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EXTERIOR AND CLOSER LOOK
The Cooler Master Storm Havoc has a very nice, sleek matte-black scheme with a slick rubber coating. The design, as mentioned previously, borrows from the two mice, but a little extra from the Sentinel Advance II. It has a similar large, wide frame, and unlike the Recon is not ambidextrous. It targets those users that favour flat-finger/fingertip-grip and/or palm-grip, and thus is not suited for the claw-grip orientation unless you have large hands.
The top-front of the Havoc has five of the eight buttons with high-grade Omron switches: left, right, DPI increase, DPI decrease, and middle-scroll. Keep in mind that the on-the-fly DPI buttons do not change profiles as there is a dedicated button for that on the side, which is a happy change since the Sentinel Advance II has this format, yet the Recon did not have separate buttons, or have DPI and profile settings separately mapped.
A nice little addition are the four LED ticks on the side which light-up depending on DPI sensitivity. On the flipside, the scroll wheel is almost identical to the Recon’s, but unfortunately lacking the grooves that make gripping and sliding a whole lot easier.
The top-back has the Cooler Master Storm logo that shines when connected. Note how it resembles the Sentinel Advance II’s flat, broad base versus the Recon’s rounded bottom, but shares the same logo position as the Recon.
On the left side is a neat gill-like design acting as a thumb-rest. We also see the final three buttons, making a total of eight. All buttons are programmable, and thankfully so as by default the Recon has the small button in the middle designated as the ‘back’ button, while the one to the right is set for changing the profile/colour. Even so it would have been preferred if Cooler Master had transferred the middle button to above the scroll wheel like on the Sentinel Advance II. As it stands the chances of misclicks are highly likely in its current configuration.
The right side goes a different route with a glossy-black outline void of any buttons. Again a confusing change as the Havoc would have looked better keeping a universal rubber coating, and further, prevent any slipping; but all-in-all it is a minor gripe. To be fair it does complement the feel of the rubberized grip on the left side quite well.
The bottom of the mouse holds the Avago 9800 sensor as well as teflon strips for smooth movement:
The Havoc connects via a gold-plated USB 2.0 header. The cable comes nicely braided allowing for extra protection against liquid, wear-and-tear longevity, and follows the overall simple aesthetics.
Overall the Havoc feels great. The frame and design are perfect, the build quality is excellent, and the rubber coating makes it a pleasure to hold. The buttons are fast and responsive with ‘clicky’ Omron switch springs, and void of any input lag or lock-ups.
I like the design. Looks pretty cool. And not too big for my hand.