By Meng Vang
Manufacturer: GAMDIAS Technology, Inc.
Product Name: Hades M1 Wired & Wireless Optical Gaming Mouse
Model Number: GD-HADES M1
UPC: 848475003566
Price As Tested: $79.19 (Newegg)Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Gamdias.
Gamdias has added a new mouse to their product line, but this time it is a wireless mouse. The Hades M1 is equipped with wireless functionality, a 10800 DPI optical sensor, dual RGB light streams, two additional side panels grips, and more. It is also supported by the Gamdias HERA software, which allows the user to manage multiple Gamdias peripherals simultaneously. There are also seven programmable buttons and a weight adjustment system for further customization. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will be taking a look at the Hades M1 to see how it compares to the competition.
- Double Level Multi-color Breathing Lighting
- Wired/ Wireless Mouse
- 10,800 DPI Optical Sensor
- Adjustable Side Panels
- Weight Tuning System (5gx4)s
- 7 smart keys
The Gamdias Hades M1 wired/wireless gaming mouse is currently available online for $79.19 (Newegg). The box has a picture of the product along with its features and specifications listed around it.
Inside of the box, we can see that the mouse and wireless transmitter are nicely packaged under a clear plastic shroud. This will prevent any damage to the product during shipping.
In terms of accessories, we find the removable 1.8 meter micro-USB cable, two swappable side panels, and the wireless transmitter. Unfortunately, no documentation or booklet is included in the box.
The Hades M1 has an ambidextrous body design for both left and right hand users. The surfaces on the top and side of the mouse have a rubberized texture to it. This provides a better grip in comparison to just plastic. We can also see the RGB light streams and all of the standard buttons.
Now that we have seen a quick overview of the Hades M1, let’s go into more details on what this product has to offer.
At the top of the mouse, we can see the standard left and right buttons along with a rubberized scroll wheel. There is also a small battery indicator LED next to the scroll wheel. There are two more buttons closer towards the center of the mouse for DPI toggling. At the rear is the Gamdias logo, which illuminates when there is power to the mouse.
At the bottom of the mouse, there are two Teflon glide pads for smooth tracking. The mouse does include a weight system for weight adjustment. The 10800DPI optical sensor is placed almost at the center of the mouse, but more biased towards the front-left side. And because this is a wireless mouse, there is a power switch to switch between on or off.
The left side of the Hades M1 includes two large buttons for forward and backward controls. This textured rubberized grip surface can allow the user to better grip the mouse.
No additional side buttons are present on the opposite side. Instead, we can see the removable plastic flap for swapping in a new side panel.
At the front of the mouse, the removable micro-USB cable attaches to the center. This allows the Hades M1 to charge and function under wired mode.
At the rear, the surface maintains a smooth design with only the Gamdias branding logo. The logo will change colors according to what the user sets it to.
There are a few more things to cover about the Hades M1, so let’s take a look at them in the next section.
There are four 5 gram weights hidden behind a latch underneath the mouse. On my scale, the mouse weighs 115.1 grams without the weights, and 135.3 grams with all four weights. Knowing this is a wireless mouse, it is rather light-weight without the weights.
Removing the side panel flap reveals three small magnets for mounting onto the two included side panels.
Although only compatible on the right side of the mouse, these side panels do provide some extra customization. The mouse comes with two different sized panels, one smaller and one larger.
Mounting on the larger side panel will provide some more surface area for larger hands. Depending on your play style, you may need to play around with both side panels first before finally sticking to just one.
In the next section, we will take a look at the HERA software.
With the HERA software running, we can see it has a nice graphical user interface with a few options to go through. Like the Corsair Utility Engine and the Razer Synapse software, HERA can manage multiple gaming peripherals simultaneously. In the Key Assignment tab, we can assign different mouse and keyboard functions to any button. Five separate profiles allow us to store multiple key assignments and lighting effects within the mouse.
In the Macro Management tab, we can create, record, and delete macros if we want. The HERA software does allow importing and duplicating macro settings for your convenience.
Mouse control lets you adjust cursor speed, scroll speed, double click speed, DPI sensitivity, and polling rate. Unfortunately, there is not an adjustment for lift-off distance. In terms of DPI, there are six customizable DPI levels to choose from. The DPI range is from 600 to 13000 (not 10800?) and can be adjusted in steps of 200.
Unlike the Zeus P1 and Zeus M1, the Hades M1 does not have as many lighting options. There are three choices: single, breathing, and neon. Neon cycles through many colors, while single/breathing allows us to use just one color.
In the next section, we will take a look at how the Hades M1 performs.
Sensor Tracking Performance and Polling Rate
The Hades M1 performed very well in both wired and wireless modes and was able to handle very fast flicks across the surface thanks to its optical sensor. No acceleration was present during testing and the average polling rate was around 1000 Hz as advertised. Lift-off distance was lower than five millimeters, which was at the ideal spot for gaming. At 2000 DPI, sensor performance was almost identical to the 3360 optical sensor. I am not too sure what kind of sensor is in the Hades M1, but it does perform well against some of the top optical gaming mice.
The Hades M1 performed well, but the ambidextrous body shape may be a problem to some users. As for me, I did not have too many problems gripping the mouse. Because it was rather light-weight even for a wireless mouse, I was able to perform fast flicks with it. Adding the weights did make the mouse heavier towards the rear. I would have liked to see a weight system similar to something like the Logitech G502 because the weight distributes evenly throughout the mouse.
As for the sensor, the Gamdias website did not list what kind of sensor the Hades M1 had. But from my experience, it performed about the same as the 3360 optical sensor. I played mostly at 2000 DPI since I have found that to be the most optimal for me, but there are gamers who would prefer a low DPI of around 400… which sort of defeats the purpose of buying a mouse with a ridiculously high DPI.
There is a lot that goes into a topic like this; should you use a low DPI or a high DPI for gaming? I personally prefer something over 2000 DPI but nothing more than 3500 DPI for gaming. I can notice quite a bit of jittering with slow movements at a very low DPI, but the jitter was nonexistent at the 2000 DPI I am using now. But if you can pull off fancy moves and headshot every enemy that gets in your way, stick with whatever you have and be happy with it.
Battery Life
In terms of battery life, the Hades M1 did last a few days through medium to heavy use. I had the LEDs at medium to high brightness and it was able to last about 20 straight hours. After a few days, the LED indicator next to the scroll wheel would blink red to let me know the battery was low.
Button Response and Placement
The buttons were in the right locations and never interfered with any of my games. I also noticed this with the Zeus P1 and Zeus M1, but the side buttons felt really spongy. I personally prefer something less spongy and more direct. Buttons responded well thanks to the 1000 Hz polling rate, although the middle click on the scroll wheel did not register when pressed lightly. I had to press it down somewhat hard just to have it register. Of course, this could just be a defect with my unit.
RGB Lighting Accuracy
Replicating a pure white color can be difficult for some RGB peripherals. When it came to color reproduction, the Hades M1 did okay. When set to white, the LEDs were mostly green and blue, but individual colors appeared to look okay. Just don’t expect the best lighting effect especially in a bright room.
The LEDs were dim in a brighter room, but they looked better in a darker room. I also noticed many dead spots closer to the front of the mouse, which was rather disappointing. This was very noticeable especially in a bright room where the rear was way brighter than the front.
Light Streams
The double level multi-color light streams was one of the most attractive features on the Hades M1. This feature was also present on a few previous Gamdias mice, like the Zeus P1, Zeus M1, and Zeus E1. The implementation of this feature on the Hades M1 left me scratching my head a bit since there were noticeable dead zones at the front. I was really hoping to see an improved design of this feature over the Zeus P1/M1/E1.
On the upper light stream, there were a few dead zones between each LED. The bottom light stream did not glow as bright as the top either.
Software Glitches
The software, for the Hades M1 at least, felt unfinished. There were a number of bugs that made the software and mouse more difficult to use. The first bug I encountered was the mouse would reset its lighting configuration and DPI sensitivity every time I reopened the software. The second was the battery level always stayed at 100% even when it was low. And the third bug was after configuring the lighting and DPI sensitivity and coming back to the Key Assignment tab, nothing appears on the screen. Because of this, I had to close the software again and reopen it just to edit my button assignments.
Although the Hades M1 was advertised to have a 10800 DPI optical sensor, I was able to push it to 13000 DPI through the software. Knowing the software had a few major bugs, I did expect something like this to happen anyway. A software update would be nice to have right about now.
Size Comparison with Other Mice
When it came to size, the Hades M1 was smaller than the Zeus P1, but larger than the Logitech G Pro gaming mouse. Both the Hades M1 and G Pro have an ambidextrous body design, but I was not a fan of the G Pro just because it did not curve inwards towards the center. The Hades M1, however, was a bit better since it had an inward curve in the center. This allowed me to grip the mouse more nicely.
Let’s go into my final thoughts and end this review with my conclusion in the next section.
The Hades M1 is a good wireless mouse for the money, although it does have several flaws. It is not too expensive because it sits within the price range of some of the best wired gaming mice. It is light-weight without the added weights, and the body shape should be okay to most gamers. I would have liked to see better software support because without good software, the hardware becomes useless. I did like the software implementation on the Zeus P1, and I was hoping to see the same with the Hades M1.
In terms of performance, the Hades M1 had no problems tracking in both wired and wireless modes. It felt like a wired mouse even in wireless mode, which was a great thing to experience. The glide pads at the bottom were very smooth and glided perfectly over a table or mouse mat. The 10800 DPI optical sensor performed pretty well even when compared to gaming mice with the 3360 optical sensor. With its light-weight design, I was able to flick the mouse quickly without hindering my aim.
When it comes to appearance, the Hades M1 looks like a sharp mouse without too many bells and whistles. My only concern is the light stream design, which was poorly implemented compared to the previous Zeus P1/M1/E1. Dead zones are noticeable between the LEDs at the rear, and the front was much dimmer than the rear. Razer has a somewhat similar design on their Mamba Tournament Edition mouse where the light distribution is even throughout the front and back. I think with a little more time, the Hades M1 would have perfected this.
When it comes to construction, the Hades M1 is built mainly from a durable plastic material with rubberized side grips. No sensor rattle was present, but the scroll wheel did rattle just a bit while shaking the mouse around. This was also noticeable on the Zeus P1 and M1, which uses the same scroll wheel. The OMRON switches are rated at 10 million clicks, but I would have liked to see a higher rating in a mouse at this price range.
The mouse functions well as a gaming mouse or a desktop ornament. It looks great and performs well without any noticeable delay or acceleration. The Hera software, at least for the Hades M1, feels unfinished and needs an update. Lighting effects are limited to three choices, lighting/DPI settings will reset to default when the software reopens, the battery status was pegged at 100%, and buttons were no longer adjustable after customizing lighting/mouse control settings.
As of July 2018, the Gamdias Hades M1 wired/wireless gaming mouse currently sells online for $79.19 (Newegg). For a wireless mouse, this is a good price considering the good wireless and tracking performance. The software is the only thing holding it back because many gamers would like to fine tune their performance and lighting settings to get the most out of the product. Hopefully we will see a software update to improve the functionality of this mouse.
+ Good battery life
+ Adjustable weight system
+ Good wireless performance
+ Light-weight design for a wireless mouse
– Software feels unfinished
– LED’s are dim and do not distribute evenly
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Performance: 9.25
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Appearance: 8.25
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Construction: 8.75
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Functionality: 6.25
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Value: 8.50
