Corsair M55 RGB Pro Review

Corsair is a gaming brand that produces a ton of different products, ranging from power supply units to mousepads, and the company is well regarded by pretty much everyone that knows them, but for some reason their mice have never really been taking off.

Today we’re taking a look at one of their newest attempts in the form of the M55 RGB Pro. It does away with unnecessary gimmicks and tries to focus on one thing: performance. It’s a pretty straightforward ambidextrous mouse which promises to deliver a lot of bang for your buck, but is it worth said bucks?

We let our reviewer test it extensively to find out just that, and more.

Note: this review came out later than scheduled because there was a problem with the testing sample that our reviewer received.

At a Glance


Corsair M55 RGB Pro

All in all it’s a promising product, but there definitely is still room for improvement.

Pros

  • Decent clicks, scroll wheel, and skates
  • Nice coating

Cons

  • High LOD that can’t be changed
  • Rigid cable
  • Wonky DPI steps out of the box

Specs

SensorPMW 3327
DPI200-12400, in steps of 100
Polling Rate125 / 250 / 500 / 1000 Hz
Button SwitchesOmron
ConnectionWired
ShapeAmbidextrous
Length12.2cm
Height3.9cm
Weight87g
Width5.6cm

First Impressions


As far as first impressions go there’s not really a lot that I can say about the Corsair M55 RGB Pro (I’ll refer to it as the ‘Corsair M55’ throughout my review) since it’s such a basic mouse. This is not a bad thing, of course. I don’t need to be dazzled by flashy colors or extremely awkward shapes, and since the people at Corsair have been known to go for the ‘let’s make our mice look as gamer-oriented as possible’ school of design I was actually pleasantly surprised to see how understated this M55 is. The sleek looking black mouse is finished with textured rubber sidegrips, and on top you’ll find a DPI button along with a DPI indicator LED. On the back there’s the RGB element in the form of a Corsair logo.

Aside from this I also immediately noticed the coating. It’s a matte coating but it’s got a certain ‘grit’ to it, more so than what you’ll find on most other mice, but more on that later.

Corsair M55 RGB Pro Mouse Review

Most mice of this type are pretty small, but the M55 is definitely more of a medium-sized mouse in my opinion, perhaps even bordering on large due to the rather substantial back. This one weighs in at around 87 grams, which is a more than respectable weight for a mouse of this size and type if you’re asking me.

Another notable feature here is that the M55 has two side buttons on each side, so it really is a truly ambidextrous mouse.

Packaging


The packaging of the M55 pretty much reflects what Corsair envisioned the mouse to be: with nothing extra inside the box aside from the usual documentation it carries on the ‘no BS’ attitude that the mouse itself seems to have.

I do like it when I get extra mouse feet in the box, but I won’t knock any company for not including them, and certainly not when they’re aiming at the budget end of the market with their product so no complaints here.

Corsair M55 RGB Pro Review Packaging

Shape, Coating, and Mouse Feet


The M55 has what I’d call a pretty safe shape. It feels a bit ‘boxier’ than most other mice, if that makes any sense, due to the rather pronounced hump on the back and the fact that there’s not a whole lot of curvature to the sides. Whether you like that or not will depend on your personal preferences, but it didn’t bother me and I can’t imagine that too many people will be put off by this either. I’m just mentioning it for the sake of being complete. Aside from this there’s really nothing much to say about the shape; it’s a nice and comfortable shape that will accommodate pretty much any grip style if you can live with this type of shell design.

I briefly mentioned the coating in the intro; it’s made out of this very textured-feeling matte black material and I really, really like this. It’s very grippy, and as someone who gets sweaty hands pretty easily when gaming (especially in summer) I can confidently say that it performs well in both dry and wet conditions. In practice, though, this top coating doesn’t really matter for the actual performance, as most of the gripping action will be done on the sides where you’ll find textured rubber side elements. Those who often read my reviews will know that I am a fan of rubber side grips, and the M55 doesn’t change that. The grips are nicely implemented and the texturing, while noticeable, isn’t annoying in the slightest.

The side buttons are easy enough to tell apart but the placement could use some work. As they are right now they could be a bit hard to reach for people who like to grip their mice towards the back, and I also had a few instances where I accidentally clicked the side button on the right when gaming. The right buttons are deactivated by default, so this didn’t mess up my performance or anything, but it is another indication that the placement isn’t optimal. I think having them a bit lower and a tiny bit further back could solve a lot of issues, but I’m not a product engineer of course.

On to the bottom of the mouse, then, where you’ll find three mouse feet (a large one at the back and two smaller ones on front) and this is all good. The glide is pretty nice and smooth and while it does take a little bit of time to break the feet in completely I never felt any issues with friction, so that’s all nicely done.

Corsair M55 RGB Pro Review Mouse Side

Recommended Grip Types

As I briefly mentioned earlier on in the review: if think that the shape of the M55 should suit a lot of different people and different grip types. It’s pretty voluminous in the back though, so if you grip your mice towards the back you’d do well to take note of that before committing to this particular product.

Anyway: I do think it’s gonna work for pretty much any grip style, and the overall size combined with the pretty big hump at the back will make this a good option for palm grippers, even if you have slightly larger hands.

It is a bit ‘square feeling’ so if you like a mouse that has a very natural and curvy flow to it you’re probably better off trying this out in real life at first. I mention this just to be complete, though I have to say that this less curved style didn’t bother me personally at all.

Buttons and Scroll Wheel


The clicks on the M55 are handled by Omron switches which, as we all know, are extremely reliable and precise. That doesn’t matter if you don’t implement them well but luckily Corsair have done a good job at this. There’s a slight mushiness to the main clicks if you really start paying attention to them, but not enough to annoy me at all. Both main buttons are fairly easy to press but they aren’t the lightest on the market, so if you are someone who likes their clicks to be as light as possible this is probably going to be a no-go for you. All in all though I didn’t have any issues with these buttons (and it’s not like a heavier main click is objectively a bad thing; some people prefer that) so they’re certainly okay. Nothing more, but also nothing less.

The scroll wheel has a tiny bit of texturing to it that’s honestly hard to notice during regular usage, but it’s made entirely of a very grippy rubber material so it’s a breeze to use even if the texturing doesn’t do all that much in practice. The wheel is pretty light to scroll and rather silent, and it performs fine for what it has to do. It also doesn’t require too much force to press, and it has a pleasant click when you do so.

The side buttons feel good to use as well; there’s no outrageous amounts of travel and they have a snappy and tactile click when you actuate them, so in summary I can say that the buttons and the scroll wheel are good. None of this is amazing (I’ve used better buttons, scroll wheels, and side buttons) but none of it is subpar either, so that’s certainly good news.

Build Quality and Cable


When I tap and shake the M55 I can hear a bit of rattling inside of the mouse. It’s not overly loud, nor does it sound like there’s anything loose in there that’s bashing against the different sides of the mouse but there definitely is a bit of rattle near the scroll wheel. This isn’t a major problem; I can’t really hear it when I’m using the mouse on my desk unless I make a massive and sudden swipe across the pad, but seeing as I only do massive and sudden swipes when I’m gaming (and I thus won’t hear the moving parts) I would call this a non-issue.

The same can’t be said for the cable, unfortunately. It’s not the thickest or heaviest cable out there, but it is quite rigid. It’s braided and it stays in the ‘packaging shape’ for quite some time. The photos in this review are taken after my initial impressions (which means that the mouse has been used for about an hour or two at that point) so don’t base yourself on that: the cable can be straightened out (you’ll need to help it though) but even then it’s still a pretty subpar cable.

Lately we’ve been spoiled when it comes to the flexibility of stock cables, and while I can understand that certain compromises need to be made in order to keep a mouse at that ‘budget product’ price point I do believe that Corsair can do better on this front, even for a budget/low end type of mouse.

Sensor and Everyday Performance


The Corsair M55 houses the Pixart 3327 sensor. That’s not a common one but it is on par with what we see in other mice that use variations of the 3360; I found no traces of smoothing or acceleration, so the tracking is on point.

What’s noticeable here is that the mouse has a rather high LOD (Lift Off Distance). I measured it between 2 and 3 DVDs, so it’s by no means unusable (and I know for a fact that some people prefer a higher LOD) but it is definitely something to note, especially because there is no way to change the LOD in Corsair’s software. Still, I didn’t really have an issue with this mouse when I was testing it ingame, but I do personally prefer a lower lift off distance.

I also think that the default DPI steps of the mouse are a bit strange. Out of the box the M55 has, for example, 1500 (as opposed to the much more used 1600) as a default step which is a weird choice for a mouse that has ‘plug and play’ on the box. This is of course easily fixed in their software, but I thought I’d mention it.

In order to be complete I have to mention that my initial test copy of the M55 had an outrageous LOD of over 4 DVDs. Since that seemed extremely high to me I contacted Corsair and after some back and forth it became clear that this was an issue on my specific copy. I then got a retail unit from my local shop to confirm this and while the LOD on that one is still on the high side it’s by no means in the ‘completely unusable’ territory like it was with the test sample I got. This endeavor caused the review to be a bit on the late side, but it’s obviously important to get all the facts straight. 

Corsair M55 RGB Pro Review – Conclusion


The Corsair M55 is a very decent budget mouse. It doesn’t really stand out on any front, and the cable and LOD (though that last one might be more subjective) keep it from being an automatic top recommendation on the lower end of the budget spectrum, but this still could be a great mouse for a variety of gamers out there.

The mouse does everything that it has to, though: the sensor performs flawlessly, the buttons and scroll feel good, and the glide is decent so if you like what you’re seeing and you’re interested in this kind of more ‘filling’ shape this could very well be a great mouse for you.

If you’re someone who plays at a lower sensitivity I’d be careful with this one, as the high lift off distance will be much more of a factor for people with a low sensitivity (since they pick up their mouse far more often) and there isn’t any way to tune this, but if you’re on a budget and you either don’t mind a high LOD or you play at higher sensitivities this one should get a look if you’re considering your next mouse.

All in all it’s a promising product, but there definitely is still room for improvement.

This product was received for free from the manufacturer and given to our reviewer to test and review. Brands and manufacturers have no editorial control over our reviews. For more information, check out our review FAQ.

2 Comments
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John

What are the diffrent colors for the DPI’s

Max

I don’t remember off the top of my head but it should be in the manual if you decide to get the mouse.