Mionix Naos 5000 Gaming Mouse Review
Hello again, we’re back with another review for you, this time it’s another product from our friends at Mionix.
Today for review I’ve got what I think is one of the best gaming mice on the market today, the Mionix Naos 5000. This mouse is truly one that is just chock full of features that even the most hardcore gamer will appreciate, and even if you’re not a gamer you’ll like this mouse and what it’s capable of. The Naos 5000 has got a 5040 DPI sensor in it, one the highest on the market today and it features adjustable weights, the ability to create five profiles and macros as well. The Naos 5000 also come with a surface analyzer tool so you can truly tell which mousepad works the best, and you can even change the colors of the LEDs in it to suit your own tastes. So read on to learn about one of the best mice out there today…
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
A STAR HAS BEEN BORN:
This prominent gaming mouse is named after the star Naos, a blue super giant and one of the brightest stars in our galaxy. Naos means “ship” and is enough powerful to create comet tails and huge clouds of auroras visible from Earth. Naos is constantly moving away from its original position in the constellation of Vela and it spins about 100 times faster than our sun. Since its birth it has covered a distance of 400 light-years. No one knows exactly why Naos has such a high rotation speed, but an explanation to this phenomenon lies in the gravitational interaction between many other stars.
MODEL OVERVIEW:
A passioned hunt for perfection has come to an end. Mionix Naos 5000 has seen its first light of day. Get ready to meet a gaming mouse with an incredible ergonomic comfort and stunning technology that offers an outstanding gaming experience. Mionix Naos 5000 features a new innovative weight tuning system for an optimal weight distribution of the mouse, carefully selected high-end components and leading laser technology. Stunning features such as adjustable lift-distance, 5 onboard profiles, extensive macro settings and customizable LED-lights give you the opportunity to customize the mouse exactly to your liking.
FEATURES:
Truly ergonomic design
Truly ergonomic design with support for all five fingers
Maximum grip
The rubber coating ensures a maximum grip
Balanced weight tuning system
A unique weight tuning system for an optimal weight distribution
5040 dpi laser sensor
Remarkable tracking performance built for gaming
128kb built-in memory
Bring your settings and recorded macros with you stored into one of the 5 profiles
Customizable LED light system
Personalize your mouse with extensive color options
S.Q.A.T – Surface Quality Analyzer Tool
Surface Quality Analyzer tool to measure the tracking quality on a certain surface
3 steps customizable dpi in-game adjustment
Set 3 dpi values and switch easily between them in-game
7 programmable buttons
The buttons can be assigned to any key, mouse command or macro
In-game profile switch
Switch easy with a click between stored profiles in-game
Adjustable polling rate
Tune it all the way up to 1000Hz through the software
Plug n Play
Completely Plug n Play, software needed only for configuration
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION:
-Truly ergonomic design
-Grip friendly rubber coating
-7 buttons (7 programmable)
-3 steps in-game dpi adjustment
-In-game profile switch
-Configurable dpi up to 5040 dpi
-6 integrated LEDs
-Adjustable polling rate
-128 kb built-in memory
-Large teflon feets
-Balanced weight tuning system (up to 40 gr)
-Gold-plated USB connection
-Full speed USB 2.0 with Plug n Play
-Cable length: 2 m (braided for durability)
-Compatible with all kinds of surfaces
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT:
-130.84×84.72×38.67 mm / 5.15×3.33×1.52 in
-Netto (w/o cable): 106 gr
-Netto (cable incl.): 158 gr
-Weight tuning: up to 40 gr
SENSOR SPECIFICATION:
-5040 dpi gaming laser sensor
-S.Q.A.T – Surface Quality Analyzer Tool
-Adjustable lift distance
-1 ms response time
-12 000 frames/sec
-Tracking speed: 5.1 m/sec (200 ips)
-10.6 megapixels/sec image processing
-Acceleration: 30 g
-40 000 Hz sampling rate
-True 16-bit data path
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
-Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7
-Available USB port
-40 mb free space on hard drive
WARRANTY INFORMATION:
Warranty for Mionix products only covers defects caused by manufacturing. The warranty does not cover defects caused by any kind of usage that is not attributable to the manufacturing process.
All of our products have 2 year warranty. Defect products will be replaced with a new product. For more information read our FAQ or contact your local vendor.
PACKAGE CONTENT;
-Mionix Naos 5000 laser gaming mouse
-Get started guide
-Weight box
-8 weights (5 grams)
Price: $98.45
A Better Look at Things:
The Mionix Naos 500 comes in a presentation style box, it opens up to show the mouse and the weight pack.
Inside the box is only the mouse, manual and a metal box with the weights in it.
The weights are all 5 grams each and they’ve got the Mionix logo on them.
The Naos 5000 is an all black mouse until you turn it on then the scroll wheel, DPI buttons, DPI settings and the Mionix logo will light up.
On the left side you’ll find two buttons and the DPI settings indicators.
On the top is the scroll wheel and behind that are two buttons to change the DPI up and down. Behind the buttons is the Mionix logo.
On the bottom you’ll find a green Mioniox logo with the sensor in the middle of it.
On both sides of the bottom are doors where the weights go. Most mice have only one place for the weights to go, with the Naos 5000 you can really adjust the balance of it to your own liking.
Installation, Testing and Comparison:
The weights just slide in on each side of the Naos 5000, then just close the door and you’re set to play.
Here’s a picture of several mice that I could find quickly for comparison:
Left to right: Zowie Branded MS Intellimouse, Mionix Naos 5000, NZXT Avatar Rev1, Mionix Saiph 3200, NZXT Avatar Rev2 and the Logitech G5 Rev2.
The Mionix 5000 is a rather large mouse, before I got it for review I’ve been using the Mionix Saiph 3200 for the last few months. It did take me about two weeks to really get accustomed to the size and feel of the Naos 5000 Mouse. So if you’re interested in this mouse just be ware that it’s bigger than most out there, wider that is.
Once I got accustomed to the size and feel of it though I’ve come to like it quite a bit, but it’s a toss up between the Saiph 3200 and the Naos 5000 as to which one I like better, both are Mionix mice of course. What can I say, Mionix makes a good mouse…
Anyway, nothing except the weights and manual come with the Naos 5000, it can be used just plug and play and you’ll be fine, but to really take advantage of the features of this mouse you’ll need to go and get the software from the Mionix site. The software really allows you to fully configure the Naos to your own likings and you can even have five profiles saved for different games and usages and you can also create your own macros.
The first page of the software interface is all about the settings of the mouse, the main settings that is, each button is configurable, and you can adjust double click and scroll speeds along with pointer acceleration and you can adjust the polling rate as well.
The next page is Sensor Performance. The Naos 5000 has three DPI settings that you can access for each profile. What’s interesting is that you can adjust the X and Y separately or together, and you can adjust pointer speed and the left distance. On the sensor settings page you’ll also find something called the Surface Quality Analyzer which you can actually check the quality of your mousing surface, I’ll get more into that a little later where I went and tested a bunch of mousepads that I’ve got on hand to see how this works exactly..
The next page or tab is Color Settings, we’re skipping that one for right now, so then the next tab would be Macro Settings where you can set your own custom macros for games or whatever.
The last tab is Support where you can automatically check for Software and Firmware updates and there’s a link to the Mionix Online Support site as well. Mionix is very good at keeping things up to date including drivers, software and firmware updates so check often to get new updates for the Naos 5000.
Ok, let’s jump back to the Color Settings page… This is a cool feature really, yes it doesn’t have much to do with the actual performance and function of the mouse but I like the idea that you can change the colors of all of the LEDs on the mouse. You have the option to turn off all the LEDs, turn them all on of you can just have certain ones on like only the Mionix logo or only the scroll wheel be one. Then you can change the colors of the LEDs for those, or all.
There’s 24 color settings to choose from, but here’s just a few of them for you to get an idea of what they look like:
I like the color changing feature quite a bit and I like how you can just change certain things to the colors, but there is one wish I have and that would be to be able to actually assign different colors to each thing separately. Like having the Mionix logo green, and the scroll wheel blue and then the DPI settings red and the DPI buttons purple, that’s just an example, but that would great if you could do that. Who knows maybe with a firmware update they could enable it…
So let’s jump back again to the SQAT or Surface Quality Analyzer Tool. I collected several mousepads of varying surfaces like metal, cloth, glass and plastic and tested them with the SQAT tool to see how it works and to see if I could actually feel a difference between them.
The pads I tested are:
Raptor-Gaming Cloth
SteelSeries 5L Hybrid Cloth/Plastic
Ultimat Cloth
Xraypads Aqua3 Cloth
Xtracpads Hybrid Cloth/Plastic
Zowiegear Cloth
When you click the Analyze Surface button you’ve got to move the mouse all around the pad for it to analyze the surface, then it gives you a result on a scale from Poor to Excellent.
None of my pads registered totally Excellent, but I had one that came very close, the SteelSeries S&S Plastic Mousepad.
Here’s the results of the pads:
As you can see, some are better than others. Yes I could tell the difference while using the Naos 5000 on the pads as well, especially between the low performance ones and the higher performing ones.
I like the SteelSeries S&S plastic pad, so I’m more than happy to use the Naos 5000 with it, and it works great.
Tracking is excellent overall, even with the lower performing pads.
I’ve been using the Naos 5000 for a while now and I do like it quite a bit, it’s one of the best mice I’ve ever encountered. It’s shame that not many people know about Mionix and that their products really aren’t readily available here in the states like other companies products are.
The price of the Naos 500 is a bit high, the highest priced mouse I’ve ever had the chance to review I think, coming in at just under $100. Is it worth it? I think it is if you need a mouse like this, if you want the best you’re going to pay for it right? Still though I think it could be priced a bit lower, but that is of course up to the company and not me. It’s an enthusiast product that might be priced out of reach for the average user and even gamer.
I personally like mice with the ability to change the DPI settings, this has become commonplace these days on gaming mice so it’s not really considered a main feature anymore I think, but it’s still something that I think I couldn’t live without. I do some gaming on the PC when I have time and yes I do change the DPI at times, and it’s also nice to be able to change the settings for even regular work usage. I run four monitors and having a speedy mouse is nice to be able to get across them all quickly, but I can then slow it down a bit when need be.
Summary and Comments:
The Mionix Naos 5000 gaming mouse is one of the best out there period.
It offers everything one could ask for in a gaming mouse and then some.
The ability to change the colors is not some major performance enhancing feature but it’s a great one really, it’s nice to be able to customize the Naos 500 to your own liking.
Having weight chambers on both sides of the mouse is nice as well, you can truly adjust the balance of it to suit your own tastes.
I had no issues with tracking at all, it worked perfectly on pretty much every surface I tried. The Surface Quality Analyzer Tool is a nice addition as well so you can really tell which mousepad will work the best with the mouse.
It’s a bit large yes and it will take some time to get accustomed to but it’s worth it in the end.
The price is a bit on the high side, I’d like to see it come down a bit to be more competitive with other gaming mice out there. It’s an excellent mouse overall that I think with the high price has put itself out of reach from the average user really.
We give the Mionix Naos 5000 a 4.5 out of 5 score and our Editor’s Choice Award as well.
Pros:
+Excellent tracking
+Can change colors
+Fully customizable settings
+Separate macros and profiles
+Surface analyzer tool
+Mionix fully supports with firmware updates
+Adjustable weights
Cons:
-Large mouse
-Right handed only
-High price
