I have an ongoing mission to find a mouse that reminds me of the now discontinued Steel Series World of Warcraft Cataclysm mouse. This huge behemoth of a device fit my hands like a glove, giving me all the buttons one could ever ask for. But since that mouse has gone the way of the dodo bird, I am now left pondering what could ever replace that unbridled monstrosity. Luckily, I think I found it. The Hedgehog MMO Gaming Mouse might just be the device that restores my faith in ridiculously huge peripherals.
At a glance the mouse looks rather daunting yet accessible. Equipped with a slew of dedicated buttons that puts the power in the palm of your hand, you can become a menace on the battlefield. On the one side there are buttons numbered 1 to 12, giving you plenty of options when it comes to managing your hotbar abilities. On the top there are three “Knuckle” buttons and three additional buttons on the right side. Then, we have a DPI button, and perhaps the oddest design choice that I have become so accustomed to: an additional click button.
I don’t know what to call this button to be honest. We have always had the traditional left and right click, which is what the buttons here represent as well. But this third one I don’t know how to classify it. Perhaps a “righter button?” Either way, its default setting is “tab” which helps a ton when you’re playing a tab-target based game.
Regardless, there are a ton of buttons here and I am honestly surprised how accessible they truly are. The 1 to 12 buttons on the left can be easily pressed with the thumb although numbers 1 to 6 are kinda tough to get to. Not too big a deal to me. On the right, the forward-most button can be tough to hit with your pinky but the middle and back-most buttons are easy to hit.
Perhaps my favorite of the bunch though are the top “Knuckle Buttons.” You’d think that your hand would constantly hit these while in motion, but they have enough resistance where they are barely accidentally pressed. While the position feels kind of odd, my fingers got used to them quickly. I did some keybinding work, making them act like the control, alt, and shift buttons. This way, I press one of them down along with one of the numbers on the left side and I end up with a slew of additional options.
Software
This brings me to the software which could use some work, but it gets the job done. I am able to customize buttons easily as well as the RGB effects. I haven’t really been able to figure out how to adjust my dpi sensitivity, even the manual glazes over that. It might be hidden within a few other options which I can see the decision behind this, but it feels a bit weird to sort through. Besides that, the impact of the software on your system is rather low and not as consequential as one might think.
There is one final part of this mouse that I haven’t talked about and that is the Control Base Pad which does more than act like a coaster for the mouse. It actually replicates the feeling of using a HOTAS joystick. Not fully though, of course. But it enables this level of smoothness that you wouldn’t otherwise get.
The feet of the base are pretty tough and frictional. The triangle shape in the middle fits right into the underside of the Hedgehog. Instead of moving the whole base around, which would be redundant, it keeps the base stationary allowing you to move the mouse around. The build of the base is designed so that the mouse, when zero pressure is involved, moves back into the center.
Now, here is the cool bit that I wish I could test but I couldn’t, but when you pair this right-handed mouse with a left-handed one, you can enable dual mode which gives you simultaneous control options. I can see this being useful in games like Armored Core, adding a bit more of a unique control style.
A Few Shortcomings
While I love the build quality, I am left wanting a bit more in a sense of adjustability. Maybe a bit more weight since I love it when my mouse has the heft of a cinderblock. Besides that, I think an adjustment to have a few buttons a bit lower towards the back of the mouse would be a huge benefit.
Conclusion
I really love this mouse. It is huge and fits my hand amazingly. It has so many functions and the build quality is right up there with some of my personal favorite mice. From the feel to the design, the Hedgehog is a wonderful device even if you don’t use the base plate. The software could use a bit of an upgrade in a few places, but other than that, I am placing this mouse towards the top of my list.
