AUKEY Knight Gaming Mouse review: High quality, LOW cost

When it comes to PC gaming, the most important peripheral to have is arguably a quality gaming mouse. Without a mouse you can rely on, there's a good chance you'll struggle to play well consistently. This is especially in shooters where fluid aim and smooth tracking are crucial to success.

Typically, the best gaming mice tend to be pricey since they come with top-notch sensors, elite build quality, and fancy bonus features. However, thanks to the AUKEY Knight Gaming Mouse, budget buyers need not feel left out. It has a sensor that competes with more expensive options, a rock-solid design, a suite of customizable buttons, and RGB lighting. The AUKEY Knight is a budget gamer's dream.

What you'll love about the AUKEY Knight

Above all else, the best thing about the AUKEY Knight is how well its sensor performs. Even though this mouse is significantly less expensive than elite mice, its sensor is just as smooth and accurate to use. I put it up against my pricer CORSAIR Ironclaw, and I didn't even notice a difference between the two in terms of accuracy and smooth movement. In addition to this, the sensor also has a DPI maximum of 10,000, which means that the AUKEY Knight has quite an impressive DPI range for a budget mouse.

Secondly, the mouse is very comfortable to use due to its ergonomically-shaped frame. It's not the most comfortable option out there — pricier mice with tuning weights and textured grips have the edge here — but at this price, the feel of the AUKEY Knight is fantastic. Additionally, this mouse is built to last. Despite being made out of plastic, it feels nearly as sturdy as elite mice that have metal components.

Finally, the AUKEY Knight comes with some awesome bonus features. Firstly, it has eight programmable buttons (two of these are the mouse buttons), which is two more than the slightly less expensive AUKEY Scarab. For folks who use macros in-game or just want to have quick access to specific functions, these buttons are a godsend. The mouse also comes with some stellar lighting effects. The base, mouse wheel, and AUKEY logo all light up with RGB, and you can make these lights flash, transition between gradients, and more. There's also an indicator that lights up to inform you of which DPI setting you're using as well. Both the button customization and the RGB lighting are controlled through AUKEY's free software.

What you'll love less about the AUKEY Knight

As I said in my review of the similarly-priced AUKEY Scarab, my only real "issue" with the AUKEY Knight is that it lacks some of the nice features you find on more expensive gaming mice. These include things like metal components, even more, customizable buttons, textured grips, and tuning weights. Considering the low price of this mouse, those things aren't going to be present. However, these features are just things I've come to appreciate over the years.

At the end of the day, the AUKEY Knight delivers incredible performance when it comes to the basics. At this price, that's the most important thing to get right.

Should you buy the AUKEY Knight?

Despite the fact that the AUKEY Knight doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of the best gaming mice, it ultimately delivers amazing core performance for an incredibly low cost. This means that budget gamers can enjoy the benefits of top performance without having to clean out their wallets.

If you don't care about customizable buttons, you may be better off with the AUKEY Scarab since it performs just as well as the AUKEY Knight does, costs a little less, and doesn't have as many customizable buttons. However, if you're planning on putting the buttons to use, I can't recommend the AUKEY Knight enough.