While console controllers had gone wireless 15 years ago, untethered mice were taboo until very recently and many still swear by wired inputs. HP OMEN Vector Wireless is a strong case for wireless mice – built for responsiveness and stamina, it doesn’t compromise its function for wireless convenience.
Palm Pilot
HP OMEN Vector Wireless comes in a little over 100 grams so those who like to whip a mouse around might find it a little heavy. For everyone else, it feels solid and substantial but not particularly weighty. Some of you will have noticed that the wired version of HP OMEN Vector comes with a set of extra weights offering a total weight of 120-145 grams. Our Vector Wireless review does not come with this feature, unfortunately.
Vector is a little on the large side and fills the palm at 42mm (1.65″) tall at its peak. Those who prefer a claw grip will find the hump meeting their hand. The curvy, contoured design, seemingly traced around an average hand, is comfortable. Allowing the hand to sink onto its humps, bumps and dips is a nice sensation. I played for hours at a time and didn’t find playing outside my usual claw style to be awkward.
The textured plastic adds to the feeling of a snug and secure grip. This is bolstered by the textured rubber bumpers on either side. The thumb rests naturally on its bumper and gives a safe area away from the two side buttons. The ring and baby fingers instinctively find the rubber bumper on the other side. The design is based on a tried & tested form and keeps it safe and familiar – a good choice.
HP OMEN Vector Wireless hooks up to your gaming PC via USB dongle on the 2.4GHz band. Standard stuff for a proper wireless gaming mouse. This USB-A dongle tucks into a recess in the the heel of the mouse.
Pilot Light
Complementing the relatively muted form is a surprisingly tasteful provision of LEDs. Vector Wireless keeps the lightshow for two stripes either side of the wheel and an OMEN diamond on the palm. The latter has a wonderful trick to save power – it turns off when your palm is over it.
As with all OMEN gear, users have a comprehensive customisation suite in HP Gaming Hub. With 16.9 million colours and a handful of effects to combine or rotate them, you can make it as garish as you like.
HP Gaming Hub also allows for a creditable level of granular control. Some of the settings will only be for the hardcore but the essentials are easy to spot and fix. Users can reassign all keys, including the DPI key, using the Hub as well as create and assign macros.
Light Speed
HP claim a lag-less gaming performance for their OMEN Vector Wireless. A 1,000Hz polling rate and 1ms response time are impressive on paper. Thankfully, it’s impressive on mouse mats and kitchen tables too. I couldn’t sense any lag or nor did I have any moments when the mouse pointer seems to stick for a moment. The latter was my own biggest problem with elder wireless mice – at high DPIs I found wireless mice stuttered occasionally.
The maximum DPI is 16,000 utilising a PixArt PAW3335 sensor. While I like a high sensitivity – that’s a bit much. Thankfully, we can create our own DPI profiles and switch between them on the fly.
The device claims a 180 hour runtime on a single charge. I cannot confirm this but I can say it lasts a while. Since taking it out of the box and charging it fully I have used Vector Wireless for about 150 hours between work and play and it still isn’t asking for the charger.
Speed Demon
The notable stamina is matched by scarcely believable charging speeds. A 30 second blast using the USB-C charging cable will yield an hour of play with 90 minutes charging the device fully. According to HP, this is the quickest charging speed of any wireless gaming mouse and we’d believe it.
The charging cable is a handy 1.8m in length – perfect for manoeuvering it from your PC to your mousepad if you lack a desktop USB hub. The cable is indeed braided so it will resist becoming tangled while sitting around for weeks at a time waiting to charge your mouse.
Making a Complete Mouse of it
The understated look, attention to ergonomic detail and huge stamina of HP OMEN Vector Wireless make it a terrific mouse away from its primary function – pwnage. Its medium weight and nigh-on mandatory palm grip may not do for all but gamers that take a Vector will appreciate the wired-like response and excellent customisation.
Review unit provided by PR, HP OMEN Vector Wireless gaming mouse is available from around €79/$79
