Written by Profi | 22 April 2013
Posted in Articles - Reviews

15 years ago, when I was living in Tajikistan, Central Asia, all gamers tried to obtain the Func mouse pads. I and friends had been asking our friends and relatives to bring that legendary pads from Russia, because all owners of the Func automatically transformed from gamers to “professional gamers”.

Couple months ago, by reading IT News I found that Func still exists, doing well and moreover, they are producing mices also.

I contacted them in terms of review and got a positive reply. Today in our article we will review the mouse pad Func Surface 1030XL and mouse Func MS-3. And yes, finally I’ll be a professional gamer, at least for the test period.

Specifications of Func Surface 1030XL

• Material: Polycarbonate
• Size: 36 x 28 cm
• Weight: 422 gr
• Thickness: 4 mm

Specifications of Func MS-3

• Sensor: Avago ADNS 9500
• Switches: Omron
• Onboard memory: 512 kB
• Resolution: 90-5670 DPI
• Polling rate: up to 1000Hz (adjustable)
• Lift-off distance: Adjustable
• Cable: 2 m, braided, USB connector – gold plated
• Dimensions: 126.92 x 100.69 x 42.38mm
• Netto weight: 127g

The Box

Opposite to box’s designs from other gaming manufacturers, Func’s design is not aggressive. It’s more like “Apple” products minimalistic, stylish and “clean”.
 

Mouse pad Func Surface 1030XL comes in a huge box due to pad’s size.

Mouse Func MS-3 has a similar design. Only 4 graphic elements in front, but they are making design very attractive and stylish.
 

On the back side of the box, there is description of all main features of MS-3.

Unboxing and Design: Func Surface 1030XL

I opened the mouse pad first. This is most seriously packed mouse pad which I have ever seen. Manufacturer paid big attention to probably all details. There are “tongues” for easy removing the pad from the box, two holes for easy placing pad back, special protecting covers for top and bottom sides, intro letter from manufacturer and the Guide. If you are thinking about the gift for the gamer - you should add Surface 1030 to your short list just because of the box and design.

Mouse pad has an arch form.

On backside of Surface there are a lot of areas with special material for avoiding any kind of slides.

Mouse pad has two surfaces. For switching between the types of surface, you can just flip the pad or push one of two holes on beneath.
 

Such frame is really great, because you are sure that second surface is protected and not getting scratches from the table.

Unboxing and Design: Func MS-3

After unboxing the mouse pad, I have switched to the main hero of the day mouse Func MS-3. Inside the box I found mouse, User’s Guide and disc with software.

If almost all gaming mouse around has common design, Func MS-3 is noticeably different. Right-side of the mouse has special “places” for placing your ring and little fingers respectively.

On the left side there are 4 buttons: two on top, one on bottom and special button called “Instant Aim”. We will talk about this button later.

Remaining buttons are located on top.

Right-side is without buttons at all. I suppose due to the construction of the mouse. 

USB-connector is gold-plated. Cable of the mouse is braided and has colored dots. I found that “dots” pretty useful, because it’s easy to recognize the mouse’s cable among other USB cables behind your computer.

Software

Despite to the availability of disc with software inside the package, per common recommendation I downloaded the software from the official website for making sure that I’m using the latest version.

Installation was easy and usual for all Windows (my system is based on it) programs.

From top menu we can switch among profiles, backup and restore our settings.

On main window, which is Basic Settings we can adjust main functions of the mouse such as DPI, Sensitivity, Double click speed, Lift off distance, Scroll speed, etc..

On the next page Button Assignment we can customize absolutely all buttons of the mouse, including macros and single-key assignment.

On Color Settings page we can adjust LEDs colors, add “pulse” mode or turn off all lights entirely.

Geeks and hardcore gamers will like the Macro Editor page. First of all you need to record macro combination: press “record” button, type whatever you need on keyboard, press “stop” button and save the macro. That’s it!

By clicking “Get Support” your Internet browser will open the official support webpage.

In Use and Conclusion

I tested a Surface 1030XL first. As mentioned, its dual sided. One side is very glide and I called it “speed-side”, another side is roughed and I called it “control-side”.

To be honest, I liked both sides. Mouse is moving perfectly and precisely on both sides, and for sure better to have two options than one.

I have another hard mat and before the review I really thought that all hard mouse pads are the same, but I was wrong. The difference between two mouse pads is noticeable.

Surface 1030XL is washable and you can make it as a new one even after long period of usage.

It’s worth to mention one more time the package of the mouse pad. It’s really looks very stylish and solid. Designers did a great job.

What about Func MS-3 mouse? It’s matte and made with excellent materials. Designers of the mouse weren’t afraid to make the mouse with way different design than any other popular gaming mouse around.

It is plug-and-play, so even without the software you can use it as it is, but for customizing buttons and adjusting polling rate you have to install the software.

Due to construction of the mouse, it will take some short time to adapt and certainly this mouse is oriented to right-handers only.

Four left-side buttons are very handy. They are close to thumb and you can click on them without any issues. Moreover, bottom button on which thumb is lying by default is tough to press, so be sure that you will not press it by mistake, because some effort will be required anyway. I really liked such attention from the manufacturers’ side.

The DPI-button which is located on top-right will require way more time to adapt, because there is a big chance to click right-button instead. You should practice a lot with that button or assign some rare function or macro combination. In games and routine daily work mouse has showed great performance. It’s very precise and easy to control.

My applauses to the software designers and developers of MS-3. It’s extremely easy to navigate inside the software and everything is clear from the very first view. Software worked for me very smooth and without single crash. All your profiles can be located on-board memory and because of this no need to install the software in case of using the mouse on some other PC or during the LAN tournaments. The only con which I found with software – it’s not possible to tune-up the delays between the keys in macro-commands.

Now let me speak about Instant Aim feature. I thought that it’s useless marketing move, but later I found it extremely useful in some cases.

There is a special rounded button on left-side of the mouse. By pressing and holding it you can command to your mouse to use special DPI setting which is adjustable from the software. After releasing it – mouse will back to “usual” DPI. It’s just wow! No need to create special profile for such purpose anymore. Imagine that you’re sniper in game, for adjusting the aim no need to rotate the profiles of the mouse, just press the instant aim button, tune-up the aim and release the button. Same for strategy games – when you need to select few units among hundreds – this button will help you like nobody else. And vice versa, if you’re using low DPI in FPS game by default, you can setup this button with high DPI and when enemy will start attacking you from behind, by pressing this button you can turn around way faster! This feature is useful in usual work as well, such as drawing, pointing some small details, selecting in Photoshop, etc.

What did I miss in describing this mouse for calling it ideal? I missed the vertical scroll button. Also, there is no possibility to adjust the weight of the mouse, but MS-3 is not too heavy or too light and a lot of people will find its weight optimal.

 

Pros of Func Surface 1030XL:

• Great build materials
• Dual-sided
• “Second” side is protected by frame
• Very stylish design of the box
• Washable
• 2-years warranty
• It’s still legendary Func

Cons:

• None

Pros of Func MS-3

• Instant Aim (unique feature)
• Excellent build and matte materials
• Software with a lot possibility of customization
• Braided and colored cable with gold-plated USB-connector
• On-board memory
• Very stylish design of the box
• 2-years warranty

Cons:

• Weight of the mouse is not adjustable
• Not possible to adjust the delays between keys in macro-command

Notes:

We didn’t put design and construction of the mouse to Pros nor to Cons, because it’s completely subjective. Some will find the design extremely comfortable because all fingers on their places, but some would like to stick with “traditional” forms.