ASUS ROG Keris (Wired)

The ASUS ROG Keris (Wired) is the latest mouse to fall into our lap, and it's a pretty competent device considering its budget price point. The peripheral retails for just £58 and it comes with some pretty nifty features, such as a lightweight honeycomb design, two customisable RGB lights, and a switch for easily adjusting the DPI. If you are familiar with the line, you would have also seen that there is a wireless variant (retailing for roughly £100), but here we are just focusing on the wired version.

First of all, I was impressed that the mouse felt really lightweight and there were no compromises made to the design. The device weighs 62g and its honeycomb structure is purely internal, so there are no holes carved out of its outer shell. Its lightweight design means moving it across your desk is a breeze and this is added further by four 100% Teflon feet located on its belly. I also found its ergonomic design to feel comfortable in the palm of my hand and it has a matte finish on its body that feels both soft and smooth.

In terms of its design, things are pretty basic. The colour scheme is completely black and there are two RGB lights (there's one on the scroll wheel and there's a Republic of Gamers logo that also glows up). By default, these lights cycle through a spectrum of different colours every couple of seconds, but you are able to tailor your settings by using the free Armoury Crate software. This software I found pretty simple to use to change aspects such as the colours displayed and the method that they are toggled between. I also appreciated that you can adjust settings for both light sources independently, so there's lots of flexibility.

The one thing that I dislike about its design is its paracord cable, which just resembles an overly long shoelace. Whilst I did find it to look jarring next to the body of the mouse, the cable does have a few benefits of its own. At 2M, it's pretty lengthy and the paracord material itself doesn't bunch up easily, which is perfect for moments where quick reflexes are required. Another negative though is that the cable cannot be replaced, so if it's broken or damaged, it looks like you will have to purchase yourself another device.

The selection of programmable buttons here isn't too plentiful with there just being a left and right mouse button, a scroll wheel, and two buttons located down the left-hand side. You can change the functions of these using the aforementioned software so that they can be used for tasks like adjusting the volume, muting audio, and opening up your web browser. The left and right mouse buttons here felt really responsive with just the slightest amount of pressure required to register a click and this was certainly appreciated when playing FPS games.

A handy tool that the mouse has is a DPI switch that is placed on its belly. The switch utilises a feature known as On-The-Scroll, which enables you to adjust the accuracy of your DPI without even having to exit your game and open up any accompanying software. Essentially, to change your DPI, all you need to do is push and hold the switch and then scroll your mouse wheel. This is a welcomed feature indeed, but I wish that there was an on-screen indicator present to enable you to more accurately fine-tune your settings.

At its price point, the competition might be awfully fierce, but the ASUS ROG Keris (Wired) still comes out swinging as a worthy competitor. Its lightweight feel and ergonomic design made it comfortable to use and I appreciated that there was the option to independently customise both of its RGB lights. Its buttons also feel awfully punchy and I appreciate the inclusion of a DPI control, even though I wish it came with an on-screen indicator. That said, the selection of programmable buttons is limited and there is no option to replace its paracord cable if it breaks.