Marsback Zephyr Pro RGB Review – A Mouse with a Built-in Fan (it works!)

This isn’t a gimmick mouse. The fan does actually help cool the hand with a noticeable breeze, and the Marsback Zephyr Pro RGB is a legitimate good gaming mouse. The fan does its job at a barely audible noise level, the mouse has a flawless sensor, strong built quality and passable buttons.  It seems like the Zephyr Pro RGB is a great answer for people that need some hidrosis relief, while still being a reasonable budget price at $69 USD. It doesn’t quite compete on value compared to the Model O, M711, Haste or Ducky Feather, but it does do something that no other mouse does.  If you have clammy hands and hate the feeling of sweat when gaming, look into this mouse. 

What’s in the box

Marsback packs the Zephyr Pro in a vertical rectangle box, there’s not much extra added with the mouse, which is just fine at its price point:

• Mouse
• Manual
• Promo card
• A packet of Marsback stickers

It would’ve been nice to get an extra set of feet, but at $69 I won’t penalize that exclusion too much. 

Does the Fan Make a Difference?

In short, yes!   I get sweaty during extended gaming sessions, especially when it’s a competitive game, it’s why I prefer matte coated mice over glossy. The Marsback Zephyr Pro’s internal fan produces a noticeable little breeze on the palm of my hand. I wasn’t feeling as clammy as I normally would be after a long gaming session.  This isn’t an exact science, I probe thermometer isn’t meant to accurately measure ambient temperature but I did it anyway. The Marsback was 2 degrees celsius cooler than the Glorious.   The small fan inside produces a slightly audible whirr, but nothing that I would consider distracting in a normal PC gaming set up.  You can turn off the fan via a button on the bottom of the mouse.  If you’re desperate for some hand sweat relief while gaming, I would recommend checking this out. 

Shape, Size & Feel

The Marsback Zephyr Pro RGB is a familiar feeling mouse, with strong resemblances to popular ambidextrous mice like the Zowie FK series and the Glorious Model O lines of mice.  Compared with the Model O Wireless, the Zephyr Pro is a little bit shorter, while having similar width, height, and hump placement. If you’re familar with those mice, the adjustment to the Zephyr Pro will be no problem.  The inward curves of the mouse are also quite similar to the Model O and FK series mice. Picking up the Zephyr Pro is easy with ample room for your fingers.  The underside of the mouse features an attractive RGB strip the wraps around the mouse. The fan itself has an RGB ring as well, perhaps to highlight that the mouse has a frickin’ fan inside of it. The overall effect of the RGB looks great, the insides of the mouse are lit up and show off the spinning fan.  The Zephyr Pro RGB comes in either matte white or matte black. I would pick the white based on how well it reflects the RGB. 

Serviceable buttons and wheel

The Omron implementation on the Marsback Zephyr Pro RGB could use some work.  There’s a good amount of pre and post travel on the main buttons that could be tightened up. There’s a minimal amount of side movement on the mouse buttons. The side buttons extend out of the mouse shell with easily distinguishable buttons. The side button initial press feels good, with a crisp, tactile click. There is a good amount of post travel on the side buttons as well.  The scroll wheel has a rubber ridge for grip with 2 strips of leds encasing the wheel. The scroll wheel steps are well defined, and the middle click is sharp with good response. The wheel doesn’t feel firmly placed, there’s a good amount of play to the left and right of the mouse, which gives me some concern for the long term durability of the scroll wheel encoder. 

Strong Build Quality

The fan does add some weight, the Zephyr Pro RGB clocks in at 69 grams, which is still quite light but it’s not as feathery as modern ultralight mice are nowadays.  The structure of the mouse is strong, I’m not finding any flex or creaking in its shell. 

Feet & Underside

On the underside of the mouse features two large PTFE feet with a PTFE ring around the sensor. Underneath the sensor, you’ll find some holes that lightens the mouse, but does nothing to serve as intake for the fan as I initially thought.  There are two buttons surrounding the sensor, the light button cycles RGB modes, while the fan button turns the fan on or off. 

Sensor & Performance

The Pixart PMW 3389 is a proven flawless performer. The Zephyr Pro RGB supports up to 7 saved DPI steps, ranging from 100 to 16000 DPI. The rated lift off distance for the Zephyr Pro RGB is 2-3 mm. I did not notice any irregularities in tracking when testing this mouse, no prediction, jitter, angle snapping, or smoothing. 

Solid Braided Cable

The Zephyr Pro RGB has a tightly weaved braided cable that feels durable. The cable is not the most flexible, but it should stay out of the way and the durability tradeoff is worth it. 

Marsback Software

The Marsback software is straight forward and easy to use if you’ve ever come across any other mouse software. You can save up to 5 different profiles in its onboard memory, there’s no easy way to switch profiles without software, unless you pre-map a  profile button. You can download the software for the Marsback Zephyr Pro here.  The keys tab lets you re-map any of the buttons on the top side of the mouse.   The performance page lets you set up to 7 DPI levels with LED indication colours. I’d recommend keeping the Key Response, aka debounce, polling rate and X-Y settings at its default unless you have specific needs. If you find the mouse is double clicking, increase the key response time by 10ms until it doesn’t. Marsback also pulls in some windows mouse settings that you can change here.  The Zephyr Pro RGB has 8 RGB modes:

• Off
• Color change the tail
• Nuu
• Neon
• Colorful time
• Breathe 
• Continuous Light
• Finger Movement

Each RGB mode has individual parameters that can alter the brightness, speed of animation, and colour. The macro page was not working for me, perhaps a bug, but the UI here is straight forward, hit record for your macro on the left, then you can edit the recording on the right. 

Warranty

Warranty for the Marsback Zephyr Pro is 12 months according to this warranty page. 

Conclusion & Recommendation

I like that gaming mice are continuing to change and add niche features like this. While not everyone needs a fan to cool off their sweaty hands, I’m sure some gamers are going to really appreciate it. It also helps that Marsback isn’t just throwing in the gimmick on a subpar mouse, even without the fan, the Zephyr Pro is quite a competent mouse with a proven shape, decent weight, and a flawless sensor.  If you don’t have sweat problems I would recommend looking at other mice like the Pulsefire Haste, M711 or Model O, they’re cheaper and have slight advantages over the Marsback mouse. If you do have sweat problems, then sweaty high-five! The Zephyr Pro RGB should help with that. 

Tech Specs

Marsback Zephyr Pro RGB