Incott GHERO Review
Introduction
Incott, also known as Ironcat, is a Chinese company known for producing mice that often feature something unique, like the older Ironcat Minipro with swappable back-shells, and the somewhat newer HPC02 featuring hot-swappable switches. In this review, we will be discussing their new mouse, the Incott GHERO, featuring a hybrid shape-design!
Specifications
There exist two versions of this mouse. The normal GHERO weighs 60 grams with a 300mah battery and a matt coating. There is also the GHERO Pro, which weighs 66 grams but has a bigger 500mah battery and an improved UV Surface coating. The rest of the specifications are the same.
Both mice come standard with 1KHz polling rate but can achieve 8KHz polling with a separate 8K dongle.
Packaging
- 1x Incott GHERO mouse
- 1x USB Type-A to Type-C cable
- 1x USB Type-A to Type-C adapter
- 1x Wireless receiver/dongle (1KHz compatible)
- 1x "Thanks letter" (mostly written in Chinese)
The product comes packaged in a compact box (160 * 100 * 55 mm) with a very simple design which slides open, revealing the mouse, cable, adapter, and wireless receiver. No grip-tape, extra feet or additional accessories are included.
Shape & Size
The Incott GHERO is a hybrid-shaped mouse with a size of 118.6 * 66 * 38.6 mm, making it a smaller-sized mouse. The hump sits towards the back but is quite flat, which allows me to grip it a lot more relaxed compared to high-hump mice. The main grip styles compatible with this mouse will be fingertip for large and medium-sized hands like mine (20.5 x 10.5 cm), as well as a relaxed claw-grip for most users below a hand-length of roughly 21cm. I found a very relaxed claw grip to work for my hand size but with my fingertips placed at the very edge of the buttons. Palm-grip will also work well for those with medium-to-small hands (<18cm hand-length).
The most unique part of this mouse's shape is its hybrid design. The top and front of the mouse are very similar to symmetrical mice in that it does not slope down toward the sides like most ergonomic mice will. The left side has an aggressive inward curvature from the top and flares somewhat out towards the front and back, similar to what can be seen on many other symmetrical mice. The right side, however, makes the mouse more unique, having a design similar to that of ergonomic mice with an outward curvature for a more comfortable and natural grip.
The Incott GHERO (left) has a similar outward curvature to ergonomic mice like the Pwnage StormBreaker (right).
But the top of the Incott GHERO is flat like most symmetrical mice, contrasting ergonomic mice with a sloping top like seen on the Pwnage StormBreaker.
This design is heavily inspired by how VAXEE designed their NP-01 lineup, featuring a hybrid shape. While not exactly the same, the Waizowl OGM Pro is another mouse with this type of design, but it has more of a centered hump and is overall a lot taller, making it feel quite different.
Coating
As mentioned in the specifications, the Incott GHERO comes in two variants, the normal one and the Pro version, which is the one I have. Because I do not own the normal version, I cannot comment on its coating other than mentioning that it has a matt coating, which will likely make the mouse less grippy than the Pro version, which comes with a UV Surface coating. This coating is quite enjoyable to use and very similar in grippy-ness to mice from Zowie, Endgame Gear, and Vancer's new mice (Thrash and Groove).
A common problem with these kinds of coatings is that they pick up dirt and oil quite fast. Because I have the red colorway, I've not been able to see any of that, though it will likely be more visible on white, and especially black versions if you decide to get those colorways instead.
The mouse does not come with any included grip-tape, which is unfortunate for those who prefer using them over standard coatings, but for me, I would not have applied them either way as I find my grip on this mouse more than adequate. Combining the coating with the hybrid shape design, I found the mouse extraordinarily easy to pick up and use without fatigue. While heavy sweating makes it less grippy, the same applies to most other mice.
Build Quality
Similar to what I talked about in my review of the Vancer Thrash, many mice compromise on build quality to achieve the lowest possible weight. The Incott GHERO has not gone in this direction and again seems to take inspiration from VAXEE by letting the weight stay a little higher compared to its competition but focusing on a solid build quality, which this mouse has achieved.
The Incott GHERO does not flex or creak whatsoever, even when heavy pressure is applied. The side wobble on the main clicks is also kept to an absolute minimum.
Some newer mice seem to compromise on build quality to achieve the lowest possible weight. While the Vancer Thrash is not the lightest mouse available, it has one of the best build qualities that I have ever experienced. Neither the sides, bottom, or top of the mouse creaks, bends, or snaps during usage, even when significant pressure is applied. Every mouse will have some amount of side wobble to the main buttons due to their thinness and often being separated from the rest of the shell but on this unit, it is not at all noticeable during normal usage.
It is important to note that while this unit had superb build quality, every unit and batch of mice will differ slightly. My unit of the Groove, another one of Vancer's new mice, has the same quality and feel.
Weight & Feet/Skates
The Incott GHERO weighs in at 60 grams, while the Pro version weighs 66 grams due to its additional coating and larger battery. While I have no problems with the 66 grams of my unit (Pro version), I would have preferred to have it reduced a little. The main way to do so would simply have been to use the normal version at 60 grams, but you then lose out on the improved coating from the Pro version, which is a big part of what makes the mouse so comfortable to use.
While the weight itself is not the most competitive, the weight-balancing is one of the best I've experienced. I do not feel that the mouse is more front- or back-heavy, which can sometimes be a problem on lighter mice where all the weight is distributed towards the front where the PCB, scroll wheel and buttons are placed. So while the weight itself is fine, the overall feel and moving the mouse around is quite solid.
Another area of the Incott GHERO that contributes to its overall feel is the feet/skates. Right out of the box, these 100% PTFE feet are surprisingly smooth, especially compared to the scratchiness that often occurs with a brand new mouse where its feet need a break-in period of a couple of days, which this mouse does not suffer from.
Buttons & Scroll Wheel
- 2x Main-buttons (switches: Huano Blue Shell Pink Dot Transparent)
- 2x Side-buttons
- Scroll-wheel
- DPI-button on the top
- On/Off/Hz switch-slider on the bottom
The Incott GHERO uses mechanical Huano Blue Shell Pink Dot Transparent switches for the main buttons. These are quite tactile and feel very similar to the Vancer Thrash and Groove, which also use the same switches. The sound between these mice is also nearly identical and similar to most other mice, not being too loud, nor being particularly quiet.
There is very little pre-travel on the main switches and only a slight amount of post-travel, though never noticeable during normal gameplay. The side-buttons only have very slight pre-travel but they do have a little more post-travel in this case.
Both the main- and side buttons on the Incott GHERO have extremely little wobble to them and can only be seen when intentionally pushing them around. The main buttons have comfort-grooves but are so slight that it is hard to even know they are there.
The scroll wheel on this mouse is very smooth but does not offer much tactility, making it feel less defined. I prefer this for bunny-hopping in games, but for any other scenario, the lesser-defined steps make it more difficult to do precise scrolling. Pressing the scroll wheel down requires a medium amount of force and can be done quite easily. Overall, the scroll wheel is the main area where I'd like to see an improvement. While it is by no means bad, it does not feel as high quality and defined as most other mice do nowadays.
Sensor & Performance
The Incott GHERO uses a PAW3395 sensor with up to 32000 DPI and supports a default polling rate of up to 1000Hz with the included receiver. Getting up to 8000Hz is also possible but requires a separately sold dongle that works for both the normal and Pro version. No problems with performance were encountered during gameplay and was overall a flawless experience. Using the 8K dongle in modern games that support higher polling rates also did not lead to any issues.
8K dongle (sold separately) and 1K receiver (included)
Software & Configuration
No web-based software is available for the Incott GHERO, so you'll have to download the software for this mouse to configure it outside of using the DPI button to change between the preset 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 DPI steps. Download links to the software, driver, firmware, and guide are available on Mech Keys under the Description section.
The software is not particularly good. It has all the necessary options to configure different buttons and change the DPI and polling rate, as well as a few other settings. Overall, the layout and design are very typical of what you can expect from more affordable Chinese producers.
Configure buttons, debounce, and time before sleep
Configure DPI, polling rate, sensor mode, LOD, ripple control, angle snapping and motion sync
Set macros
Change lighting-effect
Conclusion
The Incott GHERO currently costs $43 (normal) and $52 (Pro) from Mech Keys at the time of writing. You can also get another $5 off with code ELO. While this mouse competes with many mice in the upper/mid-range tier of mice costing $100+, the Incott GHERO not only costs half of that, it also offers many of the same qualities, like well-tensioned and tactile buttons, excellent performance, solid build quality, and superb coating. Adding to this is the hybrid shape design that makes this a very unique mouse, directly rivaling the VAXEE NP-01. It also gives you the option of going with the normal version which is cheaper and has a lower weight, or you can go with the Pro version for a bigger battery and improved coating.
If you are looking for an alternative to the VAXEE NP-01 lineup, this is by far the closest option available right now, and at $50 or less, this mouse is a solid choice for anyone wanting a top-performing mouse for a lower price!
