Ever since FinalMouse popularized the honeycomb design with their Ultralight line it’s been obvious that this ‘mouse with holes in it’ kind of thing has been the gaming mouse hype of the past year or so. It’s therefore not surprising to see a lot of brands trying to hop on the train by releasing mice with a similar design philosophy; go all-in on weight reduction while still offering a premium gaming mouse.
Today we’re taking a look at a mouse from a brand that seems to have sprung up out of nowhere. The company G-Wolves wasn’t really on anyone’s radar until they announced the Skoll: an ergonomic super lightweight mouse with an extremely flexible cable and a flawless 3360 sensor. It’s an ambitious project to take on as one of your first gaming mice, so let’s see if they succeeded. Over to our reviewer!
At a Glance
G-Wolves Skoll
❝I didn’t really expect to like this mouse so much in all honesty. Partially because I had never heard of G-Wolves until a month or two ago and I had my doubts that any new company would be able to put out a top tier gaming mouse without having to make any real compromises, but I’ve been proven wrong and I’m not ashamed to admit that.❞
Specs
| Sensor | PMW 3360 |
|---|---|
| DPI | 200-12000, in steps of 100 |
| Polling Rate | 125 / 250 / 500 / 1000 Hz |
| Button Switches | Omron |
| Button Force | 76.6g |
| Connection | Wired |
| Shape | Ergonomic |
| Length | 12.46cm |
| Height | 4.23cm |
| Weight | 66g |
| Width | 6.31cm |
Pros
- Fantastic cable
- Great shape
- Great scroll wheel
Cons
- Coating feels too gritty
- Feet are scratchy
- Buttons are ‘just decent’ and could be better
First Impressions
Something that you often see with these new (and relatively unknown) gaming brands is that they try to make their products stand out by using rather aggressive color schemes or design cues, more often than not accompanied by a lot of branding and logos. Not so with the Skoll. The fact that it’s got holes in the shell obviously signals that it’s not a regular office mouse, but aside from that it’s a pretty subtle looking product. Right underneath the scroll wheel you can see the G-Wolves logo but that’s it as far as branding goes.
They were even subtle when it comes to the RGB elements. There’s a thin strip on the bottom of the mouse on either side and if you ask me it looks pretty nice. Doing it like this allows you to still see the RGB even when you’re holding the mouse, and while I personally don’t need any lighting on my mice I have to say that this is very tastefully done. It also looks pretty nice in the dark; it’s almost as if the Skoll is surrounded by a halo. The only thing that sort of disappointed me here is the fact that the top part of the mouse has a different color than the regular black of the sides and bottom. It would’ve looked better (to me) if the entire mouse was the same color, but this is obviously a matter of personal taste and won’t affect my opinion on this product in the slightest.
Mouse aficionados will probably notice how familiar this Skoll looks. The shape is pretty much a carbon copy of Zowie’s famous EC line of mice which means that, like the EC, it’s a supremely comfortable ergonomic mouse. I’m not gonna get into the whole ‘clones vs original design’ debate since everyone has their own opinion on this but of course it has to be mentioned, even if only because it makes it easier to check whether or not you like this particular shape by just grabbing an EC somewhere. In any case; the EC series is widely lauded for having a very, very nice shape and since this is basically the same I can only say that I love the shape of this mouse.
It is not the same size, though. The Skoll falls right in between the EC1 and EC2 as far as size goes. Apart from the shape one will probably also notice how flexible the cable is, but more on that later.
Packaging
The packaging of the Skoll has thoroughly impressed me. The mouse comes in this beautiful tin box, and when you open said box you’ll find one of those ‘thank you for purchasing’ notes, but that’s not all. You get two little cleaning cloths, four sets of additional mouse feet (plus two extra feet to place in between the ‘main feet’) and also an information sticker (with the model number and CE badge and all of that) to place on the bottom of the mouse should you so desire. That’s pretty nifty if you’re asking me. It’s not like those stickers add anything to the weight of a mouse, but it’s cool that they let you decide whether or not you want it on there. Not having it on there means having one less thing that can potentially interfere with glide, so I left it off.
Note: there is also an option to order the mouse with an extra cable. My box did not contain one, but for the sake of being complete I thought I’d add it.
Shape, Coating, and Mouse Feet
The Skoll is an ergonomic mouse, and a very comfortable one at that. This is one of the better designs of its kind out there if you ask me so if you like your mice to have this natural sort of flow to them this is going to be great for you. It doesn’t force you into a certain grip either. Obviously no mouse is perfect for any hand size and grip style (more on that later on in the review) but the shape is so nicely done that it should accommodate a large selection of grips and hand sizes.
This mouse is finished with a matte coating that performs fine even with really sweaty hands (and I unfortunately got to test that extensively due to my city being in the middle of a heat wave) but it isn’t the nicest feeling coating I’ve ever felt, definitely not initially. The top part of the mouse had this sort of gritty, sandpaper-like (it’s not nearly as coarse, but that’s what I thought of when I first felt it) texture to it at first but that does go away after a couple of hours. I don’t know if this is the same on every unit or if mine just had a bit of ‘coating residue’ left on it but if you experience the same you can rest easy knowing that the coating smooths out after a while.
You’ll see your standard two side button setup here, and this is nicely done. The buttons are easy enough to distinguish and, for me, they’re placed nearly perfectly but I can imagine that people who tend to place their thumb a little lower than I do when gaming would have liked these to be a bit bigger or positioned a little lower.
On the bottom of the mouse you will find more holes, and also a button to change the DPI and RGB settings. If I could change anything here I’d have liked there to be any sort of acknowledgement (in the form of a dedicated DPI color LED or by having the existing LEDs light up in a certain color) when you change your DPI, but that’s really a minor nitpick and you can always change this in their software, but more on that software later.
The stock mouse feet that are on here do a pretty decent job, but they’re not the best ones. They are decently finished and they’re not scratchy or anything but if you’re after a super smooth and fast glide you might want to consider swapping these out. That said: I didn’t have any performance issues whatsoever so I’m confident that the stock feet will be fine for the majority of users.
Recommended Grip Types
Provided you’re into ergonomic gaming mice the Skoll has a safe shape for pretty much any grip type. It’s probably not the best in the business if you’re a fingertip gripper or if you have smaller hands and/or you like to grip your mice towards the back but for everyone else this should be a straight hit.
The shape is so nice that it really works with you as opposed to against you, if that makes any sense. There are no weird angles or ultra thin ledges that force you to hold it in a certain way, so for this reason I’m confident that it’s a good match for a very wide variety of grip types.
Buttons and Scroll Wheel
The main buttons of the Skoll have Omron switches underneath them, and they’re implemented nicely. The buttons themselves are what I’d call ‘middle ground’ in the sense that they’re not the lightest clicks in the world, but they’re not super heavy either. This makes them ideal for most users and for people who have no preference towards either side, but if you really want feathery light clicks (or really heavy clicks) you may want to look elsewhere.
Clicks are something that newer and more established companies alike can get wrong and when that happens it can absolutely ruin the experience for me but the Skoll is all fine on this front. There’s barely any pre or post travel and you get a decently crisp and clean click once you actuate the switch. I wouldn’t give these clicks any awards or anything (not that those awards actually exist) but they are definitely more than decent and I never noticed any issues on this front.
The same goes for the scroll wheel. It’s a nearly silent wheel with clearly defined steps and it’s a pleasure to use both for browsing and gaming. The fact that the steps are rather clearly defined also makes it a good option for people who use their scroll wheel for delicate operations such as switching weapons or spells. All in all I really like this wheel, and that feeling is topped off by the fact that the wheel is very easy to press. I use this functionality a lot in certain games, so when a mouse has a wheel that’s easy to press it’s always a plus to me.
The scroll wheel is rubberized with a bit of texturing to it and I never caught it skipping any steps so as far as I’m concerned (and I am aware that this is mostly personal opinion) it’s one of the better wheels that I’ve tested in recent months.
The side buttons follow suit. They’re easy to press and they actuate with a satisfying and crispy click. There are no travel issues whereby the buttons go so far into the shell of the mouse that it gets annoying, and there’s almost no pre travel either. Little side note: some of these super lightweight mice are built with a frame that’s so light that it’s possible to actuate the side buttons by applying enough pressure to the side of the mouse, but that is not the case here.
All in all the clicking and scrolling experience is great. This is one of the areas where some companies try to cut costs but this really isn’t the case with G-Wolves as far as I can tell.
Build Quality and Cable
When you pick the mouse up and give it a good ol’ shake you can definitely hear something moving around on the inside but that never really happened when I was using the mouse regularly, not even when I actively tried to replicate it by doing frankly unrealistic swipes on my pad so I wouldn’t worry about this if I were you.
As I briefly mentioned in the previous section the mouse is surprisingly nicely built. Some of these ‘hyper lightweight mice’ can feel a bit flimsy because the shell needs to be as thin as possible in order to cut down on weight, but I couldn’t actually find any spot where the shell could be flexed or depressed on the Skoll. That’s an impressive feat, doubly so when you consider that this mouse weighs in at only 66 grams.
Aside from the whole ‘let’s go lighter’ battle that’s been going on for the past couple of months there’s also been another very interesting trend in gaming mice: cables are getting better and better. This is also the case with the Skoll. It quite simply has the best stock cable I’ve seen on a mouse. It’s super flexible and light and I honestly felt as if I was using a wireless mouse at times, that’s how good it is. Needless to say you can easily use this mouse without a bungee but I’ve been using it with mine (which is a Zowie Camade) and I really love the experience.
Sensor and Everyday Performance
The brain of this mouse is the now standard 3360 sensor. That one’s completely flawless which, as you may or may not know, means that it translates every move you make on your desk to the game with perfect precision and without any prediction or acceleration. Being that it’s a gaming mouse this is obviously very important so I’m glad to see that G-Wolves went for the 3360 as opposed to going for something obscure or subpar.
You can configure the DPI and lighting in their software and that same software also allows you to record macros and all that jazz. It’s a lightweight app that honestly does everything it needs to, and while it doesn’t look as premium as the software that’s offered with some of the more established brands (there are even a bunch of grammatical mistakes in the app) it all works flawlessly, so all’s well if you ask me.
I know that people will be wondering whether or not the holes have an impact on performance and I can be short here: they don’t have any impact. They’re only there to make the mouse lighter (which could improve your performance, to be honest) but they’re nicely rounded so they aren’t irritating to the touch in case you were worried about that. I personally don’t even notice that they’re there when I’m playing.
No mouse will make you an aiming God all of a sudden so don’t get this mouse (or any mouse, for that matter) thinking that your headshot ratio will instantly improve by 10% or whatever but it is an absolute pleasure to game with the Skoll. The combination of the extremely low weight along with the utterly fantastic cable makes for a truly special gaming experience, and that combined with the amazing shape makes it one of my favorite mice of the past couple of years for gaming.
It’s also the first ergonomic super light mouse that I’ve really tested and since I personally prefer ergo mice (though I have no issues using ambi mice if the shape suits me) this is a really great match for me. That’s obviously my personal opinion, but I can also objectively say that this mouse performs great in every sort of game thanks to the flawless sensor, great cable, and very decent buttons.
G-Wolves Skoll Review – Conclusion
I didn’t really expect to like this mouse so much in all honesty. Partially because I had never heard of G-Wolves until a month or two ago and I had my doubts that any new company would be able to put out a top tier gaming mouse without having to make any real compromises, but I’ve been proven wrong and I’m not ashamed to admit that.
The G-Wolves Skoll has an amazing shape (it’s a Zowie EC clone) with a best-in-business cable, very decent buttons, amazing scroll wheel and a flabbergasting weight of just 66 grams. It’s as close to feeling like you’re playing without a wire as you’re going to get without using an actual wireless mouse, and if you’re someone who wants their mice to be as light as possible you owe it to yourself to try this one.
There are some small issues here and there; the coating had this weird and gritty feeling for the first couple of hours, and the clicks and mouse feet could be improved in future iterations, but it’s not like they’re outright bad or even subpar so they don’t really detract from the experience. This, for me, is an unexpected hit, and it’s one of the best gaming mice out there at the moment if you’re asking me.