What makes a great gaming mouse? For some, the key feature that answers that question is weight. A heavy mouse can provide a sturdy and satisfying tactile experience during day-to-day work or low-movement gaming sessions, but a lighter mouse can practically disappear to your senses in higher action moments. It can be a major difference for dedicated competitive gamers. It’s also the major selling point of the latest entry into Corsairs growing line of competitively priced and gamer-focused mice – the SABRE v2 Pro Ultralight Wireless Gaming Mouse.
The SABRE v2 comes in at a mere 36 grams. That’s nearly half the weight of most other gaming mice, and it’s immediately noticeable. When the mouse is in my hand, it genuinely feels like there’s nothing there at all – there’s absolutely zero tension on my wrist no matter how fast or frequently I swing the mouse across my desk. Now, I never really thought there was any wrist tension happening with any other mouse I used, but once I held this one and compared it to others, it’s wild how noticeable the difference is.
A lightweight piece of tech can end up feeling cheap in the hands – it’s an experience I’ve had far too often with light and basic Xbox controllers compared to the heftier Elite variants, for example – but the matte-black frame of the SABRE v2 is unmistakably premium, and feels sturdy despite how little it weighs how light it is. Unsurprisingly, this is also a pretty small mouse. As someone with large hands, the ergonomic experience hasn’t been great as a result. While it’s not my preference, I’ve had to adopt a claw-grab at the mouse, or half of my hand would be dragging across my mousemat when I use it. The mouse comes with optional grip-tape to apply to the sides and mouse buttons that improve the hand-feel and security when you’re moving the mouse. They don’t solve the issue of grip comfort or prevent me from clawing at it, unfortunately.
Another major feature of the SABRE v2 mouse is it’s eye-wateringly high 8,000Hz hyper-polling rate. Up to this point, I’d only ever used mice capable of 1,000Hz, and thought that was surely the maximum amount ever needed, but the top tier of gaming mice are all now shooting for eight times that. The polling rate is basically the number of times your mouse talks to your computer while in use, and a higher polling rate means your mouse is checking in more frequently, and at 8,000Hz, it’s specifically checking in about every 0.125 milliseconds. That’s combined with the absurd stats of the included Corsair Marksman S sensor, rocking 33,000 DPI detection, 750 IPS speed, and 50G acceleration. Testing it out in Marvel Rivals and Apex Legends left me astounded. The precision and swiftness of my movements felt noticeably improved, and I struggle to imagine that I’ll go back to gaming at just 1,000Hz after this.
Unfortunately, getting the Corsair SABRE v2 properly set up with your computer to enable that swift gaming capability is a slight headache. There’s zero documentation in the package to guide you through the functionality of the mouse, and while that’s normally not an issue, I desperately needed some explaining for the Corsair SABRE v2 Pro. For one, the mouse does not have Bluetooth connection support, so the only way to use it wirelessly is with the included dongle. That dongle, however, is a small black box that you need to plug a USB-C cable into – it doesn’t plug in by itself. I was in disbelief when I confirmed that the only solution for using this mouse is to plug the lengthy included USB-C charging cable into your PC, then plug the other end of that into said dongle, resulting in a massive bulk of unnecessary cable hanging from wherever you’ve plugged this into.
It’s likely not the biggest issue for many gamers – having the dongle on a cable means it can be placed with line of sight to ensure the best possible connectivity, and when the mouse needs charging, there’s now a USB-C cable right there – but if you’re gaming on the go or bouncing between multiple systems, the dongle not just plugging directly into a port and the mouse lacking Bluetooth makes it less convenient. In my home setup, it was merely only a clunky and baffling set up process.
The CORSAIR Web Hub is a similarly confusing, if well intentioned, piece of the package. Instead of using the Corsair PC software iCue to adjust your Sabre v2 settings, you navigate to a website hub to access that functionality. It’s a brilliantly lightweight solution, but if you use any other products in the Corsair ecosystem that are only compatible with iCue, you’ll need to manually shut off iCue every time you access this portal, then turn it back on when you’re done. You can’t access any of those devices in the web portal, and you can’t access the SABRE v2 in iCue.
There’s so much focus on a tightly competitive and impressively feather-light design for the Corsair SABRE v2, yet that same care or consideration wasn’t put into the ease of use or out-of-box experience for the product. If your only focus is competitive excellence, then this mouse is clearly a top contender. For casual use or compatibility with other Corsair products, though, I’m left wanting a little more from this release.
Great review! It’s interesting to see how weight plays such a crucial role in gaming performance. The Corsair SABRE v2 Pro sounds like a solid option for gamers looking for an ultralight mouse. Thanks for sharing your insights!