ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition and Hone Ace Aim Lab Mousepad Review

If you’re looking to improve your aiming on PC then this new ASUS ROG Harpe Mouse and Hone Aimlabs combination might be just the new accessories you need. You see, ASUS has now managed to create a gaming mouse that integrates into the popular Aimlabs software in order to offer some cool features for gamers including automatic DPI calibration and other tweaks to help improve your PC gaming experience.

Watch This ASUS ROG Harpe Review Below

From the outside, the ASUS ROG Harpe Mouse doesn’t look like anything different from say a Razer gaming mouse but the Aimlabs integration is what you should be focusing on. Before I get into all of that software stuff, let’s go over this mouse itself.

ASUS says the ROG Harpe Gaming Mouse has been carefully designed by professionals to enhance almost every aspect of your game. This includes its outer shell and even its inner sensor.  It weighs only 55 grams, ASUS says 54 but I weighed it at 55 grams during my tests.

The mouse offers three types of connectivity modes including wired USB, a low-latency 2.4GHz connection and Bluetooth. In the box, you’ll find the mouse, a USB A to C cable, a wireless dongle extender, some manuals, stickers and an extra envelope of goodies. Inside this envelope, there are some additional rubber stickers which can be applied to the mouse to provide grip across both the sides of the mouse and the top.

I recommend using them if you feel like the plastic shell is a bit slippery. There’s also an additional set of bottom sliders to replace the ones that come installed on the mouse. If you’re really finicky about the glide, swap these out too.I also got the ASUS ROG Hone Mousepad to test with the mouse. There’s nothing special about this unboxing, you get the mousepad and some stickers.

As for the mouse itself, it packs the standard button layout you would expect from a gaming mouse in 2023. It includes mechanical switches, some RGB on the mouse wheel and two side thumb buttons. Underneath, there is a DPI switch to toggle it on the fly, a pairing button, the switch to change the connection mode, the sensor in the middle of the mouse and a tiny USB which is used for the wireless dongle mode. You can also switch the lighting effect on the mouse by toggling through the assigned profiles without having to actually open up the ASUS Armoury Crate software.

Overall, the mouse is incredibly lightweight and simple. Considering the mechanical buttons and the 36,000-dpi sensor in this, I was surprised at just how light this mouse was. 55 grams is no joke. I didn’t gel too well with the slippery plastic, especially considering the weight of the mouse. So I did add the rubber stickers onto it.

I also thought the mains clicks felt a bit heavy for what this mouse is meant to be. I use the Razer DeathAdder V2 Pro for gaming most of the time and while it doesn’t pack the same DPI sensor and is slightly heavier, every button on it clicks easier. Especially the side buttons. You’ll likely get used to the heavier clicks on this ASUS ROG Harpe Mouse though. For the most part, the clicks were stable and there was no wobbly whatsoever either.

In terms of the ASUS ROG Hone Mousepad, it comes in at 508mm by 420mm. It is also 3mm thick and features a strong rubber backing that will prevent it from sliding around the table. ASUS says it boasts a protective nano coating to prevent water and oil damage and is easy to clean too. For the most part, this mousepad is just a mousepad. The only real standout feature on it is the measurement markings which are meant to work in partnership with Aimlab to help players train and improve their aim. More on that in a bit. 

The ASUS ROG Harpe Mouse’s design doesn’t really do anything different and in fact, is just pretty basic. However, the big selling point here is the settings and Aimlabs integration. I will start with the optimization. ASUS has included all the settings you need in Armoury Crate in order to tweak the mouse to your liking. There is a robust list of things you can get away with here. Everything from adjusting the mouse’s button mapping to the DPI, acceleration and deceleration.

There are also settings for angle snapping and you can calibrate the mouse for a specific mousepad surface. However, the calibration feature didn’t include the Hone mousepad as an option on the list. I could choose from a range of other ASUS mousepads but for some reason, the pad which has been designed for this mouse wasn’t there. Thankfully, I could just manually assign one.

But Armoury Crate is just one factor to consider here. The Aimlabs integration is another. If you don’t know, Aimlabs is a free game slash app where you can run daily target shooting exercises to improve your accuracy across your games. You don’t need a fancy ASUS mouse to use it but the mouse does unlock additional features to access in the app.

There are four tests that are available on this mouse in Aimlabs. Sensitivity, Mouse DPI, Angle Tuning and Liftoff Distance. Each test takes a few minutes to undertake. Some take 10 minutes while others are 5 and 3 minutes. What they do is test your reactions and movements continuously over and over again and provide a recommended setting depending on the way you perform.

For example, my Mouse DPI setting automatically recommended I drop my overall DPI based on how quickly I shot targets and followed a floating box. Sensitivity then monitored larger mouse strokes and tracking.

Of course, this is all up to you how much time you want to spend in these settings. Some of you might find adjusting them pointless and perhaps some of the tasks might tweak something which will work against your current mouse skill level. I only really found the Liftoff Distance to be the most beneficial to my already-tweaked settings in Armoury Crate.

Aimlabs also works alongside the mouse and the Hone mousepad when it comes to the ROG 360 shooting range. Here, I could see the degrees of movement on the screen and work out how much movement my hand needed in order to achieve the same angle shot on the app.

The whole Aimslabs integration isn’t for everyone. In fact, unless you really care about how “pro” your shot is in games, you’ll likely overlook most of these features. They have been built for the real professionals who care about the degrees between shots and the smaller, most minuscule tweaks that might mean winning a league or not.

I have to commend ASUS for going this far with this mouse. It isn’t the best mouse on the planet and there are definitely more well-built and formed versions out there. However, the Aimlabs integration is a pretty cool feature which changes the landscape a bit more. No longer is your gaming mouse just a mouse, it is sort of like your personal coach now too.

Find out more about the ASUS ROG Harpe Gaming Mouse here and the ASUS ROG Hone Gaming Mouse Pad here.