Corsair M55 RGB Pro Review: Budget in Price Only

As most modern mice go, Corsair’s M55 RGB Pro gets the job done. In many respects, it’s a fairly average and inauspicious mouse when you consider the oversaturated field, and admittedly, the bar for average is pretty high these days. 

When you consider it’s a $40 budget model that provides ambidextrous functionality without sacrificing form or function, the mouse broadens its shoulders. 

While there are other competitors in the ambidextrous space, such as GameSir’s surprisingly nice GM300 and SteelSeries’ egalitarian Sensei 310, there aren’t that many to get your hands on, much less clamor about. Consequently, I think the M55 RGB Pro deserves a good deal of attention from righties and lefties alike if for nothing more than its dependability and ease of use. 

I won’t say the M55 is the best mouse out there, but I like it a lot for what it is. 

Design

From front to back, the M55 is a minimalist mouse. Remove the RGB lighting and one would have trouble proving this is nothing more than your typical office mouse. 

The hard-plastic shell is covered in a customary matte black finish, while a strip in the middle of the mouse sports a glossy black finish. The contoured sides of the mouse are covered in the expected rubber padding, which has dozens of small triangles grouped together for increased grip. 

There are eight buttons on the mouse: LMB and RMB, mouse wheel, DPI, and two lateral buttons on each side. The LMB and RMB are Omron’s rated at 50-million clicks and respond until about halfway down the back of the mouse. 

The two lateral buttons are nicely placed and easy to get to; I appreciate that they jut out from the top of the shell a wee bit, making them recognizable along the shell. While the rupee-shaped DPI switch is rather large, it’s placed a bit too far back for palm-grippers and is awkward still in a claw-grip style. 

There are two backlighting regions on the mouse, between the DPI switch and the mouse wheel, and at the lower end of the shell. These are fully customizable, but can’t be easily seen while in use, if at all, essentially negating their inclusion.    

Flip the M55 over, and you’ll find three feet: two at the front of the mouse on the right and left, and one larger across the back of the mouse. In the center, you’ll find the 12,400 DPI PMW3327 optical sensor. 

Lastly, the mouse is crazy light, weighing in at a minuscule 86g. 

Features

Rather unexpectedly, there are quite a few features on the M55 RGB Pro, all of which are accessible through Corsair’s iCUE software. 

You can set macros, change pointer speed, and set DPI in one-step increments, something certain players will find a big selling point. You can also easily switch between right-handed and left-handed modes. 

The one thing I did not like is that the software allows you to set the DPI for a sniper button, which is meant to drastically lower your DPI for precise shooting or other precise actions. However, there is no dedicated sniper button; instead, one must be set by the user in the “Actions” section of the software.

Sure, it’s a small gripe, but I spent two or three minutes looking for a dedicated button that didn’t exist — and nothing in the software tells you where to set it when you finally figure it out. 

As expected, you can also change the M55’s RGB lighting, with the entire 16 million color spectrum at your disposal. You can alter the color of the logo and the effects profiles in the lighting effects section. Here you can choose from speed, starting and ending positions (such as with a profile or on click), and three different effects categories: predefined, custom, and lighting link. Within these, you have even more choices such as static, color pulse, rainbow, rain, and temperature. 

Performance

In every game tested, the M55 worked swimmingly and as expected. Killing Floor 2 stood out with the mouse as I was able to consistently increase my headshot record over three separate games.

In Battlefield 1, Blood: Fresh Supply, Skyrim, Stardew Valley, and Cities: Skylines, the mouse was responsive and accurate, and I didn’t notice any float on my two cloth mousepads: a Bloody MP-60R and a Logitech Powerplay. 

My biggest complaint outside of the hard-to-reach DPI switch is the mouse’s lift-off distance. A good 3/4 of an inch, the LoD here can make aiming and movement a bit jumpy if you have a proclivity for picking your mouse off the mat when playing. 

Some players won’t mind it, but I often found it distracting, and I consciously accounted for it as I played the above games during testing. 

Pros: 

• Stupid affordable for what you get
• Responsive and precise
• Ambidextrous

Cons: 

• DPI switch is hard to reach
• Only one on-board memory profile
• High lift-off distance

There might not be much to write home about when it comes to the M55 RGB Pro, but there’s also very little to complain about. This is a super solid mouse and a definite consideration for lefties. 

Corsair has done a lot to round out its catalog of gaming mice. The M55 is another great addition. It’s a $40 mouse that feels like a $60 mouse. 

Here are the mouse’s full specs: 

[Note: An M55 RGB Pro review unit was provided by Corsair for the purpose of this review.]