Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro Gaming Mouse Review
The Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro symmetrical mouse has serious gaming chops, but its unorthodox charging and lack of software hold it back.
The Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro is the evil twin to the Cherry XTRFY M64 Pro (or vice versa), offering a symmetrical design in contrast to the M64’s right-handed ergonomics. Like its sibling, it vies for the dollars ($139, specifically) of gamers looking for the competitive edge that an 8000Hz polling rate and ultralight design can theoretically provide. As such, it’s ready to rival the best ultralight gaming mice out there, like the Asus ROG Keris II Ace and Razer Viper V3 Pro. But with a similar lack in polish as its sibling, the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro stumbles out of the starting gate.
Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro – Design and Features
For being so light (55 grams for both the Pro and non-Pro models), the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro actually proves quite sturdy. The base of the mouse has a bit of flex, but the upper shell is plenty tough. Much of the mouse is made from a somewhat coarse plastic that provides just the right amount of traction for my fingers. That’s helpful too, as the curves of the symmetrical design don’t provide a lot of grip. Even though the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro is slightly larger than its M64 Pro counterpart, it’s still a bit cramped for larger hands in palm grips. Claw grips will find themselves slightly less cramped, however.
The mouse is easy to swing around thanks to its weight and sizable PTFE feet that help it glide across almost any surface. It feels like moving a hollow piece of plastic – thankfully, it’s not. It’s tucking away a capable sensor inside and a battery that’s up to the task of running for up to 90 hours (under ideal conditions).
The Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro keeps most things fairly basic, including its black-and-white color schemes. You won’t find any extra buttons beyond the main buttons, clickable scroll wheel, and two thumb buttons. The scroll wheel at least gets a soft, rubbery finish to help with grip.
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To connect the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro to a computer, it uses a chunky dongle about the size of two AA batteries. That dongle includes polling rate and sensitivity indicator lights. Cherry includes a firm rubber USB A-to-C cable for connecting the dongle as well as a paracord-style cable for wiring the mouse straight to your computer. For the standard M68 at $99, which doesn’t include the higher polling rates and makes very subtle changes, Cherry includes a smaller USB-A dongle and adapter, and it just includes the paracord cable.
If you want a wired connection or need to charge, you’re in for a surprise with the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro. Rather than having a USB-C port at the front edge of the mouse like everyone (except Apple) under the sun, it placed its charging port on the right side of the mouse, underneath a little rubber cover that you’ll have to pluck off every time you need to get in there. Ultimately, it’s not so hard to mouse around with the paracord plugged in, but not all mouse grip techniques will work with a wire sticking out the side of the mouse.
While most high-end mice, like those the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro competes with, offer a way to adjust DPI and some settings on the mouse and through software, the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro only provides this through hardware. And that results in some significant limitations. To change settings like sensitivity, polling rate, lift-off distance, and more, you’ll need to use a combination of button presses on the mouse and set a slider on the underside of the mouse into the correct position. When you make these adjustments, a small indicator LED at the front corner of the mouse will light up in a color corresponding to a setting level. How will you know which level? By memorizing or carrying around the quick-start guide booklet. Cool, right? It also doesn’t help that LED colors aren’t a perfect match to the colors in the booklet either.
The indicator light also provides battery levels (on-demand with a three-button combo) or sporadically when levels get low. This can make it hard to keep track of battery levels and may leave you using the side cable to game if you run out of juice.
Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro – Gaming and Performance
The Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro has performance on lock. The sensor tracks wonderfully, with effectively instantaneous responsiveness and no noticeable inconsistencies. In Counter-Strike 2, I had little trouble flicking right onto enemies just as soon as they popped onto the screen. Admittedly, I had a little more trouble clinching the kill though, as my CS skills are rusty. It also didn’t help that the mouse doesn’t support the sensitivity I have all my muscle memory set to. Since the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro relies on on-device adjustments, it only has eight available CPI presets (400, 800, 1200, 1600, 3200, 4000, 7200, and 26000). If you already use one of these, you’re set. If you don’t mind adjusting all the settings in games you play, then you’re also in the clear. But that’s a lot for an expensive mouse to ask from buyers, especially when every high-end mouse offers incremental adjustments for so many other settings including CPI.
The buttons on the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro are great, though not memorable. They’re bright and clicky, with a responsive feel and swift reset, only taking the lightest intention to actuate . The scroll wheel is pleasingly notched but doesn’t offer much resistance to quick swipes up or down. Middle clicking is firm, so it’s hard to hit accidentally, easy enough to tap for a quick melee or cast in a game, but difficult to press repeatedly – something common of clickable scroll wheels.
As fast as the mouse is already, you can ramp up responsiveness with the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro set to an 8000Hz polling rate, but I have never found a detectable difference between this and a 1000Hz polling rate when testing other keyboards and mice. Theoretically, the higher polling rate means your inputs will register sooner than they otherwise might, we’re talking fractions of milliseconds. If you’re aiming to go pro, take every advantage you can get, otherwise, your mileage is going to vary.
The fast polling rate is a double-edged sword though, and for casual gamers, you’re more likely to be on the receiving end of that edge with regards to battery life. At 1000Hz, you’ll get a couple weeks of uptime on the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro. At 8000Hz, it’s more like a couple days. And just like the M64 Pro, the Cherry XTRFY M68 Pro doesn’t provide the most obvious warnings that the battery is about to die. With it dead, you’ll be left playing with a cable coming out the side of the mouse.
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