The Corsair Katar Pro XT’s silhouette is alien. At first glance, its bulging middle resembles the wider egg shape popularized by great gaming mice like Logitech’s G305, but as soon as I held it, something felt weird.
It’s two things: first, everything in front of its hump – about two-thirds of the way along the mouse – is essentially a dead straight slope down. The middle and front of most mice curve to fit the shape of your hand, but not here. It’s like a shelf for your index and middle fingers. Second, the sides slope sharply inwards. Most mice fall straight down and some slope outwards to give your ring and pinky fingers somewhere to rest, but the idea of the Katar Pro XT is that your fingers wrap around it, giving you full control.
That’s the theory, at least. In practice I found a comfy position, but only after lots of trial and error. It feels like an exaggerated version of the Logitech egg, with a flatter top and slopier sides: I ended up liking the shape, but felt like I had to work to get there.
And that’s the story all over with this mouse: at $35/£35, there’s plenty to like – the left and mouse clicks are particularly rapid — but you’ll have to contend with some missteps, too.
Rapid-Fire Mouse Buttons and a Solid Sensor
Corsair has packed plenty of impressive tech into the Katar Pro XT.
The left and right clicks are excellent: Corsair’s “Quickstrike” tech sounds gimmicky, but lives up to the name. The switches for the clicks sit right below the buttons, so as soon as you push down even slightly, it detects an input. The result is rapid-fire spamming that sounds clean and bouncy. I was at first worried I’d inadvertently click when I didn’t mean to, but that never happened.
I’ve reviewed plenty of budget gaming mice recently and this PMW3391 sensor, with a maximum DPI of 18,000, is slightly better on paper than some of the others I’ve tested. Combined with the 1,000Hz polling rate (the number of times per second it reports its position to your PC), it’s certainly good enough for most gamers in whatever genre you want to play.
I tested it in Arc Raiders, Counter-Strike 2, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and whether I was flick-shotting or lazily swinging a sword, it reacted to my hand movements with no noticeable stuttering or inconsistencies. It felt precise, and any issues I faced were more down to the mouse feet than the sensor.
Itchy Feet and Mushy Side Clicks
Those feet felt ever-so-slightly inconsistent in-game. I couldn’t work out what it was, so I did some testing. If I pushed the mouse sideways and let go, it slid a short distance, but if I pushed it up and let go, it stopped instantly. Basically, there’s more friction on vertical movements than horizontal ones. What’s more, the top feet produce more friction than the bottom ones. When I pushed sideways and let go, the bottom travelled further than the top, meaning the mouse tilted sideways. The third offense: left and right swipes are much louder than top to bottom swipes, which rings alarm bells.
Those problems sound worse than they actually are, and replacement mice feet are pretty cheap. In-game, these quirks didn’t seem to affect performance and I felt I could land all my shots accurately, but it just wasn’t the smoothest ride – and I could feel every bit of its 74g weight. I’ve tested other budget mice that glide more gracefully.
Pressing the side buttons isn’t particularly enjoyable, either. They barely protrude from the body of the mouse, so when you click them you touch the edges of the shell, while the actual clicks feel soft and mushy. And I don’t love the scroll wheel, which feels stiff. It also rattles if you shake the mouse: the overall build quality of the Katar Pro XT is solid, and its body won’t bend or creak even if you squeeze it really hard, but the rattling scroll wheel is the one sore spot.
You can expect some good, some bad with any budget gaming mouse, and that’s what you get here. Whether the Katar Pro XT is good for you, then, might come down to its shape.
Comfortable Shape That Requires Trial and Error
I like that Corsair have at least tried something different: so many mice sport the same shape, and that might not suit everybody.
I can immediately rule out palm grip, where your whole palm rests on the body of the mouse. The inward-sloping sides won’t accommodate your pinky and ring fingers, plus the angle of the bulge leaves awkward gaps: this is very much a fingertip grip and claw grip mouse.
I actually really like the shape for fingertip grip. Minimal contact with the mouse surface means the lack of curves really doesn’t matter, and the straight, flat mouse buttons give you maximum clicking space. The inward sloping sides fit my thumb, index, and pinky finger well, and I feel fully in control of the mouse. The subtle mesh texture on the mouse sides give you ever more grip, and it feels nimble and agile in my hands. That said, this is a wide mouse. My hands are slightly larger than average, and people with narrower palms might struggle to find a comfortable spot for their ring and pinky fingers.
As for claw grip, I simply couldn’t find a comfy position. The width of the mouse means you really have to curl your ring and pink fingers onto the sides, and my hand just felt cramped and contorted.
That was until I tried a variation of the claw grip with three fingers on the top of the mouse: index finger for left click, middle finger for the scroll wheel, and ring finger for the right click, with my pink on the side of the mouse. This felt very comfortable, and I was fully in control of the mouse. It’s not my natural claw grip – I prefer two fingers on top – but I know some people favor this version. If you’re one of them, this mouse will work for you.
So if you like fingertip grip or a modified claw grip, and you don’t have small hands, the Katar Pro XT is tempting, especially if you see it on sale. But if not, there are plenty of better options on our list of best budget mice that will feel more comfortable.
Samuel is a freelance reporter and editor specializing in longform journalism and hardware reviews. You can read his work at his website.
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