Firstly, we would like to thank Mountain for offering us a sample of their Makalu 67 Gaming Mouse for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Mountain:

 

“Mountain creates innovative, premium peripherals with a user-centric design that enables gamers to perform at their best. Their vision is for gamers to have what they need to perform, through uncompromising innovation, pioneering design, supreme quality, and customization.

“Reach Your Summit” is the mantra of Mountain.

 

Much like climbing a Mountain, gaming takes you on a journey that can be fun, challenging and exciting. Some may seek the thrill of climbing the most challenging slopes, while others are perfectly happy with a hike up an easily approachable mountainside. It doesn’t matter what games we play; the ascension creates the experiences and memories that we love to share, our way to the top of the Mountain.

 

Some of us are old school gamers, others are youngsters on the bleeding edge of the gaming industry. From Quakeworld on PC and Samurai Shodown on the Neo Geo to CS:GO and Anno 1800, we’ve played them all. We think that, like the ever-evolving PC hardware industry, competitive and recreational gaming is as much about the journey as it is about the destination.”

 

Patented lightweight ribcage design

 

Molded to provide strength without the need for a subframe Makalu 67 takes lightweight mouse design to new heights while introducing an unseen refined style to the existing landscape, offering the weight of a small mouse in the form factor fitting medium to large hands.

 

A World’s First In Sensor Technology

 

Why settle for less when you can get the best? Makalu 67 is the world’s first mouse to be equipped with the latest PAW3370 sensor offering up to 19.000 DPI, a very low lift of distance of 1 to 2 mm and a 50% lower error rate than PMW3389.

 

Visible Control

 

Never lose control and sight of your DPI settings with a dedicated DPI button and 4 indicator LEDs.

 

Click to the Mountain Top

 

With industry-leading Omron switches rated at 50 million clicks you can be assured that it will last you all the way to the mountain top.

 

RGB All the Things

 

16.7 million colors and numerous RGB modes are at your disposal. With individual RGB lighting for every LED in the ring, the choice is yours.

 

Stays Cool Under Pressure

 

Prepared for the heat of the battle as well as little accidents the water-repellent PCB coating has you covered, ensuring durability throughout.

 

Flex To The Max

 

Our braided Mountain Lifeline cable is so light and flexible that you might find yourself forgetting it’s even there. Even the tightest of bends won’t give you hassle. It exits Makalu 67 at a 5° angle to reduce drag, making a bungee optional. Bordering on magic, the Mountain Lifeline cable is the last stop before wireless.

 

Lose the Drag

 

No need to get stuck in your tracks, with 100% PFTE mouse feet the Makalu 67 will glide like a freshly waxed snowboard.

 

Sensor: PixArt PAW3370 sensor

Max DPI: 19000

Lift Off Distance (LOD): 1-2mm

Tracking Speed: 50g

Buttons: 6

Color(s): Black

Grip: Claw / Palm

Backlight: RGB

Polling Rate: 1000Hz / 1ms

MCU: Cortex M0

Connector: USB Type-A

Cable length: 1.8m

Product Dimensions (LxWxH): 127×70.2×42.2mm

Product Weight: 67g

Onboard memory: Yes, 5 profiles

Material: ABS

Micro switches (L+R): Omron 50M

Software Support: Yes, Base Camp™

Warranty: 2 years

 

From the young peripheral manufacturer Mountain, we have received a near-final version of their Makalu 67 mouse, sporting a lightweight ribcage design, durable Omron switches for the left/right buttons, a very flexible USB cable and, of course, the brand-new PixArt PAW3370 sensor for tracking values up to 19000DPI!

 

The product comes with a modern, functional packaging and on the top cover we will spot the saying “Reach your Summit”:

 

 

 

On one of the sides, Mountain has placed drawings with the box contents, but also the technical specifications list:

 

 

 

 

The opposite side will display the product serial number but also the announcement on the partnership with Plastic Bank; this assures that no wasteful packaging is used, premium material taking their place such as EPE foam:

 

 

 

On the packaging we will also note the inclusion of a short product description, in multiple languages:

 

 

 

On the back, we will get to see detailed explanations regarding the product construction but also the software:

 

 

 

The part which needs to be opened in order to access the mouse compartment has been elegantly designed in order to house the Mountain logo; this area is also held in place with magnetic force:

 

 

 

After lifting the top cover, we will note that the Makalu 67 mouse is surrounded by recyclable foam:

 

 

 

Nearby, we will take note of the company founder’s resolution and in the background we do have some interesting drawings of the mouse chassis:

 

 

 

Inside the included small envelope, we will locate the Quick Start Guide, but also a set of Mountain logo stickers:

 

 

 

The manual does show the mouse main buttons, but also links to online resources; the product is also covered by a 2-year warranty:

 

 

 

On the other side, we will learn that mountain does also sell different accessories and apparel from mountainggshop.com:

 

 

 

The manufacturer is offering an additional set of 100% PTFE mouse feet:

 

 

 

 

 

Makalu 67 does offer a comfortable palm grip thanks to its curved design, while the patented ribcage design does come with a water-repellent PCB coating; the lack of rubberized paint is appreciated!

 

 

 

In the left/right buttons area we do have the RGB illumination segments, four LED DPI indicators but also the DPI selector button; for the main buttons Mountain has equipped the mouse with Omron switches, that have a lifespan of 50M actuations:

 

 

 

On the left side, we will note that half of the chassis still features perforations but the frontal area does not, in order to enhance the overall durability; two additional programmable buttons are also available here, which can be accessed with ease and also feature dark grey metallized paint for imitating brushed aluminum:

 

 

 

The right area does sport the same design, but with no additional buttons, specific to mice for lefties:

 

 

 

The bottom area of the chassis does feature the PixArt PAW3370 sensor lens, two large PTFE mouse feet in white color but also the same patented ribcage design for bringing the weight further down. The mouse feet do also have an indent for easy removal:

 

 

 

The USB cable is held together by a rubber tie, which also features the Mountain logo:

 

 

 

The braided Mountain Lifeline cable is as flexible as the one we have seen with Dream Machines mice; this feature coupled with the low weight of just 67g really makes you think that you are using a wireless model! Regarding the cable length, this one is the usual 1.8m:

 

 

 

The USB connector is customized with the Mountain logo and also features gold plating:

 

 

 

The placement of the RGB lighting on this mouse is great, because even when during use it will still remain visible; our near-final sample does allow the user to see where the LEDs are placed but with the final chassis Mountain has obtained a more continuous LED lighting effect. The dots you are seeing do represent the DPI step you are currently in:

 

 

 

 

 

The Base Camp software from Mountain has a nice installer, with photos of the upcoming keyboard as well:

 

 

 

Right after the installation has been completed, the GUI will launch and display the currently detected peripherals for configuration (in our case the Makalu 67). From here we will be also able to jump to the Support Page, the Mountain website or access the Webshop for more gear!

 

 

 

The small gear pictogram from the top right corner will allow the user to check for application updates, adjust some software settings but also access the support pages:

 

 

The main GUI for the Makalu 67 mouse does have multiple menus on the left side we can choose from; the Profiles area helps with defining new profiles, exporting, duplicating and so on:

 

 

Next, we do have the Lighting area, with some Effects we can choose from:

 

 

Static

 

 

Color Wave

 

 

Breathing

 

 

Custom

 

 

Buttons can be re-programmed the same manner we have seen with software from other manufacturers:

 

 

The sections we can work with are available in the Function area:

 

 

OS Commands

 

 

Run Program

 

 

Run Macro

 

 

Media

 

 

Keyboard Shortcuts

 

 

Mouse

 

 

The Macro programming section takes place in another menu, together with delay customization:

 

 

From the Settings menu, we can update the mouse firmware, adjust the Polling Rate, Sensitivity, Click Speed, Button Response Time, turn on/off Angle Snapping and Lift-off Distance but also customize the DPI levels:

 

 

As the first mouse from Mountain, Makalu 67 presents itself as a quite impressive product, incorporating the latest trends and technologies from the gaming segment; we do get the latest PixArt PAW3370 high-end sensor with a tracking DPI of up to 19000, 1-2mm lift-off distance but also a much lowered error rate versus the previous versions. The ribcage design of the chassis looks more interesting versus the hexagonal hole pattern we have seen with other brands and is much less prone to flex as well.

 

While testing the mouse with several games such as Fallout 76, Gears of War 4 and 5 but also Darksiders Genesis, we were quite pleased with its tracking capabilities and the mouse did feel quite comfortable after continuous and long usage periods, a fact which recommends it for productivity work as well. This mouse does only weight 67 grams but has quite a large footprint for being use generally with a palm grip.

 

We got word from Mountain that further improvements will be done to the design nearing its final form, including a better representation of the RGB lighting effects in the frontal area.

 

At the time of the review, the Base Camp software is not 100% stable, so we have experienced some lock-ups while trying to adjust the mouse configuration to our preferences, especially with the updated 1.0.14 version; rolling back to 1.0.13 has eliminated some of these inconveniences but the software development team is hard at work in order to continuously update the Base Camp suite.

 

The mouse will be available for purchase sometime in October, with a recommended price of about 59.99 Euros.

Mountain Makalu 67 Gaming Mouse is Recommended for:

 

 

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