Swiftpoint Z2 - Mouse with 13 buttons, gyro/tilt, ergonomics, and more.Worth it?

[RanceJustice]

Came across the pricey yet unique Swiftpoint lineup of ergonomic mice, notably the Z2 model which is their latest unified gaming/productivity version (as opposed to the presentation/pengrip mice they also offer). I've long been interested in mice with lots of extra buttons and features given years of MMORPG play, but we're a long way from the days of many competing grid-type side buttons and MMO-mice, so mice with more than the standard component of buttons plus one or two 'extra' on the sides have become unusual in the gaming space. The Z2 goes beyond just offering extra buttons (though the ones they offer are in a more thoughtful layout than a typical thumb-grid), and seems to offer tilt/gyro features, haptic feedback, a side visible OLED, and various analog buttons in addition to standard switches. This all atop core features such as a high end Pixart 3395 sensor capable of up to 26000 DPI and wired USB-C connectivity.

The price, even on sale is an order of magnitude among typical "high end gaming" mice but for its features, perhaps I can understand some increase. I was a bit concerned wondering how much of the Swiftpoint Z2's functionality required proprietary Windows utilities, but I am happy to report that with the exception of a firmware update (you'll need to use a VM or perhaps WINE etc), the Z2 now has "beta" official support and utility for Linux, while the mouse itself can be configured via other means and store profiles onboard. Admittedly when selling hardware like this I always prefer if the firmware and config/util software are released under FOSS licenses, but one step at a time I suppose. As far as possible concerns or downsides, I can imagine that some may cite its 115 gram weight compared to gaming mice that poke the body full of holes to get down to 60-ish grams, but outside of very niche competitive play I can't imagine it a major issue. Then again, maybe I'm just old enough to remember when people would ADD weights to the Logitech G5 or similar and the massively heavy palm-grip mice of the old days that were used even for twitchy, Quake 3 Arena and CS1.6 style shooters. Likewise, I don't think the Z2 has any battery / wireless connectivity, but while it would be a nice feature but is far from a requirement.

In any event, its good to see them being receptive to user requests, including for Linux support. . Has anyone used the Z2, or perhaps one of Swiftpoint's similar predecessors? Any upsides or downsides?

 

[RanceJustice]

Well, against my own better judgment I ordered one to test it out, as part of the Holiday Promotion (basically, you get the thing and the case for just under $200). Not sure if it has shipped and the snowstorm outside probably isn't helping things but..we'll see.

 

[Mizzer]

Well, against my own better judgment I ordered one to test it out, as part of the Holiday Promotion (basically, you get the thing and the case for just under $200). Not sure if it has shipped and the snowstorm outside probably isn't helping things but..we'll see.

I got one too.

 

[RanceJustice]

I got one too.

Oh yeah? Has it arrived yet or are you still waiting? Did you pick up the Z2 or another model?

 

[Mizzer]

Oh yeah? Has it arrived yet or are you still waiting? Did you pick up the Z2 or another model?

Z2. Haven't connected it yet. I'm intrigued by the tilt feature.

 

[MooCow]

Wow, I'm looking to replace my G700S mouse, this might be a... successor?

 

[NamelessPFG]

I backed the original Z when they first launched a Kickstarter campaign for that, and ultimately wound up replacing it with a Z2 just because the mouse wheel middle click started becoming iffy (which is a common issue on original Zs, and allegedly addressed on the Z2). Still kept the original Z for when I feel like doing a teardown and repairing the middle mouse click myself, since they ran out of Z1s years back and didn't offer any Z2 substitutions.

This is a hilariously overengineered mouse in the best way and I swear by mine, even if my wallet hates me for it.

• The configuration is all on board in the firmware, so once you've used their X1 Control Panel software to dial in your preferences, it's OS-agnostic from there.
• I'm only using 25% of the profile memory with five profiles as it is, so there's plenty of room to store your settings.
• The programming capabilities blow away any other mouse I've tried (usually Logitechs of various flavors), as you can have the buttons shifted via tilt axes (in fact, the config mode you might have seen is activated by lifting up the mouse and tilting for a good look at the OLED screen on the side), or other buttons. One such example of button-shifting is me using an MMORPG-centric profile to have the two thumb buttons shift the main LMB/RMB, fingertip buttons beneath them, and the two-way trigger push behind those to act as number row 1-6 and 7-=, all without having to move my left hand off the movement keys.
  • They can even be mapped to DirectInput controller buttons, though I intentionally disable the DI game controller to avoid conflicts with my actual HOTAS and gamepads. (Human Interface Devices, "HID-compliant game controller", VID 214E and PID 001E in Device Manager, if you need help finding it.)
• Tilt and force click might seem like gimmicks - until you actually try using 'em. One of my fave uses for force-click in casual computing is to press one of the little buttons in front of the main mouse buttons lightly for pasting whatever's in my clipboard, then a little harder to hit Enter afterward - very nice for pasting URLs into your browser, for instance.
• The only drawback seems to be how readily the (adjustable and replaceable, in case you don't like the tilt feature) mouse feet/skates gather up dust and start making scraping noises on my Icemat Steelseries Experience I-2 glass pad if they catch on any debris.
• Well, one more drawback coming from the Z1 - the RGB LED-backlit logo was subtle on the original, but now far more blatant with the Z2's new logo. I do like using the RGB feature to indicate which profile it's set to at a glance, but now it's a bit distracting in my peripheral vision if I don't have my hand on it.
• Also speaking of RGB backlighting, don't expect the Z2 to sync up with anything else if you care about that. I personally couldn't care less, given my point above about setting each programmed profile to a different color.
• Grip is definitely biased toward palm grip (my preferred style), though a claw gripper might adjust to it.
  • If anything, the real trip-up period was coming from all those Logitech MX500-descended mice (up to and including the G502) where I could comfortably have my middle finger on the mouse wheel, ring on RMB and pinky along the side, but the Z mice aren't wide enough for that up front - the lip on the front right is clearly for your ring finger, NOT your pinky.

 

[RanceJustice]

Thanks for your impressions - very helpful! I've only barely started to configure mine outside of the default usage.

I backed the original Z when they first launched a Kickstarter campaign for that, and ultimately wound up replacing it with a Z2 just because the mouse wheel middle click started becoming iffy (which is a common issue on original Zs, and allegedly addressed on the Z2). Still kept the original Z for when I feel like doing a teardown and repairing the middle mouse click myself, since they ran out of Z1s years back and didn't offer any Z2 substitutions.

This is a hilariously overengineered mouse in the best way and I swear by mine, even if my wallet hates me for it.

• The configuration is all on board in the firmware, so once you've used their X1 Control Panel software to dial in your preferences, it's OS-agnostic from there.

This is good; I do wish the control panel was under a FOSS license, but the Linux (beta) version and the Windows one seems to function well. Aside from auto-switching, it really seems to be able to save everything locally to the mouse

• I'm only using 25% of the profile memory with five profiles as it is, so there's plenty of room to store your settings.

Glad they gave us enough room - you can keep loading it up

• The programming capabilities blow away any other mouse I've tried (usually Logitechs of various flavors), as you can have the buttons shifted via tilt axes (in fact, the config mode you might have seen is activated by lifting up the mouse and tilting for a good look at the OLED screen on the side), or other buttons. One such example of button-shifting is me using an MMORPG-centric profile to have the two thumb buttons shift the main LMB/RMB, fingertip buttons beneath them, and the two-way trigger push behind those to act as number row 1-6 and 7-=, all without having to move my left hand off the movement keys.
  • They can even be mapped to DirectInput controller buttons, though I intentionally disable the DI game controller to avoid conflicts with my actual HOTAS and gamepads. (Human Interface Devices, "HID-compliant game controller", VID 214E and PID 001E in Device Manager, if you need help finding it.)

Especially in the Expert mode (which probably isn't necessary for most users or most commands, but I am glad the option is present) there's really a ton. Thanks for the bit of DirectInput and HID data; I think this is something that may have happened to me last night as I plugged in my DualSense and ran the PPSSPP emulator, it auto-mapped and identified things properly for a DualSense, but nothing was working! I would later find ouit that hte "pad 1" whatever PPSSPP was picking up was either the Z2 or perhaps my keyboard (Dygma Raise 2 or Defy, both split ergo with some advanced features) and when using my DualSense manually to rebind it came up as "pad2" etc.

• Tilt and force click might seem like gimmicks - until you actually try using 'em. One of my fave uses for force-click in casual computing is to press one of the little buttons in front of the main mouse buttons lightly for pasting whatever's in my clipboard, then a little harder to hit Enter afterward - very nice for pasting URLs into your browser, for instance.

Agreed, very nice. The tilting works very well for any game that has leaning or 'shift pages/mode" for instance; I'll have to try that pressure use. Its worth noting that the tilting can be adjusted based on how you place the "tilt feet" to make it easier/more dramatic tilting or the opposite. I was afraid it would be too easy to activate when just moving the mouse in a hectic fashion, but its really pretty well designed I've found so far. Of course, you can always swap the 'lockout' feet if you don't want it to tilt at all.. For those wondering, it seems like neither built in game profiles nor desktop have default tilting functions - so you won't accidentally start activating something, you have to manually specify and bind a key/function to the tilts if you plan to use them which was kind of nice to see to keep new users from being confused.

• The only drawback seems to be how readily the (adjustable and replaceable, in case you don't like the tilt feature) mouse feet/skates gather up dust and start making scraping noises on my Icemat Steelseries Experience I-2 glass pad if they catch on any debris.

I agree, I'm using it on an old Steelseries SX anodized metal pad and it does pick up the dust but at least they're cleanable with ease. I've thought about getting one of those Cerapads though...

• Well, one more drawback coming from the Z1 - the RGB LED-backlit logo was subtle on the original, but now far more blatant with the Z2's new logo. I do like using the RGB feature to indicate which profile it's set to at a glance, but now it's a bit distracting in my peripheral vision if I don't have my hand on it.

• Also speaking of RGB backlighting, don't expect the Z2 to sync up with anything else if you care about that. I personally couldn't care less, given my point above about setting each programmed profile to a different color.\

Yeah I can understand that. It doesn't really bother me with its brightness and I've left it cycling so far, but I guess setting it to different profiles seems a good idea once I get enough of them varied to do so. As far as not being able to sync it with anything else, I guess that's something people could ask the devs to add various API compatibility (Asus AuraSync etc) but something like OpenRGB / Aurora could also add support - or the devs could directly give those projects the resources necessary to do so.

• Grip is definitely biased toward palm grip (my preferred style), though a claw gripper might adjust to it.
  • If anything, the real trip-up period was coming from all those Logitech MX500-descended mice (up to and including the G502) where I could comfortably have my middle finger on the mouse wheel, ring on RMB and pinky along the side, but the Z mice aren't wide enough for that up front - the lip on the front right is clearly for your ring finger, NOT your pinky.

I've found it overall comfortable with the nice "thumb and ring finger rest" which are useful for the tilting feature. Overall its design seems pretty solid but I never used the "3 fingers atop the mouse" grip and trying it it does feel a little cramped. Having used many MMO mice with extra buttons over the years, this is definitely one of the better laid out ones. Everything is easily discernable by feel and shape, much is customizable, the thumb buttons don't get in the way of lifting up on the mouse (a major issue with many grid designs where you have to clear a button of function to use as a thumb resting space or where you pinch in to pick up the mouse), and the aforementioned thumb and ring finger rests are well designed for the tilting and overall use in general. The accessories and options are nice to see as well, where you can swap the fingertip buttons (the default are the "long" models but ther are also 'short" ones that may be useful for shorter fingers or those who keep their hand further back on the mouse/use something closer to a claw grip), and the knuckle+trigger buttons (which can be oriented whichever way you want and there are an included low profile set of alternative caps).

As you mentioned the "config" mode, I lifting and tilting the mouse to the right (as if you were more easily looking at the OLED display) will activate Config (both visible on OLED and a haptic pulse notifies you) which allows you to A) change DPI by scrolling the mouse wheel B) press the two Edge buttons next to left click to cycle through Profiles, and C) pull the left Trigger button to cycle through OLED display options. These are independent of the other profiles but keep in mind the DPI will change back if you have automatic profile switching enabled and it changes to another one; Config mode does not seem to "write" the DPI level to the current profile but I think that's a good thing in most cases; its better to do that manually.

As far as downsides, I've found relatively few. I do wish the cable was capable of being disconnected - its otherwise of high quality and attached in what seems to be a solid manner, but for storage, reconfiguring the mouse's hardware/accessories, or just routing it would be nice if it had a nice USB-C connector that could be removed. While I wouldn't call it a downside, some may be put off by the weight compared to a typical 5/6 button "holes in its back" mouse though I think the features are more than worth it and it still isn't nearly as heavy as the mice more than a decade ago. Overall though very few major downsides I've found so far.

Wishlist / Requests - A pretty short list; continued Linux support to feature parity with the Windows client including firmware updates, FOSS drivers/firmware/config utility licensing, the aforementioned detachable cable, possibly wireless function ideally both latest gen Bluetooth and some version of a dongle for ultra low latency, , an optional analog stick that could be slotted in instead of the 2 side buttons?

On the matter of the Case - I got mine in the Holiday promo which included the case (which normally retails for the pretty high $30) as well as a significantly discounted mouse itself. The case is very well laid out and has room for all your included peripherals and customization items - the Gyro/Joystick rocker takes up the most space and its good to ahve a place to store when you're 'normally" mousing, places to attach whatever set of feet your not using Tilt or Lockout, there are even press-through storage bits for the alternate Trigger/Knuckle and Fingertip button styles - plus the mouse itself. Storing the mouse is well designed too having the user wrap the cord around a form since it cannot be disconnected but at the end it feels like everything is in its proper place. The price is a bit high for the kind of hard-ish case but it is well designed and they put effort into it so I think its worthwhile if you can pick it up as part of a sale or promo.

I've just started looking into the alternate playstyles enabled by the mouse's unique buttons and features, but overall I'm happy with it thus far!