Corsair Dark Core RGB SE mouse and MM1000 Qi review - Article - Guide - Review

Corsair Dark Core RGB SE mouse and MM1000 Mouse pad
Qi Wireless charging your mouse.

In this article, we'll review the Dark Core RGB SE mouse and MM1000 Qi Wireless charging mouse pad. Corsair released a Wireless mouse that can also be wirelessly charged (Qi) on a new mouse pad, which is a first for them. The mouse itself makes use of low-latency 2.4GHz wireless or Bluetooth for connectivity and sports a 16,000-DPI optical unit for a sensor. 

The Corsair Dark Core RGB SE has been fitted with a PixArt custom designed PMW3367 gaming grade optical sensor, and it is rated starting at 100 up-to 16K DPI. Yep, 16,000 dots per inch. And I know, I know .. these DPI values hardly make sense anymore. But granted, after testing it a couple of days we do have to admit this thing is precise. To match the new modern theme the mouse was designed from the ground up to be ergonomically pleasing yet attractive to look at. Next, to that Corsair did something interesting, they've made the right pinky location swappable, which offers mouse two side grips. So the mouse includes two interchangeable side grips to fit your preference. And you swap it out in like seconds as they lock into place thanks to small industrial magnets.

The Dark Core SE has multiple zone RGB color customization that allows for 16.8 million color selection back-lighting per one of the three LED location. The unit advances on that though as its cast is made out of durable and very sturdy uni-body dimpled shell. For each application, there seems to be a mouse you can purchase, and the fact remains that the majority of mice out there are all simply close to each other. Corsair picked up on the mouse trend several years ago, and their latest addition is this one. The Dark Core SE is targeted at gamers, but obviously works as a regular mouse just as well. The mouse itself is a right-handed design. The true selling point is, of course, its built-in Qi charging module, which allows you to wirelessly charge your mouse, which can hold 24 hours of battery life. Once depleted, you position it on the MM1000 Qi mousepad, and it'll start recharging that battery. It's a busy mouse alright, as it has no less nine buttons, all Omron switch based. You can configure the three-zone RGB lighting through Corsair’s unified driver, CUE. The Dark Core RGB SE, however, does come with its own memory, allowing you to store the settings. 

We mentioned it already, but if you pair the mouse with the new 350 x 260 mm sized MM1000 Qi mousepad, you can place your mouse on a dedicated (top-right corner) position on that mousemat, and it'll recharge itself thanks to a built-in Qi wireless charging transmitter. Once you positioned it, you'll be greeted by a LED indicator which, indicating the product is charging and positioned on the mat Qi location properly. So make this a bit more understandable, charging the mouse happens on a fixed position on the mousemat, the mouse is not going to charge when moving. Another benefit of Qi is that is is a widely adopted standard, so when you place your Smartphone on the Qi location of the mouse mat, you can charge it as well. We'll show you that in this article actually. Corsair advances on that, as they included a Qi charging dongle, complete with adapters, so if your smartphone doesn’t have it built-in wireless charging, it's still possible with a bit of a bypass.

Before we begin the actual review, I wanted to make something abundantly clear, there is a Dark Core RGB and Dark Core RGB SE available, both are wireless, however, only the SE version comes with the Qi charger. The Se will be available at a 99 USD/EUR price tag, the mousemat at 89 SUD/EUR. Bundles you can shave off, and save yourself ten bucks.Will it be worth it with regards to features and functionality? Sure it will let's find out, shall we?