via thrushes title..i had to add i own this

http://www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h1643.htm

there are so many settings.. its unreal the reports shit but i love mine..just a fooker to set up

Gaming peripherals, for all their good intentions, tend to get a bit silly sometimes, and certainly from an aesthetics point of view they don't come much sillier than the Cyborg Mouse from Saitek. This rather imposing angular behemoth takes such a bizarre approach to ergonomics that you'd have to assume it'll just happen to fit like a glove, but in this case you'd be wrong.
Perhaps the most immediate feature is the motorised size adjustment, capable of extending or reducing the length of the body by 15mm. We can't think of any particular reason why certain games would benefit from this, and considering most other mouse manufacturers have pretty much nailed a comfortable fit by now, we were left thinking that it's just a gimmick. The length can be changed either using button presses on the mouse itself or via the installed software, which also lets you adjust the DPI from 400 up to the maximum 3200.


Elsewhere you'll find a total of 11 programmable buttons, seven of which are designed to be operated by your thumb and four of these are based around a directional HAT switch. When you hold the mouse in the usual way you'll find that your thumb becomes somewhat trapped in an alcove in the side that seems to be there to benefit nothing other than the funky design. The four-way switch is also pretty awkward to operate accurately because of the cramped enclosure, and we were surprised there weren't more controls on the right to utilise our two spare fingers.
The final adjustable option on offer here is the ‘scroll detent force switch', which is situated underneath and allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the scroll wheel.
We weren't overly impressed by the initial feel, then, and while just about comfortable enough to use in a Windows environment, we can see most users plugging it in specifically for gaming.
Speaking of which, to get the most from the mouse you'll need to install the SD6 programming software supplied, which allows you to build and maintain profiles for each of the controls. You'll find three modes that can be switched through via a button on the mouse, and using the ‘shift-state' option, you can double up on these by assigning alternative commands to the same controls that are invoked if you hold down the shift key before pressing.
The software is rather complex to use and there's quite a steep learning curve here, but the range of possibilities available if you have the patience is impressive. As well as individual keystrokes and macros you can also create advanced commands that perform separate actions when you press, hold and release a button.
This could be used, for example, to fire a rocket launcher, switch to missile view while the button is held down so you can watch it hit its target, then re-arm a short-range weapon like a pistol when you release the button so you're ready for close-quarters fighting.
There's a ton of fine-tuning you can do here to customise the behaviour of the rest of the keys and, while it's not presented in the most straightforward manner, if you're willing to take the time to pore over the manual it'll have a genuine impact on your game.
We tested the mouse with Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and though we found the customisable profiles useful, we fell foul of the awkward controls a few too many times. The aforementioned problems with cramped thumb operation meant that heated firefights became a frustrating affair, and after an hour or so it can put a genuine strain on your hand.
What this means is that, with the headline features like the motorised size adjustment and scroll switch force being effectively redundant in terms of enhancing gameplay, you're left with the profile editing suite as the main appeal. Since this is a generic application that works across Saitek's range there doesn't seem any reason to recommend the Cyborg Mouse, and at £40 it seems overpriced when you consider how many genuinely useful features are built in.