Creative Fatal1ty 1010 Gaming Mouse Review

by Nathan Chang

In the midst of all the “which mouse is best” debates, there stands that other mouse that never seems to get mentioned: the Creative Fatal1ty 1010 mouse.  Despite being slightly annoying to spell out, the Fatal1ty mouse is what Creative markets as a gaming grade mouse, designed in conjunction with Mr. Fatal1ty himself (a famous professional gamer) for the ultimate precision gaming weapon.  We’ll see about that.

Let’s start off with the specs Creative gives us (from www.Creative.com):

• TrueGrip - 5 Point Control System
• G-Weight Interchangeable Modular Weight System
• RapidRes One Click CPI1 Resolution System with Color Indication
• SpeedWire - Zero Oxygen Copper Wire (with Gold Plated USB Connection)
• HD-Optix - 1600 CPI High Definition Optical Engine
• Side Mounted Thumb Trigger
• Genuine Teflon Gaming Mouse Feet
• Illuminated Fatal1ty "F" Insignia

So there you have it, game over, on paper this is the best mouse ever! Maybe...Here’s the review:

Looks, Design and Feel

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I like the design well enough; it looks pretty with its glossy black finish and shiny red weight.  The plastic for the buttons is a nice thick textured deal with dimples for your fingers, these are nice.  The sides are slightly rubberized and have a nice soft feel to them and I like the LEDs. The resolution change button lights up a different color depending on the “RapidRes” setting, and there’s that bright shiny white Fatal1ty “F” Insignia.  As for actual shape, it’s a tad on the odd side.  Think of the basic Logitech 3 button mouse with a 4^th button on the right.  Some people may actually use this ring finger button but I personally use it as a ring finger rest to keep it from dragging on the side and becoming uncomfortable after “hours of fragging.”  It takes some getting used to and promotes finger control (think Razer instead of Logitech).  I’ve gotten used to it over the last month and it’s been nice.  Also, the “genuine Teflon” feet are very nice; they glide marvelously on any sort of mousepad surface, even my $3 budget gamer cloth Office Depot mat.

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A quick note on the weight system; I like the idea, but they need more weight options.  I’m coming from a wireless mouse and I really like the extra weight that two AAs have and the 3-26g range just doesn’t cut it.  Also, the weights rattle inside the mouse which can be annoying for some, though I never find it to be a problem.

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Performance

I play mostly FPS (first person shooter) games and I play with a high sensitivity so this mouse has been great.  I actually never take it to the max resolution and usually keep it on the middle “orange” setting.  It’s fairly accurate, making for quick turnarounds and accurate aiming.  I even find myself occasionally, but not often, changing the sensitivity for sniping from time to time.  I doubt that the “oxygen free copper wire” or the “24kt gold plated USB connector” make a legitimate difference, but there are no problems with the mouse performing as I would like it.

Quality

I waited to write this review after about a month so that I could give the mouse some time to prove itself, but that failed.  The left click gave out after about a month.  So instead of trashing this mouse because I got a lemon, I looked up feedback in the www.creative.com forums for similar problems.  Apparently, EVERYONE has this problem after about a month.  Fortunately, there is a fix that requires you to open up the mouse and put a bit of crazy glue on the top of the button plunger.  The problem is that the travel on the button for a click is so small that after about a month, the plastic has worn down and the click no longer registers.  This is a big problem indeed.  Needless to say, I opened it up and fixed it but no consumer should ever have to do this.  I suppose I could have tried to contact Creative, but the discussion on the forums led me to believe that Creative is either non-responsive, cyclical in their responses, or only offers to replace it with another mouse which will break in a month.

Overall

The Creative Fatal1ty precision gaming mouse is decent while it’s working, and if you want to fix it then it can perform marvelously, but such poor quality of components and poor customer service is completely unforgivable.  I actually like the shape and find it to be more comfortable than both the Logitech and Razer competing gaming mouse shapes, but this is just my personal opinion.  Would I buy another one?  No.  It’s a shame that it doesn’t last very long because I really like it, but I cannot recommend or justify having to fix things after just a month.  In conclusion, it was a F4t4L m1$tak3 and Cr34t1v3 should be ashamed.

Pros

• Unique shape is comfortable after you get used to it
• Performs well, accurate
• Looks pretty

Cons

• Performs well only when it’s working
• Miserable build quality
• Less than dependable customer service
• Short cord