At first we would like to thank Cooler Master for sending a sample of their Sentinel III Gaming Mouse for testing and reviewing.

 

 

About Cooler Master:

"Cooler Master was founded with the mission of providing the industry's best thermal solutions. Since its establishment two decades ago, the company has remained faithful to this mission, emerging as a world leader in products and services for companies dealing with devices where heat issues must be resolved.

 

In pursuing this mission, Cooler Master is absolutely committed to delivering solutions that precisely meet customer requirements for features, performance, and quality. Moreover, we strive to be a reliable long-term partner for our customers that they can truly depend on. It aims to be the first and foremost name that comes to mind for companies around the world seeking thermal solutions, and seeks to build such a reputation through outstanding technology, sophisticated design, and superior service.

 

Cooler Master's current business encompasses a comprehensive lineup of thermal solutions for a full range of applications. Its products range from heat sinks and fans to component housing, chassis, and ducting for computers, industrial machinery, telecommunications equipment, and many other devices.

 

A critical component of Cooler Master's ability to successfully pursue its mission is an unstinting commitment to quality, as demonstrated by the ISO 9001 certification granted to its main manufacturing plant in Taiwan. It has also enforced ISO guidelines and is in the process of applying for ISO 9002 certification at its second and third plants, located in China. Cooler Master has also implemented a number of analytical and testing protocols to ensure top quality, including at subcontractors, to further ensure thorough quality control. Moreover, Cooler Master's dedication to quality extends beyond manufacturing to every aspect of its operation, including service."

 

PINPOINT ACCURATE SENSOR

 

An Avago 3988 sensor offers pixel perfect movements and goes up to a high speed 6400 DPI. On-the-fly DPI adjustments of 400 / 1200 / 4000 / 6400 allows for instantly switching from lightning quick movement to slowing things down and aiming with extra precision. Whether you need to look around the map quickly or you’re going for a headshot, you’ll be ready for any situation that arises.

 

OLED DISPLAY FOR CUSTOMIZATION AND FUNCTIONALITY

 

An OLED puts the Sentinel III in a class of its own. With just a quick glance, you'll know your exact DPI settings. No need to memorize a color scheme associated with the sensitivity level. You can also upload any logo you want to the OLED display to represent yourself and your team.

 

And that's not all. The OLED display allows you to easily change settings while in game. Want to change the on-the-fly DPI presets without having to alt+tab and open up the software? No problem. Need to change the lift off distance or calibrate the mouse to a new surface? Done.

 

BRILLIANT ILLUMINATION WITH 16.8 MILLION COLOR OPTIONS

 

The Sentinel III radiates any color you want, like a neon sign announcing your presence. Two different areas (the headlights and the top) can glow crimson red, burnt orange, gunmetal grey, or any color that piques your fancy. With 16.8 million color options, you'll tinker till you drop.

Want something a little subtler?

You can completely switch off all LED lighting.

 

WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

 

Pop the trunk on the Sentinel III and you'll see a weight distribution system for fine tuning mass and balance. Five disks (4.5g each), can be removed or added until you find a weight that feels just right.

 

ERGONOMIC DESIGN

 

The ergonomic shape of the Sentinel III has been designed for right-handed palm grip players. A slightly larger than average contoured body with thumb and pinky rest gives the mouse a natural, comfortable position, allowing your hand and arm muscles to relax. Each of the 8 buttons can be easily reached without altering your grip.

 

EIGHT HIGH QUALITY BUTTONS

 

The Sentinel III features 8 buttons: left and right click, scroll wheel with middle click, and convenient side buttons. All the buttons use mechanical switches. Each click feels just right - not too heavy and not too light that might result in accidental clicks.

 

Not having enough keys on your mouse is a pain. Storm Tactix solves this problem by letting you assign secondary functions

 

to your mouse. During a game, simply press one button to trigger secondary functions for every mouse button. This essentially increases your button count from 9 to 15.

 

BUILT TO LAST

 

Nearly every inch of the Sentinel III mouse body is covered in a matte UV coating. This coating is highly durable and won't peel, wear off, or tarnish. Also, both of the main buttons are guaranteed to last 20 million clicks.

 

ADVANCED MACRO PROGRAMMING WITH FIVE PROFILES

 

Actions that take multiple keystrokes or mouse clicks can now be performed with a single button thanks to macros. Our user friendly software makes creating even the complex macros quick and easy. You can customize every single button on the Sentinel III with a macro. And with five profiles to save them to, the customization options feel nearly endless.

Save all your macros into five profiles. You can make a high DPI profile for when you use close range weapons like the shotgun. Then make a low DPI profile for sniping. Switch between each profile with a click of the mouse. You won't be caught unprepared ever again.

 

32 BIT ARM PROCESSOR 512KB ON -BOARD MEMORY

 

The processing power of a 32-bit ARM processor allows you to save and play back complex macros, as well as saving all of your DPI, lift off distance, and LED settings for use on any computer without needing to install software. The 512KB on-board memory lets you take your macros and settings wherever you go.

 

 

Our preferred Sentinel mouse from Cooler Master has been reincarnated for the third time, featuring an improved software interface, a new sensor, but also a better lighting system. To be more exact, the Avago ADNS-9800 laser sensor has been swapped with an optical Avago 3988 optical sensor with the sensitivity up to 6400DPI, the lighting system now supports 16.8 million customizable colors instead of only seven, the 128KB of on-board memory has been upgraded to 512KB for storing profiles and we have a slight modification at the top coating material. Let’s then take a closer look! Sentinel III does come inside a themed black cardboard enclosure, which does have a photo of the main product in operation and also highlights the RGB lighting feature:

 

 

 

The top cover does also open up like a book in order to reveal a product description along with some of the technical specifications; also here we will be able to take a look at the product itself, without the need of unsealing the box:

 

 

 

Some of the product main features are explained on the back, in multiple languages:

 

 

 

We will also get a small leaflet with more product details, including detailed specifications and package contents:

 

 

 

 

A first look at the Sentinel III mouse reveals the same design lines we have seen along with the previous iteration:

 

 

 

The product was designed for a palm grip and as we have observed before, it is very comfortable to hold in hand. When compared with the second version, we have observed a small change in the composition of the top and lateral coating, which no longer feels rubbery. Cooler Master tells us that the new model features a matte UV coating which will not peel, wear off or tarnish. We tend to believe these affirmations because we have seen some products similar to it before and this is an improvement to the previous generation, where on the laterals we have seen the rubberized paint wear off after some months of usage. The OLED top display has been preserved, which makes it quite unique since we can modify the information which is displayed on it via software:

 

 

 

 

On the left side of the mouse we will get to see the thumb rest along with the Storm TX button and another programmable button:

 

 

 

The right side area does not hold additional interfaces:

 

 

 

On the top, near the scroll wheel we will get to see three additional buttons:

 

 

 

In the frontal area of the mouse, Cooler Master has designed some openings for the lighting system:

 

 

 

 

On the bottom surface, we will get to see PTFE feet of different shapes, the Avago 3988 lens but also one weight compartment:

 

 

 

The weight compartment holds no less than five 4.5g removable weights which sit in foam material:

 

 

 

The 1.8m mouse cable is braided as we have seen with many other high-end mice:

 

 

 

For an optimal contact, we would also like to remind of the gold-plated USB connector:

 

 

 

In the following shots you will get to see that the design lines have been fully preserved from the previous generation:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we have mentioned before, the lighting system has been upgraded on this model so it can display 16.8 million variants; also, the OLED display can show the current profile name (up to 11 characters), the current X/Y DPI values but also a custom logo; the frontal LED lighting will also create a nice effect for people staying in front of you when gaming at a LAN party:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Via software, we can change the CM logo with a custom one, by uploading a BMP of 32x32 dimensions. The pictogram will be saved into the memory of the device and will remain the same even if we move the mouse to another computer:

 

 

 

The software GUI has been redesigned so it is less flashy and more intuitive. We do have four main sections:

 

-Main Control

-Macro

-Library

-Support

 

From Main Control, Key Assignment sub-menu, we are able to change the functionality of the buttons:

 

 

 

We do have different categories we can choose from:

 

 

 

Mouse Functions

 

 

 

Keyboard Functions

 

 

Multimedia Functions

 

 

Rapid Fire

 

 

Profile Switcher

 

 

Storm TX practically relies on the functionality of the TX button; this button allows us to remap a second time all buttons and access these new functions while the TX button is pressed:

 

 

The LED indicator area will allow us to customize the colors and we can set modes depending on DPI change or profile change (but not both at the same time). LEDs can be also enabled to work with different effects like Static, Spectrum, Rapid Fire or Breathing; of course that we can also turn them off completely and the Spectrum mode will not operate unless we do have the latest firmware flashed on the Sentinel III:

 

 

The fine-tuning performance section is located in the Sensor tab, where we can adjust the DPI levels, Angle Snapping option, Lift off Distance, Angle Tuning, but we can also calibrate the mouse for a specific surface:

 

 

 

The OS Sensitivity tab will take care of the USB Polling Rate, Sensitivity slider, Double Click Speed, Button Response time but also OS Settings lock:

 

 

 

Macros can be defined from the specific main menu:

 

 

 

As separate options, we can select the behavior of the current macro:

 

 

 

Also, we can insert delays or other Keyboard/Mouse functions into the sequence:

 

 

 

You have probably noticed that there is no “delete function” in the previous menus. Well, this action can be performed from the Library section, where we can work with the Profiles and previously defined Macros:

 

 

 

 

The Support section allows us to contact Online Support area but also check the version infos; the profile selector is also found on the bottom area of the GUI:

 

 

 

Considering that the mouse does weight 137 grams with all its weights installed, we have done the exact same thing as with the previous iteration before testing: removed all included weights in order to make it lighter. Since we really enjoyed a lot using its older brother, we were right at home when starting testing the newest model in games like The Evil Within, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Doom 3 BFG Edition, GTA V and Prospekt; the mouse has performed optimally without tracking issues on our ModMyMachine aluminum mouse pad. The OLED top screen does now also display the current profile name, while the functionality to display DPI values and a custom logo have been preserved from before. Since now we have a RGB lighting craze everywhere, Cooler Master saw fit to include it in Sentinel III too so it can be competitive in the always-changing game peripheral scene.

 

The software has been reshaped so it does hold a more professional look and it is less flashy; all necessary functions are there for us to access and the TX button will practically double the extra functions we can assign to a specific button. LED lighting effects can be also set via the respective menu and when not needed, we can turn off the LED lighting completely. As before, we do also have LED lights available in the frontal area of the mouse, which will make us noticed when gaming at LAN parties.

 

The Cooler Master Sentinel III mouse is priced fair at about 58 Euros at the moment of the review.

 

Cooler Master Sentinel III Gaming Mouse is Recommended For:

 

We would like to thank again to Cooler Master for making this review possible!