We’re looking at a Redragon honeycomb mouse today, the M988 Storm Elite. So the Storm Elite is basically an M711 with a brand new shell. The weight has been cut down from 105 to 85g. As with the M711, we again have a budget and a premium version, with the main difference being the sensor. The M808 Storm features the Pixart 3327, whereas the M988 Storm Elite comes with the 3389. I guess the weight of 85g isn’t going to turn any heads, but it’s a move in the right direction for Redragon. Nonetheless, I feel like this mouse needed to be around 70-75g to really make a statement.
As far as shape and size, it’s a carbon copy of the M711. What I like about this mouse is that it’s a little bit smaller and lower profile than your typical ergo mouse, so not only will it accommodate smaller hands but it’s also more accessible for fingertip grippers. But smaller ergo mice are gaining traction with the release of the DeathAdder v2 Mini and Glorious Model D Minus, so the M988 has some tough competition. Redragon made no changes to the shape, and it’s a case of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The M711 was well-received by the general public, so no reason to tamper with a winning recipe. The side view shows that it’s quite flat, with no big curves towards the front or rear. The mouse does have a fairly deep inward curve and flares out quite sharply on the back left. I feel like Redragon can make the shape a bit more natural, but for my fingertip grip it felt just fine. Also some nice finger grooves on the primary buttons. For a palm grip, 17-20cm is going to be a good hand size. For fingertip and claw, 21cm and under should be good.
Looking at the build of the M988, Redragon opted for thicker plastic. The shell feels a lot stronger than your typical honeycomb mouse, but of course to achieve this sturdiness the mouse is heavier. This trade-off might be worth it for users that prioritise shell quality, but for me 85g is still on the heavy side. The clicks require medium force and have a nice tactile feel. Medium pre-travel and low post-travel. The side buttons are actually really good. They don’t have that mushy feeling of a lot of honeycomb mice, and have low pre-travel. There is a little bit of vertical play on the primaries, which isn’t great, but for the most part I wasn’t aware of it.
But this is where we run into a bit of a problem. As of right now, there is a click register problem with this mouse. About 1 out of every 10 clicks is not registered at all. When playing CSGO I immediately noticed something was off, as some of my AWP shots weren’t registering. I had a look at some customer reviews, and the problem exists on both the M808 and M988. I found a firmware update when downloading the software, but it seems like it’s meant for the M808 version, so I assume Redragon will still release one for the M988 in the future. I still tried rinning the update tool but the clicking problem persisted.
Apart from the clicking problem, the M988 felt great in-game. It’s basically a slightly lighter M711 FPS with a better cable and high-end sensor. I’m really impressed with the cable here: it’s light, flexible and there is zero cable drag. The Pixart 3389 is one of the best in the business, and the tracking felt crisp with low lift-off. I also have to mention the feet here. The glide felt exceptionally smooth on my Asus ROG Sheath mousepad. This actually surprised me as I didn’t expect it to be so smooth. I really enjoyed this mouse in CSGO, but still feel that the weight reduction from 105g to 85g isn’t quite enough. This just doesn’t really feel like a lightweight mouse to me, and it’s not really going to be able to compete with mice like the Viper Mini, MM710 and XM1. I was hoping for something around the 70g mark, but I’m sure we’ll see it in a future version.
I couldn’t track down the software for the M988, but turns out that it runs on the M808 software. It’s very easy to use and all the expected functionality is there. You can remap any of the buttons, and what I like about this mouse is the 3 extra top buttons. By default they’re used for DPI adjustment and RGB, but I usually use these for multimedia controls. There are 7 RGB modes. You can control the brightness and speed, and for some modes there is a nice little RGB colour picker. The default DPI levels are a bit weird: it starts at 1000 and goes up to 16000, not the typical 400, 800 etc. I had to use the software to set it to my preferred 400DPI. You can also record macros and there is a max of 5 profiles.
So the M988 is going to be a decent mouse once the clicking problem is ironed out by Redragon. It’s not going to turn any heads at 85g, but you get some impressive specs at an affordable price, and it offers a stronger shell than your typical honeycomb mouse. On a personal level, I’m looking forward to an even lighter M711 version, as I really like the shape and feel of this mouse.
headtr1p 