OCZ Behemoth Gaming Mouse Review

[nextpage title=”Introduction”]Every time we get a mouse to test some of our friends ask: “and is it big?” We begin to realize that not only the left-handed gamers get overlooked but also the big fellows out there. Those who have large hands have to struggle with tiny mice. To cater to these users OCZ is releasing the Behemoth, a gaming-grade mouse that has all the bells and whistles of the market – adjustable weight, function buttons, individual profiles, high precision – plus a bigger body size.

Figure 1: The Behemoth

The bigger shape features also two extra grooves for the ring and pinky fingers to rest more comfortably. In the upper body you find the scroll wheel (that doesn’t light up), the dpi switching button, and the back/forward button near the big thumb groove. On the underside you can see the laser cannon, some routes for the cloth sleeved cable, the profile selection button, five Teflon feet and the weighting system. It has five weights at 4.5 grams each, reaching a maximum weight of 22.5 grams. The cable routing is a great feature by which the user can route the cord out the sides according to taste. Of course it’s not a revolutionary feature but it’s still a nice touch.

Figure 2: The underside.

The traditional buttons and scroll wheel felt good during work or gameplay, and the size and shape – alongside the rubber coating – allowed for a better and ergonomic grip. If you have a small hand it’s like going from a single bed to a king size bed. The only gripe we had was with the side button – to hard to press and somewhat high for a small-sized thumb. OCZ should have made it easier to reach and more sensitive; it represented a problem during our test.

Figure 3: Size comparision with the OCZ Equalizer.

[nextpage title=”Configuring the Behemoth”]OCZ started with the right foot in the configuration department. The executable software runs from the mini CD and doesn’t require installation. User configurations are stored on the mouse’s internal memory, so you can switch computers and keep your preferences. You can create four profiles that can be selected through a button on the underside. The back/forward button LEDs tells the user which profile is selected: forward LED light means profile 1, back LED light means 2, both LEDs lit up mean profile 3, and lights off indicate the default profile. The same idea works for the resolution switching button, located below the scroll wheel: if the light is off, then it’s on the lower dpi setting; the next three LEDs indicate the next three higher dpi settings.

Figure 4: Configuration menu.

Now comes the bad part: the OCZ configuration interface is very confusing and unfriendly. It’s really sad because it has such a cool feature like the “Keepshot,” an auto-fire setting that you can use to shoot in fast, medium or slow bursts. Four individual buttons plus two scroll wheel functions can be reassigned so the user can have up to six different options per profile. You can program simple commands, like copy+paste, application launching (browser, email client) and even record macros – useful to complex strategy games or RPGs like World of Warcraft. Unfortunately this process isn’t easy to perform. We configured a work profile (Word and Photoshop lauching, copy+paste commands) and two profiles to play TeamFortress 2 (weapon switching etc) and World of Warcraft (summon mount, battle stance changing etc).

Figure 5: Dpi menu.

Like other gaming-grade mice, it’s possible to adjust the dpi setting. You can set four sensitivity stages ranging from 200 to 3,200 dpi; they’re user selectable. After some testing, we decided on a selection of 800, 1,600, 2,400 and the final 3,200 dpi setting just so we could see how it performed, since anything above the 2,000 and something mark for us is a bit to much.[nextpage title=”Playing with the Behemoth”]The mouse may look like a prize bull, but it handles like a stallion on an obstacle course. It really caters to big-handed users but the rubber grip and ergonomic shape makes it a good choice for everyone else. Although it’s bigger than most other models on the market, the size is proportionate and doesn’t get in the way. You have to get used to a full-hand grip and to fill those grooves for the pinky and ring finger. We removed some of the weights to compensate for its bigger size and let the Behemoth be lighter in our hands – but that was purely a matter of personal taste. What really bothered us was the hard to reach, hard to press thumb finger. That was somewhat fine while working – when we could actually raise the hand from the mouse to reach the button – but while playing it was a nuisance. It went right against the whole concept of being a gaming-grade mouse that had to excel in terms of performance. The freedom to choose each individual dpi setting was a good thing. Without the pre-sets, the user can decide the sensitivity steps most suited to his/hers gaming style and strategy. If you don’t have a lot of table space (something the Behemoth demands) you can go for the higher settings so you can move the cursor around with shorter hand movements.In final analysis, the Behemoth is a must-have for every big-handed user that always complained about not having a proper-sized mouse. If it had a friendlier application and a more sensitive thumb button we would have given it a straight A. The scroll wheel could also perform horizontal scrolling like some other mice. Then the Behemoth would have a good navigational feature and two more configuration options. That’s the tip for OCZ when they design a successor for their giant rodent.[nextpage title=”Specifications”]The OCZ Behemoth main specifications are:

• Gaming-grade laser mouse
• Assignable functions: Six
• Onboard memory
• Tracking Resolution: from 200 to 3,200 dpi (user selectable in four stages)
• Maximum velocity: 60 inches per second
• Acceleration: 50 G
• Approximate size: 118 mm x 71 mm x 44 mm 
• Weight: 18 g
• More information: https://www.ocztechnology.com
• Average price in the US*: USD 29.00

* Researched at https://www.shopping.com on the day we published this review.[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]