side makes it noticeably rattle. The mouse works fine...it just rattles. I know that you said yours didn't rattle like anything was loose. I mean the switches and the body are very solid on mine, but there is definitely a rattle on the inside. Is that not suppose to happen? Also there is a tiny high pitched "pre-click", that I can hear everytime I lay my finger on top of the left mouse button. It sounds like a fizz bubble popping in a soft drink left on my desk (which at first I thought it was). These really are not that big of a deal...but I was just wondering if you had the same thing, or if mine is just off. I can see the rattle becoming an annoying problem maybe later on...so I might just see about bringing it back if the rattle is a defect.

wo1fwood United States. July 21 2012 06:32. Posts 2249

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On July 18 2012 09:42 Geogun wrote:
I read this review a few days ago, and I just bought a brand new Azurues Mini mouse from a retail Micro Center near my house to replace my Abyssus (because I don't really like being able to feel my thumb getting caught in the gap between the mouse button and the side when I press down). This mouse is definitely the perfect size for my hands and claw-grip. Though I do see what you mean by the narrow \__/ shape at the front being an issue...I really don't like that...

There were also two odd things that I noticed right out of the box. There definitely is a loud distinct rattle inside the mouse. I mean just casually moving it side to side makes it noticeably rattle. The mouse works fine...it just rattles. I know that you said yours didn't rattle like anything was loose. I mean the switches and the body are very solid on mine, but there is definitely a rattle on the inside. Is that not suppose to happen? Also there is a tiny high pitched "pre-click", that I can hear everytime I lay my finger on top of the left mouse button. It sounds like a fizz bubble popping in a soft drink left on my desk (which at first I thought it was). These really are not that big of a deal...but I was just wondering if you had the same thing, or if mine is just off. I can see the rattle becoming an annoying problem maybe later on...so I might just see about bringing it back if the rattle is a defect.

If you can see in the pictures that I took, in the back of the PCB there's a cluster of wires and something wrapped around them, I think this is whats rattling inside (it did with mine iirc, but it's only bumping against the shell when that happens), as its just sort of floating and not glued or pinned down exactly. I don't think its really an issue as its not like a major mechanical piece is loose or malfunctioning or something, which would be bad. You could try to move it away from the shell if you wanted to open the mouse up (you could also remove the weights which was great for me).

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