Creative Fatal1ty 1010 Gaming Mouse Review

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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 &quot;F&quot; 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

 

Wow that does seem weak.. $39 seems like a rip off.. I mean a 1600 dpi optical is decent, but if it is really a gamer designed mouse, you think it would be laser, and have decent build quality.

 

This may be a dumb question but I was wondering: are these high-resolution gaming mice also capable of being used fine for other applications such as Photoshop, browsing the 'net, etc.? Or are they solely meant just for gaming?

 

Of course, but you won't get much advantage from them in such applications -- just a decent and nice ergonomic mouse will do for that type of thing.

In regards to the review, that's such crap that a left mouse button breaks on a $50 mouse made for gaming! Unreal, there should be a recall done on this thing, not a glue solution.

 

I have the same mouse and I'd say you were very remiss in not making note of the exceptionally loud click this has. You can hear it through closed doors and across a house if doors are open. It's almost laughably loud because it's how somebody would design a gag mouse or something.

Switching DPI settings on the fly sounds cool, but it's too impractical given how small and awkwardly placed and hard to click the button to change it is.

I also agree on your issue with the weights......it's feather, wet feather, and two wet feathers.

I got mine for practically free after rebate, and I'm still going to throw/give it away.

 

I feel the same way about the need for a recall, as do the people on the Creative.com forums. Apparently the newer laser one also suffers from the use of the same clicker button, but don't quote me on that. I actually ended up just shelling out for a g5 which is serving me well.

I must say though that i miss the shape of the creative a bit, just a bit though. I would say that for applications like photoshop or flash, the dpi settings are really useful for making micro adjustments. I keep the sensitivity high for normal use, but it's nice to be able to drop the dpi down and make small and precise movements.

Hyper, I did the same thing and gave it in its glued patched state to my roommate

 

Biggest.Load.Of.Crock.Ever.

 

lol got to agree with that. This is a good mouse for the money when it was on sale at buy.com a couple weeks ago for like 1 cent after refund. For nearly $40 I would get a Razer Diamondback or Logitech G5.

 

Man that mouse looks hot! Would look good with one of these babies:

http://www.ezkey.com.tw/product/product.php

 

this mouse sounds like it would do best in a trash can in front of creative's corporate office.

 

I got this mouse for a penny over Christmas. For that price, it is definitely worth it. I actually don't have any problems with it.

 

Another mouse that seems to completely ignore left handed people. Shame.

 

that Fatal1ty badge actually is a turn off for me.

 

I want to know more about your $3 Office Depot mat