Fnatic is rolling out their new flagship wireless mouse. The Bolt is a lightweight full featured wireless mouse that offers a medium sized ambi shape paired with a 3370 pixart sensor. With a promising spec sheet, let’s see how the mouse stacks up against the competition.
Measurements (L x W x H)
120.89 x 55.44 x 38.53mm
Weight
:White 69 g, Black 67g
Unboxing and Extras
The unboxing experience feels quite premium and is right up there with the big boys in terms of how well this thing is packaged. The mouse comes with what you’d expect in terms of a charging cable, USB dongle and also an extra set of skates.
Design and Build Quality
The Bolt was built with medium handed gamers in mind. It feels super comfortable in claw or fingertip grip and feels lighter than the stated weight. The weight is also relatively well balanced which makes it easy to fling around the mousepad. The mouse is ambi-shaped with a RGB scroll wheel and a minimal silver printed Fnatic logo towards the back of the mouse. It feels like quite a bit of thought was put into the shape as it’s very comfortable yet still manages to feel unique compared to what’s been coming out of late. The main triggers feature a split design and there is a a DPI button nicely tucked away under the main clicks which should keep you from hitting it accidentally.
The mouse has a chalky PBT feel with a slight texture to it. The coating instantly reminded me of that on the Razer Orochi V2 as it’s got a matte grainy feel that makes it easy to grip. As for the build quality itself, the mouse felt very sturdy given it’s weight and there was no side flex, bottom flex or wobble. I could not the the shell to creak even when applying lots of pressure but the scroll wheel did rattle slightly with a hard shake.
Buttons & Scroll Wheel
The main clicks have a split button design with the scroll wheel placed comfortably in-between. The button placement is very comfortable for all five buttons and the only thing about the placement that felt awkward was the empty space above the scroll wheel. M1 and M2 use Kailh GM 8.0 clicks. the clicks themselves feel tactile and crisp with almost no pre-travel and a bit of post travel. The clicks are quite light to actuate but there is some sideplay present when you keep the main clicks depressed. The weakness of the clicks comes through when you try spam clicking mouse 1 or mouse 2. There is a bit of an airy hollow feeling with the clicks and the shell underneath the clicks feels a bit wobbly and unstable. While it isn’t too much of an issue while gaming it does concern me that the clicks may get slightly more loose over time.
The scroll wheel is well placed and feels comfortable in any grip, style. The wheel is low profile and has a gummy textured feel. The wheel feels great for bunny hopping in game and is also awesome for general desktop use. It’s tactile, well tensioned and feels sturdy. The middle click requires moderate force to actuate and it has quite a shallow bottom-out. I will also note that the RGB lighting looks quite good and it’s well diffused through the underside of the wheel. The lightning bolt motif is printed underneath the rubberized clear surface and is bright and well diffused through the surface.
The side buttons are really well placed and I didn’t have to adjust my grip to accommodate them. While they’re not a crispy sounding click, they offer more of a dull tactile feeling that feels great in-game. The side buttons have very little pre-travel and limited post travel making each action feel tactile, precise and distinct. Definitely a fan of these side buttons and don’t think anyone who relies on them heavily will be disappointed.
Shape, Performance and Software
The shape was really the thing that drew me to this mouse over time. The shape is great in claw for me and I can easily shift to fingertip seamlessly. The mouse feels lighter than the stated weight for me and I performed quite well with it in-game. It provided the stability and reliability I’m looking for in consistent performance but still gave me the ability to hit tough flicks. The nicely balanced 69g weight meant I could also make quick micro adjustments to my aim with minimal effort. I felt very at home with this mouse right away and it did what I expected a good gaming mouse to do – give me confidence in my aim and ability while gaming.
The Fnatic bolt does give the ability to be customized with the FNATIC OP software. This allows for RGB customization and what you’d expect from standard mouse software – custom DPI adjustments, macros and click re-binding as well as RGB lighting customization.
Battery Life, Sensor and Skates
I was impressed by the battery life on the Bolt. It’s right up there with other mice like the GPX Superlight at a rated 110 hours when used in 2.4ghz wireless and up to 210 hours over Bluetooth. The Lithium-ion polymer battery performed well in my testing and it feels like that estimate is quite accurate. This isn’t one of those mice that you’re going to be scrambling to recharge and when the need does arise, the USB-C port and charger make it a relatively painless process.
In terms of the charging cable itself, it’s light enough in a paracord-style like style that will match the color of your Bolt. I would not recommend playing with the mouse plugged in however since the cable is not that flexible.
The Sensor on the Bolt is the Pixart 3370 which is also the sensor that several other lightweight wireless mice have been using. The implementation here is snappy, precise and I had absolutely no issues. I didn’t notice any noticeable lag or delay and had no spinouts or tracking issues. LOD is set quite low out the box and I didn’t experience any issues in my hours of gaming.
The stock feet on the Bolt are nicely curved and have a milky clear appearance indicative of 100% virgin pure PTFE. I was quite pleased with the stock skates as they were smooth without any noticeable scratchiness and felt great without any break-in period. The curved edges and thickness felt great out the box and I don’t think you’ll need to change them for aftermarket skates to get optimal performance.
Conclusions
The Fnatic bolt is an excellent wireless gaming mouse that is a breath of fresh air in the market. It’s a new shape that should work for a lot of gamers out there.
Pros
- Awesome unique shape for claw grip and fingertip grip
- Coating is comfortable and easy to grip
- Excellent Battery Life
- Stock skates don’t need upgrading
Cons
- Main clicks have some side play and wobble
- Some concerns over long term durability
Overall Rating 9/10
Bottom Line
For the €89.99 retail price, the Fnatic Bolt is worth picking up if you’re looking to try something that feels fresh at a shape and weight that’s easy to adjust to
Where to buy the Fnatic Bolt
If you like the Bolt, you can also try these shapes – Finalmouse Starlight-12, Zowie FK2-C, Razer Orochi V2