Performance
To test the mouse, I swapped it with my main mouse in the office and used it day to day while working and also when I stay up all night like I have been all this week playing video games. That covered detailed work like in photoshop as well as gaming and just general web browsing. This gave me time to get a feel for the unique shape of the V560. Initially when I first used it I was completely thrown off. With the smaller of the two side panels on the mouse felt very weird and didn’t fit my hand at all. It was extremely skinny on both sides. I swapped out to the larger side panel but even with that it wasn’t big enough for my hand. Its length was fine but the sides were just too close together. Over time I did get used to it but it did cause me a little extra discomfort in extended gaming sessions.
I was however very happy with the placement of the mouse buttons. I could reach them both when a lot of times one is harder to get at than the other. It also worked well while gaming. The toggle switch for the DPI wasn’t in the way as well. The two buttons up top that switch through the profiles were mostly out of the way as well, this is good because I really don’t want to be changing my DPI or button layout in the middle of a game.
Patriot went with the Avago 9800 laser sensor, something that I haven’t been seeing getting used as much recently. It is the same sensor that has been really popular with manufactures for the past few years including the Sensei and the M65. Being laser it has more DPI than ever could be needed just so they can add it on to the packaging, but overall I’m normally happy with the 9800. You will see some acceleration, especially if using a soft mouse pad so keep that in mind but most will never notice it.
Beyond that they did slip in a few other features. For one the V560 has RGB lighting for the front and back “underglows”. There wasn’t a big selection in the software as I mentioned in the software section but its enough to be able to tell what profile you are on or to match your keyboard or PC. The mouse also has a hidden weight compartment. I personally don’t see the need for adding weights to a mouse, if anything I want it to be lighter, but for those who do like a heavy mouse the option is there.
For testing on the headset I have spent the last few weeks using it as my main headset. While I typically run my music, movies, and TV shows through my desktop speakers I ran most of that through the V360 as well as voice coms while gaming as well. This gave me multiple extended gaming and work sessions to test the comfort of the V360 headset as well audio performance. For me, comfort is by far the most important aspect of a headset, if they are uncomfortable it can lead to pains when gaming for long periods of time.
So how did the V360 do? Well it has a few big things going for it right out of the hole but it’s far from perfect. Basically the earcups were slightly smaller than I would like but they were big enough to get around my ears, I just had to adjust them a little to get them to sit correctly. The mesh pads are far from soft, I would actually describe them as scratchy. The pads are hard and unforgiving as well. You would think all of that together would be a deal breaker but the suspension design on top is great, normally my ears heat up when wearing a headset and the top of nearly every headset leads to a little discomfort up on the top band area but I didn’t have any issues with the V360. The other thing it has going for it is a light fit. What I mean by that is there isn’t very much pressure from the sides. I would consider that to be a downside for some headsets but in this case it helps because I would hate life if the V360 was pushing the hard and scratchy earcups into the side of my head. This gives the headset a light touch but it might mean the headset is a little loose on people with a smaller head as well.
For audio performance I didn’t really have high expectations. Let’s be frank, gaming headsets aren’t exactly known for high end audio and at the price point of the V360’s they aren’t exactly high end even for a gaming headset. So how did they perform? Well for their place in the market they aren’t too bad. Music and movies are clear and a lot of people are going to like just how much bass they have. The bass seems to be good at covering up the quality not being the best so they do have that going. Game performance was good, like in the music testing the quality wasn’t amazing but the extra bass did sound good in game. They did have decent directionality as well.
Beyond the big two, are there anything other things to consider with the V360? Well when I went over the headsets features I did mention the controls being cheap but functional and after testing the headset I can say for sure that cheap but functional is the best way to explain them. The switches are hard to flip, the edges are a little sharp and I would be concerned with breaking them if I used the controls to much, but they did get the job done in my testing without any real issues. There is also the red LED lighting on the earcups. If you like red, it does look good and Patriot did include a switch right on the headset to turn the lighting off as well. Then there is the microphone. I wasn’t a huge fan of not being able to adjust the position of the microphone other than flipping it down, but it did get the job done. Audio quality on the microphone was good enough for voice coms, like most headsets. They kept the microphone short so it doesn’t get in the way if you drink or anything with the headset on.