Mad Catz R.A.T.7 Gaming Mouse for PC and Mac

It's with a heavy heart that I write this review and give this mouse only 2 stars (realistically its 2.5). rarely do i give a low rating, and it's almost painful to give it less then 3 stars, as there are so many things that I love about this mouse! but i cannot give is more then 3, and even that was a challenge.I'm picky about my mice, as I have a slight different holding position then many, and I've gone through dozens of mouse designs until I found this one. I love the low semi-flat aspect of this mouse, and the adjustable positions are gravy. the extra buttons are almost perfect for my needs, and I love the different possibilities the extra scroll provides. the software is encompassing, and flexible, if just a tad bit clunky. After my first RAT mouse that had horrible issue with laser tracking, the rest had little to no issues with this. I love this mouse in many ways, and have re-purchased it multiple times (total of 7 different times). even at that price, I love this mouse that much.So why just 2 stars? simple. the side buttons, that I use a lot, break. And they do it very fast. they are only really a thin sheath of plastic that functions like a lever to push a toggle deeper in the side of the mouse. as they are plastic, they are prone to bending, eventually making the button depression difficult, to eventually completely breaking off. I literally have 6 other variations of this model sitting in a box in my attic, fully functional with the exception of one or both of the side buttons broken (or non functional due to bending).My last one i purchased didn't last more then 2 months before this same scenario started up again. I simply cannot excuse the price for these mice when I have to replace them every few months because the company refuses to see a design defect in the product. they either need to make those lever style buttons on the side out of a firmer material (aluminum or some other stiff metal), or change the design completely. they simply don't work. I've had these mice last at the most a year before needing replacement...and even at that I could stomach it as I love the design of the mouse. but this last one was that "straw". 2 months...for a 75$ mouse. inconceivable.I hope that I'll be able to find a replacement that is as comfortable as this one, but my budget simply can't risk the chance on those buttons! it's like rolling the dice with 75$ of your precious hard earned money...with no chance of winning any of it back. so in the meantime, I'm working with a gimped mouse, looking for another model that feels like this one but won't toss my money out the window a few months later.

The sensors are all over the place, I have tried different surfaces and the only one my mouse likes is a White Piece of clean Printing paper. Still if I leave the mouse sitting the cursor on the computer screen bounces around. Heart breaking! I love the feel of this mouse and the fact you can rest your whole hand on it without touching the surface is beyond amazing since no other company does this. 4 years later, today is 2018 and I pulled out my RAT 7 and tried to reinstall drivers again but it still has some kind of bouncing around. I think it is worst now than back then but then again this mouse died and all of a sudden it works again. I really believe this company needs to work on the drivers and reflash the firmware for these mouse.

I like computer mice. I've purchased over 6 high end gaming mice to play around with, most recently including the razer naga (good but overpriced), the logitech g9x (excellent. but middle mouse button requires too much force), and this mouse.The expandable nature of the mouse was helpful for my large hands. I particularly liked how I could extend the left thumb rest so my hand didn't feel cramped. It's smooth to move and can be weighted to suit your playstyle.Having said that, the software was terrible, the drivers were annoying, and the the middle mouse button press required too much force. This is an important note because if you play any game where weapon switching is involved then you'll know the frustration you feel when pressing the wheel accidentally makes it roll because you've had to use extra force.There's a better mouse for a better price - the LUOM G10 Mouse, AKA the YCCTEAM 4000 DPI 10 Button Mouse - it's about 1/3 of the price, looks just as cool, controls even better, and if you don't care about taking apart a mouse and putting it back together again, then it will suit you perfectly rather than the RAT7. I recommend the LUOM G10 both as an entry and intermediate level gaming mouse so you can find out what you like without breaking the bank, and also get a lot of the "bells and whistles" that come with many gaming mice. The LUOM G10 also has pretty decent software if you're into macros and all that jazz.

TL:DRpros:-feels great. best feeling mouse I've ever used-very modular-easy to take apart and clean (just gota be a little tech/mech savy)Cons:-this software for this device is no longer being supported-breaks easily-hard to find replacement parts for anything on inside of this mouse-not popular so hard to find help with anything that may go wrong with this mouseConclusion:do not recomend--------This is a great feeling mouse and when it was supported it was one of the best I'd ever owned. unfortunately I'v seen consistent problems with this mouse in the forums (problems with horizontal scroll) and the software to program the keys must now be gotten from unofficial website. the internals break easily. I really wish I could give this mouse a better rating, even with its flaws it has a special place in my heart. the feel is awesome but.. I cant give it a high rating when it simply doesn't function as advertised.I would not recommend this mouse. especially for its price. if this drops to less than 50... maybe.. but anything more than that.. go with something reliable and supported like a Logitech.

I owned a R.A.T 9 for a couple of years, but the major problem there was that it was impossible to purchase replacement batteries when the life of the standard pair grew shorter. In that respect, great though it is, I would not recommend the R.A.T 9. When the laser on my 9 died, the obvious replacement was a 7. They are identical, with the exception of this not being wireless. The braided cord is lightweight and slips over your desk, not getting in the way like many rubberised cables.The main selling point for the R.A.T range, other than it looking like the Batmobile crashed into a Countach, is that they are so adjustable. Personally, I feel that they've almost made it too adjustable, throwing more bits in the box than you really need. Each to their own there, I guess. I was more than happy to stick with the standard build and adjust them, rather than bolting on all of the other replacement parts.I've had a bit of RSI in the past, from a mixture of working in IT and gaming, so getting a mouse to fit is a major help with that. I have big hands and most mice are too small for me and mean that my tendons are taught when I hold the mouse, rather than being loose when I naturally drop my hand on it. The advantage for me with the R.A.T is that I can extend out the back of the mouse to fit the palm of my hand, angle out the left side where my thumb sits and add weights to the thing to make it heavy. The only thing I wish it could also do is adjust the angle of the whole top of the mouse by 20 degrees, so the left is higher than the right. The hand naturally sits at an angle and having to make it flat tightens the tendons in your forearm. A number of Microsoft mice have addressed this, but sadly not here. Maybe in a future version...As for the mouse itself, the build quality is just amazing, as you'd expect given the cost. The design is precision made. The plastic is rigid. The base on which everything is mounted is a solid lump of steel(?), as are all the various wheels, weights etc. The micro switches are incredibly precise and can be programmed for certain game functions, used to increase or reduce sensitivity or use custom templates, allowing you to use different capabilities for different games. The wheel moves incredibly smoothly and the aiming button reduces the sensitivity, making it great in an FPS.All in all, it's a must-buy.

An adjustable mouse is an ingenous way to solve the differing grip we gamers choose to adopt. Normally peripheral companies produce a range of products to cater to each style, be it palm, claw or fingertip. By creating one that can adopt to each? Very clever.On first arrival, the box is solid and represents the price tag. Inside you'll find a well packaged mouse and the removable palm wrests and pinkie grips. First impressions show a well built, high quality mouse. The surface is a nice soft touch rubber coating which despite not doing anything to cover fingerprints, is pleasant to touch. Mouse buttons 1 & 2 are nicely balanced and the wheel feels robust. The two thumb buttons however feel mushy and do not offer the tactile feedback you'd expect. They are also slightly too far back - I have small hands and if this posed a problem for me, It is likely worse for those of you with normal sized hands!Onto its selling point. The mouse offers 3 palm grips: One standard, one slightly raised and one with a grippy rubber surface. These are easily removable and slide up and down to adjust the overall length - Very nice. The thumb grip is on a hinge and can swing out to the left but doing so makes the mouse unbearably wide for small hands. The pinkie grips requre an allen key to remove but its a quick job. In stock form it is quite heavy, but there are a series of circle weights attached at the bottom - The petruding silver part you can see in the picture allows these to be removed easily and reduce the weight slightly.Compared to every other mouse I own (alot) the R.A.T.7 is seriously wide which posed problems for me and others in my family who were interested in it from the appearance. I just simply could not find any comfort in using it compared to a true ergonomically shaped mouse.The other, more serious problem is the sensor. The phillips twin-eye is reknowned for its z-axis issue, that is this laser is capable of tracking along 3 axis as opposed to the normal two. That means when lifted even slightly it will track in a downwards movement to the right. For those of you who owned previous Razer products, you will know what this is and how irritating it can be.The truth is, this mouse was released in 2010 with a widely reported sub-par sensor and has not once undergone a revision to replace it. Should they decide to produce a revision with a high quality optical sensor i.e the 3090 or 3310 with no acceleration, prediction or smoothing then this mouse would propose an interesting choice for gamers with larger hands.

I previously owned a RAT 7 and after a few years of thorough use (competitive gamer) it sadly died (I don't blame it, any mouse would have died earlier). Going back to a RAT 7 was an obvious choice!I have large hands so with the back fully extended my palm can comfortably rest and my fingers can click without being curled (so I can use it all day without any discomfort) - the shape looks potentially uncomfortable but with all of that adjust-ability it can fit any shape hand (you aren't in contact with any of the irregular edges)DPI settings are brilliant and switch instantly - can be adjusted with software so you can set some more and less sensitive options (there are 4).The quick buttons and sideways scroll are very useful - the red one on the side is perfectly placed, has ideal weighting and does have responsive feedback, same goes for the grey bar buttons (but don't bother setting any functions to the back one as you cannot reach it while in a competitive environment, but for web browsing the sizes mean that you can't accidentally go one way when you want to go the other). The functions can be changed to 1 of 3 settings stored on the mouse - changed by tapping the light to the left of the left mouse button.The design looks amazing too

Summary: I would thoroughly recommend this mouse to the hardcore gamer, particularly if you like fast shooters. However be prepared to replace it on 1-2 yearly basis.The adjustability of this mouse has meant it has replaced my previous favourite, the naga epic, for comfort. I have also found the easily adjustable dpi and the couple of extra buttons make this my go to for shooters and most other games at the moment.I have found that through most of its life the RAT7 performs exceptionally well, though in my own experience they do not last as long as you may want if you are a hardcore gamer. My first RAT7 died after 13 months of near daily use when the laser failed. This was replaced under warranty and now the replacement is getting to about that ago and I'm noticing occasional twitches of the mouse, so I'm expecting the laser will be failing again on me soon.

was very temperamental to be honest i bought this for my Alienware MX17 gaming laptop..because i had the R.A.T 9 for over 2 years on my main PC and it was great ! so i went for what i though was a trusted brand! but this one would literally have a mind of its own and track without me even touching the mouse and have sporadic moments jumping over the screen. checked drivers settings it was simply just a faulty mouse.