
This Zowie EC2-A mouse review was something I wanted to write months ago but didn’t have time. Today I’m free so I will sit here, and write down some of my thoughts on this gaming mouse.

Bought this mouse in January 2017, so it has been about 5 months use. Following what I did in this Zowie G-SR mousepad review, in this post I will shows you my actual gaming experience with Zowie EC2-A.

First let me tell you some facts about me and my playing style, because what I’m going to write in this review might not be true if your game & playing style if different to me:

I’m a Counter Strike: Global Offensive player.

I mainly use my wrist to move the mouse, not my arm.

My grip is a hybrid type of mouse grip.

My in-game sensitivity (CS:GO) is quite high – 1.425 at 800 dpi (equal 2.85 at 400 dpi). Windows sens: 6/11 (tho windows sensitivity does not affect in-game sensitivity as I turn on raw_input)

Which mouse I had used before? Rival 100, IE 3.0, Zowie FK2, Zowie EC1-A, Zowie ZA11, Rival 300, Razer Deathadder 3500 and Razer Deathadder Elite.

I use a mouse bungee (Zowie Camade), hence my movements are not affected by the mouse cord.

How long have I used this mouse? About 5 months.

Mine is the Zowie EC2-A V2 (Black version).

Enough, review time.

Zowie EC2-A Review

You can tell from its look this is a mouse for right-handed people. Here is the description on Zowie’s official website:

Ergonomic design exclusively for right-handed users. It offers users a bigger room for wrist movements. The shape of the right side of mouse is well rounded. It allows the user’s fingertips to hold/cover the mouse to move smoothly. EC Series comes in two sizes to fulfill different needs.

This mouse comes in two sizes, EC2-A and EC1-A. However in this post I’ll talk about EC-2A only. I bought this mouse for $60 at a local store, and you can find it on Amazon or Zowie BenQ’s website for the same price.

The Look

Zowie EC2-A black version is not an eye-catching mouse. It has a simple design, matte black surface with a red logo and a led light for the scroll with 4 colors only (to indicate different DPI steps). You will not like it if you want something with fancy led lights with thousands of colors to display. However what I’m really into is the performance, so I don’t care.

The mouse is very well built. Despite of its light weight, it feels very durable and high quality. Zero noises even if I shake it hardly. As you can see my mouse looks brand new after months of use although my playing style makes me put a lot of pressure on the shell.

For me, one minus of this mouse is the surface. It looks ugly as fuck after hours of playing and especially if you have a sweaty palm. I also don’t really like this type of coating because sometimes my hand feels weird, but maybe it is just me.

Recently Zowie has released a white glossy version of this mouse (and it looks gorgeous!). Some people has already reported that the glossy surface gives them better feel than the matte black surface, so consider this when you buy a new mouse (higher price).

Mouse measurements

Zowie EC2-A weighs about 93 g without mouse cord, with the top width 61 mm, medial width 61 mm, and bottom width 64 mm. The mouse length is 120 mm and height is 40 mm. Hence, with these measurements, this mouse is smaller and lighter compared to Razer Deathadder and Rival 300.

Trying to grab this mouse with different mouse grip styles, I don’t really have any problem. In my opinion the shape, weight, and size of this mouse fit all well, especially the shape, whether your style of grip is palm, claw, fingertip, or hybrid. The things to consider here are you hand size, and your favorite playing style.

The mouse is recommended for people with the hand sizes of up to 18.5 cm. My hand size is 19.5 cm, and before buying this mouse, people told me that with that size, I would better buy EC1-A. And I did. However, after playing with EC1-A, I felt that it was a bit bigger, and I felt weird playing with it. Then I changed to EC2-A. It turned out I made a good choice. Not only the EC2-A is easier to grab, the weight is also a plus since I use my wrist to move the mouse and make minor changes.

Some people have reported that they prefer EC2-A to EC1-A, even they have bigger hand than mine. So my advice is to find a store where you can buy and exchange it later if needed, or find someone who has one of the two sizes and try. Try different sizes to see what best fits your needs.

Specs

This mouse is designed mainly for FPS players (take a look at this sheet, and search for EC2, you can see how many pro CS:GO players are using Zowie EC2-A), aiming for stability at competitive levels. That’s why it is a Lan ready plug-and-play mouse. Hence you don’t need a fancy software to get everything up and running like Razer mouses. It is basically set and forget, and this is extremely convenient when you play on Lan. Look at those Razer users who have to install Razer Synapse everytime, you get the point.

Zowie EC2-A has a flawless sensor, the Pixart 3310 (old name: Avago 3310), which is very popular in the community for its ability to give users raw movements. From a CS:GO player point of view, this is perfect. Zero acceleration, 1:1 accuracy, low LOD (lift off distance), and high IPS. All of these things are vital for a FPS gamer and luckily, they are very well implemented in the EC2-A. Such an excellent work from Zowie.

There are 4 DPI steps for you to choose from, 400/800/1600/3200 and this is honestly all that you need for competitive gaming. Some other mouse manufacturers, for example Razer, tends to “fool” users by marketing for their useless, nonsense high DPI steps. You don’t need a high DPI step mouse even if you are playing on a 4K monitor. 3200 is more than enough, you will eventually find that you want to play at lower DPI steps such as 400 or 800.

The report rate of this mouse comes at 125 Hz to 500 Hz, and 1000 Hz. I recommend you to choose either 500 or 1000, whichever you feel better. Also, you can change the lift of distance if you like, with the guide I provide below (You will not see it in Zowie user’s manual).

Mouse Switches

I recorded a clip testing the mouse switches.

I love the Huano switches that Zowie uses on this mouse. They are responsive and although they doesn’t require lots of pressure, I can still feel and make accurate in game taps. Never in my time using this mouse I have made a mis-click. And double click problem which usually happens with other mouses like IME 3.0 or Razer Deathadder, I have never seen with EC2-A.

However, the scroll button of my mouse started to make random jump when I play (I bind jump to scroll). It still rarely happens, like in 1 in 100 matches. This is something I consider better than other mouses, which have scroll problems right out of the box.

Some people also complain about the side buttons travel distance but really I don’t have any problem with them. Maybe because I only use them for surfing the web and as the push-to-talk button in game.

Conclusion

Professional players have reasons to choose this mouse. If you are a right-handed FPS gamer, like ergonomic design mouse with top tier tracking & accuracy, zero acceleration & de-acceleration, zero prediction and angle snapping, raw movements.. this is the mouse for you. Designed by gamers, for gamers, Zowie really put their thoughts on the product. Imo, this is one of the best gaming mouse today and you should definitely check it out.

How to change the lift off distance of your mouse?

Zowie doesn’t let you know how to change the lift off distance (LOD) of your mouse in the user’s manual, but you can actually change it. This is a feature of Zowie EC2-A and other Zowie mouses so do not worry about breaking your mouse. You can also change it back to normal settings if you don’t like.

First take a look at the user’s manual, and find out where are the button 1, 2, 4, 5 on your mouse.

If you feel the LOD is too low:

Disconnect the mouse and hold down button 4+1+2, then connect the mouse through USB

If you feel the LOD is too high:

Disconnect the mouse and hold down button 4+1, then connect the mouse through USB

If you want to change it back to standard setting:

Disconnect the mouse and hold down button 5+1, then connect the mouse through USB

For Zowie SWIFT user, Zowie specifically recommend 4+2 setting.