I have an original Zowie Gear EC2-A mouse, one that was made before BenQ acquired the company, which I bought back in 2015. It still works flawlessly, after 10 years. One which you can easily take apart and clean the mouse wheel, if needed (which, over time, will get some hair and lint buildup that needs to be cleared out-all mouse wheels tend to have this issue). This ZA12-C is not so easy to remove the mouse-wheel to clean it, like, at all. Plus, after only a month or two the mouse wheel gave me some issues, but blowing into it or using compressed air helped. For awhile. Then today, around 3 months of having this mouse, the mouse wheel stopped functioning entirely. No matter how much compressed air I hit it with, it just does not work. The mouse-wheel on a gaming mouse failed after 3 months. That's unacceptable, and in my opinion they should revert to the mousewheel design they used prior to the BenQ buyout. Read more

The mouse wheel is straight up awful and makes this mouse suck to use on a daily basis, quite annoying as the rest of the mouse is great. Read more

Très gros joueur de CS GO je peu dire que c'est la meilleure souris pour CS et pour tout jeux FPS compétitif en tout genre Read more

Literally the best of the best. Read more

Most Zowie mice do not stand out in the gaming mice segment on looks, features, or specs. In the $30--$50 price range, where the ZA12-C currently sits, other competitors seemingly outcompete Zowie -- the Logitech G502 Hero and the Razer Deathadder V3 come to mind as similarly priced wired competitors which have similar shapes but generally boast better features (most through software) or specs (i.e., switches and sensors). The ZA12-C, and most of Zowie's offerings, seem milquetoast by comparison. In my opinion, what Zowie's offerings lack in flashy marketing they make up for in simple performance, build quality, and longevity. While a fine mouse, the Logitech G502 Hero's shape is similar in profile to the ZA12-C but it's angularity (which I would guess was added for a more gamer aesthetic) makes it less comfortable IMO. Logitech's software does offer some nice features, but the simplicity of the Zowie experience, which offers no added software, is attractive to me these days when too many peripherals demand you install their extra software. With a decent mouse surface I see no difference between the tracking accuracy of the G502 Hero (for which the HERO sensor is a big marketing point) and the Zowie ZA12-C. The Deathadder V3 compares similarly, though I find its shape to be better compared to the G502 Hero. I think I still prefer the ZA12-C. I also prefer the finish of the surface on the ZA12-C, which is smooth and easy to clean without being glossy and slippery, to both competitors. Razer's software adds some useful features, but I find their software to be extremely annoying so I'm not sure I would want to use it anyway. As a physical product I quite like the Deathadder V3, but I have grown wary of Razer's build quality and longevity of late. I have had my ZA12-C for over a year and a half and the feel has not changed noticeably at all. It practically still feels new, especially after a cleaning. I've had older generations of Deathadder that lasted that long, but I'm not sure if the new ones do. Conveniently, Zowie includes extra mouse feet in the box, saving you from having to buy aftermarket in the future as is often the case with competitors like Logitech and Razer (as I had to do for a Logitech G305 wireless I use for travel). There are three things I can think of could be improved, or that buyers might miss from competitors. 1. The braided "paracord" sheathing used on the USB cable is very nice (more pliable than cheap plastic sheathing) but is heavier than standard plastic sheathing. If you use a mouse bungie, this difference is not noticeable because the amount of cable you have to drag around is reduced. 2. The worst physical part of the ZA12-C is the scroll wheel. It has a very firm click and it is near impossible to scroll quickly with it. When I first got the ZA12-C I hated the scroll wheel but have since gotten used to it. The only benefit I could think of is if you use the scroll wheel to switch weapons or bhop and need very precise, discrete clicks on the scroll wheel. For general use I think it's inferior to its competitors. 3. Because the Zowie has no accompanying software you cannot do things like adjust X and Y sensitivity separately except with generic software like RawAccel, which I did use on the ZA12-C for a bit and it worked fine. You should consider if features like these are a necessity for you or not. Overall I have been impressed with the build quality and longevity of the ZA12-C and find its shape to be very pleasing. If these factors are important to you and you don't need the software features available on other competitors, I think you will be happy with the ZA12-C. Read more