INTRODUCTION

   Yesterday i went to the local Nike store to pick a couple of new running shoes since it's time to replace my old ones and it was then standing in front of a wall with almost 30 different models that i realized how hard it must be for people to choose the right pair between several different models. Of course this example isn't just for shoes but pretty much everything else in the market including electronics and PC hardware and peripherals (besides to me running shoes are what power supplies and SSDs might be to someone else). This stands especially true for gaming peripherals since choosing the right ones to cover your needs is not the easiest thing since much like shoes we're not talking about a product that you simply can't base your decision on performance numbers. Although new Tesoro so far has a perfect track record in the gaming peripherals market and today with us we have their latest Gandiva H1L Laser Gaming Mouse.

   Tesoro Technology USA Inc, a team of U.S.A gaming enthusiasts. With the objective of designing unique products specially catered to the gamers. We focused on PC gaming and our mission is to create products with better design, increase and reach for peak performances. In the recent years the gaming industry has developed into the ultra-competitive market that we see today. While we are still a relatively young company, established in 2011. Tesoro will continue to strive for the best and continuously evaluate our performance against the very best of the best. Tesoro could not exist without the gaming community who inspire us to excel in the design and production of our award winning gear. As a gamers company, we will continues to expand into new horizons and push the limits further with each product unveiling. We Strive to develop innovative cutting edge computer gaming peripherals to help improve your gaming experience. We maximize our ability to meet the needs of the fast changing PC gaming industry.

   For the Gandiva H1L Tesoro has used a laser sensor which we've seen in many other high-end gaming mice the ADNS-9800 by Avago so once again we find ourselves holding a mouse that features a maximum resolution of 8200DPI (dots per inch) with 12000FPS tracking (frames per second), 150IPS speed (inches per second), 30G acceleration and 10.8MP sensor rate (megapixel). Tesoro has also given the Gandiva 8 programmable buttons, 1000Hz polling rate, adjustable LED illumination and 128kb of onboard memory used to store up to 5 profiles with up to 40 macro commands for each. What really impressed us however the moment we saw the preview of the Gandiva H1L almost a year ago was its strange design which has remained practically the same since and is probably something users will either like or dislike from the get go, i really don't think there's a middle ground here.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Tesoro sells the Gandiva inside a strange looking box that has their logo, a bow and a large product image at the front.

The package contents and system requirements are placed on the two sides of the box.

At the rear you will find the features list in 13 languages along with the specifications list and a small product image.

As you can all see the front opens upwards to reveal the Gandiva and a list of its features with 3 pictures.

Aside the Gandiva gaming mouse you are also getting a driver CD, 4 replacement feet and the user manual.

THE GANDIVA

Is it me or does the Gandiva with its brushed metal looks resemble the Tumbler from the 3 last Batman movies quite a bit?

We placed the 116mm long, 72mm wide, 44mm tall and 135g heavy Gandiva right next to three of the latest gaming mice to pass from our test bench to get a better idea of its size.

Two full programmable buttons are placed on the left side of the Gandiva along with a matt plastic (rubber-like) area which should help with the grip.

The DPI selections LEDs are placed on the top left side.

As usual the company logo is placed at the rear of the mouse.

3 more programmable buttons are placed at the top right next to the scroll wheel (these are the DPI and profile selection buttons).

The company name is placed right beneath their logo.

The clickable scroll wheel is very soft and almost inaudible when used.

Turning the mouse over we see four Teflon feet (Tesoro bundles 4 more as replacements when these wear off).

The fact that the laser sensor is not placed at the middle of the mouse may have some people worried but during testing we had no problems with it.

Finally Tesoro has used a braided cable with a gold plated USB connector.

CONTROL SOFTWARE

Prior to using the Gandiva i recommend checking the official downloads page of Tesoro to grab the latest driver version (the one in the CD might be outdated).

The control software at first gives you the wrong idea since you can just program the 8 available buttons.

To access the macro and advanced tabs you will need to click on the left arrow.

It may not look very pretty but the control software allows you to change the LED color, adjust the DPI, enable/disable angle snapping, setup the click speed, change the polling rate and set the liftoff distance (LOD).

Strangely enough although the LEDs do a great job you can only change the color of the the scroll wheel and logo LEDs as seen above.

CONCLUSION

   I happen to like the last three Batman films so since the design of the Gandiva reminds me a lot of the Tumbler i really liked using it although i have to admit that i've seen and used far more ergonomic models. This is perhaps the only problem the Gandiva has since the ADNS-9800 laser sensor and the Omron switches have been "battle" tested for many years now so we all know how fast, accurate and durable gaming mice that use them are. So if patience is not one of your virtues and you prefer regular shaped gaming mice (like the SteelSeries Sensei or the Zowie FK1) then i strongly recommend staying clear from the Gandiva since it took a couple of days for even us to get used to it. That being said the weight is ok and so is the grip (far from perfect but for its design it's surprisingly good) so although the laser sensor is not at the center of the mouse we had no problems during testing. We also found that the default LOD distance selection works very well but that's obviously not something that will work for everybody so some experimentation is required. The control software much like we've seen in the past with other gaming mice by Tesoro needs to be redesigned in order to make it easier to use and navigate.

   Gaming mice that make use of both the Avago ADNS-9800 sensor and Omron switches cost quite a bit naturally but fortunately the Gandiva H1L Laser Gaming Mouse by Tesoro is priced quite reasonably since it currently retails for USD69.99 inside the USA (NCIXUS.com) and for 64Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). In the end however it's the design of the Gandiva H1L which will be the decisive factor for consumers since obviously some will love it while others will hate it. Personally i like both the design and performance of the Gandiva H1L Laser Gaming Mice although i have to admit that if it took 2 days for us to get used to it chances are it will take even more for casual users and that may end up being somewhat annoying. Overall however the Gandiva H1L is a solid proposal by Tesoro and since it performs as it should it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Speed & Accuracy (Avago ADNS-9800)
- 8 Programmable Buttons
- 32bit Cortex Processor With 512Kb Of Onboard Memory
- Illumination
- Adjustable LOD
- Braided Cable With Gold Plated USB Connector
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Design (For Some)
- Control Software (Needs To Be More User Friendly)