Black Shark BS-M1 Gaming Mouse Review: Budget Mouse, Budget Buzz
Purchase Price: $27.99
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As someone who games primarily with a keyboard and mouse, I can tell you that a good mouse can help improve your gameplay, if only because it makes your hotkeys easier to reach. There are tons of brands out there, and we often see more expensive brands like Razer and Corsair getting a lot of hype. However, you don’t have to spend $50-$100 on a mouse to get something good. These days, there are many budget mouses with a lot of utility that look cool and get the job done. Today, we’re looking at one such mouse by Black Shark called the BS-M1. Spoiler: It’s a great mouse, but there’s just one problem…
Appearance and RGB Customization
I have to say that this mouse looks really cool. It comes with two backs that are easy to pop on and off; one is solid and one has an open honeycomb design. I prefer the honeycomb back and through it, you can even see the brand logo glowing in green. However, because the honeycomb back is essentially full of holes, it does cause a lot more dust and debris to collect within the mouse.
The base of the mouse has an RGB strip and there are a number of different lighting effects you can choose from including breathing, spectrum cycling, and a rainbow wave, just to name a few. For some of the effects, you can even choose specific colors that you like using a color picker, so it is true RGB. However, I will say that some colors do not appear as vibrant as you would expect. For instance, a basic blue color shows up a lot more pastel than it looks in the software.
The mouse wheel also allows you to choose different colors to represent what DPI setting you’ve chosen. However, mine keeps defaulting back to green. I can’t seem to find any setting that will make it stay on the color I’ve chosen. The mouse wheel is also used to indicate the battery level as this mouse can be used wired or wireless. Unfortunately, even when I remove the battery completely, the mouse wheel still reverts back to green. Regardless of that little hiccup, this mouse looks great and has a decent amount of RGB customization for the price.
Comfort
I would say that this mouse is decently comfortable. Some people may prefer the smooth back as it does feel a bit better in the hand, but the honeycombs are by no means irritating. I don’t have chronically sweaty hands by any means, but when they do get a little moist, I find that I prefer the honeycomb back because both the added texture and minimized surface area due to the holes seem to create a less sticky experience.
Playing games like FFXIV, I don’t have any issue with my fingers getting tired from clicking because FFXIV relies a lot more on keyboard shortcuts. So, I gave the mouse a try with Genshin Impact. I feel like my fingers often get a bit more worn out playing that game just because you spam the left click in between skill cooldowns. I was surprised by this mouse’s performance because I expected to feel more tired than I was. Is it a life-changer? No. Will your hand get tired of clicking eventually? Yes. But after playing Genshin for a couple of hours, I was no more worse for wear.
Functionality
This mouse has all of the functionality you would expect from a gaming mouse, and in some ways, it has more. You can, of course, adjust settings like DPI, customize each button (there are six total, four if you do not count right and left click), and create macros.
What makes this mouse special, though, is that it can be used both wired and wirelessly. It comes with a rechargeable battery and a USB dongle. I think this is a really cool function and makes the mouse a lot more portable. It’s nice that you would not have to unplug it from the back of your pc if you decided to take it somewhere. Just unplug the USB-C cord from the front of the mouse, grab the Bluetooth dongle, and away you go. I tested the battery life and got about three days of heavy use out of it. I feel like a wireless mouse running on AA batteries would last far longer, but this is still going to be fine for a LAN party, school use, or any type of day trip.
This mouse even has onboard memory so that you can take your profiles with you. There is a bit of a caveat, though. Within the accompanying software, you can edit up to three profiles. However, whatever profile was active last on the mouse is the one that will be on the mouse when you plug it into a different computer. I can’t find any way to cycle to the other profiles, and there is nothing about this in the user manual.
Personally, I prefer a mouse with more buttons because I am an old-school gamer who cannot get used to using keys I can actually reach. However, if you’re good with using shift and control hotkeys on your mouse and then just pressing 1-5 or F1-F5 (or even using keys like Q,E,R, F), then this will easily have enough buttons for you. Overall, this mouse provides good functionality and versatility for the price.
What’s That Sound?
If you’re looking for a budget mouse, then based on the review so far, you may be thinking you can’t go wrong with the BS-M1. Unfortunately, there is one very annoying problem with this mouse, which is that it is not silent. It makes a very annoying high-pitched hum. It reminds me of the sound my old laptop chargers used to make when they were near death. In fact, it’s the type of sound that will definitely make you feel a little worried at first. We actually exchanged the first BS-M1 we received because of the sound, but the second mouse was the very same. That, coupled with the fact that my house has not lit on fire after a month or two of use, makes me believe that this is just how the mouse was built.
The sound isn’t as loud or intrusive as the neighbor next door who enjoys blasting death metal every Friday night, but it is noticeable. As long as you’re not wearing headphones, you will probably hear it. Honestly, I kind of got used to it and my brain automatically drowns it out, but it is the one thing keeping me from wholeheartedly recommending this mouse. Personally, the sound alone is enough to keep me away. It’s really unfortunate because it is otherwise a decent enough product for the price.
Final Thoughts
The Black Shark BS-M1 has everything you could ask for in a gaming mouse: a cool design, customizable RGB lights, onboard memory, and macro capabilities. The fact that you can use it both wired and wirelessly is also a huge plus, and you get all of this for an affordable price. Unfortunately, it emits a high-pitched hum that is annoying and, at first, very concerning. If you can get over the noise, then perhaps it can be a great mouse for you. If you want something completely silent, however, then you might want to keep looking (and perhaps check out our review on another budget-friendly mouse, the Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury).
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Seri
A writer by day and gamer by night, Seri’s most prized possession is her computer. In fact, she built her desktop PC herself and repaired her college laptop with nothing but Google, Reddit, and determination to guide her. This do-it-yourself attitude was born from frugalness, so if you see Seri raving about something, it’s probably worth the price.