ZOWIE Announces HeatoN's EC-series of Mice

[btarunr]

More than 12 months of extensive research and development. Testing of 7 different sensors using two different technologies. We present to you the ZOWIE EC-series, a new series of competitive gaming mice co-developed with the legendary Counter-Strike player, Emil 'HeatoN' Christensen. With the choice to develop a mouse with either optical or laser technology, surely ZOWIE and HeatoN has developed a high end laser mouse, using the newest technology available?

Wrong. If you expected us to develop a laser mouse using the newest technology with driver installation and complicated software, we are sorry to disappoint you. Only the best is good enough for us and our customers, unfortunately laser haven't been able to pass our extensive testing. Why is this? Well, the laser technology surely is new and innovative. It only has one problem, but for a gaming grade product, the problem is quite serious. Most gamers prefer cloth mouse pads today, when using a mouse on a cloth surface, the movements will destroy the structure of the fibers bit by bit and static electricity caused by the friction between mouse feet and cloth will cause particles to stick to the lens very easily. This happens for both optical and laser lens, but the laser lens is more sensitive, resulting in a very unstable tracking when particles are gathered at the lens. The optical lens is not as annoyed by the absorption of particles and will continue to function flawlessly, as it pretty much ignores the particles.



Comparing the disadvantages of laser and optical, it is quite clear that the optical technology is still the best solution for gaming at any level. We will continue to research on a solution to fix the current problem with laser, but until now, we have not been able to accept the issues caused by laser, as we don't feel any gamer should have to struggle with their mouse skipping in the middle of a game.

"In my 10 years as a professional gamer, every day I have wanted to develop the ideal mouse for competitive gaming," says Emil 'HeatoN' Christensen and continues, "as a competitive gamer, you have to be able to rely on your equipment to be functional at all times. The mouse is probably a gamers most important tool, so it is important that you can trust it to deliver. We have put our focus on precision, stability, durability and comfort. No more excuses. It's up to you now!" We introduce to you HeatoN's EC-series, including EC1-Black, EC1-White, EC2-Black, EC2-White.

1.5 mm lift-off distance; lowest on the market to date
One of the primary features of the ZOWIE EC-series is the lift-off distance. Gamers often lift their mice when playing games, as they need to make swift movements to turn around quickly. A higher lift-off distance means the cursor will start to move earlier than the gamers anticipate, which will affect their aiming a lot. The lower the lift-off distance is, the easier it will be to get used to the feeling and anticipate where the cursor will land with each move. 12 months of extensive research and development on our own unique lens only used in the ZOWIE EC-series has made it possible to create the lowest lift-off distance currently available in any optical mouse on the market - 1.5 mm.

[/B]1,000Hz USB Report Rate - plug and play with 1.000Hz[/B]
Most optical mice are 125Hz which can be artificially raised to 500 - 1,000Hz through driver installations. The ZOWIE EC mice are the only optical mice which has 1,000 Hz from standard, without any installation of drivers. Gamers can use it anywhere and take their best performance with them, without having to download and install drivers. Just plug and play.

Improved mouse wheel
We have used an optical encoder instead of the cheaper traditional mechanical system and added a new optimized rolling system developed by ZOWIE, which ensures that our mouse wheel is the most durable and precise mouse wheel on the market today. We expect that the lifetime of our mouse wheel is longer than 5 years - unfortunately we haven't been able to put this to the test for 5 years, but we believe it is unbreakable.

DPI-adjustment
Adjusting DPI on the fly is not really an innovative feature, but we decided to put it on our mouse anyway, as we believe it's important for a gamer to be able to optimize his settings to create the perfect feeling when playing. We have put the DPI-adjustment-button on the BOTTOM of the mouse, to avoid miss clicking it during an intensive game.

Two shapes - four mice
HeatoN's EC-series consist of four mice with the same features and specifications. The only difference is coating, color and size.

EC1 and EC2 black, has a rubber coating to increase the grip when holding.
EC1 and EC2 pure white, has the popular smooth coating which reduces sweaty palms.

Features:

• 100% stable optical mouse developed for gaming by HeatoN
• Ergonomic designed right hand gaming mouse
• 1.5 mm lift-off distance due to custom developed ZOWIE-lens
• Improved mouse wheel system
• 500/1,000/2,000 DPI adjustment
• 1,000Hz USB report rate
• Operating System:
  Win2000/XP/VISTA/7
  Mac OS X v10.2 after

Specifications:

• Frames Per Second: 6,500
• Inches Per Second: 40
• Dots Per Inch: 500/1,000/2,000
• Max. Acceleration: 15G
• 1,000Hz USB report rate
• Connector: USB
• Buttons: 5
• Dimensions:
  EC1: 128 x 43 x 62~70 mm / 5 x 1.7 x 2.44~2.76 inch
  EC2: 120 x 40 x 58~65 mm / 4.72 x 1.57 x 2.28~2.56 inch
• Length of cable: 2m / 6.6 ft

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[EviLZeD]

Looks a lot like the Razer death adder :S

 

[BumbleBee]

optical encoders are more durable and can be spun at higher speeds than rotary encoders because there is no physical contact but they are prone to malfunction from dirt or foreign objects. when is the last time you disassembled your mouse to clean it?

the mouse is using the Avago 3080 optical sensor which has angle snapping and like it or not is apart of the past.

what is with the DPI-Adjustment? you have to stop tracking, pick up the mouse and push a button to change DPI lol not exactly on the fly.

Zowie sells the IO1.1 for $59.99 it's basically a painted Microsoft Intellimouse Optical 1.1. want to guess how much they will charge for this?

 

[IceCreamBarr]

WOW! A company that finally says "screw you" to all of the marketing crap that has hit the computer industry in the last 10 years. They've done the research and come up with the best product - in their mind.

As for DPI switching on the fly, a useless feature. Reason 1. if you need to drop your DPI when you switch to a sniper, you are obviously aiming at a target that is not moving much, ie. a very basic level of play where a DPI switch on the fly is not an advantage; just get better at the game 2. good fps gamers can do the same with a sniper on high DPI as anyone else on a lower DPI... only good gamers will see the benefits of a high quality, gaming grade mouse; everyone else just needs a good quality mouse. And one last thing, I have big hands and just trying to click in the scroll wheel is hard as I have to put my finger in a somewhat awkward position... I can't even hit the proper DPI switch on my mouse without looking down to see what I've done.

Barr

 

[wahdangun]

good company

wow, i never fell so good reading marketing crap, and its really make me want to buy the product

 

[jtleon]

Finally we hear the facts!!

Finally a manufacturer that puts the facts on the table - static driven particulate build up is a BIG DEAL - even on poorly designed optical mice it can cause trouble - nevermind taking out a laser!

At least proper optical designs can tolerate much more contamination between cleanings.

Here's to Zowie!

Now if you can only get the word out!!!

jtleon

 

[Laurijan]

optical encoders are more durable and can be spun at higher speeds than rotary encoders because there is no physical contact but they are prone to malfunction from dirt or foreign objects. when is the last time you disassembled your mouse to clean it?

the mouse is using the Avago 3080 optical sensor which has angle snapping and like it or not is apart of the past.

what is with the DPI-Adjustment? you have to stop tracking, pick up the mouse and push a button to change DPI lol not exactly on the fly.

http://www.zowiegear.com/images/up_images/ec_mouse/DSC_1904s.jpg

Zowie sells the IO1.1 for $59.99 it's basically a painted Microsoft Intellimouse Optical 1.1. want to guess how much they will charge for this?

On the fly adjustment could be understand as not having to open a menu ingame to adjust DPI which is very annoying during fights and takes longer than turning the mouse around and push a button.

 

[Whalib]

hey guys

i wont to share this email wiv you i have just receivd it from zowie gear

Hey Mohammed,

The question regarding mouse correction or prediction is very interesting, as there is no easy explanation. To give you the honest truth, it’s not about whether or not a mouse has prediction. It’s about the level of prediction it has, as all mice have some extent of prediction.

Most gamers today consider the mouse correction / prediction as a deed of pure evil which forces your mouse to make straight lines, even if you don’t want to. Our mice does not force you to do anything, so in terms of the general understanding of the gaming community, our mice does not have any mouse correction. Your movement is your own.

However, to continue the story, if there was no prediction at all in a mouse, you would only get lines that look like this:

Please note that this is even if you drag your mouse completely straight.

Why is this? Well, take a look at the surface of your mousepad. It doesn’t matter if it’s plastic, cloth or something else, but what you are looking at will most likely be textured. When running your fingers across your mousepad, you can feel that it is uneven.

To get a stable experience when using a mouse, the sensor should only track on the even points of the surface, but as this is somewhat impossible, the sensor uses prediction to even out the gap in-between fibers and particles, so your experience is stable. We believe that this is the only thing prediction should be used for, and have therefore limited the prediction to be as low as possible. The term “prediction or not” was born with some manufacturers overdoing the prediction.

To give you a better understanding, I have created these images for you:
With a 125 Hz mouse, the tracking will look as in this image, with the red arrows being prediction:

As you can see from this image, the gap the sensor needs to predict to go from point A to B is very high.
There are sensors which naturally consider the prediction to be as low as possible, but most of them have other problems. There are other ways to achieve a minimum prediction. We use the Avago 3060 sensor because it is the most stable sensor available. The Avago 3060 is an older sensor, yet it still delivers the best overall performance during extensive use, making it the optimal sensor for a competitive gaming mouse. The Avago 3060 would normally be considered to have prediction, but our 1000 Hz evens out the prediction and makes the gap it needs to predict much smaller.

Look at this picture:

As you can see in this picture, the EC-mice updates 6 times faster than a normal 125 Hz mouse.

So the final answer to the question is:
Yes, the EC-mice do have prediction, but only the minimum level required in order to have a functional mouse. In terms of how gamers currently interprets the term “prediction”, then the EC-series would not be considered to have prediction.

I hope our honesty will be appreciated in the community. Trying out the mice will truly show that we have taken all of these things into consideration, and that our mice allows for free movement.

Best regards,

Danny Ramkvist
Chief Marketing Officer

 

[Meizuman]

I couldn't contact them from their website...