Mchose L7 Pro+ review

Mchose has introduced me to the smaller-brand mouse 'clone' market, and it's changed how I look at gaming mice pretty significantly. I was aware of brands such as this one before, of course, but after having my hands on one of the company's mice and realising it's actually good and costs just $60… well, that kind of changes things, doesn't it?

It's also rather fitting that I'm writing these words after having spent an inordinate amount of time testing and writing about the new $180 Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike, a mouse that is literally 3x the price of this very good L7 Pro+. That's not me dissing the Superstrike—it packs in some genuinely new and promising tech—but it does go to highlight exactly what brands like Mchose offer: genuine value for those on a budget.

Mice like the L7 Pro+ tend to replicate the shape of popular competitive gaming mice from bigger brands. In this case, the closest match is the much more expensive Pulsar X2 CrazyLight Medium, which I recently reviewed and found pretty solid to use, despite its flaws.

The Pulsar has a bit of a hump towards the back, as does the L7 Pro+, making it great for claw grip gamers. The Plus version that I'm using is for medium or large hands, while the regular version is for smaller hands or those who just want a smaller mouse.

Unfortunately, I don't use a full claw grip, so my opinion is naturally tinged by this. The shape isn't completely unamenable to palm grip or the kind of relaxed and hybrid palm-claw grip that I use, but the hump on this one does feel a little distracting. Crucially, I found this to be much more the case for the Mchose mouse than the Pulsar one.

While they are incredibly similar shapes, the Pulsar's hump is a little more relaxed, and the whole mouse is a little wider, while the Mchose tapers a bit towards the front. With the Mchose L7 Pro+, I've found myself constantly noticing that hump: it's always there, reminding me of its presence.

I don't want to overstate this, though, because it's far from an uncomfortable mouse to use. It's just not my absolute favourite of shapes, and not even my favourite of humped shapes. That narrowness does make it fit better with a broader range of grips, too, which is a plus. If you lean more towards a claw grip than a palm grip, then I'm sure you'll fare better than I on this front.

I've found the mouse to perform perfectly well, although connecting over wireless 2.4 GHz does introduce some measurable tracking inconsistencies compared to when plugged in, but this is only visible in testing software, and not noticeable at all in actual use. I've seen this before in plenty of mice, although this Mchose mouse does have one of the bigger changes I've seen when switching from wired to wireless in testing. In-game, though, I've not noticed a single hitch, and from a practical use perspective, it feels like it tracks perfectly over wireless.

The sensor inside is the PAW3395, PixArt's previous best sensor. The newer PAW3950 is technically a little better in a couple of respects, such as a slightly lower minimum lift-off distance and slightly higher max DPI and speed, but these differences won't be noticeable in practice. The 3395 in the L7 Pro+ is still a great, high-end sensor, which makes sense given this is a mouse that will primarily be of interest to those who are into competitive games.

The great performance this mouse offers isn't down to the electronics alone, though, but also its low weight. At just 43 g (which I measured), it's well and truly in the ultralight bracket. It's not quite as light as the Corsair Sabre V2 Pro, mind, but it's much lighter than most mice on the market. It also has nary a hole in sight, not even on the underside, unlike the Pulsar CrazyLight X2. And it's managed to cram in a Bluetooth receiver and an underside DPI button, unlike the Corsair mouse, which cut such things presumably to get the weight even lower.

Saying this, there could be a very slight sacrifice to the L7 Pro+'s build quality to achieve the light weight. I noticed a little creak if I squeeze the sides firmly, but it feels very robust and premium when you're not putting it to the vice test.

Its light weight, plus the PTFE feet, makes for a very pleasant swishy swooshing experience across my SteelSeries QcK Performance Speed mouse pad. It also feels great moving across the QPAD Obsidian Glass, but I've tried to refrain from using that as PTFE feet can wear down quickly on a glass pad. Which all aids me in nailing those headshots.

One area I'm not fully sold on is the clicks. They don't sound or feel cheap, but they are stiffer to release than I'd like. And I'm not just saying that because I'm coming to this review straight after using the gloriously lightly clickable Superstrike: the lift-off of the clicks on the L7 Pro+ is stiff compared to most mice I've used, including the Pulsar X2 CrazyLight. You do get used to it, but an easier lift-off would be nicer.

Battery life is one area that could be improved, but you know you'll be sacrificing something when you go for an ultralight mouse like this one. I managed to get a good week of work and some gaming out of it at 1 kHz, and a few days toggling between 1 kHz when working and casual gaming and 2 kHz when competitive gaming.

I like the LED on the dongle that gradually turns red to show more clearly where you're at in terms of battery life, but the software only shows where you're up to in 10% increments, which isn't ideal.

The software in general is super impressive, though—much more so than most other mouse apps I've used. Notably, you get the option for both browser-based software and local software. That means you don't have to have it installed if you don't want another app clogging up your PC, but equally, if you're worried about internet outages or website problems, you can use the local software.

The options you get are extensive and easy to configure, too. I'm particularly impressed with the Performance tab, which allows you to change polling rate, lift-off distance, debounce time, sensor tilt, and more.

There's even an enigmatic section where you can choose between Performance, Gaming, and Extreme modes. I had no idea what these were, but Mchose clarified that changing these changes the mouse's scanning frame rate, ie, the sensor's FPS, which is something I've never seen a mouse let you configure before. It would be nice if it said this is what these settings do in the software, and I haven't really noticed a difference switching between them, but it's great that it's there—the more configuration the merrier, I say.

And hey, did I mention this thing is just $60? Because it is, y'know. Just $60. Though saying that, it does look like the Plus version is struggling on the stock front in the UK, as well as from some retailers in the US, though the smaller non-Plus version seems to be in stock.

If it were $100, I'd be more critical of its slightly stiff click release and mediocre battery life, but for $60, these downsides almost turn into a 'who cares?' And the positives of overall build quality, great sensor, light weight, and wonderful software turn into very big deals. For this reason, even though I prefer using the Pulsar due to its nicer clicks and its shape, which gels more with my palmy-clawy grip, I'm actually scoring the Mchose a little higher than the Pulsar.

More than anything, I think the mouse deserves praise for bringing a genuinely competitive shape, light weight, and great performance to the budget market. You're not having to settle for second-best in those regards, here. You're getting a mouse that can keep up with the best for competitive gaming, and that gets a big double-thumbs-up from me.