INTRODUCTION

   Although once upon a time (roughly 2 decades ago) most of us used OEM keyboards and mouse sets (and were quite content) nowadays there are more of those products in the market than one can count aimed mostly towards gamers and professionals who require the highest possible accuracy and speed. Still the sheer number of such solutions currently available in the market along with their specifications and designs make it quite impossible for anyone to make the right choice so personally i choose to trust just a handful of all the PC peripheral manufacturers out (namely the proven ones) there and naturally ROCCAT is amongst them. So for the past 2 weeks we've been rather thoroughly testing their latest Savu Gaming Mouse which although not the best in their gaming mouse line still it proved to be more than a decent solution for people who are not after the best possible performance.

   ROCCAT is the snow storm to the gaming industry. Everything called gaming before needs to be redefined. You will enter a world in which three attributes will keep you on the right path: alliance, independence and truth. DO IT YOUR OWN WAY AND DON'T TALK SHIT – this is the statement ROCCAT follows. The ROCCATEERS can be found all over the world. And it was a revelation which led them together to energize the crucial benefit. The lake Inari long kept the secret our ROCCAT scientists call "Aimo". With every ROCCAT tool you will more and more internalize its Energy. Become part of our alliance.

   As mentioned the new Savu gaming mouse may not be on top of the ROCCAT food chain (short of speak) but compared to the quite older Kova/+ gaming mice we liked it quite a bit more thanks to its performance, design and features. So what does the new Savu offer in terms of specifications and features? Well first of all it sports an 4000DPI pro optic (R3) sensor (60IPS, 20G, 1000MHz poll), comes with a total of 6 buttons (5 can be remapped), features Easy-Shift[+] technology, has no-sweat side grips (for improved handling) and finally it has a rear light bar which can light up with any of the 16.8 million colors available. The only thing missing from the Savu (quite strange) is the DPI selection button/switch something which has become a standard for gaming mice over the years. That aside it’s time to put the latest Savu to the test and see just how good the latest product by ROCCAT really is.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

ROCCAT ships the Savu inside their classic black box with a product image at the front, the ROCCAT logo and the main product features listed on the left in blue bars and at the bottom as small icons.

Four small product pictures along with the contents, specifications and system requirement lists are present at the left side.

A large ROCCAT logo can once again be seen at the right side of the box.

The unit’s features and specifications are listed at the rear in 9 languages.

ROCCAT does not offer a driver CD (since they update the drivers and firmware of their products quite often i see no reason for one) so inside the box you will find the Savu gaming mouse, the quick installation guide and a ROCCAT ID card.

THE SAVU

The Savu does not follow the classic lines we see with most gaming mouse and just like other similar solutions by ROCCAT the top comes with a nice rubber coating.

In terms of size the Savu is a medium mouse and to show that we placed it right next to the slightly larger Zowie Gear EC1 eVo mouse and the smaller SteelSeries Kinzu Pro.

The Savu features two thumb buttons much like the majority of gaming mice in the market. However with the Easy-Shift[+] function you can assign up to two functions for each.

The product name is placed on the lower front of the no-sweat side area.

Although most of the Savu main body is not illuminated there is a LED bar at the lower rear.

The large pinky button is used to enable and disable the Easy-Shift[+] function.

ROCCAT has once again placed their logo at the top of the unit.

The large wheel button features the same rubber coating as with other gaming mice by ROCCAT and feels quite nice.

At the bottom of the Savu we see two large glide feet, the ROCCAT logo and the pro optical sensor.

The pro optical (R3) sensor features a 4000 DPI resolution, 60 inches per second and a 20G acceleration.

The Savu also comes with a 1.8m braided cable but unfortunately the USB connector is not gold plated.

USING THE SAVU

Since ROCCAT does not include a software CD inside the box you will need to head over to the official support page to get both the latest drivers and latest firmware update.

The firmware update procedure takes less than a minute to finish.

The control panel is similar to the one ROCCAT uses for most of their gaming mice so through here you can adjust the units sensitivity, select the wanted DPI level, adjust the scroll/pointer/tilt/double click speeds, remap all the available buttons both in normal mode and in Easy-Shift[+] mode, create macro commands, create/edit Game Profiles, set the polling rate, adjust the illumination for the rear LED bar, enable/disable sound feedback, check statistics regarding mouse button clicks and mouse movement and finally ask for support from ROCCAT and check for available driver/firmware updates.

I can't really post pictures of every available LED color (16.8m pictures would be too much) but i have placed the default color pattern the Savu comes with from the factory.

CONCLUSION

   After almost two weeks of testing the new Savu (mostly with Sleeping Dogs and the Planetside 2 Beta) we have good and bad things to say about it so here we go. First of all the pro optical sensor is quite fast and accurate while the glide pads produce very good results so when paired with a good mouse pad the Savu should be able to cover the needs of most gamers out there. The rubber coating at the top along with the no-sweat coating on the sides is also largely responsible for the accuracy of the sensor. The Easy-Shift[+] function, the quite impressive control panel and the rear illumination feature also add to the overall image of the Savu and that's a good thing. However the Savu has two serious drawbacks, first it lacks an dedicated DPI selection button/switch and secondly its design may look great but it doesn't offer the same grip as for example the EC1 eVo by Zowie Gear. Both drawbacks are not extremely serious since it will not take long for someone to get used to them but still they are present.

   With a current retail price set at around USD69 inside the USA and 54.90Euros inside the EU (Caseking.de) the Savu is as expected more expensive than the Kova[+]. However the fact that it’s quite more expensive that the Kova[+] is not really positive since just by looking at the specifications sheet and more specifically the 4000DPI pro optical R3 sensor used it's quite clear that ROCCAT did not design and manufacture the Savu with hardcore gamers, professionals and enthusiasts in mind mainly because they already have the excellent Kone line for that (both the new Kone Pure and the upcoming Kone XTD are quite impressive) so i would like to see a more aggressive approach in terms of pricing. That certainly does not change the fact that the Savu is quite fast, very accurate and looks great and so because of that it comes recommended by us for casual gamers and users who just want something better than the average gaming mouse.

PROS

- Build Quality (Housing/OMRON Switches)
- Good Accuracy
- Quite Fast (4000DPI)
- Rear LED Bar (16.8m Colors)
- Control Software
- Rubber/No-Sweat Coating
- Easy-Shift[+] Feature
 

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Design (Not The Best Grip)
- No DPI Selection Button