Introduction

Mad Catz is a gaming peripherals company located in Hong Kong that has been around since 1989 (in one way or another). The R.A.T. DWS is best described as a wireless R.A.T. 8+ ADV. As is customary for Mad Catz, the shape of the R.A.T. DWS can be adjusted in several ways, including in length and side-panel configuration. Equipped with PixArt's PAW3335 sensor capable of 16,000 CPI, the R.A.T. DWS runs on a single AA-battery. Mad Catz promises a battery life of up to 300 hours in Bluetooth mode and up to 200 hours in 2.4 GHz mode. To keep battery life high, the R.A.T. DWS does without any RGB lighting. Much like the M.O.J.O. M1, the R.A.T. DWS comes equipped with their custom DAKOTA switches rated for 60 million clicks, ensuring particularly low latency. The usual customization options are provided in software.

Disclaimer: On the launch firmware, the R.A.T. DWS suffers from erratic tracking and highly unstable polling, which results in noticeable stuttering when panning the view in games and increased click latency, among other issues. This behavior is fixed on the most recent firmware, which is why installing said firmware is strongly recommended. All assertions made in this review are based on the most recent firmware.

Specifications

Packaging

Aside from the mouse, one finds an AA-battery, wireless dongle, interchangeable back piece, two interchangeable side panels, small cleaning brush, several stickers, and quick start guide in the sturdy box.

As the R.A.T. DWS lacks a wireless extender, the wireless dongle needs to be plugged directly into a USB port. When doing so, as per Intel's documentation, it is strongly recommended not to use a USB 3.x port as by doing so, interference adversely affecting wireless operation may be introduced. The R.A.T. DWS has a small compartment where the wireless dongle can be stored.