CM Storm Devastator Review – Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Combo

I found that the grip pads on the bottom of the mouse didn’t interfere when using it with a mousepad, however it did have it a rather uncomfortable amount of traction on a surface such as glass.

One thing to note, I’m not entirely sure how well the mouse would work for left handed users, but my impression is that overall it would work out well. The only downside I can see is that you’d have to use your pinky finger to press the two additional buttons on the side. Other than that both sides of the mouse are symmetrical between each other.

KEYBOARD

The Cooler Master Devastator keyboard is the almost perfect counterpart to the bundled mouse, featuring a lot of similar aesthetic choices as the Devastator mouse. Their appearance being similar definitely makes it feel as if they are supposed to be bundled together, giving the set a cohesive look when used together. However, while they look good together, I did say almost perfect counterpart. The sharp edges, neon blue LED’s, black matte finish and even similar font are all there, but I feel like it would’ve added a good deal to both the keyboard’s and the mouse’s appearance if the lines on the hand wrest of the keyboard lit up just like the mouse’s lines do. It doesn’t really detract all that much from the keyboard besides the fact that it would’ve looked awesome if paired with the mouse. Moving onto more important matters, the keyboard does look nice, and has a good deal of additional features that make it even more desirable.

The Devastator keyboard is a full (it includes a number pad, insert, page up/down, etc…) backlit membrane keyboard designed specifically for gamers. When plugged in, the backs and lettering on all the keys light up a deep blue, making it easier to see them against the dark black paint or simply in low light conditions. The lighting can be toggled on and off at will, but there aren’t any settings for brightness beyond that, so you’ll have to resign to either having the keyboard at its brightest when on or simply leave the lights off. However, with the lights off I found it rather hard reading the letters and numbers on the keyboard, which is sometimes necessary when getting used to a new one. Another complaint would be that the keyboard doesn’t turn on automatically along with your computer, relying on the scroll lock button to turn it on and off.

With its low profile, I found it rather comfortable to use the keyboard while sitting on a desk. The only complaint would be that sometimes I found the handrest to be right at the length where I couldn’t use it comfortably with my hands, yet it was in the way when not using it. However, that’s mainly a case by case issue, depending on how people use their keyboards and the size of their hands. The Devastator keyboard, like the mouse, has grips underneath it as well, making it very stable on most surfaces, which is more than useful for any gamer where precision is key. However, if you were to flip the two legs out from beneath the keyboard to raise the top of it more, you’d lose roughly half of your traction since two of the rubbery pads would be raised off the surface and the legs themselves are simply made of the same material as the keyboard.

A nice addition to the keyboard are the dedicated media keys, which are always nice to have when getting a keyboard. The keys included are stop, play/pause, backwards, forwards, volume up and volume down. The first four keys are on the left side of the keyboard above the F1-F5 keys while the last two are on the right side above the print screen, scroll lock and pause keys. With the dedicated keys, controlling your music is a piece of cake and can be done at any time.

PERFORMANCE AND FEEL

MOUSE

The DPI settings, while useful in certain settings, make the Devastator mouse feel rather limited. I found myself using the second setting because the first was painfully slow and the last was ridiculously sensitive. Thankfully, I was able to get used to and comfortable with the DPI at 1600 after some minor adjustments to my computer’s mouse sensitivity settings. To really give the mouse a good test in all aspects, such as comfort, ease of use, and performance, I used it for all my gaming for about a week, which would easily total more than twenty four hours. I used it on different surfaces, angles, locations, and games. After extensive tests I’ve reached the conclusion that it’s by no means an extraordinary, perfect mouse, but there’s not much to complain about.

It’s an optical mouse, which I’m not used to using considering I mostly use a laser mouse. As a result I often found myself moving it in unexpected ways, especially when lifting off my mouse mat briefly. It also sometimes felt a bit inaccurate in comparison to some of the other gaming mice I have used, it wasn’t too bad however, and I still managed to perform capably in any games I tried out with it (the list ranged from League of Legends to Team Fortress 2 and even Guild Wars 2.) Honestly, most people won’t notice a difference in responsiveness between the CM Devastator mouse and a lot of higher tier gaming mice, especially if they haven’t gotten used to alternatives.

As for the comfort of the mouse, during my long gaming sessions not once did my fingers ache or my hand cramp. In fact, I barely even registered that I was using another mouse besides my regular one. So for comfort factor, the CMStorm Devastator mouse gets high marks!