Turtle Beach's new mouse is giving me the ick, and it's not just the obnoxious touchscreen

Listen, I love a good touchscreen. I love it when peripherals add more customization control options. I want my setup to have as many launchers, macros, and LED buttons as possible - but even I have my limits.

Turtle Beach's new Command Series MC7 gaming mouse is now up for pre-order, at a pretty flagship-looking $159.99 MSRP might I add, and slapped right across its shoulder you'll find a massive 2.25-inch touchscreen display. It's not just giving me the ick, it's making me physically itchy.

The screen looks like it has space for four different macro zones, spanning DPI shifting, profile shifting, personalized macros, and OBS controls. It's positioned just above the thumb rest, standing starkly inline with an incredibly square front end, angled very slightly with the edge of the main clicks.

I just can't see a universe where, mid-game, I can curl my thumb around to hit any of these touchscreen zones reliably. It just looks too high, with too much of a ceiling on the thumb rest, to be truly navigable without looking down and shifting my entire hand. I'm even less likely to move my left hand over to hit anything on this panel. And this thing better have pretty intelligent gesture smarts - I can't think of anything worse than being threatened by accidental settings changes if I shift my thumb too far during gameplay. My hand is aching from the tension already.

It's not just the giant touchscreen that made me wince over the weekend. The whole rodent just looks like it's been designed with a set-square. It's somehow incredibly sharp and boxy while also relying on heavy angles around the main click height and rear hump. This is one I'll have to see to believe.

Elsewhere, the Turtle Beach Command Series MC7 offers 8,000Hz wireless polling with a 30,000 DPI sensor - all pretty standard fare for a top-end gaming mouse with competitive players in its sights. The battery presents yet another surprise, though.

This is a hot-swappable solution, much like the Glorious O3 Wireless, with two 15 hour battery packs in the box. Each pack slots into the rear hump of the mouse when it's juiced up, returning to the included charging hub after being swapped out.

I can't lie and say my first reaction to the Turtle Beach Command Series MC7 wasn't tinged with horror. I am, however, curious to see what this rodent has in store. I'm judging it particularly harshly based on looks alone, but if there's an ugly duckling redemption arc in here I'm keen to see how it plays out.

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