Corsair's Ironclaw RGB Wireless is a reliable and precise gaming mouse, but the lighting options are a bit of a letdown

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Corsair's Ironclaw RGB Wireless is a reliable and precise gaming mouse, but the lighting options are a bit of a letdown
Simon Hill/ Business Insider

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  • The Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless is a reliable gaming mouse with lots of features for $80.
  • Suited to larger hands and a palm grip, this mouse offers great performance, enabling precision aiming and eliminating lag completely.
  • With 10 programmable buttons and three lighting zones, you can customize this gaming mouse using Corsair's iCue software.
  • It's a good gaming mouse that won't let you down where it counts, but I personally prefer the design and wireless charging feature found on the $90 Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro SE mouse.
Table of Contents: Masthead Sticky

The world of gaming mice is growing increasingly competitive. At the high end, you have expensive wireless mice with seemingly limitless programmable buttons and customizable lighting zones. At the budget end, there are many wired gaming mice that offer responsive performance without all the bells and whistles. The Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless gaming mouse falls somewhere in the middle.

The Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless mouse offers fast connectivity, plenty of programmable buttons, and excellent accuracy, but the lighting is limited, there's no wireless charging, and it's not the prettiest device. It's best suited for large hands and a palm grip, but this heavyweight mouse won't let you down where it counts.

The Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless mouse costs $80, but it also comes in a wired version for $20 less. I've been gaming with it for the last week or so to find out how the wireless version performs and whether it's worth buying.

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Corsair's Ironclaw RGB Wireless is a reliable and precise gaming mouse, but the lighting options are a bit of a letdown
SImon Hill/Business Insider

Design

This right-handed mouse has a pronounced peak and a decent weight to it. The soft-touch finish on the top and the main mouse buttons are flanked by textured surfaces on the left and right sides that add grip. It's extremely comfortable to use with a palm grip, and I particularly enjoyed the feel for long gaming sessions with strategy titles and sims that don't feature a lot of rapid action.

I don't think the Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless will suit people with smaller hands, and if you prefer a lightweight mouse, you should look elsewhere. The buttons have a good click to them, and this mouse feels durable. The mouse wheel is responsive and precise, but as a button it's a little stiff to press.

The left side of the Corsair Ironclaw feels terribly busy. There are two buttons to switch the DPI up and down near the front, and there are two side buttons above the thumb grip, which is a sloping surface rather than a wing to rest your thumb on. Up on top there's a button you can hold down to temporarily alter the DPI, which is very handy for sniping when you need an accurate aim, though I found it a little awkward to use.

Flip the Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless mouse over, and you'll see the switch to turn it off or choose between 2.4 GHz wireless connectivity and Bluetooth. I like the clarity this provides.

While there are three lighting zones to customize, the placement is odd. There's the Corsair logo, which is inevitably under your palm most of the time. Then there's lighting sunk into the depths around the mouse wheel, which isn't very visible. Finally, there are lights in the front grille, which looks great when you turn the mouse around, but aren't very noticeable when you're playing, unless it's dark in the room. The lights I do appreciate are the three side lights that show you at-a-glance what DPI setting you're on (they can also be customized for other uses).

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Specifications

Dimensions: 5 x 3.1 x 1.9 inches

Weight: 130 grams

Sensor: 18,000 DPI

Connectivity: RF dongle or Bluetooth

Battery: Up to 50 hours

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Programmable buttons: 10

Shape: Right-handed

Cable: 5.9-foot braided USB to Micro USB

Corsair's Ironclaw RGB Wireless is a reliable and precise gaming mouse, but the lighting options are a bit of a letdown
Simon Hill/Business Insider

Setup and interface

Plug the USB dongle into your PC or Mac, and the Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless is ready to go. To customize the lighting zones, program the buttons, and tweak the sensitivity, you need to install Corsair's iCue software. When you plug the Corsair Ironclaw in, you have the option to save up to three profiles on the mouse itself, which can prove handy if you're off out for a gaming session elsewhere. There's also a calibration option to ensure best performance on your chosen surface.

It's relatively straightforward to change lighting effects, tweak the sensitivity, and remap buttons in iCue. You can also record macros, but that's a bit more complicated and took me a while to get my head around. It's fairly easy to change lighting effects and there are a handful of predefined options or you can choose block colors from the instant lighting option, which is supposed to apply to all connected Corsair RGB devices, though it didn't seem to work for me.

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Corsair's Ironclaw RGB Wireless is a reliable and precise gaming mouse, but the lighting options are a bit of a letdown
Simon Hill/Business Insider

Performance and features

The days of slamming a mouse down in frustration and blaming it for your defeat are rapidly fading. Most gaming mice today perform extremely well, and the Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless is no exception. With a polling rate that goes up to 1,000Hz, sensitivity that tops out at 18,000 DPI, and responsive buttons, this mouse offers instant feedback and it never lets me down. I occasionally messed up because I found it tough to hold down the snipe button and simultaneously fire with the left mouse button.

Wireless connectivity is excellent, thanks to Corsair's Slipstream technology that can jump bands on the 2.4 GHz radio frequency to ensure a seamless connection. There's also Bluetooth as a backup.

I had no issues using the Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless for work. For gaming, I found it a useful companion in "Total War" and "Rimworld," less so for "Shadow of War," and it didn't really suit me when I played a burst of "Wolfenstein." My thumb didn't feel properly supported and I struggled with that top button. My 11-year-old son also tested out the Ironclaw with "Fortnite," and he enjoyed using it, though ultimately decided it was a bit too big for him.

Switch the lighting off and use Bluetooth, and you might squeeze 50 hours from this battery, but with the superior 2.4 GHz connectivity and lighting on, you'll be lucky to get 16 hours between charges. This is a definite weakness of the Ironclaw RGB Wireless, though it's a common one for wireless gaming mice. Corsair provides a nice braided cable that you can plug into the Micro-USB port to keep playing and charge it up. It's a shame that there's no wireless charging option or dock.

Corsair's Ironclaw RGB Wireless is a reliable and precise gaming mouse, but the lighting options are a bit of a letdown
Simon Hill/Business Insider

The bottom line

The Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless mouse is a durable and reliable gaming mouse, and it won't let you down on accuracy, sensitivity, or connectivity. It's best to try before you buy, if possible, because it does have a distinct shape that won't suit everyone. I was personally a little disappointed by the left side buttons, lighting, and battery life.

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Should you buy it?

Maybe. At $80, the Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless has a lot to offer, but there's another Corsair mouse I prefer, which you can find in the alternatives below.

Which model should you get?

If you don't feel the need to go wireless, then you can pick up the regular Ironclaw RGB for $60. That's a reasonable price for the features on offer here.

What are your alternatives?

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The Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro SE adds wireless charging, wings for your thumb and pinkie, a USB-C port, and a better overall design. It costs $90, but you can also get it without the wireless charging for $80.

If you're willing to spend more, then there's the ever-popular Logitech G502 Lightspeed mouse and I also love the Razer Basilisk Ultimate, but these gaming mice cost $150.

Pros: Accurate, highly configurable, comfortable for large hands, flawless connectivity

Cons: Big and heavy, disappointing lighting, left side feels busy

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