We recently looked at a keyboard from lesser-known manufacturer Armageddon, and were disappointed by its plainness (and shocked at its price). It seems strange, then, that Armageddon’s ridiculously-named Alien Craft IV G17 mouse is packed with so many buttons and features, some of which are truly inspired while others are more limited in their use.

Armageddon Alien Craft IV G17 review: Down Under

Starting at the bottom, quite literally, it’s worth noting even the underside of the G17 is packed with features. Unfortunately, they’re of the “more limited” variety.

Firstly, it has a laser sensor, which is rated for 8 200 CPI. While this does sound high, it just wasn’t sensitive enough for us, even in boring office work, so you will be disappointed if you want to be precise with your headshots.

The underside also boasts four ‘feet’ or ‘foot pads’, which hamper movement somewhat, since their surfaces are rather rough. We initially thought this roughness of the movement was due to the newness of the mouse, but after a few weeks movement was still rough even on the high-end Mionix Propus 380 mousepad.

The polling rate toggle on the G17 is mostly a waste. While turning it to a lower setting should theoretically use less of your CPU, we mostly tested the G17 on a the very underpowered Intel Core M and noticed no noticeable difference between the settings.

Finally, the G17 has a removable hatch granting access to the weights compartment, which can accommodate up to eight weights. Packing them in will increase the G17’s mass by four grams each, for a total additional weight of 32 grams.

Armageddon Alien Craft IV G17 review: Topside

This right-hand only mouse is shaped very nicely, and has plenty of buttons within easy reach of your thumb. There are two thumb buttons as well as another two that are activated by a sliding function.

The two sliding buttons are a nice inclusion, but they’re unfortunately not placed well enough to be easily accessible, and you’ll need to move your entire hand to use them.

The left-hand side has a protrusion for your pinky and ring finger to sit on, as well as two more buttons positioned in such a way that either your middle or ring finger can use them.

At the top you’ll find a strip of black which is a different material to the rest of the mouse. It’s not exactly rubber but it is softer than the plastic. The two main buttons are nothing special, but between them you’ll find a scroll wheel that is; while notched ever so slightly, it’s as smooth as butter and scrolling with it is a real pleasure.

The two other top buttons are for modes (profiles) and CDP (sensitivity). Tapping the mode button will cycle the profiles, which will also affect the lights on the right side. The CPI button is the most impressive, though: touching it will let you change sensitivity on the fly using the scroll wheel.; scrolling up will increase it and vice versa.

Once you’re happy, you can hit any button on the mouse and that sensitivity setting will be saved. We really liked this feature, but were disappointed to find that the setting was sometimes reset and we’d have to change it after a reboot or restart. The sensitivity is also indicated by the coloured chevrons on the right side of the surface.

Under your hand the G17 doesn’t feel cheap, but it doesn’t feel very upscale either. It is large and relatively solid, though, so if you prefer bigger mice (as we do) you’ll be happy here.

Armageddon Alien Craft IV G17 review: Inside

Like the keyboard before it, the software for the G17 isn’t very special.

You can use it to do some very fine tuning with the sensitivity, change what the buttons do and set up macros, and turn the lighting on or off, as well as set it to pulsate. The software does its job, but there’s nothing exciting or special here.

Since there is 512 KB of on-board memory here, we suggest you download the software, make the changes you want, and then delete it.

Technical Specifications

• On-board memory: 512KB
• 8-level CPI adjustment on-the-fly
• 3-level polling rate adjustable on-the-fly
• Number of buttons: 11
• Tracking speed: up to 150 inches per second
• 8-level adjustment weight management system
• Cord length: 1.8m
• Frame rate : 12 000fps
• Acceleration : 30G

Armageddon Alien Craft IV G17 review: Conclusion

At R1 049 the G17 is at the high end and, while it does have some great tricks and features, it’s missing that little extra bit of a quality feel to make this an unqualified recommendation.

If all the buttons and lights interest you, and the price doesn’t scare you off you may find something you like here, we just hope the next version of this mouse focuses more on feel and has a better sensor.