At first we would like to thank Bloody Technology for sending out a sample of their ZL5A “Sniper” Gaming Mouse for testing and reviewing.

 

 

About Bloody:

 

“Developed and designed by A4Tech, a Taiwan company since 1987 with advanced R&D experience and strength. A4Tech has spent 9 years in well-research on how to improve gaming input device, and launched World's first "Multi-Core" gaming mouse and "Ultra-Core 3" software - an advanced weapon tuning software.

Bloody, officially born and launched in 2012 has set a new definition of gaming mice with features:

 

* The first Multi-Core gaming mouse

* X'Glide Metal Armor Boot

* Bloody software with multicore design

* Advanced Weapon Tuning

* Trajectory adjustment

 

Dedicated to bring innovative technology for your unprecedented new gaming experience!”

 

 

Product Features:

 

Exclusive- Advanced Invincible 4-Core System

 

Bloody technology offers unique 4-core system. It incorporates 4 various levels for all game requirements: "Low, High, Ultra, and Extreme."

Core 1: Suitable for RTS & RPG games

Core 2: Suitable for FPS games

Ultra-Core 3: For Advanced FPS Games

Extreme-Core 4: For Advanced MMO Games (Optional to be purchased separately)

 

Just 1-Time Upgrade to Enjoy Both Ultra-Core 3 & Extreme-Core 4

 

No need to purchase Ultra- Core 3 separately. Only pay one-time to upgrade to the optional Extreme-Core 4, and you’ll have access to Ultra-Core 3 as well! Enjoy 5-way gun adjustments in FPS shooting games and quick-1 key macros in MMO games.

 

The World's #1, Extreme 1ms Key Response Time

 

Exclusive "Ahead" technology reduces key response time to 1ms (normal time for others is 18ms). It significantly reduces the key response time stay ahead of your enemies in game play! Download “Mouse Click Speed Response” software here and see it for yourself!

Resolves ″Over-Clicking″ Malfunction

 

Exclusive "Ahead" Technology

Key response boosts up to extreme 1ms resolves "Over-Clicking" malfunction, greatly prolong mouse button's life span.

 

Exclusive- 16-grade Calibration Technology

 

Innovative "16-grade Calibration Technology", fine-tunes the focus between the laser-grade engine and its working textures, which makes the captured images clearer for better cursor positioning and wider working surface adaptability.

 

Armor Boot- X'Glide Pro Metal Mouse Feet. Durable, Sensitive, Frictionless (Included)

 

Advantage 1: Super wear-resistant

Advantage 2: Enhanced sensitivity - glides 20% faster

Advantage 3: Quality remains after 300Km of abrasion test

 

Exclusive- Gear-Style Weapon Switch

 

The “Gear-Style Weapon Switch” access key has long life-span and it instantly switches between the two (1/N) most commonly used weapon modes of the left button.

 

Exclusive - 4 Shooting Modes with the Left Button

 

Use "1, N, 3, 4" keys to shift left button with 4 shooting modes, e.g.,

* Single shot

* Strafe shot(or setup firearms after adjustment)

* Burst shot (or setup firearms after adjustment)

* Burst shot (or setup firearms after adjustment)

 

Exclusive “In-Game “Sniper Mode ( Driver Free )

 

Depending on individual rifle/gun, there are 16 levels of fine-tuning for the sniper sight. It greatly enhances assault and sniper capability to lock the target rapidly and precisely and win the ultimate victory.

 

Innovative - 6 Sniper Modes

 

6 sniper modes can be selected so as to upgrade sniper skills rapidly and switch swiftly between the “rifle” and “sniper" modes to shoot targets instantly.

 

High-Performance 8200 CPI. Instant Switch!

 

Click on the preset CPI key during game-play to instantly reach the desired sensitivity. Instantly switch sensitivity from pixel-precision (100 DPI) to lightning speed (up to 8,200 CPI) with 5-level CPI settings.

 

1,000Hz/1ms High Report Rate

 

During game-play, it's important that your movements (data) are delivered to the computer as to reflect movements, simultaneously! With1000hz, you can be rest-assured that data are delivered as fast as you can create them! It’s 8x faster than normal UBS mouse which has report rate of only 125Hz.

 

Built-in 160K Memory

 

Built-in 160K bit memory allows to save as many as 4000 command lines and perform macros to the max. Save the preset macros and use in other PCS when you're on-the go.

 

Allocate up to 3 Profiles

 

Every game requires different profiles, or commands, for instance in FPS games like "CS”or MMO game like “League of Legend.” Players may have up to 3 editable profiles and save the macros to each programmable key for different games, or 3 profiles for the same game, but for use in different role.

 

Basic Specifications

 

Main core: Intelligent multiple cores

Button number: 11 buttons + wheel

Encoder: High precision laser engine

Transmission: Wired

Connector: USB (2.0/3.0)

System Supports: Windows XP/Vista/7/8

Cable length?1.8m

 

Gaming Performance

 

Maximum Resolution?100~8,200 CPI adjustable

Graphic Capacity: 1080 million pixels/sec

Frame speed: 12000 fps

Accelerating speed?30g

Tracking speed: 150 inches/sec(ips)

Report Rate(USB): 125?1,000Hz/sec (4 selectable level)

Key response time: less than 1ms

Profile-allocable: 3 sets

Memory: 160K bits

Key Switch life: 20 million times (for left & right buttons)

Mouse Feet Wear-Resistance: More than 300 Km

 

Other

 

ZL5 Dimension (mm) /Weight (g)?118 (L) x 78 (W) x 40 (H) / 150 (g)

 

The well-known A4Tech company wants seriously to involve itself in the gaming hardware peripherals business via the Bloody Technology brand. With this name they have quite a few mice already on the market, at very competitive prices and at the same time sporting good quality materials and high-end sensors. We will take a look at one of their latest offering, the ZL5A mouse which “A” ending means that it comes “activated” with all software capabilities:

 

 

 

Some of the product highlights can be observed if we take a look on the back side of the box:

 

 

 

Of course, the laterals are also populated with extra information about the product:

 

 

 

 

As we have seen with other products in the past, the ZL5A box also opens up like a book in order to reveal more info, but we will be also be able to take a sneak peak at the mouse itself, without unsealing the enclosure:

 

 

 

 

After opening up the box, we will get to see two nice stickers featuring the Bloody logo, one small leaflet which instructs us to go to the Bloody Software Download page, but also a product catalog:

 

 

 

 

The ZL5A is a wired model with a cable length of 1.8m:

 

 

 

The mouse is not small since it has the following dimensions: 120x77x40mm. A4Tech has used a black plastic cover for both top and laterals, which has a soft, smooth texture which is nice to the touch:

 

 

 

Near the scroll wheel, we have not two but three additional programmable buttons; initially, the “3” and “4” buttons are preset to deliver three or four clicks quickly when the left mouse button is pressed, while the last button allows DPI cycling:

 

 

 

In the back there is a small protuberance which houses the Bloody logo:

 

 

 

On the right side of the mouse there are some deep grooves, which improve the overall grip:

 

 

 

Two of the grooves are also present on the left side, but here we have some more programmable buttons; the top button acts as a switch and can cycle between one and two clicks when the left mouse button is accessed:

 

 

 

When looking at the back side of the product, we will be able to see a bit of the light aluminum chassis it comes with:

 

 

 

The mouse scroll wheel is very silent when operated but offers good precision. The left/right click buttons feature Omron Micro-switches which maximize the life span up to 20 million clicks:

 

 

 

Surprisingly, this mouse model does not feature the highly-used PTFE, but has pre-mounted aluminum feet, which have a much higher advertised durability for a travel up to 300Km; we are tempted to believe the “durability” statement, since after the testing period we haven’t spotted a single scratch on the aluminum pads, while with PTFE small scratches are visible only after a short while. In the center we have the Avago 9800 sensor lens:

 

 

 

As we can remember when testing other high-end mice, the cable is fully braided for additional durability:

 

 

 

The USB connector is of red color but does not feature gold plating:

 

 

 

When powered up, both scroll wheel and back logo light up with a nice effect:

 

 

 

With the flash off, we get a better idea:

 

 

 

 

The ZL5A mouse is accompanied by the Bloody5 software suite, which is divided in four separate modes (Core 1, Core 2, Ultra Core 3, Ultra Core 4). Depending on the games we play, we may choose different “Core” types but with non-activated mice the last two are locked, but the manufacturer also allows us to try them in a trial mode in order to buy them afterwards, in case we need them. Core 1 is suitable for RPGs and RTS and with it we have the tabs Button and Sensitivity available:

 

 

 

The Button tab will allow us to change the functions to all programmable buttons with keyboard or other mouse functions:

 

 

 

Inside the Sensitivity area, we will be able to modify the mouse DPI, define the DPI steps, Report Rate Key Response, but also calibrate the sensor with the current surface:

 

 

 

 

For wireless mice, the Guard tab is available, but we are unsure why this one was not “locked” with the ZL5A:

 

 

 

For FPS games we have Core 2 available:

 

 

 

In the Guns mode we will be able to use the multi-click function, but also the sensitivity when sniping:

 

 

 

The Button tab is about the same, but in the drop-down menu we will also have added the Sniper Rifle function:

 

 

 

Ultra-Core 3 brings 6 breakthrough innovations with “3 Cores, 3 Modes, and 5 ways of trajectory adjustment,” when used with the Bloody gaming mice. Ultra Core 3 adds more options in the Button menu, and now we will have even more functions that we can set: office hot keys, multimedia hot keys, CPI, Select Macro File:

 

 

 

Mouse

 

 

 

Office Hot Keys

 

 

 

CPI

 

 

 

Sniper Rifle

 

 

 

Select Macro File

 

 

 

A new tab is introduced here, Oscar Macro, which makes Macro recording possible to the highest detail:

 

 

 

The Headshot tab offers 5 gun adjustment modes which are A-Burst, B-Strafe, C-Machine, D-In-Game and M-Macro of 5-gun adjustment modes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advanced presets can be also changed from the same tab (depending on the game profile):

 

 

 

 

 

Another unlockable mode is Ultra Core 4, which is mostly used for advanced MMO/RPG games. Here we have the Button, Sensitivity, Oscar Macro and Super Combo buttons available:

 

 

 

In this mode, we will be able to access one more function for button programming, “Select Combo File”:

 

 

 

Super Combo mode is different in Ultra Core 4 mode and we have three available playback types:

 

-single -> applicable to perform single combo commands

-cycle -> applicable to perform “Repetitive Attach” combo command. We must release the programmed button for stopping the combo execution

-auto -> suitable for performing “auto attack & auto run” combo commands. The same button must be pressed again for stopping the programmed combo execution:

 

 

 

 

We also have a special “no gaming interruption” function available, which will upload all the data to the mouse hardware and will work without extra software assistance:

 

 

 

A small widget will be present on the screen which will let us know details like the currently activated core or mouse DPI:

 

 

 

A4Tech has learned from the previous experiences and has succeeded to make a successful jump into the gaming peripheral market by providing good quality hardware, which is accompanied with plenty of software options.

 

During the test period, we found out that the mouse is comfortable for usage during long game sessions and the lateral added grip seems to help a lot. Since this is not a mouse for lefties, the programmable buttons are found only on the left side, which are also accompanied by a switch.

 

Bloody5 software is pretty complex, divided on different “cores”, depending on which game types we play; this “activated” version of the mouse comes with all options unlocked for indefinite use, but if we acquire the cheaper version, the last two cores will stay in trial mode until they will lock out completely. We would like however to see a more polished software interface and the disappearance of some random error messages we have received when creating macros (which, fortunately, did not break the application completely y and could continue to use it without restarting). Also, we think that A4Tech was a little restrictive when defining Core 1 and 2 because they lack Macro composition; many other manufacturers include macro functions with no extra cost right from the start with their software.

 

Let’s get into this in a little more detail: if we buy the ZL5 variant which is about 49.99 Euros, only Core 1 and Core 2 are active and when working with the last two cores, they will work until 1000 mouse actions will be reached. With the ZL5A (Activated), the last two cores come unlocked for an indefinite time and the price will only climb 10 Euros mode, for a total of 59.99 Euros. In case we do not need the extra functions, we can stay only with the first two cores active, but if we decide to buy, we can also do that online for about 12 Euros.

 

Bloody Technology ZL5A Sniper Gaming Mouse is Recommended For:

 

 

 

We would like to thank again to Bloody Technology for making this review possible!