Trust GXT 970 Morfix review: “Chop and change”

Presumably, somebody in Trust’s design department purchased a Razer Naga Pro - the best gaming mouse of recent years - and loved it. They then decided to come up with a cheaper alternative. Enter the Trust GXT 970 Morfix.

Snap-on swappable side plates for gaming mice aren’t a new proposition, but the Trust GXT 970 Morfix makes them more affordable. Specifically, it's less than half the price of Razer’s offering. 

Although it doesn’t do that much else to stand out from the crowd (matching several other Trust mice like the Trust GXT 960 Graphin in terms of performance and build quality), getting those hot-swappable side plates for less is a big draw.

Features

On the left side of the mouse, where the thumb rests, you have a choice of two plates; one with three buttons in a familiar gaming mouse layout, and one with nine laid out in a 3x3 grid. Perfect for MOBAs and MMOs, in other words. It's essentially a cheaper version of the Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite.

While the right-hand side offers no buttons, it can be swapped out too. This lets you change the overall shape of the mouse to your taste, essentially allowing you to choose whether you want your ring finger to rest on the mouse or beside it.

Beyond that, the Morfix doesn’t offer much else of note. Besides two buttons for on-the-fly DPI adjustment behind the scroll wheel, anyway.

Of course, this entire setup is completely unfriendly to left-handed users. If you were hoping for this to be the best left-handed gaming mouse, you'll leave disappointed.

Design

The Morfix doesn’t look that special, and handling the mouse reveals almost immediately that the construction feels rather cheap and clunky (with the exception of a nice 1.8m braided cable).

However, the multi-zone RGB lighting under the base of the mouse actually looks really good (though the colour of the scroll wheel and logo are tied to the currently selected DPI profiles). Unfortunately, the software for adjusting the Morfix’s lighting and DPI settings is quite limited. 

Performance

The sensitivity here is comfortably on par with similarly priced gaming mice, and the UPE feet glide nicely over most surfaces, but the heaviness of the Morfix does cause problems in some games.

Trying to use the 8-button configuration in shooters like Overwatch ultimately just felt a bit sluggish, and the side panel buttons didn’t feel durable under constant use in heated firefights.

The 14-button panel fared a bit better, with a brief venture into Final Fantasy XIV feeling a lot more comfortable. In fact, the Morfix felt so much better in MMORPGs that it really brought the need for swappable panels into question.

Overall - should you buy it?

A more affordable Naga Trinity sounds, on paper, like a great idea. But £45 is still a lot of money to spend on a mouse, especially since you can pick up an older Razer Naga on Amazon for around the same amount if you’re only planning on playing MMOs.

Considering the decidedly budget build quality, the Morfix simply doesn’t do enough to excite either. It looks good and switching the side plates is quick and easy, but we’re not convinced they’re a necessary feature.

If you absolutely crave that tactile customisability, the Trust Morfix might be worth a look. Otherwise, there are better mice out there for your needs.