Mionix Naos 5000 Gaming Mouse

Mionix is a relatively new company in the gaming peripherals market, at least compared to other more established companies like Razer, Steelseries and the like. Nonetheless, Mionix has turned quite a few heads with their initial product releases such as the Alioth 400 and Saiph 3200.

Their latest gaming mouse – the Naos 5000 clocks in at a hefty $97. Aimed at the high-end gamers market, it sports all the features you could hope to find in a high-end gaming mouse. But with a price tag higher of many other gaming mice, is the price tag really justified? Let’s find out.

Design

In keeping with the previous Mionix theme to name their products after stars, planets and other outer space related themes - the Naos 5000 is named after a blue giant star with the 5000 referring to the maximum DPI sensitivity setting of 5040.

The set of features incorporated into the Naos 5000 is quite impressive, and is a step up from the Saiph mouse. The Naos kept all of the features from its predecessor while adding and improving a few extra features: namely the 128kB built-in memory, customizable LED lighting colors and an adjustable polling rate.

The shape of the Naos mouse is exclusively right-handed – sorry to all of you left-handers out there. The design is quite ergonomic and feels very hand friendly, however, it forces you to grip the mouse in a specific way. This is a good thing if you find the shape of the mouse to be comfortable, which I did, but if you don’t find it comfortable there is not much room for adjustment. The contoured design is just about the only “take it or leave it” aspect of this mouse – just about every other aspect can be customized to your liking.

The top of the Naos 5000 has five buttons; the typical left and right buttons, the scroll wheel clicker and a pair of up and down arrow buttons directly behind the scroll wheel. The arrow buttons are used to change the DPI setting profiles, and they can be used on-the-fly to adjust the sensitivy in-game. The left side of the mouse is where you find two more buttons, which are used by default to go forward and backward in your browser. Directly in front of these two side buttons are three LED lights that indicate which DPI setting profile is currently active.

Packaged with the Naos 5000 is a mint tin sized container with a set of eight 5g weights used to customize the weight of the mouse. The face of each weight contains an etching of the Mionix logo, and the bottom of each weight displays the 5 gram weight.

Features and Specifications

• Truly ergonomic design: Truly ergonomic design with support for all five fingers
• Maximum grip: The rubber coating ensures a maximum grip
• Balanced weight tuning system: A unique weight tuning system for an optimal weight distribution
• 5040 DPI laser sensor: Remarkable performance built for gaming
• 128 kb built-in memory: Bring your settings and recorded macros with you stored into one of the 5 profiles
• Customizable LED light system: Personalize your mouse with extensive color options
• S.Q.A.T - Surface Quality Analyzer Tool: Surface Quality Analyzer tool to measure the tracking quality on a certain surfacetracking
• 3 steps customizable dpi in-game adjustment: Set 3 dpi values and switch easily between them in-game
• 7 programmable buttons: The buttons can be assigned to any key, mouse command or macro
• In-game profile switch: Switch easy with a click between stored profiles in-game
• Adjustable polling rate: Tune it all the way up to 1000Hz through the software
• Plug n Play: Completely Plug n Play, software needed only for configuration

Installation and Setup

The basic installation of the Naos 5000 is simple – it’s plug-and-play and you can be up and running with the mouse in a matter of seconds. The Naos does not come with any software included, it is available exclusively from the Mionix website. While some may see this as a negative, I rather like the fact that the majority of features are available solely from plugging the mouse in. If you want to further customize the mouse you need to download and install the software, but it is not necessary. If you use the mouse on multiple computers, you won’t need to go through the whole installation procedure each time.

However, if you want to unlock the full potential of the mouse then you need to download and install the software. I did install the software and briefly went through the various menus. It is very clear and easy to use, with the ability to assign certain keys or even complex macros to each of the buttons. Additionally, you can assign up to five profiles that are stored in the internal memory of the mouse. This makes it easy to swap from your favorite settings when going from game-to-game – very handy to load your profile rather than trying to manually reset everything when you switch from a FPS shooter to a RTS, for example.

Customization

In my many years of gaming I have learned that if there is one thing we all love, it’s customization. From the simple customizations of our desktop settings and browser settings to the huge effort to mod our systems to a particular theme & color scheme, everyone likes to have their own rig that they can say is personally reflective of themselves. To then have to be stuck with a single color mouse that looks just like everyone elses is really quite a let down.

Mionix allows you to customize both the operation of the mouse (with macros and profile settings) as well as the color used by the LED lights. The default color is green if you choose not to install the software, but there is a large colour palette available in the software if you wish to take advantage of changing the color scheme. While you cannot set the color for each individual LED light, you can choose whether you want the lights do be all turned on, all turned off, or only certain lights to be turned on.

Finally, Mionix has included a set of eight 5g weights with the Naos to allow you customize the heaviness of the mouse. This is a common feature in high-end gaming mice, and it is executed to a tee with the Naos. The 5g weights can be installed in a left and right compartment on the underside of the mouse next to the sensor, and you can choose the weight that fits your personal style the best.

Testing

Testing of the Naos was done by playing many yours worth of the typical FPS games that I enjoy playing. I spent a few hours each playing Quake 4, Quake Live and Crysis. There are countless other sports and RTS games available, but I have always migrated back to FPS games for a true test of any mouse.

The performance of the Minoix Naos 5000 is overall high-quality, with solid performance in all aspects. Tracking wise the Naos was outstanding, and there was never an instance where the tracking felt unsmooth or I felt like it skipped a beat. My aim was smooth and consistent in all of the games I played. The sensor scales perfectly from low-medium-high DPI settings, and it allows you to use the sensitivity that is just right for your gaming needs.

The tactile feedback of the scroll wheel as well as the left and right mouse buttons was on par with other gaming mice we have tested. These buttons are not so tight that you have to exert much pressure to click them, but they are firm enough that you won’t find yourself accidentally clicking the buttons while you move the mouse around.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics wise, the Naos was very comfortable to use during long gaming sessions. The contour grip was comfortable for my hands and I did not feel any hand fatigue during my gaming.

The rubbery exterior material takes a bit of getting used to if you are used to a smooth, plastic mouse. It is not as smooth feeling as plastic, but the outer material has a softer feeling that the typical hard plastic mouse. Not really a good thing or a bad thing from my perspective, it is just different than the feel you get with other mice.

Mionix Naos 5000 Gaming Mouse

The Naos is an absolutely superb gaming mouse and I would have no hesitantation to recommend it to fellow gamers. It has great performance with tracking and on-the-fly sensitivity adjustments, it can be customized with weights to exactly your weight preference, it is comfortable to use and it can be customized with up to 5 saved profiles and can further be customized with your favorite color lighting scheme.

So with all of the features, performance and customization you could ever ask for – why does it not get the highest rating and an Editors Choice award? Due to the one and only one drawback (and it’s a big one) – price. The Naos goes for about $95 USD online. That’s about 50% higher than most gaming mice on the market today. Whether the price premium is worth for you it is a personal decision, but the price alone is the only real detrimant to this otherwise outstanding product.

Pros: Outstanding tracking performance, customization to your hearts desire, ergonomic design, most features can be used without software.

Cons: High price, right-hand only design.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5

www.mionix.net