Mad Catz R.A.T. 7 MCB4370800C2/04/1 Glossy Black 6 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Laser 6400 dpi Gaming Mouse for PC and Mac

Pros: This mouse is very nice looking and is great for the customization. The buttons allow you to modify the settings on the fly and are placed well for use in crazy quick situations.

Cons: The right click has "broken" on me twice. I shipped it back the first time afte rowning it for about 6-7 months and they sent me a brand new one that did the same thing after about 3 months. The right click spring underneath the button breaks and no longe rpops the button back up so even just blowing on the right click will cause it to click. This is not functional when right click is used for 80% of what i use the mouse for. I will not buy another Madcatz product after the hassle i had to go through to get the first one RMAd (took 4 months of emails and shipping etc.)

Other Thoughts: I loved the mouse untill it broke on me, seems like a defect in the product becuase it happened twice and appears to be a common issue, easily fixed by using higher quality materials.

Pros: It was great for 15 min.

Cons: Well once the entire enclosure and all the buttons broke down it was useless. I didn't want to think this was a MADCATZ problem but I got a cyborg headset at the same time and both failed within a day of each other. They lasted almost a month and I am very careful with my hardware. My R.A.T.7 had one button fail then the next day all of the buttons failed. After contacting MADCATZ customer support they informed me my 2 year warranty did not cover button lose? So I guess they don't care if your mouse can use its buttons as long as it looks nice function not necessary. Feel free to buy if you have enough to buy 6 at a time so you can just burn and turn them as they fail. Nice looking metal product EXTREMELY poor internal electric design. 8 Year old's could have done better.

Pros: *Looks are by far the best pro. This mouse looks awesome
*high customization from look and feel to functionality

Cons: This is where I had a hard time giving it 2 eggs or 3 eggs.
First of all this place builds up grime worse than any other mouse I have ever used. Wouldn't be a big deal, but there are 13 spots to clean, and that's just at a glance while I am looking at it.
Also the metal pieces (screws on each side, thumb adjust hex-screw on end, screw above that hex-screw, weight adjustment knob) have all accumulated a substantial amount of rust on them. It just looks gross, and feels gross. I have cleaned this mouse quite often too, which is irritating.
Also I have to blow on the bottom sensor from time to time because it will stop tracking horizontally.

Other Thoughts: It's a decent mouse, but way not worth the price tag. If it was 85% cheaper, I would give it 5 eggs expecting a few shortcomings, but for the $110 I paid for this mouse, I am hugely dissapointed. Going with a Razer here shortly.

Pros: The RAT 7 is an amazing, top-of-the-line mouse with endless features:

-looks cool. one youtube review stated that it looked like he had Batman's mouse on his desk. it comes in several aesthetically pleasing color schematics with different LED indicators

-6400 DPI sensitivity

-fully adjustable weight (with 5 removable weights)

-fully adjustable thumb grip

-fully adjustable palm rest (with 3 completely different, interchangeable palm rests of different sizes/shapes included)

-fully adjustable pinky rest (with 3 completely different, interchangeable palm rests of different sizes/shapes included)

-horizontal scroll (with adjustable sensitivity)

-vertical scroll (with adjustable sensitivity)

-on-the-fly push-button DPI adjustment with LED indicator (fully programmable and adjustable. this feature basically allows the user to create 4 mouse profiles and alternate between them in-game with the click of a button)

-sniper button (fully customizable button that inhibits the movement rate of the mouse, allowing for extremely precise movement) the button is designed in such a way that it doesnt require much force to press it, yet you wont ever press it on accident. it's in the perfect place and takes the perfect amount of pressure to depress it. it's hard to explain how well this button is designed with words, you really have to feel it.

-nice, snappy, firm primary buttons. This probably sounds like an unnecessary point, but main clicking function can make or break a mouse. The RAT has a very nice, mechanical, clicky feel to it. (with no inadvertent double-clicks)

-aluminum frame. This seemed like overkill when I was reading about it, but when the mouse arrived in the mail and I was actually able to feel it, i suddenly understood. The aluminum chasis gives the RAT a super-solid feel. It's sturdy. I wouldnt dare, but I feel like I could throw the mouse against a wall and it would survive.

-rubberized components. The RAT comes with rubberized interchangeable parts for users that dont like the feel of polished plastic.

-braided wire. this might be a con for some people, but for me; I need a zero-lag mouse. I sometimes subject my machine to 12+ hour gaming marathons, and I can't be hassled with a mouse that requires batteries or recharging.

Cons: -price... if you're not a serious gamer, there's no reason to spend more than $30 on a mouse.

-lifespan. let's face it, mice eventually wear-out. Maybe it will take 2 years, maybe it will take 10 years, but eventually they deteriorate, clog, accumulate grime, and have to be replaced. Knowing that fact, it's hard to invest $100 in a mouse.

Other Thoughts: this mouse is actually plug-and-play, which is a pretty useful feature. however, to unlock all of the customizable settings it requires a utility/driver download from the madcatz website.

Once you try a RAT, you will never go back.

Pros: I love appearance of this mouse, and the high dpi setting, and programmable buttons. I also have a cyborg keyboard to match. Can pretty much customize the mouse to your desire.

Cons: Unfortunately I started having problems with this mouse about 3-4 months. The mouse would completely stop tracking vertically, only horizontally. This is obviously a huge problem with a " gaming " mouse. Who wants to reset their game to unplug the mouse. The last complaint i have could possibly be a pro for some. This mouse is so sensitive ( I came from a G5 mouse, not a 10 cheapo ) that while listening to music at a low setting, and trying to use the mouse is quite difficult. The mouse is that sensitive, it hops around on your screen making it hard to click on item/objects.

Other Thoughts: I really want to like this mouse, i love my cyborg keyboard, however its not plausible. Perhaps if I did not encounter problems with the mouse, i would have a 4 star rating. The sensitivity is clearly advertised with this product, I am not faulting the mouse for performing as it should in that department.

Pros: Customize all day long. Love the weights and that it fits my hand perfectly.

Cons: Mouse worked great for about a year. Then started having issue. I contacted support and was told to clean it. I had already done so, but they told me to clean it THEIR way. I went to get a Qtip and they hung up on me. I cleaned it THEIR way with little difference. I called a month later, this time they told me not to use a USB3.0 port. Finally I started having double click issues. I was told to put in a support ticket through their system. I did, and 3 weeks later *I* called to follow up, and they said they would replace with a refurbished one AFTER they checked out my mouse and tried to repair it. (eyeroll). So I have to pay return shipping, and wait an undetermined amount of time to possibly get my same mouse back. NO THANK YOU.

Other Thoughts: While I absolutely love the mouse, the level of service I received was inexcusable. If it was a $20 mouse, I would understand, but when you pay over $100 for a mouse, you expect a certain level of service.
I will NOT be purchasing another product from MadCatz, and will recommend that my friends, family and cliends also avoid their products.

Pros: 1. Very customizable
2. Strong software support (Tested Windows only)
3. Incredible Precision
4. Ridiculously sturdy feel (makes all the other 5 gaming mouses i've owned feel like cheap plastic)

Cons: 1. While not a major con, it would have been nice to have a cd containing the driver and mouse programming software.

Other Thoughts: Originally purchased this mouse because I liked the ability to customize the ergonomic settings of the mouse.
HOWEVER,
I have big hands and the spare / additional parts do not really provide as much comfort as I thought it would. (This isn't a major con as basically every mouse i've owned is the same way.)

Pros: mouse is awesome looking, was quite accurate and sensitive.
lasted 4 years.

Cons: the mouse stopped working on me.. at first it was intermittent but now it doesn't work at all.
occasionally i would have to blow into the bottom of the mouse because a hair would obstruct the laser.

Other Thoughts: this mouse lasted me more than 4 years. i cant be sure of the exact date because newegg wont let me see purchase history before 2009. also newegg discontinued my specific model of rat7, mine was not glossy.
I disassembled and cleaned the mouse very thoroughly to be sure it wasn't a tiny hair or something that was in the way, but i cant get it to work again.

Pros: Ergonomic dream. The sniper button is only practical if you buy the ray 7 where you can slide the thumb rest back towards your palm. The only reason to get a 7 over a 5. I would guess 90% of FPS gamers will NOT want to use the sniper button regardless. I play almost always sniper in FPS. Works good as an extra button still.

Cons: This mouse used to be made by saitek cyborg. They were recently bought out by Mad Catz who is notorious for having zero customer service. Now their mice are rebranded and covered with dumb cat scratch logos, ridiculous color schemes and a HIGHER price tag. Thats right, pay MORE for LESS. Buy this mouse if you like getting duped. Buy a logitech G9x on sale for $65 if you know what your doing. Disregard any manufacturing response that might follow, it is purely to make them look good when they clearly are NOT.

Other Thoughts: Did a lot of research on this one, please do not support Mad Catz!

Pros: Customizable, you can set 4 different dpi settings to choose from and change to any time, heavy, lightweight cord, and its wide.

Also the thumb rest is the best thing ever. I'm one of those gamers that have whats called 'drag'. My pinkie and thump will a lot of times touch the mouse pad and will drag along or even stop the mouse if I don't consciously keep my thumb and pinkie off of the mouse pad. I found that the right side of the mouse is like this \ instead of like on my old wireless mouse which looked like this \_/
With both sides being how they were on my old mouse, it was rather annoying to keep having my thumb or pinkie slip down the sides of the mouse and then get in the way of me moving the mouse. The thumb rest on the RAT 7 is one of the most important things for me and was one of the determining factors for me getting it.

Another pro is that it is heavy. Again, you absolutely want to check how much it weighs and then find something that weighs about the same and really think about how it would feel. Some people like to have mice that weigh as much as a quarter dollar, but I have found that for some things its best to have a heavier mouse. Even with all the weights out it heavier then my logitech M505 wireless mouse which uses 2 AA batteries.

The mouse buttons are farther apart than on any other mouse that I have used but I find that this feels better.

I got the RAT 7 from a local best buy and it has the softer finish, not the glossy finish (but I prefer the one that I got).

Cons: Only thing that isn't perfect is a super slight looseness on the right mouse button but its almost unnoticeable and it doesn't affect anything in any way shape or form.

Other Thoughts: I've been using a wireless Logitech M505 for 2 years now and gaming with it is ok until you start playing against the best in a game. I play Halo Custom Edition for the pc and I need to be able to hit a certain pixel otherwise I will get killed before I can kill the other player. My wireless mouse I found was skipping pixels causing me to miss most of my shots. I play at 1600x900 res with Halo in window mode, 400 dpi on the RAT 7, 9 sensitivity in-game, and 7 ticks in windows control panel and I have never been able to shoot this good. When I was looking for a new mouse, I was thinking that I would need a high dpi and a low in-game sensitivity to be able to have smooth pixel by pixel accuracy, but it turns out even 800 is to much (for halo at least).
I was a little hesitant to get this because of all the bad reviews but I couldn't find another mouse that had even close to as many things as the RAT 7 does. I bought my RAT 7 from a local best buy and paid $15 more for a 2 year warranty so that if anything does go wrong I can just get the geek squad to fix or replace it.

One thing you should consider before getting the RAT 7 is the size. From all the pictures and videos it looked like I would need to extend the palm rest out at least one tick but with it all the way in my hand is just big enough for it. My hands aren't big but there not small either. Not only is the mouse big, but its also wide. After using the RAT 7 for several hours, I tried grabbing my wireless mouse and i noticed that the whole right side of my palm wasn't being supported like on the RAT 7 and it was actually really uncomfortable. I don't know the exact length of my hands but if you can't palm a basketball, I would say that this mouse might be to big for your hands.

The reason why I got a wireless mouse two years ago was because I was absolutely fed up with cords getting in the way or getting stuck on something or making it hard to move the mouse. The Logitech M505 wireless mouse is really nice for web browsing, playing minecraft, or even doing video editing, but when you need absolute precision, your gonna need to get something else. The braided cable on the RAT 7 is extremely lightweight and doesn't get in the way at all. I was actually planning on getting the RAT 9 because it was wireless but because of my wireless mouse skipping pixels, I decided to go with a wired mouse again, and so far, its working very well.

Right now I have the thumb rest moved back a little more than what it came as, I have the palm rest as far in as it goes and I have the rubber one on there, I have the rubber pinkie grip on, and I don't have any of the weights in. I have the dpi's set to 400, 800, 1000, 2000, and the sniper button set to decrease the dpi by 50%.

That's about all I can think of right now. If I can edit this review then I will be updating if anything goes wrong with the mouse (hopefully not) and I will also be adding a video of how well I am doing in haloce now.