Very comfortable shape + a lot of controls
May 27, 2014
By  Ali Julia

This mouse looks very large and I was not sure if I would find it comfortable as I do not have a large hand, but the slope of the mouse made the size work very well for me. I spend almost the entire day with a mouse in my hand for work and play, I am finding this mouse to be very comfortable. In the attached video you see it next to my Logitech mouse. Both mice are the same length, the Utechsmart mouse is a bit wider, and sloped. This angle keeps my hand relaxed and comfortable.

✔ I am able to use this mouse both on Windows and Linux machines. The basic functionality works well under both operating system, but the special buttons require configuration in Windows software and they do nothing under Linux. Note that DPI buttons do work under Linux. I was able to use the DPI buttons to control the sensitivity on the mouse. Even though it works under Linux I would not recommend this mouse for Linux users because the full functionality for all buttons is not available.

✔ This mouse has a LOT of controls. It has 18 programmable buttons, including 12 thumb buttons. You can define what each button does, one of the options is "macro" which combines multiple actions. You can save 5 different profiles. There is a special button on the bottom of the mouse that allows you to quickly swap between different profiles without loading them through the configuration software. My video includes several sample menus from the mouse configuration software. One of the options I show is changing of the mouse color schemes including turning off all color changes.

✔ UtechSmart Mouse is 5" long, 3" inches wide, 1.7" height at its tallest point.

✔ This is a wired mouse, it runs on the power it get from USB port. The mouse cable is 71".

✔ This mouse has a unique feature of including 8 small weights which you can be added to the bottom of the mouse to make it heavier. I really like this option. One of the reasons I liked my very old Logitech mouse that it is heavy and feels substantial in my hand. I loaded the mouse with all 8 weights and I like how it feels.

Overall, this is a very nice sensitive mouse and worked well on several surfaces that I have tried. Because of the macro functionality this mouse is handy not only for gamers but those who do repetitive operations. Those operations can be automated to be one mouse click.

This mouse is provided by UtechSmart.

Ali Julia review

I may have a replacement for my Kensington Expert Mouse pro
May 27, 2014
By kellyb

I never, EVER, thought I'd give up my billiard ball-sized track ball. I've been a dedicated Kensington track ball user since the mid-90s. We're talking serial mouse, here.

However, this UtechSmart...with the 16,400 DPI setting available, you can tweak it to the point the cursor will move because of your heartbeat. Okay, that's a stretch, but not much of one.

The side buttons are contoured in such a manner that you can feel where you are on the keypad. Being four buttons 'tall', yeah, it's bit of a stretch for those of us with stubby fingers, but I really only need a few of them.

I used all the weights, because I'm ham-fisted, but it feels right. The DPI adjustment rocker, almost dead center on the top, is AMAZING! In WoT, I can crank the sensitivity down when zoomed in, but in the blink of an eye, crank it back up to the second setting, so I can jump around the screen, barely moving.

The feel is nice, but I'm still adjusting because as I'm not accustomed to using a mouse, so my right thumb wants to hold the top right outside edge, instead of chilling out on the keypad.

An amazing mouse with tons of features at an amazing price.
May 26, 2014
By Ignacio Castillo - Iggy

This mouse was very good for its price, and was a cleverly thought out mouse. At its price it has a bunch to offer with its customizable lights that also breathe, anti-skid rubberized coating, tremendous DPI range and customization level, well thought out software package, sheathed cable and bullet like weights.

I chose 5 stars because I thought that every single feature was covered. even in the software.

I wasn't a fan of the 19 buttons, although for those that have a need for it, they are perfect. I would recommend it to anyone that has a need for so many buttons, and a great working mouse at a great price. Tons of features

For gamers but not only
May 26, 2014
By A. Dent "Aragorn"

UtechSmart's Venus which I received as a 'for review' item, is the mouse a gamer would love especially if the gamer was into anything that would benefit from numerous stored macros. Its 12 macros buttons plus the ability to store several profiles could eliminate the need for a gaming keyboard. It will work well 'as is' bu simply plugging it into a USB port but, when configured through the included setup program it can be made to be and do just about anything you would expect from a gamer's mouse.

Let me begin with features that would make some not to want a Venus with the understanding that many gamers would not be bothered by these or even view some as positives.

- WIRED only - The wire is braided which makes tangles less likely but it's a wire nevertheless. Gaming mice as a class tend to require more power than regular ones and you don't want your mouse to give up on you while playing but it would have been nice if the Venus was configured as wired/wireless.
- RIGHT-HANDED ONLY - The side buttons are meant to use with your thumb so there's no way you can use it efficiently if you are left-handed. I don't know if they make a left-handed version.

And, now, for the good things:

+ BUTTONS GALORE - 12 thumb buttons, plus another small button for the index finger plus the regular 2 mouse buttons, 2 Function +/- buttons , the clickable scrolling wheel and a profile select switch at the bottom. And all of the above are properly placed within easy and comfortable reach.
+ THUMB REST - This is very important because the 12 side buttons take all the space on the left side. But the Venus has a nicely shaped rest ledge on the left where your thumb can rest when not active.
+ WEIGHTS - Yes, indeed. If you feel that the mouse is too light, you can add as many as 8 little weights into a special compartment and make it heavier.
+ CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING - The software allows you to assign just about any function or macro to any of the buttons.
+ CREATE YOUR OWN PROFILES - Not surprisingly, you can create you own with specific button assignments for functions and macros, light colors, sensitivity and so forth.
+ 16000 DPI sensitivity - of course you can set it lower but it's good it's there.
+ ADJUSTABLE mouse point speed, scroll speed, double-click speed and polling rate.
+ 18-MONTH WARRANTY

Not on the list above, I would like to note that I was very please with the mouse's overall shape, balance (remember, adjustable weight) and responsiveness. It's been ergonomically sculpted to make my hand feel very comfortable while operating it and the thumb rest makes all the difference in the world.

In the end, no matter how well a product performs, the questions anyone is probably asking are: 'do I need it?' and 'is it worth it'? For anyone who is not a dedicated gamer, the answer should be... maybe. Casual PC gamers like myself are likely to find that the Venus is the ideal pick because it can perform awesomely as a gaming mouse and it's one of the best mice overall. If you ARE a gamer and are willing to spend some time getting used to it then the Venus could very much be 'it' unless you are willing to spend a lot more.

UtechSmart Venus 16400 DPI
May 20, 2014
By Rick

To start, I highly endorse this mouse I give it 5 stars for the comfort and quality. I have been using a standard OEM issued wireless mouse that consumes AA batteries like no tomorrow is in sight. And makes my hand ache after 10 minutes.

Lately I have been killing dead time in a FPS MMO from Novalogic called Joint Operations. It is an old game I have had for years. My kill scores in knife arena has gone up drastically since I installed the Utechsmart Venus mouse. I have used it for about four days now and my hand does not feel like I am getting arthritis. The uncomfortable knuckle joint pain is decreasing, and I am thrilled.

By assigning different combo keys and macro actions for the numeric pad in a Profile (mode) crawling around a spreadsheet is a breeze. Taking a break and loading the JO game I tap the profile (mode) toggle button on the bottom for the profile assigned to that game and I am ready to go for a few rounds.

The Venus mouse has a luxuriant feel to it and was shipped in a luxury book case display box. The multitude of buttons have a good quality feel. The various lights are entertaining when the mouse is merely setting waiting for action. The six foot connection cable is an adequate length and has a ferite load dampener to strip static radio frequency noise that may confuse the issue. And is wrapped in a fabric weave with a connected velcro coil holding strap. The movement glide is incredibly smooth on the PTFE Teflon bottom glide pads, with an extra pair of glide pads shipped in the document packaging along with a mini CD with the driver configuration software tool.

Installation was very easy. I turned off the power switch on my OEM wireless mouse and plugged the Venus device cable into an unused USB2 jack in the back of the CPU tower chassis. Windows home premium 7-64bit hardware detection downloaded a driver from Microsoft and declared the device ready. I then clicked to where I optionaly downloaded the latest driver configuration GUI and ran the .exe. Selected a custom color which effects the product logo in the palm and the numeric pad on the side. Clicked OK have for the last couple of days in complete enjoyment of the experience.

If for nothing else, the shape design ergonomic fit relieving the pain in my hand has been worth more than I can say.

Great mouse all around
May 19, 2014
By Chris Marlow

This mouse is great and I love they way it fits my hand. And even if your not an MMO gamer its still pretty easy to find uses out of most of the 12 buttons on the thumb side. The only thing I wish was different was the fact that the dpi lights don't change from red, but even with that it doesn't look anything but awesome. The program to program the buttons and other settings is also very easy to use. I would recommend this mouse any day.

Fantastic MMO Mouse
May 15, 2014
By Brad

I recently reviewed the UtechSmart 4000 DPI gaming mouse and was very impressed. Today I'll be reviewing UtechSmart's newest product, the Venus 16400 DPI MMO gaming mouse. Unboxing the package the mouse came in revealed UtechSmart's awesome box – this might seem like a minor thing but a product looks so much more presentable in the right packaging.

Aesthetics:

Compared to the 4000 DPI model of UtechSmart's mouse, the Venus has less exposed LED lights, and more of the matte black finish. It's slightly larger than a normal mouse, slightly larger than the 4000 DPI model, but with the added button panel that can only be expected. The 12 button panel on the left side has a different finish than the rest of the mouse, almost rubbery, but makes for great button contact. Included with the mouse is an 8-piece weight tuning kit, the software and manual, and something unexpected, 3M brand Teflon coated pads for the bottom of the mouse. The mouse fits in your hand with a somewhat modified claw grip – the right side of the mouse is almost tiered, so that your hand and fingers each have a spot to sit. The other feature that I expected was the braided cord. Very similar to the 4000 DPI mouse, but this time UtechSmart added a Velcro strap so you can recoil the cord for easy travel.

Functions:

The Venus has so many programmable buttons – standard left and right mouse click with an additional button next to the left mouse click, center wheel click, two DPI switches, and a 12 buttons pad on the left side of the mouse that by default, corresponds with the number buttons across the top of your keyboard. It's also got a nifty settings switch on the bottom, that allows you to cycle through the five profiles that are available. I should add that this button will change the color of the LED for the center scroll wheel – that can't be changed within the software. Those 5 colors (yellow, blue, red, green, pink), each correspond with a profile, but you can then change the rest of the LED lights on the Venus to either match, or create something unique.

Software:

Compared to the 4000 DPI UtechSmart mouse software, the Venus blows it away. All of the little complaints I had about the software navigability have been solved. The software is elegant and has so much freedom. You have the ability to change all of the standard mouse setting – polling rate, pointer speed, DPI, etc. But now you have the ability to pick LED colors from a set of pre-selected colors, or you can choose from any of 16 million options. The only issue I've encountered with this so far is that not all of the colors are accurately represented by the LED. That's really to be expected, but some colors just display very pale. Another really cool feature of the software is the ability to change DPI per axis individually. That is, if you use a wide screen monitor or a TV like I do when I game, you can change the DPI left and right to be faster or slower than the DPI for up and down.

Use:

After taking a couple days to really try the Venus out, it has it's ups and downs. It's definitely taking some getting used to, mostly because of the size of the 12 button pad. It's a bit of a stretch from button 1 to button 12 across the pad, but I'm confident I'll get used to it eventually. I love the button within the left mouse click, but it does make me want a similar button on the right side. The Teflon feet i