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Despite the RAT DWS’ rather marvellous battery life of 200 hours through the receiver and 300 hours via Bluetooth, there’s no ability to recharge. This is largely thanks to the power source of the RAT DWS being an included AA battery. This cheapens the look and feel of the mouse, especially given that the rest of the competition is rechargeable. Software and Lighting – Great for one side of the story
Basically, when just looking at the performance of the mouse, you’ll be able to keep up with just about anyone out there. It easily keeps up with our frantic gunning and running (away) in Doom: Eternal and Metro Exodus while also moving accurately in first-person games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Firewatch. I've used this for a good few weeks now and I would say that it feels durable with every component and button doing the job that you'd expect them to. This works in line with my earlier mention of the build quality being fantastic. Over long sessions, I have noticed a cramp in my palm and thumb, though that only comes around when I try to use the side-scroll wheel. I honestly think my hand is just too wide for it. The fact that I keep trying to use it, knowing this, shows how insanely useful it is.The RGB is limited in the same way. There’s no software to really customize the colors or effects on the M1. All you can do is press the front side button and right mouse button at the same time to cycle through four effects: static color, off, breathing, and spectrum. Since there’s only one RGB zone emanating from inside the shell, it’s not the biggest deal. However, RGB fans would have appreciated a little more effort here. Let's get this out of the way: I couldn't find a single reason to use the Mad Catz R.A.T. Air's thumb barrel. That's partly because of its placement, which was difficult to reach when using a palm grip, and partly because it didn't seem any more convenient than the scroll wheel. I couldn't get the tilt wheel to work reliably enough to judge its effectiveness for myself, either. The first thing I did was change the CPI setting. I changed it, saved it and then received a notification saying the profile was saved. That's when the R.A.T. Air stopped working. I tried a wired connection to no avail. Eventually I had to restart my PC before I could use the mouse again. And even after that, the CPI setting wasn't saved. But at least the mouse started working again after the reboot.
From a tech and customisation perspective, though, the R.A.T. DWS will clearly appeal to all gamers, as the adjustable palm and pinke rests, as well as super fast and precise 16,000 optical sensor and Dakota button switches, making for an excellent gaming experience.
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Unfortunately, the Mad Catz R.A.T.. Air doesn't feel any better to use. It's supposed to be somewhat ergonomic, and Mad Catz even included an adjustable palm rest to accommodate different hand sizes, but there's simply too much going on for it to feel good. The plastic itself feels okay, but at no point during my time with the R.A.T. Air did I find myself liking the way it felt in my hand. Besides its odd shape, the mouse is short. There are just 2.5 inches from the mouse's bottom to the the part that touches your palm, compared to the 3.5 inches in the Roccat Kain 200 Aimo and Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro wireless mice. The R.A.T. DWS' dual connectivity options are also welcome, as too the neat design touch where the mouse's WiFi dongle can be stored and transported in the bottom of the mouse itself. The RAT DWS isn’t available anywhere on UK shores right now, with a launch expected in the coming weeks.
At 70g, it seems to have worked. It’s a very lightweight mouse that still has enough weight to it for easy control. By taking off that extra material, Mad Catz makes it possible for the inclusion of a thumb wing – something that’s usually missing from ultralight mice like this. MadCatz’s offering is certainly simplistic by comparison to that of Logitech and Razer, but that doesn’t mean that the company is unable to provide any less functionality. Moreover, the four on-board profiles means you’re hardly limited by the scope of customisation possible. One of my colleagues who uses a palm grip, however, could comfortably reach it with her fingertip grip. But using it didn't always go smoothly. Sometimes she'd miss the thumb wheel if not looking at it directly, and other times she'd accidentally hit the left mouse button while trying to spin the unfortunately located wheel.
Mad Catz created a bespoke configuration app for customizing the R.A.T. DWS' settings. The app, which looks nearly identical to the F.L.U.X. app Mad Catz used for the R.A.T. 8+, lets you remap 14 inputs. The remapping UI, which lets you drag and drop action icons into slots that point to their inputs, is surprisingly unintuitive. Some of the slots don’t correspond to their buttons you’d expect, so you must be cautious when changing settings. In addition, the software doesn’t show you the default icons, which makes it difficult to switch default functions. The RAT DWS features a 16,000 DPI sensor right out of the box. This is comfortably sensitive enough for competitive gamers, although you can get a higher DPI with rivals such as the Razer DeathAdder V2.
I'd think of it this way: if you're using the Mad Catz R.A.T. DWS to edit some spreadsheets, then use Bluetooth, if you want to game then use the 2.4Ghz connection instead. It’s a fun, relatively successful way to give you more choice in how to use your mouse. If gaming mice are defined by their enhanced configuration options, modular hardware is about as hardcore as it gets. Fortunately, removing and replacing the panels is easy, so you don't need technical know-how to do it.
In theory, the R.A.T. Air's Wireless Activation Board means you can game wirelessly forever, so long as the mouse pad is plugged in. And while you could also stay charged forever by using a Qi wireless charging mouse and mouse pad, that's not a cheap endeavor either. Where the Mad Catz M.O.J.O. M1 excels however, is performance. Not only does it have a fast response time, again thanks to the Dakota Switches, but the mouse uses the PMW 3360 optical sensor that delivers a 1000Hz polling rate, 50G acceleration, 250 IPS, and up to 12000 DPI. Sure, there are mice with higher DPI, but even 12K is more than we could ever use.
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