Review on: VANCER x Arbiter Studio AKITSU
Use: CS2, OW2, VALORANT and Kovaak's
Time Used: 200 hours
Price: $140 excl. shipping
*note, Mouse was NOT sent to me and was bought with my own money to give my honest thoughts about it. This will not affect the review in any way.*
Build Quality:
Feels premium and really solid straight out of the box. I like the coating of the mouse, something you don't feel often. It's definitely not as grippy as other coatings especially for my hands, but I still could get a good grip without the grip tape.
When putting pressure on specific spots on the mouse you will not feel any sort of creaking, really good for the first batch, no flex on my unit.
The design of the mouse is also probably one, if not even the best, I've seen this year, especially the dragonfly on the base of the mouse, I love it. On the base of the mouse you will find a power on/off switch and 2 buttons, the left one changes the DPI of the mouse, the right one changes the Polling Rate.
The sides are quite flat, personally had to get used to it at first, but doesn't take long until you will literally like the shape of it. Comparable would be the OP1 8k, similar flat sides.
All mice from the first batch are also serialized and are all unique in their own way with that!
Skates:
The mouse comes with pre-applied Silver FOX dot skates from Unusual Way Sports, probably one of the best and smoothest skates on the market right now, great for a lot of cloth pads & glass pads! Inside the box there are larger sized skates if you want to change them.
*note, the skates below are the Magic ICE skates also from Unusual Way Sports, these do not come with the mouse.*
Clicks:
The Akitsu uses Arbiter's new custom "Dragon Claw Micro-Switch" on both mouse buttons. The feel of these switches is sharp and crisp while on the heavier side with around 0.65gF. My unit did come with some pre-travel issues on the right mouse button however the left is perfectly fine. During my use of the Akitsu, the mouse buttons have a slight wiggle with a grinding feel and a grinding noise too. The scroll wheel feels too heavy for me personally but I have come to find that a lot of people feel the same way with the scroll wheel. The side buttons on my unit did come with slight pre-travel and again had a grinding feel to them but this issue was not noticeable during a play session but the side buttons do feel light and spammable and are enjoyable to use.
Shape and Size:
For me the shape is something I came to love during its use, the Akitsu's size is perfect for me too as it fits into my hand nicely and it also allows me to use a Claw and fingertip grip playstyle with the mouse because of its size format and its shape.
Battery life:
When using 8k polling rate on the Akitsu the battery life takes a hit. During my testing on 8k polling, I had to charge the mouse after 10-12 hours on high-intensity gameplay as the battery longevity was lacklustre. However, when testing 1k polling rate I was able to use the mouse for up to 60 hours with no battery charges.
Software:
I personally have no complaints with it as it's a web-based platform for you to customize the Akitsu setup to your liking. The mouse also has on-board memory allowing you to change your settings one time and never have to touch them again.
Dongle:
The LCD display 8k dongle is a great feature of the mouse, tying in its sleek and stealth-like build. The Dongle itself shows you key info about the mouse at that time, such as the battery life, LOD, Polling rate, and DPI.
Technical Facts:
Approximately 38 grams ±2g (measured 40 with mouse button grip tape)
Full Carbon Fiber Composite
Up to 8000 Hz
Up to 60 hours at 1000 Hz (varies from Polling Rate)
Nordic 52840 Wireless Hyperspeed MCU
PIXART 3395 Sensor
5 Programmable Buttons
1 DPI Button
1 Polling Rate Button
Custom Dragon Claw Micro-switch
1.8M Paracord Cable
Includes an LCD display for monitoring polling rate, DPI, LOD and battery life.
Star ratings⭐️:
Price: 8/10⭐️
Unboxing experience: 9/10⭐️
Looks: 10/10⭐️
Build quality: 9/10⭐️
Clicks: 9/10⭐️
Scroll wheel: 7/10⭐️
Sensor: 10/10⭐️
Battery life: 9/10⭐️
OVERALL: 9/10⭐️
Personally I am impressed by the Akitsu with it being Arbiter's first shot at a mouse drop with VANCER and Finemax. The price might be hefty for some people, but you pay for what you get. This mouse will stay in my heart and will be used a lot more in the future. I hope whenever they will release a new batch, that QC will be increased, but besides this, there really is nothing to complain about.
When a new batch releases, you should consider getting it!
Thank you for reading my review.🖤