BenQ Zowie’s ZA Series Gaming Mice series are part of their E-sports gaming peripherals collection. Actually, the ZA series are not necessarily a series since the only differences with the 3 models – ZA11, ZA12 and ZA13 – are the size.

All 3, designed for comfortable long period use, are ambidextrose and has a high-profile curve that gives support to the user’s palm. The ZA11 is the Large, the ZA12 the medium and the ZA13 is the smallest of the 3.

Here’s a comparison of the 3 sizes:

	Length	Width	Height	Weight
ZA11	128mm	60mm	40mm	90g
ZA12	124mm	58mm	39mm	85g
ZA13	120mm	56mm	38mm	80g

Here’s a quick look on the ZA series feature set:

• Two thumb buttons on both sides to comfortably serve left- and right-handed users
• Perfect lift-off distance; Plug and play (No driver needed)
• Easy to switch between left- and right-hand functionality
• 400/ 800/ 1600/ 3200 DPI adjustment
• Adjustable USB report rate 125/ 500/ 1000 Hz

Impressions and Verdict

Let me start by saying that SOMETIMES – LESS IS MORE where a lot of the gaming peripherals nowadays come with too many bling and/or RGB. Everyone loves RGB but there are plenty of users who prefer something more plain and classic. Enter the ZA series, they’re quite plain and classic but still gets the job done right, making them timeless options.

BenQ’s line of gaming gear is actually not new in the market but has not yet taken much ground in Philippines but 2018 is the year where BenQ Zowie Philippines aims to educate the consumer market on their E-sports offerings and make its way inside stores.

Quick fact, a lot of the world’s top e-sports players are actually using Zowie gear, stating that they were very specific and very right to their feel and grasp.

The ZA series are ambidextrous high-profile mice meaning they can be used with your left hand or right hand, and has a nice claw arc for better grasping. Most brands go for a one-size fits all or find-another-model if-you-want-another-size but BenQ’s approach is to offer multiple sizes of the same great mice hence the differences in size of the ZA11 ZA12 and ZA13.

The ZA series don’t come packed with multiple features aside from the usual high DPI or high polling rates though. There’s no macros to speak of or tunable weights. However, I was able to use the ZA12 (Medium) for a week and it served it’s purposed more than enough. I’m not a fan of the high-profile design though so maybe i can opt for the FK series instead which offers the same ambidextrous design but has a lower arc for a more flat grasp.

Polling Rates

Moving on, we noticed no issues with movement or gaming. The mouse responded pretty well owing to the 4 adjustable DPI (Up to 3200) and 1000hz Polling rate. There was pretty much no delay in click and response.

Normal mice have 125Hz response time between the motherboard and the mice but Zowie’s ZA features some pretty high 1000hz polling rate. Yes, thats 1000 times in 1 second.

Lift-Off Distance

One feature that i also liked is that lifting movements of the mice didnt affect mouse movement. This usually happens with other mice wherein if you have to lift the mice to get more space in your mousepad, the mice moves along as you lift. However, the BenQ Zowie mice stays in place keeping you just right where you left off.

This is owing to Zowie’s Lift-off Distance (LOD) where the height of the mouse sensor detects the surface below it so that it knows whether you’re moving for space or moving away entirely. The LOD is actually adjustable via the clicks and buttons.

Adjustable DPI

Additionally, the mouse has 4 DPI settings as mentioned earlier. It starts off at a rather low 400 DPI for more precise movements (so you can get that headshot) or you can scale up to 800, 1600 or 3200DPI for more faster paced movements needed in deathmatches.

You can adjust this underneath the mice where RED – 400, Purple- 800, Blue – 1600 and Green is for the highers 3200 DPI.

And oh, Did we mention that the Zowie ZA series are Plug and Play? There was no drivers to speak of that we needed to install. As soon as we hooked it up, it worked right away!

Other things

Zowie’s cables don’t come braided and, for some users, that’s a good thing! Braided cables tend to untangle themselves often meaning they’re hard to wrap and carry around whereas softer rubber rables are durable and can be tied up for travel easily! The use of soft rubber cables also help to keep the over-all weight down.

Additionally, there are some extra rubber feet in the box incase you wear yours down.

So that’s it! If you want to see more of the mice in action, you can check out our video unboxing below!