# CM Storm Sentinel Zero-G (SGM-6001-KLLW1-GP) Twin Laser Gaming Mouse Review



## The Sorcerer (Dec 12, 2011)

Coolermaster's Storm Series specifically addresses gamers and their needs for hardware (and bling). Coolermaster India sends a Sentinel Zero-G twin optical mouse. I've been using these for about 3 weeks. 
*i.imgur.com/M0c92.jpg​Does she do what she would do?? Well, you know the drill!!!
*Packaging and Specifications*

*Advertised Specifications* 

*Model Number*             SGM-6000-KLLW1-GP         

*Available Colour*            Black and Grey         

*Material*             Rubber Grip / ABS Plastic / Mesh Bezel / Metal Plate         

*Dimensions* 

            (L) 135 X (W) 83.5 X (H) 40 mm /&nbsp; (L) 5.3 X (W) 3.3 X (H) 1.6 inch         

*Net Weight*             161.5 g / 0.356 lbs.         

*Sensor* 

            5600 DPI Storm Tactical™ Twin-laser Sensor         

*X and Y Axis Configuration*             Independent and programmable         

*Maximum Tracking Speed *            6.00 m/s 235 IPS         

*Maximum Acceleration *            50g         

*Polling Time*             1.0ms         

*Speed Measurement*             Real-time         

*Dynamic Surface Adaptation*             Tracks on all surfaces, ensures minimal lift-off distance          

*Onboard Memory *            64Kb         

*Form Factor*             Right Hand Ergonomic         

*Button Assignment*             8         

*Illumination *            IC controlled Illumination with 7 colours and variable lighting effects         

*DPI Display*            OLED         

*Weight System*             Yes, 4.5g X 5 pcs         

*i.imgur.com/M0wAD.jpg*i.imgur.com/VqACb.jpg

*i.imgur.com/ROgXz.jpg

*i.imgur.com/MuBuz.jpg*i.imgur.com/Qhagv.jpg​Nice packaging with all the explanation.Coolermaster bundled a key for "Shattered Horizon" game with this mouse and specific link to download from. Other than that, a driver disk is provided. 

*Disclosure:* I had 2 of these units, one of them sent to me later. With the first packaging the product box says its Sentinel Zero-G, but the base of the mouse clearly said Sentinel  Advance. For a moment I thought it was the wrong packaging so I got  another one and this turned out to be the same.

*i.imgur.com/DkSqN.jpg

*i.imgur.com/B1fyr.jpg

*i.imgur.com/0ySL3.jpg​
The mouse and the packaging had the same Serial number. So its obvious it should have the same model number. 


                  Sentinel Advance  Sentinel Zero-G                  

*Model Number*           SGM-6000-KLLW1-GP          _SGM-600*1*-KLLW1-GP_ 

*Available Colour*          Black and Grey          Black and Grey       

*Material*           Rubber Grip / ABS Plastic / Mesh Bezel / Metal Plate          Rubber Grip / ABS Plastic / Mesh Bezel / Metal Plate       

*Dimensions*           (L) 135 X (W) 83.5 X (H) 40 mm /&nbsp; (L) 5.3 X (W) 3.3 X (H) 1.6 inch          (L) 135 X (W) 83.5 X (H) 40 mm /&nbsp; (L) 5.3 X (W) 3.3 X (H) 1.6 inch       

*Net Weight*           161.5 g / 0.356 lbs.          161.5 g / 0.356 lb       

*Sensor*           5600 DPI Storm Tactical™ Twin-laser Sensor          5600 DPI Storm TacticalTM Twin-laser Sensor       

*X and Y Axis Configuration*           Independent and programmable          Independent and programmable       

*Maximum Tracking Speed *          6.00 m/s 235 IPS          235 Inches per sec       

*Maximum Acceleration *          50g          50G       

*Polling Time*           1.0ms          1.0ms       

*Speed Measurement*           Real-time          Not mentioned       

*Dynamic Surface Adaptation*           Tracks on all surfaces, ensures minimal lift-off distance           Not mentioned       

*Onboard Memory *          64Kb          128kb       

*Form Factor*           Right Hand Ergonomic          Right Hand Ergonomic       

*Button Assignment*           8          8       

*Illumination *          IC controlled Illumination with 7 colours and variable lighting effects          5       

*DPI Display*          OLED          OLED       

*Weight System*           Yes, 4.5g X 5 pcs          Yes, 4.5g X 5 pcs       


Physical dimensions are the same by the looks of specs comparison. I had a word with Coolermaster India and this is the reply I've received:


> _There were two versions of the Sentinel – Advance and Zero-G&nbsp; i.e. SGM-600*0*-KLLW1-GP and SGM-600*1*-KLLW1-GP respectively. The one we have given you is Zero-G i.e. SGM-600*1*-KLLW1-GP. The Zero-G model is the newer one and the changes were new body colour (grey), memory upgrade from 64K to128K and a few tweaks to the sensor.
> 
> The box wrongly mentions it as SGM-6001-GLLW1-GP. There is no such model. It’s a clerical mistake and rectified in the recent batches. The laser Sensor sticker is missing from the sample but present on retail products. I hope this clears the confusion.&nbsp; _


&nbsp;We good? Yeah. However, its best if the model number in CM Storm's Zero-G's page is corrected:

*i.imgur.com/OlLIvh.jpg​
*Initial Impressions and User Experience*
*i.imgur.com/JtKvA.jpg​
At the time when I was testing this mouse, I had CM Storm Inferno, CM Storm Zero-G, Razer Imperator 2012 and my old, trusty-and-abused Logitech MX518. Out of all the 4, both the mouses from Coolermaster

*i.imgur.com/NxQMY.jpg​
As said above the overall built quality is hands-down top notch,  including the side buttons and the scroll wheel. The plastic is top  notch with matte finish. I don't feel anything that can be counted as  rubber grip. There is a soft feel in the section where you rest your  palm and the grips for you thumb and your pinky, but far from being qualified as rubber grip.

The left/right click button feels just the way it should and the scroll  wheel is perfect. There is a "control" feel when you're using the scroll  wheel but you don't need to take an effort to press the scroll wheel.  Left/Right click buttons have a plastic (not in the fingerprint magnet  sense) and the scroll wheel has a rubber-_ish_ feel to it. The side buttons have a smooth finish and placed just right for your thumb.&nbsp; 

*i.imgur.com/T2NNM.jpg*i.imgur.com/EZZ7u.jpg*i.imgur.com/3wDc6.jpg​
The button on the top of the scroll wheel is to switch profiles. There are 5 profiles with each profile having its own colour that is visible via the mesh-type design around the screen and the 2x LED lights on the front. The case feets feel pretty slick and glides well over the cloth mousepad that I use. There are 2 large strips of mouse feets on the side 1 small piece on the top and 1 in the bottom. There's also a ring around the laser. You can adjust the weight of mouse with 5x 4.5g on a foam pad. 3 of these were more than enough for me.&nbsp; The cables are braided with USB interface. The cable is about 2 mt. long. 

*i.imgur.com/QEuuW.jpg​&nbsp;There are 2 buttons which is used to decrease/increase DPI level, but only 200-800DPI with 200DPI interval.&nbsp; To increase, you'll need to press and hold any of the DPI button and scroll up. You will see the increase in DPI. I didn't anything more than 800-1200DPI by max. But the mouse lets you take it upto 5600DPI. 


But that's it!! The sensor suffers the same drifting issue on Razer Goliathus Control Edition mouse pad that the other 2 mouse with dual sensors- Razer Imperator 2012 and CM Storm Inferno. Sniping is more difficult with this mouse, especially if you are lifting your mouse and putting it to the desired position over the mousepad. Moving diagonally isn't as smooth as I would like. If you're a guy who uses low DPI and prefer sniping in fps, this mouse is a challenge unless the target decided to stand in one place. A gaming mouse that doesn't work the way it should on a cloth mousepad? That's a serious turn-off. The only DPI that reduces drifting is 200DPI but you'll have to move the mouse a lot for that.

The software comes with way too many macro options but CM also included a memory reset tool to clear all the settings that you've saved on the mouse, including macros and DPI settings/colour scheme setting for each profile. 

*i.imgur.com/Z4OnN.jpg*i.imgur.com/5uNdY.jpg*i.imgur.com/UJGfU.jpg*i.imgur.com/U8swR.jpg

*i.imgur.com/Crgka.jpg*i.imgur.com/SAhOs.jpg

*i.imgur.com/QHa4r.jpg*i.imgur.com/2BCiF.jpg​Here's something I stumbled upon- the "Enable Current Optimization" doesn't work.

If you set your DPI level through the mouse instead of the software and you launch the CM storm's software for whatever reason, the DPI level recorded by you gets overwritten by the DPI setting that is preset on the software. Ticking enable current optimization didn't help, even with the 1.5 ver cm storm driver. 

By max, most of the users will use main control, colour control and even storm tactics, but that's about it. 

*i.imgur.com/Zt0oM.jpg​The driver lets you use a 32 x32px BMP logo in black and white format to display on the OLED screen of your mouse but on idle mode it enables shattered horizon logo throughout the OLED screen. You can turn off the full-screen logo but in its place you cannot use your own. It would be nice if Coolermaster could do something like that. You can set the DPI level for x and y axis independently via the software. Like Inferno, you can remap all the buttons on the mouse- except the profile switch button. However, just like inferno you cannot increase anything more than 800DPI on the software. 

The "disable" style option does turn off the lights, but not the OLED screen. There are 7 LED colours that you can select for the front and for the vent lights on top individually. 

*Conclusion*

This mouse costs Rs. 3,279 in India

Such a good price and you get 2 years of warranty: a good mouse with a surprisingly better-than-other-mouse build quality but a bad sensor. Ouch! I don't have a hard surface mat to confirm if it works that way, but a lot of end-users use soft cloth pads, especially LAN gamers. Its a shame that the dual sensor is picky about surfaces. Why should it be picky and drift away to even begin with? Software needs to stop overwriting DPI level if the user has set it on its own, other than that its all good. 

Overall quality and features are appreciated but the purpose of a gaming mouse is defeated if the sensor has a mind of its own. So far, my impression of dual laser sensor is that its very picky on surfaces and that's something which shouldn't be there.

If anyone plans to use any dual sensor with same issue in their newer gaming mouse? Ditch the b****h!! Even my abused MX518 does not have any drifting issues.


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