Mad Catz RAT 4 Optical Gaming Mouse for PC (MCB4373100A3/04/1)

I'm very pleased with this mouse. I've been a razor customer since mice used balls and recently I was not happy with the quality of their products. I thought I'd give Mad Catz a shot and I'm glad I did. The sensor is phenomenal. The customization options are very nice and the build quality is great.

Pros:
- Build Quality from mouse to cord is very good
- Customization for the hardware is great
- The RGB Lighting scheme is perfect (nobody gets a good orange glow correct ... too yellow... but not a show stopper)
- Changing profiles is easy but you'll never hit the rocker buttons by mistake
- Changing to the 1 though 4 dpi settings per profiles is great but not possible to hit by mistake
- The sniper button (a red round button on the forward part of the thumb rest) allows you to switch to a dpi you specify, default is 100 dpi. Boom - headshot!
- Change to any 4 profiles with a simple click. This button is impossible to hit by mistake.
- The mouse is heavy, which I like. The smooth feet allow it to glide easily. The mouse starts off at a heavy 145g and goes up to 163g with the added weights. See cons.
- The mouse is not small, but can be made to fit very wide hands/grips.

Cons:
- Only 4 profiles can be saved. More then enough for me, but maybe not enough for someone else. Just thought I'd add it.
- Its very heavy. People that pickup their mouse a lot to re-position it might find it too heavy. See above as it's a pro if you like heavy for exact weight(s).
- The palm rest is adjustable but not height wise - only length. I'd love an option to adjust its height and tilt. That would make it perfect.

Let me begin by saying that unfortunately if you are buying this product, you can expect no support, technical or otherwise, as the company is now insolvent and has ceased operations.

Now, as to the product.

I have previously owned both a R.A.T. 3 USB and a R.A.T. 9 wireless mouse. I loved my R.A.T. 3, as despite it's simplicity it was very comfortable and I certainly technolusted for the aesthetic.

The R.A.T. 9 was a big disappointment. While the ergonomics and aesthetic were certainly retained, the R.A.T. 9 had a terrible sensor; a Phillips Twin Eye laser. The issues inherent in this sensor are well documented. Z axis spasms upon lift off, random locking of X or Y axis', accelerations issues, etc. When I first got the mouse, the issues were less pronounced, but as the months went by they got progressively worse. In addition to the tracking issues, the batteries tended to fizzle out rather quickly, to where after a year I was averaging 3-5 hours max on a single charge. Fortunately, a second battery was included, and the hot swap was a nice feature, but ultimately served only to underscore the battery life/depletion issues.

I saw adverts for the RAT Pro X, and honestly, might have gone for that if the sensors weren't so ridiculously priced on here, and also if they had stuck with the original design aesthetic they initially marketed the PRO X with, which was red and black. Instead, the aesthetic they used on release had the effect of an onion on the eyes. Bright green/black, which makes it a lot harder to incorporate into a themed rig. Not super relevant, but relevant nonetheless.

As I was close to smashing my R.A.T. 9 with a hammer, I went and got a G530 from Walmart. I hated it. Sure, the button responses were on point, the aesthetic was ok, but the mouse was FAR too narrow for my own taste.

So I looked at the various RAT lineup, not yet aware that the RAT 8, 6, 4 and 1 were even a thing. I saw the RAT 8. It had an almost identical aesthetic to my R.A.T. 9, but what about the sensor? PixArt 3360! This is the same sensor used by mice such as the Corsair Gaming M65 Pro, Logitech G403, G502, and G900 (the logitech mice use a 3366, a customized version of the 3360 by Logitech), Steelseries Rival 700, and others.

It also featured Omron d2fc-f-k switches, a Kinetis KL26: 48 MHz Cortex-M0+, a Kailh wheel encoder and 1000 Hz polling rate. These are specs more or less on par with the highly regarded Logitech G900.

The one possible drawback (for some, not for me, wireless mice tend to under-perform against wired variants) compared to the G900 was that the RAT 8 was corded. whereas the G900 was wireless (with an option to plug in the cord.)

I bought it. It arrived today.

It came with 3 separate adjustable palm rests, including the factory default. One of the other two is similar to the default, but lacks the polished bezel and features a raised design that will lift your palm higher up away from the mouse's main body. The third palm rest (my preference) is similar to the default but is a textured grip variant. All three are adjustable with regards to length spacing. The one issue I have encountered with this is that they can be quite sticky to pull off or reattach, so be careful and be patient when swapping palm rests.

It also came with three pinky rests. Again, two of the three are almost identical in dimensions, differing only in their texture. One is smoother with a glossy red bezel, while another is, like the palm rest, textured out of a rubbery substance (again my preference). The third is more or less a tray or full on pinky rest that will keep your pinky from making contact with the mouse pad. I like the idea of this, and can see why some may prefer it, but for me, I've grown accustom to having my pinky brush the mousepad's surface. All of these are fixed to the mouse via a Allen-Key headed screw, with the Alley Key screwing into the rear of the mouse when not in use. Removing the Allen-Key reveals a screw on bezel covering a spring loaded plastic washer that holds up to 5 weights ( out of the box, it will only have 3 weights, I was able to add two additional from my R.A.T. 9, which is one less than the R.A.T. 9 is capable of holding.) The weights, much like in the G502, won't change the overall feel drastically.

The thumb rest is adjustable both forward and back to give you additional control over where your thumb aligns with the forward/back buttons, and features a button that by default lowers DPI on the fly when pressed. For the most part, aside from the sensor and some minor cosmetic changes, the modular components are just about identical to my R.A.T. 9.

The buttons are nice and responsive, however I actually prefer the G502's free will click mechanism, which serves as a toggle to have the wheel scroll freely without restriction or locking it into segmented turns. The general feel of G502's locked wheel is something I found more satisfactory, but aside from that the RAT 8's wheel itself functions fine and feels ok.

The RAT 8, like the R.A.T. 9 features a DPI switch control right behind the scroll wheel. I tend to be fairly sensitive, so I keep my DPI pretty low, but if one desired one could effectively triple the max DPI. Videos on YouTube explain this better than I am willing to, since I don't have a personal use for that feature.

Now here's where the real differences from the R.A.T. 9 come into play.

ThePixArt 3360 optical sensor performance is FAR improved over the R.A.T. 9's Phillips Twin Eye Laser to such a great extent that it's almost unbelievable. I use a Razer Firefly mouse pad, which generally hasn't been an issue. I did notice in my short time with the G502 that for some reason it had some small struggles with my mouse pad, whereas, at least thus far, the RAT 8 has had no issues.

The RAT 8 also features Kameleon RGB lighting, which isn't really a worthwhile feature, but compliments the aesthetic nice enough. The software suite for the RAT 8 allows you to change the lighting on 3 parts of the mouse individually, but not the effect (breathing, cycle etc). This is a bit of an awkward omission for a mouse that is trying so hard to beat us over the head with aesthetic. Not really a huge issue, but a strange omission nonetheless.

The software included is a VAST improvement over the previous R.A.T. suite. I did experience some error messages after installing and for a moment couldn't change button functions as intended. A couple of restarts eventually solved the problem. For one, I like my secondary scroll to control the volume. This was a nightmare with the R.A.T. 9, as it required other software to get this function to work. With the RAT 8, no such impediments exist. There are a TON of profiles for just about any game type, a LOT of modern games have their own profiles, and there are even quite a few for various software such as Photoshop.

Overall, I'd give this 4.5/5 stars (but 4.5 does not equate to a solid 5), as they took the great design of the functionally worthless R.A.T 7/9 and upgraded the parts that needed it most without cutting corners. This, for $100, IS a bit pricey, but well worth it if you like the aesthetic and feel of the RAT/.R.A.T series mice. My only regret is that the company is now gone, and we will likely never see the next phase of evolution these mice deserve.

This mouse is phenomenal. Everything about it is great except for one critical thing.
The bottom of the mouse has black pads which allow for a slippery and consistent flow on the mouse pad. However, these pads are cheap. I had to replace this order twice and still the problem was there. After some gaming, the pads would slowly peel off on the side and cause lots of uncomfortable friction. I called Mad catz and they didn't care. In fact they wouldn't even refund me my money. Thankfully amazon did.
Do not buy it. At this price the mouse should have better quality slides on the bottom instead of their glued on crap.

same as the old one in pretty much every aspect, solid construction all around, they've vastly improved the side buttons, as for them holding up longer then on the older model that remains to be seen.

only problem however, is they STILL, haven't improved/fixed the scroll wheel.

by GOD that scroll wheel, it makes that cringe worthy, unpleasent creaking whining screeching noises if you scroll too quickly, whats more is you can feel it reverberate through your hand, WHY MADCATZ WHYYYYYYYY.....I cry every time.

the software put me through a bit of a loop, however once I looked it over I still consider it more then adequate, I can still easily configure the mouse to my liking, the option to turn off the on-the-fly DPI switch in exchange for 2 macro keys is pretty neat. the lift off height is intriguing, I have a difficult time using it though, it would help if it was capable of twice the distance, its only capable of 1mm.

overall, despite that AWFUL scroll wheel that carried on from the older models, I recommend it,