Cougar Announces Inexpensive 230M, 250M Gaming Mice With More Features Than You'd Expect

Cougar announced that it is bringing a pair a gaming mice to the market at very affordable price points (joining the also inexpensive 300M), with features normally found in much more expensive mice. Cougar said the idea behind its new 230M and 250M mice is to make professional level peripherals more accessible to the masses.

Both the 230M and the 250M feature an ambidextrous design, making it comfortable to use for both right- and left-handed gamers. Each of the mice boasts a 1000 Hz polling rate, which Cougar said translates to 1ms response times. In addition, these mice share the same quality Omron switches and a "gaming grade" scroll wheel with tactile feedback and LED backlighting. COUGAR has also included a braided cable, and what it calls anti-slip flanks on each. These flanks are meant to improve your grip on the mouse.

Cougar's 230M has been designed for those who don't want the extra buttons all over the mouse. Aside from the necessary right and left buttons, and the scroll wheel in the center, the only other button on this mouse is the DPI selector. This dedicated switch is pre-programmed with four DPI settings that can be cycled through on the fly. It can be set to 400, 800, 1600 or 3200 DPI to suit your preference.

The 250M comes equipped with even more advanced features. This mouse features an ADNS-3050 high precision 4000 DPI optical sensor and allows for fully customizable DPI presets. It still features four options, but with this mouse, Cougar included support in its Cougar UIX software. UIX enables full customization of all six buttons, as well as the RGB LED lights around the scroll wheel. The mouse also features internal memory that can save up to three profiles locally.

The Cougar 230M gaming mouse has an MSRP of $19.99 and is available in white with yellow flanks and LEDs. The other option is black with red sides. The 250M is priced at $29.99 and is available in black with orange accents, and white with orange accents.

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 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.