Cougar Revenger Review

Cougar Revenger Review

Manufacturer: Cougar
UK price (as reviewed): £44.99 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): $59.99 (ex tax)

Cougar is back again with a new mouse; this time, it's the Revenger, and it looks to be everything a gamer might need. With the Pixart 3360 sensor, programmable buttons, and a reasonable price, we hope it'll be a winning combo - let's find out!


Looking at the mouse from the front, we can see that it has quite an aggressive look to it, but if we imagine it to be a little more rounded and with a covered mouse wheel, it is very much like the tried and tested gaming mouse shape that we all know and love - think of the SteelSeries Sensei, Dream Machines DM1 Pro, Zowie FK1, Razer Deathadder, etc. The Cougar Revenger is very similar to these, and this is by no means a bad thing; it suits a huge range of hand sizes as well being comfortable for long sessions. The shape isn't completely symmetrical, however, so it might not be as suitable for left-handed users.


There are quite a few differences from the previously mentioned mice. The button behind the scroll wheel is actually a slider: rather than pressing it down, you slide it back to actuate. It did take quite some time to get used to it, and it seems a little counter-intuitive to take your fingers away from the LMB and RMB for the time it takes to slide the button back, and we think that a standard button would have been a better option. At default, this slider changes the DPI setting, but you can reprogram it to do more if you use the software. The mouse body is made from plastic but has a sturdy feel to it. It is also quite heavy with a weight of 110g, so for those who like light mice the Revenger might not be suitable.


Since the public release of the Pixart PMW 3360 sensor, more and more mice are implementing it, and it is fantastic. It rarely skips a beat and works on the majority of surfaces that we usually use whilst gaming. The eagle-eyed of you might notice I said 'rarely' just then, and this is actually because at 12,000 DPI I did notice a little bit of jitter: nothing too serious, but it was there. This would be an issue if it happened at a lower DPI, but at 12,000, it isn't really a huge issue, as most of us will never need this anyway. Looking at the bottom of the mouse, we can see that there are three skates to allow the mouse to glide nicely; we can also see that the wire leaves the mouse from the left-hand side, which does again take a little getting used to, but by the time we finished using it we were happy to report that it doesn't hinder the performance at all. The wire is 1.8m long and unsleeved, and it slides nicely along the table when the mouse is in use.


On the left of the mouse, we have two thumb buttons as well as a lighting zone that indicates the DPI the mouse is set at; we will show you that a little later on. The buttons are situated in a comfortable position and feel great; they have the same satisfying click and feel as the main mouse buttons. There are rubberised sections on both the left and right sides of the mouse. This improves the grip of the mouse, but we have seen this kind of coating disintegrate with long term use. We can't say whether this will happen with the Cougar Revenger, as we don't have 12 months or more to test it, but it is worth keeping in mind.


At the back, we see two clear plastic areas; one is the Cougar logo, and the other is a strip that follows the line of the mouse. These are both parts of the same lighting mode and can be changed via the software. We must say this is one of the better RGB lighting effects we have seen; it isn't just a single colour or even two single colours but more of a merging colour effect, and it looks great. The other lighting zone is the DPI area at the front of the mouse that we mentioned earlier.


The colours for the Cougar Revenger are very bright and vivid, and you are able to choose between solid colours or a few preset effects. The dynamic effects are not too over the top or crazy, and there are not a huge amount to choose from, but let's face it, your hand covers the LEDs most of the time, so it doesn't matter too much.

The Cougar Revenger seems a solid mouse with a nice ergonomic body and a great sensor; it is so far living up to expectations. Let's check out the software to see how that holds up.