Finalmouse Ultralight 2
Lighter is Better
Finalmouse is renowned for making innovative, high quality mice and this one is no different. The Ultralight 2 or the ‘Cape Town’ as it was nicknamed, is a mouse with a couple of cautionary tales that we’ll discuss below. Currently this is their lightest and smallest mouse to date which is great for those of us with small hands. However if you’re on the larger spectrum, I would definitely suggest you look into the Air58 instead if you can manage to snag one at a good price. My first impression of the mouse was simply my aim was a lot better than with any other mouse I’ve had. Now, its not because they have a good sensor or some special technology; it was simply the shape and weight was perfect for me. The mouse I would say is one of the best for competitive gaming, save for the fact that a significant number have reported some quality control issues (including myself) with the scroll wheels.
DISCLAIMER: BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY
For those that don’t know, Finalmouse has been known to constantly lie as well as fabricate information about their products & company. In fact they claimed that this was actually their final mouse and they would be moving on to shoe design. To everyone’s dismay they announced they would continue manufacturing mice shortly after the Ultralight 2 sold out; convenient timing I might add. Personally my experience was awful with their company, and trying to get my hands on the Ultralight 2 was misleading and stressful. They spent months feeding people false information on the release of the mouse, baiting everyone into engaging them on Twitter using unethical marketing techniques. Even the name ‘Cape Town’ was verified to be false as they were pretending the mice were ‘blessed in cape town by locals’ which turned out to be a paid dance troupe/actors that wasn’t even filmed in Cape Town. Naturally there’s a lot of drama surrounding their products since they insist on using sleazy marketing tactics.
A Competitive Gamer’s Mouse
Despite the company being a laughing stock, the mouse itself is quite a good product. The mouse body is made of great materials and is sturdy. Unlike other mice there’s no ‘give’ if you grip really hard unlike the Model O/Model O-. You can tell immediately that the shell is much higher quality than most other mice, and is seemingly thicker. Those of us with sweaty hands might appreciate the hex pattern as it keeps your hand cool during long gaming sessions (believe it or not it actually me helps a lot). Clicks feel satisfying and responsive and have no issues. Side buttons are tactile, but positioned a little high; hasn’t caused any problems for me though. DPI button is out of the way so chances of mistakingly clicking it are low, I’ve yet to accidentally click it. The wire is high quality, and with a mouse bungee it feels as close to wireless as a wired mouse can get. The shape is amazing on the UL2, it's comfortable and reduces fatigue for me. Aesthetically the mouse is a toss up. Many have taken issue with their color choice, and resort to repainting the mouse for themselves (I'm tempted to as well).
Finalmouse Ultralight 2 specs
- Weight: 48 grams
- Length: 11.6 cm
- Width: 5.3 cm
- Height: 3.57 cm
- Shape: Ambidextrous
- Cable Length: 2 metres, soft braided
Hardware
- Sensor: Pixart PMW3360
- Buttons: Omron switches
- Polling Rates (Hz): 500
- DPI: 400, 800, 1600, 3200
- Buttons: 5 + DPI switcher
- Software: None
- RGB: None
- Connectivity: Wired
Expensive lack of Quality Control
Despite the Finalmouse Ultralight 2 being marketed as a new product its just a remake of the same design they’ve been peddling for years. The price tag at launch was significantly more than the Air58 for what is essentially the same thing, but smaller. At $120USD (at release) the mouse costs almost as much as its wireless counterparts, the Logitech G Pro Wireless and Razer Viper Ultimate. If you're on a budget look into what CoolerMaster and Glorious have to offer.
Infinity skins are an utter disappointment as they’re just a foam version of grip tape; originally it was implied that the foam would be integrated into the mouse itself. The only benefit of the Infinity Skins is that they make the mouse larger for our big handed individuals, so they can actually use it. I however, found the skins to be obtrusive when trying to play competitively so I had to remove them. If you ever want to take them off you’re going to need a hair dryer, a clean rag, and time to attempt to get the residue off. Mine remained sticky for 2 weeks after a thorough cleaning.
The scroll wheel as with all of Finalmouse’s previous launches is fragile and will most likely break in the span of 3 months; mine partially broke as well. People have resorted to pulling scroll wheels from other mice to replace it or luckily if you have a 3D printer you can print a replacement though fixing this yourself will void the warranty; you can find free models on Thingiverse for that. One other problem that has surfaced is over time an adhesive under the mouse buttons will start gripping the actuators. My personal experience is it goes away by itself through use. For a mouse this expensive there really shouldn't be this many quality control issues, but I can't say I haven't seen this before from other mouse companies.
Summary
The Finalmouse Ultralight 2 had great potential to be the best mouse on the market. If you can resolve the inevitable scroll wheel issues and stomach the price tag you might just have your new main mouse. I still use the UL2 to this day and until a proper competitor comes along I’ll be sticking with it. However, Finalmouse is a company I never wanted to support after I saw their controversial marketing tactics and their lack of proper quality control. If I’m ignoring the company behind the product I would recommend the Finalmouse Ultralight 2 to anyone who has small hands, and is looking for a mouse for competitive shooters. If you have qualms with the company, then I’d suggest looking into the cheaper Glorious Model O- or Coolermaster MM711.