ROCCAT Savu Optical Gaming Mouse Review

Using the Mouse

Using the ROCCAT Savu is an interesting experience. The very first thing youll notice is how it feels on your skin. The sides of the mouse are textured and provide enough additional grip for your hand that youll need a little while to get used to it.

While we dont really apply very much grip pressure on any mouse, the ROCCAT Savu feels like its actually holding you. The smallest movement translates to the mouse and the 4000 DPI sensor picks that movement up right away.

Right after that youll notice that it doesnt weigh very much. If you like a heavy mouse you will be disappointed; at first anyway. I prefer a heavy mouse. I was disappointed. But after using the ROCCAT Savu for several hours I forgot all about it not weighing as much as I thought it should.

The button and scroll wheel action is stellar. The buttons have a solid click no matter where your fingers are positioned. There is just enough pressure required that you will avoid stray clicks but not so much pressure required that you miss a click. The scroll wheel is just the same. Very solid detents that stop the wheel but almost no effort is required to roll it. The surface is rubberized and has some notches in it that allow for an excellent grip even when your fingers are getting sweaty.

The cable on this mouse is wrapped in a braided nylon sheath. It has the feel of a shoelace rather than a plastic coating. When I first opened the mouse the cable had been folded over and secured with a zip tie. I bent the kinks out as best I could but they remained. I fully expected the cable to get hung on the edge of the desk.

It didnt. In fact, the cable on my Logitech MX510 is rubberized just like every other mouse cable. Just dragging it over the edge is enough to wreak havoc with any fine motor control over the mouse and is an unending source of annoyance. ROCCAT has solved this issue in its entirety as far as Im concerned.

If you are very careful and are paying attention, you will be able to feel a very small amount of resistance as the mouse cable slides over the corner of the desk. But the nylon sheath makes the cable so slick that the amount of resistance is only worth mentioning because its so small. If for no other reason than that, the ROCCAT Savu is now my primary mouse.

But all is not perfect in paradise. The only real problem Ive found with the ROCCAT Savu is in the macro button itself which is a major marketing point for this product. They are attempting to differentiate themselves from other MMO mice by reducing the number of buttons without the number of functions.

The idea is to push the side button and then all the other buttons get a second function. If youve used a multi-button mouse before then you understand that there can be so many buttons so close together that its all but impossible to hit the right one every time. It also requires a great deal of practice to gain proficiency with the device. You wind up just picking a few of the buttons and assigning them certain tasks.

The ROCCAT Savu suffers from a button placement issue. There are two side buttons. The front one is just like any other side button and provides the browser forward action as you would expect. The rear button is the Easy-Shift[+] and opens up the other functions.

What happens is, after a little while with your hand on the mouse, your thumb shifts ever so slightly upward into range of the side buttons. Given the added traction on the sides you have much more leverage than you normally do which allows you to press the side button without meaning to and, often enough, without even realizing you have done so.

As a result Ive done two things; run off cliffs and learn to loosen up my grip on the mouse. Ive been more successful with the former and less so with the latter. Typically this happens more so with the front than the rear side button so disabling the front one has helped a lot.

The issue is the same with any multi-button mouse; you have to change your grip on the mouse to use the extra button(s). And thats just a problem when it comes to gaming. If the side button was difficult to press in terms of pressure we would have the same issue so I dont see any way around it. Just the same, I would have liked to see the side buttons moved just a little bit higher to reduce the number of inadvertent clicks resulting in my death.

The overall size is smaller than what Im used to but much larger than a laptop mouse. ROCCAT claims it is a medium-sized design and Id call that spot on. Again, its a little something for me to get used to but hasnt taken long to accomplish.

The size of the mouse is quite interesting. It is just ergonomic enough without throwing your hand into another plane of existence. It is long enough that all but the most giant of hands will be able to find a comfortable position. Small hands too. Even after hours of game play I didnt notice any undue hand, wrist or arm strain.