I had a very interesting start to my time with the Asus ROG Harpe Ace – Aim Lab Edition Gaming Mouse. It was the biggest mouthful for a mouse name I’ve ever opened, and yet the box also felt super light. Opening it, the mouse felt so light I thought it may have been a dummy unit used in shops, not a real one. But it’s the real deal, and although the weight was a weird start to my time with the mouse, the  Asus ROG Harpe Ace – Aim Lab Edition has more than proven that sometimes the basics are all that is needed for a fantastic gaming mouse.

Straight out of the box, there’s really little to this mouse. It’s deceivingly simple in design, even if under the hood of its inclosure, there’s everything any buddying FPS-esports player would want. Looking at it, however, it’s a matte black mouse, with two buttons on the left side and a scroll where. Pushing it into my hand the first time was comfortable, but again, I also felt like I was going to crush this thing in a moment of frustration if I lost a game or something. So that was test one: Can I crush it? No, I didn’t stick it in a vice, but I wanted to apply a full-hand squeeze and see if the mouse’s weight would be at its breaking point, which it was not. It survived my palm grip, and I got onto actually using this thing.

I already had Armoury Crate software installed from using the ROG Azoth keyboard, but if you don’t have any Asus hardware currently, you’ll need to install it to customise the mouse. With a max of 36000 DPI, my usual DPI setting of around 16000, barely half of the mouse’s max capabilities, and this is a FAST mouse. Between the 650IPS max speed, 50G acceleration and the mouse weighing in at 54 G, playing any shooter is super-comfortable with the Asus ROG Harpe Ace. 

The quick-switch button for the DPI settings is on the bottom of the mouse, which I don’t love and have noted in other reviews. But my biggest annoyance with this button is caused by the Armoury Crate software, which refused to show notifications for what my DPI was changing to when I pressed the button, no matter how many times I tried to toggle this setting on and off. I can’t hold it against the mouse, but it is annoying nonetheless.

I didn’t find the mouse super-slippery, but over longer gaming sessions, the little bit of sweat I’d build up did make for some more grip, which is fortunately provided in the box. Asus has included a sheet with grip tape for the sides and front of the mouse, which you can choose to apply, and hopefully better than I am at applying any sort of grip tape, be it on a skateboard or a mouse. Nonetheless, this solved my slight grip issues, and I also liked the aesthetic the tape added to the mouse.

To the “Aim Lab Edition” part of the mouse name: Asus has teamed up with Aim Lab to make a mouse that integrates into the Aim Lab software and lets you run several tests and demos to find your perfect DPI among other mouse settings. I did all the tests and got suggested a DPI of 750, which is half of what I had it on prior to booting up the game. So, I didn’t find this integration super helpful. You might have more luck.

It’s not much of an issue for a pro-gaming mouse, but the ROG 70m Mechanical Switch’s are definitely louder than the past couple of mouse reviews I’ve done, and I did find it noticeable. For some, this may scream a positive as there’s nothing like the feedback of a good mechanical click and some clicky noises from the product itself. In contrast, others may need to beware of slightly higher mouse-clicking noises out of this compared to others on the market.

There’s not much to critique regarding the Asus ROG Harpe Ace – Aim Lab Edition Gaming Mouse outside the collaboration itself, which I found pointless with the Aim Lab software not doing much for me. However, if you’re aiming to go pro or a pro gamer, this will have everything you’d want, especially if you prefer a mid-range-sized mouse with a super-light feel.

(A review unit was supplied for the purposes of this article)