ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aimlab Edition review: Esports excellence

The ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aimlab Edition gaming mouse was developed in partnership with Aimlab. Boasting impressive specs and a feather weight of just 54g, is this the ultimate competitive FPS mouse?

Competition for the best wireless gaming mouse is heating up, and at CES 2023, ASUS announced their latest entry into the gauntlet of palm-based performance peripheral dominance. This time, instead of a customizable keyboard, we’ve got an esports-focused mouse co-developed with Aimlab.

This esports-focused mouse has high-end sensors, comes in with an incredible featherweight design, and has a carefully designed shell in order to make it as comfortable as possible in high-octane, esports titles.

Key specs

• Weight: 54g
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wireless, Wired
• Sensor: ROG Aimpoint optical sensor
• Maximum DPI: 36,000
• Polling rate: 1000Hz
• Battery life: Up to 88 hours
• Features: Aimlab settings optimizer, Speednova Wireless, Grip tape, PTFE feet
• Price: TBC
• Where to buy: TBC

Design

The ROG Harpe Ace Aimlab Edition is an understated gaming mouse, with an all-black finish with some slight color pops on the mouse wheel and side buttons. On the bottom, you get some shallow PTFE feet, that we think could be a tad thicket.

Equally, the shape of this mouse is also pretty unique. Aimlab and ASUS have developed a mouse with a pretty narrow body, with an equally lower click position, making it easier to pop off shots. This is a very unique design, but not all of it is immediately great-feeling.

This isn’t for everyone, and it took some getting used to the narrower body, with our smaller hands, we found ourselves tightly gripping the mouse. However, this allowed for slightly greater control while gaming.

We found ourselves using the mouse in a claw-style grip and found that the bump never really interfered in gaming scenarios. Around the side is an Aimlab logo, which can be illuminated with a UV light, while the edges are flanked with horizontal lines to enhance your grip.

The thumb buttons are positioned pretty high up, and we found them incredibly satisfying to click, though reaching for the buttons can occasionally be a string to get to due to their high positioning.

We also have ASUS’s ROG Micro-Switches, which feel more than serviceable here. While the ROG Aimpoint sensor has borne some similarities to PixArt’s 3395. This is more than enough performance considering the esports focus, and it ends up feeling just as good as the Deathadder V3 Pro, though we personally prefer the wider shape of the Deathadder in this instance.

Features

You also get a number of options at the bottom to configure settings and connectivity.

The mouse also has a couple of tricks up its sleeve, sporting something named “Speednova” technology under the hood. What this essentially means is that the mouse will offer a more stable wireless experience over a standard 2.4Ghz mouse, which will be the go-to for gaming over Bluetooth.

However, what’s more, is that you also get access to something named “Aimlab Settings Optimizer”, a piece of software that can customize your settings directly for you. Sadly, this requires you to install Aimlab on Steam, a 12GB install. For those already with AimLab, this is absolutely fine, but just be aware that it’ll take a little while to download.

Once into Settings Optimizer, you will be able to find a DPI that suits you, a perfect angle tuning, and customize the mouse liftoff distance, too. This is an impressive integration that really cannot be understated, no other mouse on the market is capable of performance adjustments like this, and it all works pretty flawlessly.

Performance

The buttons can be a little hard to reach in the heat of the moment.

For general productivity, it’s difficult to fault the ROG Harpe Ace Aimlab Edition, it does just about everything you’d like. In gaming scenarios, however, the ROG Harpe Ace Aimlab Edition really comes into its own.

The grip that we originally found uncomfortable to hold had us performing fantastically in titles like Overwatch 2, CS:GO and more, while the mouse’s wireless nature and light weight let us lift up and aim at speed with pinpoint precision. We didn’t have to use the mouse for long to decide that it was an absolutely potent performer, and one that would rival even tried and true favorites like the Logitech G Pro X Superlight, or the Razer Deathadder V3 Pro.

Should you buy it?

Sadly, we’re still pretty light on details with regard to how much the ROG Harpe Ace Aimlab Edition will cost, but we do know that it’ll be released in Q1 2023. But, right now, the product that we have right in front of us is something pretty damn good, especially in a saturated market where one shape has dominated, it’s great to see ASUS try something different, and it also works.

Our only gripes were really with the shallow feet and placement of the side buttons, which can be hard to reach while gaming, everything else is fantastically well-constructed, and will be sure to please even the most hardcore of esports enthusiasts.