The minimum number of wires on the table is definitely pleasing to the eye, but, of course, you don’t want to give them up at the cost of downgrading the hardware. What if I told you that there has been no need to pay such a price for quite some time? Another proof of this rule in the world of gaming mice was the ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition reviewed today, which provides the user with everything one could want, and even does it for a reasonable amount of money. Let’s talk about everything, however, in order, and we’ll start with the configuration and appearance of the device.
ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition comes in a completely standard cardboard box with a loop on top. Inside the box there is the mouse itself in a rag bag, some scrap paper, stickers, spare mouse feet, a soft USB Type-A to USB Type-C braided cable, a 2.4 GHz USB whistle, a USB Type-A to USB Type adapter. -C and four rubberized stickers on the mouse body for those who need even more grip.
The mouse itself is completely symmetrical and made of pleasant, rough plastic, which does not allow it to slip out of your hand. Conventionally, the device is suitable for both right-handers and left-handers, but the side keys are located only on one side. For a right-hander, these keys are located exactly under the thumb and are extremely convenient to press, but I’m afraid to even imagine methods for using them for left-handers.
In general, the shape of the case is ideal for a palm grip, but does not interfere with holding the device in any other way. The physical dimensions of 127.5 x 63.7 x 39.6 millimeters will allow those with both small and large hands to use the mouse with sufficient comfort.
The left and right mouse buttons have no play at all, and underneath them are red ASUS branded switches with a resource of 70 million clicks. The pressure is tight enough so that the key does not work simply under the weight of a relaxed finger, but their click is quite loud and extremely clear.
Between the main keys there is a scroll wheel with a very clear movement and loud operation at the cutoffs. At the same time, there is no play in the wheel either in the directions of rotation or to the sides. The pressure on the wheel is relatively tight. It is also the only RGB lighting zone on the entire device.
On the left and right, the mouse body also received raised stripes for additional tenacity, into which anything will definitely get stuck, but there is no complex pattern here, and therefore it will be very easy to clean the mouse.
Also on the left side of the mouse, as I said above, there are a pair of side keys that can be reassigned through proprietary software for any actions or even macros. The keys themselves, again, are pressed with sufficient force so as not to accidentally click them, and have a small margin of free play for operation, which will additionally protect the user from accidental presses. The side keys are quite quiet, especially compared to the main pair.
ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition is a wireless mouse with a battery inside, but at the same time its weight is only 54 grams without the whistle, the slot for which is provided on the bottom of the mouse. There are also buttons for adjusting DPI and activating the pairing mode for Bluetooth, as well as a switch between connection modes (2.4 GHz, wire, Bluetooth). Mouse gliding is ensured by a quartet of Teflon feet, which are included with the mouse in stock for the future. It’s somewhat difficult for me to imagine a use case in which these feet would wear out at all, since even with my relatively rough mat, similar feet on the ROG Gladius III have remained intact for more than two and a half years of daily use of the mouse, but a spare never hurts.
Wired connection of the mouse, as well as its charging, is carried out through the USB Type-C port on the front. Both the factory cable and any other cable will do, there are no restrictions.
All basic settings of the mouse before use can be done without installing any software, but if you need to precisely adjust the sensor resolution, acceleration and deceleration of the cursor, the operation of the backlight in different modes, or even customize macros, then you will need to download Armory Crate. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the appearance and functionality of the application below.
However, in the case of ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition, the matter does not end with Armory Crat, and the user has access to even more precise tuning of the mouse sensor through Aim Lab.
Before moving on to actually testing the mouse, it’s also worth talking about its technical characteristics. The ROG AimPoint sensor is installed inside, which supports resolutions from 100 to 36,000 DPI, acceleration up to 50G and a maximum speed of 16.51 meters per second. In this case, the mouse polling frequency, both wired and without it, is 1000 Hz and can be adjusted to lower values if necessary.
The battery capacity allows the mouse to work up to 90 or 99 hours on 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth without backlight, and activating the latter will reduce the operating time by about 20 hours.
This is my personal experience from using it. The mouse fits almost perfectly in the hand and does not slip out even during really sweaty matches, and with my excessive sweaty hands, literally any match is sweaty. In this case, there are no questions at all to the sensor. It works perfectly in any use scenario and withstands any attempts to disrupt it perfectly. In general, with such a mouse you will have to blame your PC or the Internet for losses, but obviously not it.
Let’s summarize
ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition can easily be called an almost ideal mouse for almost every PC boyar. The only exceptions to this rule will probably be MMORPG fans who would like more buttons on the mouse, as well as those who do not like ambidextrous mice. For everyone else, finding any disadvantages in this device beyond its cost will be very difficult, if not completely impossible. I definitely recommend ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition for consideration when purchasing your next long-term gaming mouse, but the final decision, of course, as always, is yours.
