Corsair Harpoon RGB Wireless Review (featuring Corsair MM800 RGB Polaris Cloth Mousepad)
Everyone loves RGB, right? Well, not everyone but I certainly do. So it’s unsurprising that I own both an RGB mouse and mousepad. Here is my review of the Corsair Harpoon RGB Wireless as well as the Corsair MM800 RGB Polaris Cloth Edition!
I bought the Corsair Harpoon RGB Wireless for £54.99 on Amazon, but can sometimes be seen on sale for around £49.99. I will go on to explain why I chose the wireless version over my old wired version of the same mouse, despite the fact I loved that dearly.
The packaging for the mouse is small and simple, keeping in theme with Corsair’s yellow and black branding, with the contents including the mouse, wireless dongle stored inside the bottom of the mouse, the Micro-USB charging cable, instruction manual and warranty information.
The design of the mouse is simple, with a textured scroll wheel, two side buttons and triangle textures on both sides of the mouse for extra grip. There is a small Corsair wordmark on the left click button, and a simple Corsair logo on the face. While the default setting is rainbow, the RGB can be adjusted in Corsair’s iCue software.
As someone with small hands, the Harpoon is a good choice, coming in at 116mm long, 68mm at it’s widest point and 40mm at it’s highest point. This is comparable to the sizes of the Glorious Model D- and Logitech G305. It weighs 99g, which is around the boundary between heavy and lightweight, and perfect for most users.
Using Corsair’s 2.4Ghz Slipstream technology, the mouse’s response times are really fast, perfect for reacting quickly to flickshot that pesky Hanzo, or eat an unsuspecting Tracer’s pulse bomb. The DPI can be adjusted inside of Corsair’s iCue software, with a minimum option of 200, and maximum of 10,000, increasing in intervals of 200. I personally use 800DPI, which is the default option with the mouse. Up to six DPI profiles can be stored on the mouse, and be switched by clicking the DPI button below the scroll wheel. There is a small LED on the DPI button that can correspond to a DPI profile to make it easier to identify.
The mouse can also be used in Bluetooth mode, or plugged in via USB. Both of these modes provide lower response times compared to the 2.4Ghz mode, and are not recommended unless absolutely necessary. The battery life is relatively good, lasting about 3 days of gaming before needing to charge. One of the lackluster points about the iCue software, and not particularly a gripe about the mouse itself is that there is no indication of how much juice is left in the mouse before it needs to be plugged in, only providing a high, medium or low statement. There is also no indication of how long the mouse takes to charge. These issues may be patched in a future iCue update. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been in Overwatch or Valorant and had the battery die on me during a fight. When charging, I prefer to keep the 2.4Ghz option on to keep my fast response time and let the mouse charge, but this may mean the mouse may take longer to charge to full battery life. Turning off the RGB will increase the battery life of the mouse.
But no mouse is complete without its mousepad! After using an Omen 100 for a few months, it started peeling and fraying pretty quickly, and I knew that I would need a more permanent, and stylish solution. As a Christmas present, I received the MM800 RGB Polaris Cloth Edition (a mouthful so we’ll just call it the Polaris)
The mousepad is usually £59.99 on most retailers, the same price as the hard edition, which other than the surface the features are exactly the same as the cloth edition, albeit with a light-up Corsair logo, whereas it does not feature on the cloth edition. Whilst it is very expensive, it’s Corsair, so what do you expect with a product like this?
The mousepad has very good control and stopping power, but also providing a smooth glide for speed when it is needed. There is no press with the cloth, and the 5mm depth makes it a higher mousepad compared to other surfaces. The rubber surface is one of the best that I have ever seen on a mousepad, with trying to move the mousepad around moving my entire desk around first. The size of the mousepad is 350x260mm, which may be slightly small for those who use lower sensitivity in games, but as someone who uses 12,800 eDPI in Overwatch, it’s just about the right size for me.
The Polaris features 15-zone RGB, which can all be adjusted in the Corsair iCue application, with the RGB being very vibrant and noticeable. Unlike some RGB mousepads, the RGB only features on three sides, rather an all four.
A noticeable feature of the Polaris is the USB hub on the top of the mousepad. I use this when charging my mouse, and comes in very handy, but it is also the reason I switched from my wired Harpoon mouse to my wireless one. The cable on the mouse kept snagging against the hub, often ruining my aim and shots. This issue also occurs when charging my mouse. A mouse bungee may help to prevent this issue. I’m jealous of people who use the G305 and the Polaris and don’t need to use cables.
My final thoughts:
The Harpoon Pro Wireless is a good budget option for those getting into gaming and a small hand, with a simple and clean look, and convenience with multiple DPI profiles able to be stored, making it great for on-the-go gaming.
The MM800 RGB Polaris Cloth Edition is a great-looking albeit expensive mousepad with a great feel, customisation features and included USB hub, which will be a problem for some users. If you have a wired mouse, or charge your wireless mouse via cables, I’d stay away from this mousepad unless you own a mouse bungee, and check out the RGB mousepads offered by SteelSeries and Razer instead.
Pros: (Harpoon Pro Wireless)
Clean and simple look
Great price for the features you get
Great size for those with small hands
Slipstream technology some of the quickest available in mice nowadays
Cons: (Harpoon Pro Wireless)
Too small for those with large hands
Some may consider the 99g weight to be too heavy for such a small mouse
RGB limits battery life by a large margin
Impossible to tell the battery life
Pros: (MM800 Polaris)
Great-feeling material
Vibrant RGB
Convenient USB hub
Cons: (MM800 Polaris)
Incredibly expensive
RGB only on three sides
Wired mice will snag against the USB hub
May be too small for those with low sensitivity
