Roccat Kova+ review

[GregButcher]

Hello all,

 

This is my first review here, please be gentle senpais  (≧ω≦)

 

So, some story time, nearly two years ago i started building my very first high-end PC and i needed a good mouse for a good build. Now i had(and still have) pretty specifiic requirements from a mouse being: small, symmetrical(or at least not very right hand "ergonomic"). After some asking around, a friend of mine recommended Roccat to me, he used one and really liked it(may He rest in peace). So I went out and bought one.Because crazy Hungarian 27% VAT it cost me around 55€ but i saw it on UK amazon for around 30Ł

 

 

 

Unboxing: 

 

I was very pleased with the box it came in, it is very sturdy and even stylish. Not much else to say about it really.

 

About the mouse:

- As you can see the mouse has a symmetrical V shape and sharp lines. Nevertheless its pretty comfortable, i have no complaints. As i said i needed a somewhat small mouse, and this is one. I'm "exactly" a Linus-sized person(165cm) and even stubby fingers, but i can easily claw-ish grip this mouse. I usually only use my wrist and my fingers, with high DPI.The mouse like i said is totally symmetrical so you have the same 2 thumb buttons on the other side and the same style thumbrest. 

-The kova+, the newer one that i have has glossy thumbrest and sidebuttons, compared to the non+ version(only seen on pictures tho), everything else is made out of matte rubberized plastic. The mouse has lighting on the 2 buttons, and under/behind the thumbrest as seen above. It has 7 colors with breathing effect and color cycle as well. Weird that they included 7 colors but didn't go full RGB then, nevertheless you will probably be able to color-match the lighting to your build.

-On the underside it has 4 slippy pads and an infrared optical sensor with 3200dpi(Avago A3050, probably 2000dpi with +1200 interpolated. Thanks @Shaqo_Wyn!), and has 4 settings: 400,800,1600,3200. No braided cable, standard rubberized one.Would've been nice to see a braided one but i don't think thats standard in this 30Ł pricerange.

-Supposedly its driverless, but i never used it without one, since it's needed for configuring the buttons. The easyshift function lets you have 2 functions bound to every button on the mouse(literally acts like a shift key)

 

So some extra story, i managed to break my first one(only the middle mouse, under the wheel) but that was due to being a very VERY raging gamer at the time and i bashed the mouse onto the desk with my full force several times over several weeks before it finally gave in. The mouse literally looked intact otherwise on the outside. It was an expensive lesson for me to learn but at least i learnt it. Although, since the mouse looked intact, i managed to sell it for a few buckaroonies as parts for a guy who used mine as a donor for his own kova.

 

Pros and Cons

 

+Very sturdy build

+Ambidextrous

+Lightweight but not overly light

+nice comfortable despite being ambidextrous

+Good sensor, couldn't notice any acceleration even after testing for it.

+Solid clicky buttons all around, not mushy

+EVERYTHING is rebindable and changeable, even the 3 main mouse buttons, 

 

-7 colors are nice, but then why not full RGB?

-The glossy parts collect fingerpints like mad, and get very very quickly greasy, even tho i wash my hands frequently

-the scrollwheel has some side-wiggle for no good reason

-every time i apply some settings in the driver it nearly crashes and it takes like a minute to recover itself, but it does work and apply the setting i wanted.

 

!! Also note: the older series have a problem with leaking glue on the side, where the rubberized part and the glossy thumbrest meets. This is as i heard has been fixed in the newer batch, i had this on my old one(bought 2013 august), it started after a few months of usage, BUT i do not have it on my new one(bought 2014 november)

 

Conclusion:

Just checked uk amazon, this mouse costs 30Ł and the razer abyssus is 30-40Ł. In my opinion(altho never tried any razer mouse,not the abyssus either), this is clearly a better option for your money, with all the extra buttons and functionality it gives, for even less. It's ambidex design makes it good for lefties as well or people like me who don't particularly prefer heavily right hand designs. The only real gripe I have with it is the glossy parts collecting grease, but if you wash hands frequently and keep your mouse clean it shouldn't be a big issue. Its a german design so you know it will be quality, and i have to say buying this without ever trying one, I'm very impressed and I don't think I'll ever need to look for another mouse until they discontinue this one.

 

Thanks for reading, your personal experiences and of course constructive criticism is welcome!

 

Edit: added sensor name/type, added my own pictures of it.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Nice review. The mouse itself doesn't really appeal to me but that's personal preference of course. What sensor does it use?

[xxnextenxx]

Regarding the driver less, I have config in the mouse from using the driver, but after rebuilding my machine fresh windows all the buttons still work and the lights are as i set them so it is driver less just needs it for the original set up. (i use the mouse buttons on the right to change the DPI which is not how they are set by stock so it is driver less )

[ShadowCaptain]

Nice review. The mouse itself doesn't really appeal to me but that's personal preference of course. What sensor does it use?

 

Apparently its Pro Optic R2 optical sensor

[JoaoPRSousa]

Nice review mate!

Can we have some more photos of it?

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Apparently its Pro Optic R2 optical sensor

Damn, Roccat with there silly sensor renaming. Gotta look up which Avago sensor that translate too.

[ShadowCaptain]

Damn, Roccat with there silly sensor renaming. Gotta look up which Avago sensor that translate too.

 

Its not avago its a pixart sensor I believe optical LED PixArt PAW3305DK

 

apparently no acceleration - but some jitter at high sensitivity but not many reports

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Its not avago its a pixart sensor I believe optical LED PixArt PAW3305DK

apparently no acceleration - but some jitter at high sensitivity but not many reports

Avago bought Pixart (or is it the other way around?) So AFAIC it's the same sensor but from what I've found it seems to be the Avago A3050 in there. 2000 dpi max. native meaning that the remaining 1200 is achieved through interpolation.

All in all a decent mouse.

[ShadowCaptain]

Avago bought Pixart (or is it the other way around?) So AFAIC it's the same sensor but from what I've found it seems to be the Avago A3050 in there. 2000 dpi max. native meaning that the remaining 1200 is achieved through interpolation.

All in all a decent mouse.

 

Ah was not aware of that

[GregButcher]

Hey, thanks all for the positive feedback! I didn't bother with checking the sensor, but yeah it uses that pro optic sensor2 that others said.

 

Avago bought Pixart (or is it the other way around?) So AFAIC it's the same sensor but from what I've found it seems to be the Avago A3050 in there. 2000 dpi max. native meaning that the remaining 1200 is achieved through interpolation.

All in all a decent mouse.

 That would make sense, thats why people report jittering on max dpi, bc its interpolated from 2000. I use it on 3200 DPI, i'm nowhere professional, but i never had any issues with jitter. I'll add in the info into the review in a sec!

 

Nice review mate!

Can we have some more photos of it?

Yeah, i'll make pictures i was just in a hurry and i wanted to get it out before I had to hit the town

[shujin]

really nice review good job here