ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III Review — when cheap mice are good

Well, we have always been brought up with the age old saying, “good things not cheap, cheap things not good”. What if I told you, we have found a good thing which is cheap as well? The ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III is quite the perfect example, being the best in its price range. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at it.

Unboxing

As usual, the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III comes in ARMAGGEDDON’s signature black and yellow packaging.

There is also a flip window for you take a peek at your purchase before you pay for it. I do like this packaging design as I do prefer to be able to actually see what I am getting, instead of just relying on product images, which may sometimes be inaccurate.

And this is all the stuff in the package. A user manual, driver CD and replacement Teflon pads which match the color of the mouse. Neat.

Specifications

Appearance

The ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III bears an uncanny resemblance to the legendary Microsoft IntelliMouse 3.0 as well as the Ducky Secret, which means it has an ergonomic shape that has been enjoyed by gamers across the generations. The ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III comes in two color options, which is matte black (Sable Soviets) and glossy white (Alpine Allies). As you can clearly see, today we have the Alpine Allies variant of the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III with us. The ARMAGGEDDON logo has customizable RGB lighting too.

On the left side of the mouse, there are only two buttons which function as back and forward keys by default. A rubber grip here improves the handling of the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III. A sleek RGB illumination strip runs between the upper shell and lower half of the body.

We see no buttons on the left, which is normal for a right-handed ergonomic mouse. A rubber pad is here to offer better support for the pinky finger.

On the bottom we find that the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III is equipped with reasonably sized Teflon mouse feet to allow for smooth gliding. In the center there is the Avago 3310, which is similar to the Pixart PMW3310DH in the Ducky Secret.

The ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III may be cheap, but that doesn’t mean you have to forgo niceties like a gold plated USB connector or nylon braided cables. The cables here are white which does bring forth the question: how long can it stay white?

User Experience

Thanks to the rather popular shape, the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III didn’t take a long time to get used to. As I had large hands, the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III was perfect for me to palm grip. The glossy finish actually feels pretty good when used, but people with sweaty hands might not find as much joy here.

Unlike other mice on the affordable end of the spectrum, the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III feature OMRON switches which were a joy to press. The side buttons do feel a little mushy though.

There were absolutely no problems with the sensor as it tracked flawlessly in my usage. However I did find the weight or lack of, a little uncomfortable. It is really light and when compared to my much heavier Corsair M65, it feels really plasticky. This is of course a preference as certain people do prefer lighter mice.

The easy-to-use software included with the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III is quite nifty. It allows you to choose up to three lighting effects. My favorite was the color cycle effect, especially on the strip between the upper and lower halves of the mouse. It gave me a Chroma vibe. The CPI settings that correspond to the upper and lower settings on the dial can also be configured here.

The lone CPI button on the top is great for quick switching between the two sensitivities that you can configure, but I did wish for more stages instead of just two. I would also prefer if I could hold it to enable a temporary CPI until I release it, like the sniper button on the Corsair M65.

Conclusion

After several weeks of usage, I did enjoy using the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III, a lot. The ergonomic shape fit really well in my palm. In fact, I noticed I suffered from less fatigue when using the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III instead of my Corsair M65. I totally recommend this mouse to anyone with big hands or people who palm grip their mice. The software is user friendly and simple. It can be further improved but there is no need to fix what isn’t broken here.

The best thing about this mouse is that ARMAGGEDDON managed to cram an Avago 3310 sensor and OMRON switches in this mouse, and still price it so low. How low, you ask? RM169. At this price, you will definitely be hard pressed to find a mouse with similar features and specifications. The ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III deserves our Silver Pokdeward.

I would like to say thank you to ARMAGGEDDON Malaysia for the opportunity to play with the HAVOC III.