Tt eSports Theron Infrared: Hands-On Review
Packaging and In The Box
Once the Tt eSports Theron IR’s package, with its flap and large window, is opened, you're presented with some extras in addition to the mouse itself. There’s a driver CD, a short manual, two stickers, and a well-padded fabric bag for storage.
Design and Construction
The Theron Infrared’s body consists of a plastic that feels like hard rubber, allowing sweat to be wiped off easily. The Omron switches are precise, and clicking is a joy due to the mouse’s ergonomics, which are optimized for mid-sized hands. Consequently, this mouse accommodates a wide variety of finger lengths and hand widths. A protruding rim prevents your fingers from sliding off, though it requires a bit of getting used to.
Again, we're dealing with a fabric-wrapped cable that comes in on the short side at 1.80 m. It could also be a bit more flexible. A permanently-attached tie that holds the cable together for transport is a nice touch.
The mouse wheel doesn’t offer much resistance, but does have steps to it. Its sensitivity can be adjusted via the mouse’s software.
The bottom of the mouse features its infrared sensor and a switch to lock the configuration buttons. You can change the Theron's polling rate with one of them, for example (though this setting is also accessible through bundled software, and really only makes sense to mess with if you're in-game already). Switching profiles with another button is also nice, though that's not a mandatory capability either.
Weight distribution is a mixed bag. The linear positioning of the weights, which are held by a rubber frame, doesn’t leave much room for precise changes to the mouse’s center of gravity, and the absence of different weights isn’t ideal either. The Teflon feet are familiar fare from this category of mouse, and they allow the Theron Infrared to slide over a pad with ease.
Hands-On with the Tt eSports Theron Infrared
The infrared sensor is supposed to be better than the previous-gen laser sensor. A resolution of up to 4000 DPI enables precise movement, though the mouse software's free DPI adjustment isn't something we'd recommend using. When the utility is forced to interpolate because you set some odd fraction of the sensor's native resolution, you never know what you're going to get, regardless of marketing's claim that you can tweak in 100 DPI increments. It's nice to experiment, but some settings suffer from a massive precision loss. At least the option to save multiple profiles cuts down on the amount of tuning you'll need to do between games.
If you do opt to brave the mouse's interpolation, you'll discover that its X and Y axes cannot be configured independently. The infrared sensor does perform well on suboptimal surfaces. And it's also nice that angle snapping is deactivated by default to avoid the overcompensation needed to keep a line in Microsoft Paint straight after your tenth cup of coffee.
We can recommend this mouse to anyone able to live with its 4000 DPI, who values good tracking, wants to be in charge of their movements without automatic angle snapping, and owns a nice large mouse pad. The Theron Infrared’s chassis provides a nice grip, houses an adjustable wheel, sports a ton of additional buttons, and is complemented by a mature configuration software with profile support. Weight adjustment is acceptable at this price point, and the fabric-clad cable loses its initial stiffness after a few days of use. The infrared version of this mouse sells for $60, which is $10 less than the older, laser-based version.
