The Corsair Nightsword is a comfortable gaming mouse with RGB lighting and an ergonomic design thanks to its slanted shape with a thumb rest. It offers a few programmable buttons, although it isn't on par with a dedicated MMO mouse in that regard. Also, its sensor is quite inconsistent, as it overshoots when moving the mouse fast and undershoots when moving it slow. The mouse also isn't recommended for people with small hands, as it's a bit big. On the upside, it's very well-built and has great customization options.
Our Verdict
Decent for office. It has a comfortable shape and a nice thumb-rest that offers good ergonomics. The mouse is also very well-built, but its cable can get rather annoying and catches on desk supplies easily.
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Very low click latency.
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Very well-built design.
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Great for palm and claw grips.
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Inconsistent sensor.
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Stiff cable.
Good for video games. It has a wide CPI range and can be customized easily in its software. It's a great mouse for palm or claw grip, but smaller hands might find it too big. Also, the sensor's consistency seems a bit off, and the latency is a bit higher than most wired gaming mice.
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Very low click latency.
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Very well-built design.
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Great for palm and claw grips.
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Inconsistent sensor.
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Stiff cable.
Very good for MMOs. It offers ten programmable buttons, which isn't as many as dedicated MMO mice. On the upside, its shape is comfortable to hold for a while, but the mouse might be a bit too big for some people with smaller hands.
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Very low click latency.
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Very well-built design.
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Great for palm and claw grips.
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Inconsistent sensor.
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Stiff cable.
Although you can reduce the mouse's weight by removing some weights, it isn't designed for ultra-light gaming. It's a fairly heavy mouse even without its weights in, and there are noticeably lighter options available.
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Very low click latency.
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Very well-built design.
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Great for palm and claw grips.
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Inconsistent sensor.
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Stiff cable.
This mouse isn't designed for traveling. Its wired design won't be ideal to work in small spaces like on a plane and it won't fit in a laptop bag.
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Very low click latency.
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Very well-built design.
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Great for palm and claw grips.
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Inconsistent sensor.
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Stiff cable.
- 7.4 Office/Multimedia
- 7.6 Video Games (FPS)
- 8.3 Video Games (MMO)
- 6.0 Ultra-Light Gaming
- 5.3 Travel
- Updated Oct 21, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Dec 20, 2019: Review published.
- Updated Dec 18, 2019: Early access published.
- Updated Dec 18, 2019: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Dec 16, 2019: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Dec 12, 2019: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Compared To Other Mice
The Corsair Nightsword RGB is a good gaming mouse that offers a decent amount of buttons, although it does have some CPI inconsistencies and slightly higher latency than most wired gaming mice. See our recommendations for the best gaming mice, the best wireless gaming mice, and the best mice. If you're interested in Corsair products, also check out the best Corsair mice.
The Corsair Nightsword RGB and the Logitech G502 HERO are two very similar-looking mice, but the Logitech is better. The Logitech has wheel tilt for more inputs, a more stable and consistent sensor, and its lift-off distance is shorter. However, the Corsair's CPI can adjust much more precisely.
The Corsair M65 RGB Elite is a better gaming mouse than the Corsair Nightsword RGB. They have different shapes, but the M65 Elite is better built and fits most grips and hand sizes. Its sensor is also more consistent with its CPI settings. On the other hand, the Nightsword has slightly more buttons.
The Corsair Nightsword RGB is a more versatile mouse, while the Corsair SCIMITAR PRO RGB is a great MMO mouse. The SCIMITAR has a 12-button side panel and has an aluminum frame, which feels better built. Its shorter design is better suited than the Nightsword for small hands, and its CPI variations are more stable, resulting in no big sensitivity swings.
The Corsair IRONCLAW RGB Wireless and the Corsair Nightsword RGB are fairly similar, but the IRONCLAW doesn't need a cable to work. The Nightsword is ever so slightly lighter, but both mice have very similar performance.
The Corsair Nightsword RGB and the SteelSeries Rival 600 are fairly similar performing mice, although the SteelSeries has a small edge. It feels more comfortable in hand and can be used with a fingertip grip. Also, its sensor is more consistent, resulting in a more stable control. On the other hand, the Nightsword has 3 more buttons than the SteelSeries.
The Corsair Nightsword RGB and the ASUS ROG Charkram are both FPS gaming mice. You can use the ASUS wired and wirelessly, and it has a better cable and smoother-gliding PTFE feet. It has a more consistent sensor, a lower lift-off distance, and a unique joystick on its left side; however, the Corsair is fully compatible with macOS. Also, the Corsair is a better choice if you want the option of adjusting your CPI very precisely in increments of one.
Test Results
The Corsair Nightsword RGB has a very gaming-oriented design. It's a big mouse that has a lot of buttons and many RGB zones. It has rubber material on the palm and thumb rests, a matte finish on the main click buttons, and a glossy design around the frame.
Like most gaming mice, this mouse isn't the most portable option. It might not fit in most laptop cases, although this won't be an issue for people looking for a gaming mouse for their desk setup.
The Corsair Nightsword is pretty heavy, even when you take out all the available weights. It comes with three 4.5g weights and three 2.7g weights. If you're interested in another gaming mouse with a set of one 5g weight and and two 3g weights that you can add to the inside of the palm area of the mouse, check out the MSI CLUTCH GM20 ELITE
The Corsair Nightsword's build quality is great. Its overall design feels sturdy and the additional rubber makes it easy to grip. There are no rattling or wobbling parts, but the feet feel standard and glide fairly well. Its heavy weight gives it a hefty feel.
The Corsair Nightsword's ergonomics are good for right-handed people. Its shape is nice and fits nicely with a palm or claw grip. There's also a nice slant to the right, with a comfortable thumb rest on the left side. People with small hands should look for a different mouse, as some buttons might be hard to reach, regardless of the grip you use. This mouse could potentially be used by left-handed people due to its shape, but you might have trouble using the side buttons. If you're interested in a similar mouse with an adjustable palm rest, check out the Mad Catz R.A.T. 4+.
Due to its very long design with a nice back hump, people with small hands might struggle to have nice control over the mouse. It might be a bit hard to reach the sniper button and the forward side button.
Just like with a palm grip, people with small hands might struggle to grab the mouse efficiently and have good control over it. Also, some buttons are harder to reach.
This mouse isn't designed for a fingertip grip and will be too large for most people. However, very large hands can pull it off, but it won't be as stable as using a claw or palm grip.
This mouse is wired-only and can't be used wirelessly. If you want a Corsair wireless mouse, check out the IRONCLAW RGB Wireless.
The Corsair Nightsword's cable is mediocre. It feels very stiff and has a lot of kinks right out-of-the-box. The cable connection to the mouse also feels oddly long and causes the cable to create even more drag.
The Corsair Nightsword's ten buttons are all programmable, but out of the box, you can easily switch between profiles and CPI settings. There's also a sniper button that can be set to a specific CPI. The buttons all feel solid, although there's a bit of pre-travel on the two buttons situated on the left-click.
The Corsair Nightsword's scroll wheel has very soft increments, but it has a rubbery feel, making it grippy.
The Corsair Nightsword's wired click latency is pretty low and most people won't notice any delay. The mouse feels responsive.
The iCUE software offers a lot of customization, both on Windows and macOS. You can even set where the weights are put to fine-tune the mouse's performance. You also don't need to reinstall it on another computer since your settings will be saved inside the mouse's onboard memory.
Note: The macOS software must be updated to its latest version, otherwise the mouse isn't detected.