Don't let yourself be fooled by the basic design of the Roccat Savu gaming mouse ($59.99 list). It doesn't offer the tricked-out customization of the Mad Catz Cyborg M.M.O. 7 ($159 street, 3.5 stars), but it has significantly more function and personalization than the bare-bones SteelSeries Kinzu ($40 street, 3 stars), with an arsenal of programmable functions hidden up its sleeve and a light bar that can be set to any of 16.8 million colors.
Design
The Savu looks much like other black-clad gaming mice. It measures 1.3 by 2.8 by 4.7 inches (HWD), and weighs 3.2 ounces. The sides and thumb rest are textured with a special "No-Sweat" coating, which has a strange feel that falls somewhere between skateboard grip tape and a cat's tongue. Though it takes a moment or two go get used to, you'll soon forget that it feels weird, and instead be grateful for the always grippy surface.
The top of the mouse is covered with a more traditional soft-touch surface, and all of the black is accented with a pulsating light at the back bottom edge of the mouse, cycling through different colors when the mouse is plugged in and powered on. In the included driver software, you can select your choice of colors?up to 16.8 million, according to Roccat.
The Savu is equipped with traditional right and left-click, a clickable scroll wheel, and two thumb buttons. One of these is an EasyShift[+] button, which works in conjunction with the rest of the mouse buttons to add programmable macro functions, effectively doubling the number of button functions.
Features and Performance
The Savu also has a comprehensive driver app, letting you set macro functions, adjust the light bar color, and customize your experience. But Roccat throws in a new feature for the trophy-obsessed, Roccat Achievement Display (or R.A.D.) which tracks everything from the number of button clicks to the total distance your mouse has travelled, and rewards gamers that hit certain (sometimes literal) milestones. If you're so inclined, you can even share your mousing accomplishments with others through Facebook.
The Savu is equipped with a Pro-Optic R3 sensor, which Roccat claims is the world's first 4000 DPI optical sensor?though we did see a 6000 DPI laser sensor on the Editors' Choice Gigabyte M8000Xtreme Mouse ($59.99 list, 4.5 stars). The Savu is also adjustable to rates of 400, 800, 1600 and 4000 DPI, so it shouldn't be too hard to find your sweet spot. Roccat also claims a polling rate of up to 1000 Hz, but they're being modest here?when we tested it with MouseRate, the number was closer to 1300 Hz.
As with all of our gaming peripherals, the Savu was tested on the battlefield as well as in the lab, and for most games, it kept us shooting and fragging without so much as a hiccup. However, in game, using the EasyShift[+] button to access extra functions took some real adjustment. Even for someone used to using thumb buttons, the two-step clicking was difficult to wrap my head around. It definitely adds a learning curve to what is otherwise a straightforward mouse.
The Roccat Savu is a well-built mouse with a surprisingly long list of features, like a grip that won't let go, a 4000 DPI sensor, and an array of programmable functions. Unfortunately, using the EasyShift[+] button to access these functions is a chore, and no amount of click-counting and distance tracking makes up for the resultant clunkiness. Ignore the extra functions and it becomes a solid (but basic) gaming mouse, but you'll probably be better off with our Editors' Choice Gigabyte M8000Xtreme Mouse.
COMPARISON TABLE
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