R.A.T.7 Contagion Gaming Mouse

Introduction

If you’ve been PC gaming in the last couple years you’ll recognize the very transformer like look of the MadCatz Cyborg line. In an age when smooth edgeless design and multiple color led’s seem to the norm, the R.A.T. 7 Contagion packs a lot of variations into what you may have once thought was a simple device.

Features

Ease of Use

Normally you would find that this is a clear cut case of easy or hard but with this device the variations create a complexity that will have you rethinking how you use your mouse and maybe even changing the way you do.

Design

As you’ve seen from the photos this mouse is all about design but casts off a more stylish look for packing in functions. What you do not want to be with this mouse is a lefty, southpaws are going to find that this mouse is off limits unless you’re ambidextrous.

Adjustments

With the R.A.T. 7 Contagion you can:

Adjust the weight of the mouse – You have five 6g weights that you can add or subtract to dial in the weight that you feel is best. In tests we found that the mouse alone without the weights was more suited to grip style since the occasional pickup and move happens.

Adjust the thumb rest angle – Modify the angle to laterally to best fit your hand and grip style.

Change out the pinkie grips – from a rubberized grip to a more ‘tray’ or ‘rest’ position depending on your preference. Yes, this sounds odd but depending on the weight and how you move this mouse you might not find this a clear cut decision.

DPI – Quick access to change  up to 4 levels of DPI are on board just behind the middle mouse button, four corresponding LEDs on the left quickly tell you what level you’re at.

5 Programmable buttons – Through the software based profile editor you can set your mouse functionality to whatever you are working on. Handy pre-created game profiles exist to be downloaded and built upon.

Software Profile Manager

Set the four levels of DPI and the percentage that the precision aim button impacts

Set every button with macros and settings to specify for your game style.

Performance

This mouse is heavy, and weights allow you to dial it in even more, so in our tests leaving the field of more simple devices, it felt a little cumbersome getting it the R.A.T. 7 Contagion where we wanted it in the speed we were used to moving a mouse.

The DPI adjustments are easy to change while you’re gaming which allows for on the fly adjustment to gaming situations. From close quarters head spinning to dialed down fine grain movements for sniping this mouse didnt disappoint.

The thumb area features a button that can be programmed to reduce the DPI while pressed (The Precision Aim Button) and it soon became apparent who benefits from this one. If you’re a sniper and you hit the ground for the long distance shot, this button will quickly become your friend. Hold it down as you line up your target gives you very fine grain movement to get on targets at range so you don’t waste a shot. While using this is an effective means to temporarily slow the DPI if you are scanning for targets as we do, you’ll want to drop the mouse DPI for longer scanning sessions since holding that button can become tiring.

Red button of FINE MOVEMENT

Quality

This is a very well constructed mouse. While the appearance would seem to feel like multiple parts slapped together the overall feel of this mouse is a single unit.

Value

This mouse clocks in at what we consider Tier 2 pricing, while you can get it for just under the $100 mark most of the outlets we found are going to average just a little over that. This is a mouse for a more serious gamer. The intent and functionality are overkill for your basic or even casual gamer and with this in mind we feel that for a more heavy duty performance driven gamer, this mouse comes in at a solid price point for the features you get.

Final Intelligence Report

If you want to have total control over the interaction you have with your mouse then the R.A.T. 7 Contagion will fit the bill nicely but we’re not joking, this is a serious amount of variability in a peripheral device so if you’re not fully into making all kinds of adjustments until you’re happy, this one might just leave you frustrated.