Mionix NAOS 8200 Laser Gaming Mouse - Hardware Review

We recently had the good luck to review Mionix's excellent Zibal 60 mechanical keyboard and have now gotten our hands on their flagship gaming mouse, the NAOS 8200. For those that are unaware, Mionix is a small company based out of Sweden that is dedicated to making the world's best performing gaming mouse and the NAOS 8200 is what they came up with. Is it really "the world's best performing gaming mouse?" Read on to find out more.

Presentation has always been something that I am fond of; how is a piece of hardware shipped? Is the unit packed tightly and padded well? At first I was a bit concerned as the box that the NAOS ships in is pretty small (though of sturdy quality), but once I opened it up I was relieved to see that the mouse was packed in nice and tight with no room for movement and the braided cord was wrapped and packed tightly in a segregated compartment. Regarding the cord; like all Mionix gear the cord is braided and long (near on 2 meters) which is excellent for any gaming setup.

The NAOS 8200 is absolutely sublime. The smooth matte finish is comfortable, breathes well and simply looks stunning. The mouse wheel, programmable DPI buttons, and Mionix logo are all backlit (and you can customize the color of the backlighting using the NAOS Software from Mionix's website). One thing to note is that out of all of the backlit mice I have used, the NAOS 8200 backlight is bright enough to be noticed but subtle enough that it is not too distracting; I have used plenty of mice with lighting effects on them that were so bright you could turn off the lights and read a book.

If there is anything that this mouse is, it is classy and simply gorgeous, yet the appearance of the mouse has nothing on how the mouse actually feels in your hand. The ergonomics on the NAOS 8200 are simply stunning and work for hands of all sizes (though admittedly, a child's hand may sit awkwardly but let's be real, for as nice as this mouse is you would not want to have your pre-teen using this mouse; they could get along fine with an old 2-button mouse). When your hand is at rest on the mouse the smooth grooves fit your hand perfectly. This is without a doubt, the nicest mouse I have ever held.

To go along with an impressive appearance and ergonomic design, the mouse glides perfectly over multiple surfaces, though for the most part I have the NAOS 8200 paired with the Mionix Sargas 320 gaming surface (stay tuned for our review), but I did spend quite some time with it on my Glorious Extended Gaming Mat as well as my SteelSeries QcK mouse pad; there were even a few times that I used the mouse on non-standard surfaces (like on my pant leg and my couch) and the incredibly precise 8200 DPI sensor was able to track perfectly. Simply put, this mouse will track accurately on nearly any surface you throw at it and that is a great thing.

With customizable buttons, profiles, DPI settings, and backlighting, the NAOS 8200 has the power and capability to support the perfect ergonomics and aesthetics. When you take into effect the build quality, the features, and the sheer capability of Mionix's flagship gaming mouse, it is more than earned to tag the NAOS 8200 with the description "the world's best performing gaming mouse." Well done, Mionix, well done indeed.

Review by Robert