The Mad Catz R.A.T.3 is a cool mouse with promising features, but fails to deliver on what’s important. I didn’t want a mouse with a crazy number of buttons, it had to be big and have the basics for gaming. This mouse would have been great if it wasn’t for some serious flaws. I can’t recommend this product unless it’s your personal travel mouse.

General Information

Manufacturer: Mad Catz, Inc
Manufacturer Part Number: MCB4370300B2/04/1
Manufacturer Website Address: http://www.madcatz.com
Product Line: R.A.T.3
Product Type: Mouse

Specifications

Interfaces/Ports: USB 2.0
Ergonomic Fit: Right-handed Only
Movement Resolution: 3500 DPI
Scroll Type: Vertical Only
Programmable Buttons: 3
Total Buttons: 5
Cable Length: 5 ft
Cable Type: Sleeved Mesh
Length Adjustable: Yes
Hardware Profiles: No
Hardware DPI Memory: No

Physical Characteristics

Color: Black
Depth: 4″ (101.6 mm)
Height: 1.5″ (38.1 mm)
Width: 3.5″ (88.9 mm)
Weight (Approximate): 181.4 g
Adjustable Length (Approximate): 4.75″ (120.65 mm)

Pros

• Looks Cool
• Length Adjustable
• Sleeved Cable
• Smooth Glide

Cons

• Weight is too light
• Super loud clicking sound
• No horizontal scroll
• DPI resets to lowest setting
• Software dependent for settings
• Software need improvement
• Profile button is hard to press

Price

Regular: 59.00 CAD
Sale: 39.98 CAD

The Mad Catz R.A.T.3 is surprisingly small but wide, my first impression was that this was a travel mouse. The mouse is thin and flat bringing your hand closer to the surface which adds to the feeling of small. I latter discovered that this mouse is length adjustable by a small screw. The cord is a bit short at five feet with a mesh sleeve and an attached velcro cable tie. This mouse is very light and is probably the lightest mouse I’ve ever used. I feel that this is a travel mouse.

The Mad Catz R.A.T.3 is very light, in fact I found it to be too light. The light weight allows the mouse to glide effortlessly across my metal mouse pad. However, I found that the mouse is so light that pressing buttons can jerk the mouse. I specially found that I would jerk the mouse when pressing the side (back/forward) buttons.

The side buttons are quiet but are arguably missed placed. Perhaps a little forward with a curve instead of the straight placement. I found pressing the side buttons jerk the mouse. The thumb placement is comfortable. The right and left mouse buttons are loud, so loud it may annoy everyone around you in a quiet room. The DPI button is very small and easy to use. The DPI lights are small and nicely placed. The profile button was a bit hard to press, I don’t think I could press it while gaming. The profile light is cool, but the profile software is not very good.

The R.A.T.3 is software dependent and is not able to save the DPI setting. When I got the mouse and pressed the DPI button to the appropriate rate. The mouse resets to the lowest setting when the mouse losses power. I first thought my mouse was defective till I received a response from Mad Catz Inc’s support center. Mad Catz instructed me to use the software. The mouse doesn’t have any hardware memory and is software dependent. I thought at least the mouse would use a middle setting by default but it doesn’t. The mouse resets to the lowest setting and if anyone was to try to use the computer without knowing, they would fined the mouse very slow.

The Mad Catz software is not only ugly, I found it difficult to manage profiles. I was instructed to set a start up profile to be my default settings, and the software did not provide much to indicate if the profile is active or set. Having a software dependent mouse is inconvenient.

I now only keep this mouse for travel or as a spare. No hardware memory for DPI and a software dependency for settings is a huge inconvenience. Very loud clicking sounds can be annoying. The mouse is too light for some people; I found pressing buttons jerk the mouse. I can’t recommend this mouse, for 60 dollars CAD the GIGABYTE M6980X is by far the better product.

 

 

 

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