CORSAIR have engineered two very creditable products in the KATAR PRO XT and MM700 RGB, but that's certainly not the whole story.

KATAR PRO XT is good in a few specific areas. Both main mouse buttons are great, being very responsive and offering immediate actuation points. The weight is low and feels evenly distributed, although an ‘ultralight’ claim might be pushing it at 73g - some competitors are hovering below 55g. Its mouse wheel is great, with a gentle subtle scroll click and responsive middle button. And of course the sensor works exactly as well as you would expect - it’s a proven quantity of great quality.

Its major downside is the thumb side buttons. Where the main buttons are responsive, the side buttons are spongy and some distance between rest point and actuation. Furthermore they don’t seem to be independently articulated - pressing one slightly moves the other towards its actuation. The result is inconsistency, the bugbear of many game mice.

In fairness to CORSAIR this is unlikely to be of a concern to FPS gamers who will really thrive on the quality of the main buttons. But MOBA and MMO/RPG players who heavily leverage the thumb button arrays will be frustrated.



What isn't a frustration is the MM700 RGB. As a mousing surface it’s smooth and quick, offering little resistance to the KATAR PRO XT and our far larger and more weighty daily use mouse. The hub is a handy bonus, but USB 2.0 data transfer speed limitations make it unsuitable for modern thumb drives and camera connectivity; this certainly isn’t going to be replacing the ports on your case front panel.

That being said, it allows for an extremely clean desk space with few cables, potentially just the one in fact if both mouse and keyboard utilise a wireless dongle. But that might be to the detriment of the lighting, where the MM700 really shines.

And it’s this that’s most impressive. With just two emitting LEDs you have vibrant lighting stretching the length of the mat that is an extremely close match to CORSAIR’s other RGB peripherals, for a very coherent look. The 3rd lighting zone on the module itself is almost unnecessary, but we can certainly see practical as well as aesthetic reasons for it (indicating the active Keyboard/Mouse profile for instance).

The built-in iCUE lighting profiles, particularly Lighting Link modes, could do with some work. As bugbears go however it's trivially minor, and just encourages the end user to experiment to create their own personalised effects.



So we come to our final judgement. When it comes to the KATAR PRO XT it’s somewhat mixed: generally good aspects - particularly the QUICKSTRIKE main button features - are let down by an aspect that to some will be irrelevant, to others critical. If you’re an FPS gamer in need of an affordable lightweight mouse this should definitely be on your radar; MOBA and MMO gamers may want to look further afield. At below $30 it's still good value whatever your calling.

Our approval of the MM700 RGB is much less reserved. Its MSRP is competitive despite substantially larger dimensions than the alternatives, the lighting is excellent and even throughout the edging, and it performs well as a mousing surface. It doesn’t quite have the lighting customisation options of the 15-zone edge lit MM800C RGB Polaris, but we’re confident that even with a cursory knowledge of iCUE an end user will be able to craft a look in keeping with their system.

CORSAIR’s MM700 RGB and KATAR PRO XT are two more worthy additions to their ever-grown gaming peripheral lineup. Those with a flair for the dramatic style of a setup steeped in RGB should not miss the former, and FPS gamers in need of a lightweight wired mouse would do well to at least consider the latter.



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