Gigabyte Aivia Uranium Mouse Review

Overview

 

As some of you may know my current Gaming mouse of choice is the Gigabyte Aivia Krypton; a relatively high end Gaming mouse costing around £55. The reason that I open with that statement is that today I will be taking a look at a mouse from Gigabyte that sits at the other end of the scale. Hold on James haven’t you said all of this before? Yes I have when I reviewed the Gigabyte M7 Thor, BUT this time I’m taking a look at the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium (the most expensive mouse Gigabyte have made!) and a mouse that I’ve had my eye on for some time.

The Gigabyte Aivia Uranium is a right handed wireless mouse with a twin eye 6500DPI laser and 10 programmable buttons, in addition to this the Uranium comes with its very own Ghost Macro Station!? Read on to find out more…

 

 

The Uranium came beautifully packaged with the front of the outer box showing a large image of the mouse and its associated Macro Station. The back of the box gives you some idea of what that Macro Station is all about and highlights the following features:

 

MOUSE ON -THE-FLY DPI SWITCHING 10 PROGRAMMABLE BUTTONS 4-DIRECTION MOUSE WHEEL & OLED CONTROLLER 50HRS CONTINUOUS WIRELESS GAMEPLAY

MACRO STATION DYNAMIC DISPLAY MODE Dynamic update and display DPI value, report rate, gaming profiles and battery life. LIVE EDITING MODE Prompt re-assign macro hotkeys and set-up DPI value directly through GHOST station. BUILT-IN GHOST MACRO ENGINE INSTANT POWER CHARGING

 

 

The side of the box also lists various features and specifications of the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium mouse and the GHOST Macro Station. I’ll just let you look at the images above should you wish to know more (besides it saves me some typing!).

 

Opening the outer box reveals a rather smart black inner box with a blue surround and an Aivia logo. Within we find the Uranium mouse and the GHOST Macro Station displayed.

 

 

Within the inner box we find the mouse, Macro Station and an accessories box.

Within the accessories box we find; 2 x AA NiMH 1200mAh rechargeable batteries, spare Teflon Glides, cleaning cloth (even has Gigabyte embossed into the cloth!), User’s Guide and an Aivia Forum card.

At the time of writing the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium is retailing for approximately £90 and comes with a 2 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of Gigabyte

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

Well I have to admit to seeing the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium back in the summer and I was impressed then, but now I have it in my hands (the mouse that is!), I’m really looking forward to taking a look at this over the next week or so. My only slight reservation at this point is the shape of the mouse as not only is it right hand only (although I am right handed) but the mouse features a relatively ergonomic shape and this is something that I’m often not so keen on. This is due to the fact that a highly ergonomic mouse forces a particular grip style, meaning that your grip on the mouse can sometimes end up feeling a little awkward, we shall see…

As soon as you pick up a wireless mouse, you can immediately appreciate its wire-less credentials and it makes you think that all mice should really be wireless! After all nobody really wants that wire snaking across the desk snagging on your keyboard etc (unless you have this of course). The Ghost Macro Station looks good too, with its embossed Ghost logos on the side and dual buttons atop. It seems like such a good idea I’m amazed that it’s taken this long for someone to come up with it, well done Gigabyte for introducing something truly new…

 

 

• Top

The top of the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium features the common 2 button (left/right) and scroll wheel (4-way) approach, augmented with an additional 5 buttons (one of which is really a switch). To the left of the left click we find two buttons (G1 & G2) these buttons are very well placed and are of course fully programmable via the Aivia Software. They are also nicely raised from the natural profile of the mouse meaning that they’re easy to find with your finger. Some mice manufacturers seem to think it’s a good idea to blend the buttons in with the shape of the mouse, I disagree; well done Gigabyte! Behind the scroll wheel we find a rocker switch that by default is setup for on the fly DPI adjustment (4 available). Behind this we find a further two buttons; by default the first of these buttons is the Wheel Lock button, this buttons enables or disables access to the Ghost Macro Station. Below this we find the main Profile switch button allowing you to cycle through the 5 available Profiles. Finally we have the Power & Wheel indicator, an LED that indicates whether the Ghost Macro Station is enabled (for programming) or not, via a blue light. In addition to this the LED will also blink red when the charge in the batteries gets extremely low (0%).

 

 

• Front / Back

There’s not much to see at the front of the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium other than the Micro USB charging cable socket. Worth noting though is not only does the USB plug connect only one way (as is normal for USB), but the port is also keyed; now although this helps with the correct orientation of the USB plug itself, it did mean that the fit was rather tight. I think this will probably loosen over time though and is not of real concern…

The back of the mouse really shows very little, although in the image below you can clearly see the right handed, ergonomic shape of the Uranium.

 

 

• Sides (left & right)

The left side of the mouse features two thumb buttons (G3 & G4), which are beautifully placed (for me!) and once again they are raised from the surface of the mouse meaning they’re easy to find by feel alone. There’s also a small Aivia logo in the corner although no illumination here; this is a shame, although this would have undoubtedly affected battery life…

The right side of the Uranium is effectively featureless due to the right handed nature of its design.

 

 

• Underside

The underside of the AiVia Uranium features a 6500 DPI Twin-eye Laser sensor near the front of the mouse. In addition to this there’s a flap beneath the laser in which we find the 2 x AA NiMH 1200mAh rechargeable batteries, to the side of this we find a on/off switch as well as a connect button (that I’ve never pressed!). There are 5 main Teflon glides, large front, sensor, sides and back with an additional set of glides provided in the box; which is always nice to see.

 

 

So far so good then, the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium from looks alone promises much, let’s now get it plugged in and configured and crack on with some Gaming… 😉

 

Hardware Installation

 

The Gigabyte Aivia Uranium mouse is Wireless so no connections here, but the Ghost Macro Station connects to your PC by way of two USB plugs (I assume one for the device itself and the other for charging purposes).

 

 

Once connected and powered on the Uranium comes to life, well the Macro Station does, as you’re immediately welcomed by way of a large Ghost logo on the screen. This screen then settles into a default Battery, Profile and DPI centric display.

Of course software is required (not supplied) for full functionality of the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium…

 

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

The Gigabyte Aivia Uranium was tested using our Intel Test Rig with a fresh installation of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (service pack 1) installed together with all the latest relevant drivers and software.

As per the User’s Guide the Aivia Ghost software was downloaded from Gigabyte’s website (here). Version 1.06 was installed and used throughout testing.

Mouse Surface:

The Uranium was tested using a OcUK Mega-Mega Mat 3XL Elite Tactical Gaming Surface.

The following games were used to help in the evaluation of the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium:

• Battlefield 4
• Path of Exile
• Red Orchestra 2 – Rising Storm

 

Hardware Performance

 

• MOUSE

I really enjoy reviewing mice as they are so important when it comes to PC Gaming, without a decent mouse you’re sure to find yourself nearer the bottom than the top of the leader-board. You may feel that using a Wireless mouse may introduce problems and might push you closer to the bottom of the leader-board, but not this Wireless mouse…

Why? Well let’s get one thing straight, I take my Gaming quite seriously and anything other than the best is no good for me; and luckily the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium performed as good as any mouse (Wired or Wireless) that I have tested, with perfect tracking and response times and with no hint of lag. From a pure performance point of view the Uranium performed extremely well in both fast Battlefield 4 testing and slower Path of Exile testing. Now we have have covered the excellent raw performance of the Uranium, let’s take a look at the mouse and its design a little closer.

At first I was concerned about the ergonomic shape of the Aivia Uranium, so I was surprised at how natural it felt while in my hand (right hand, obviously). Within only an hour or so of use I found myself at one with the mouse. This is helped by the great button placement, in particular the excellent position of the two thumb buttons. The two additional buttons (G1 & G2) on the left click are also easily accessible and most useful.

With great performance, good comfort and excellent button placement, the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium already sounds like the perfect mouse, but the Uranium has a another trick up its sleeve, the Ghost Macro Station…

 

 

• Macro Station

So what is the Ghost Macro Station? Well, that’s not an easy question to answer as really this has never been seen before. Basically the Macro Station is effectively the brains of the operation; handling all communication both Wireless & Wired (Charging), it also enables the mouse to be programmed directly via the station itself. The wired option is also rather clever, with the Micro USB plug being on a retractable cable at the front of the Macro Station (see image below left). The cable simply pulls out via a ratchet type mechanism and provides a cable length anywhere up to 50cm.

One small issue with the Macro Station is that it doesn’t weigh much and the base itself is rather small; meaning that the hefty braided USB cable has a tendency to want to lift the unit from the table slightly. Over time I found that with a little persuasion the cable could be persuaded into a more friendly orientation, allowing the base to sit flat on the table.

 

 

It’s a smart looking unit too with its black/white 60mm OLED screen acting as a display for both the user (while the mouse is in use), and also providing an interface to programme the mouse directly. The screen can also be tilted meaning that its information can always be easily seen. The sides of the Ghost Macro Station features a smart looking Ghost logo too, although this doesn’t light up, which would have been a nice touch.

The buttons atop the Station also suggest much (well they did to me!), but all they control is the brightness of the screen! All of the programming of the mouse is done via the mouse, by activating the Wheel Controller Lock button just below the DPI switch.

 

 

Below you can see the default screen setup for when the Uranium is in use, showing Battery Status, Profile selected and current DPI Settings as well as the Report Rate. In addition to this you can also tell what profile you are using by the colour of the Aivia logo beneath the screen, there a five in total (Red, Blue, Green, Cyan & Magenta). As you can see from the image below right programming the Uranium via the mouse and screen is relatively simple and it’s all controlled by the 4-way scroll wheel!

 

 

• Battery Life

Of course as the Uranium is Wireless it obviously contains batteries, two AA NiMH 1200mAh rechargeable batteries to be precise. Now Gigabyte boldly claims a 50 hour battery life (the box suggests that’s two weeks of normal Gaming!), well not for me it’s not! 😉

But I did indeed find that battery life in general was very good, seeing me charge the mouse about every 5 days or so; 10 hours a day Gaming I here you shout!? Well no; as to be fair I only use the mouse for about 6-7 hours a day, but I found myself re-charging the mouse once I saw it hit around 20% battery remaining. AND; if you do the maths on the above it does indeed get pretty darn close to 50 hours, impressive! Charging is also good, with the mouse charging via the Macro Station to 100% is just a few hours.

 

• SOFTWARE

The Gigabyte Aivia software (not supplied) can be downloaded here, version 1.06 was used throughout testing.

 

 

The Aivia Software covers all connected Aivia devices, as you can the Osmium keyboard listed in the image above left. The software is a pretty slick affair with two main sections (Profiles & Settings). Profiles is the route to take for Profile manipulation and programming, while the Settings option allows various aspects of the mouse and Macro Station to be configured.

As you can see from the images below the software is very comprehensive allowing for a large amount of customisation, pretty much everything you would want to do is here; apart from one glaring omission! I cannot find a way to change the Profile Name, as this is one of the most common configuration changes (allowing you to keep track of what profile has been set for what game), I’m shocked that it doesn’t seem supported…

I could go through the software tab by tab, but I’m feeling a little lazy! Well, to be honest I think that it’s a little easier to just let the images below do most of the talking (a picture paints a thousand words, after all)…

 

• SOFTWARE – Profiles (programming)

 

The Profiles section of the Aivia software is where you go to re-assign buttons etc, with full support for Macro programming too. Just choose the Profile (indicated by the colour at the top of the tab), select the button you wish to programme, then select what you want to assign, a Basic mouse function , Key Mapping or Macro.

 

• SOFTWARE – Settings (Manage Profiles/Sensitivity/Wheel Settings)

 

Once into the Settings section the first three options allow you to disable/change colour of the Profile (but not the Profile name, so you’re stuck with Profile 1/2 etc!), set the DPI value (100 – 6500 in 100 increments) for the four supported DPI settings and set the behaviour of the mouse wheel.

 

• SOFTWARE – Settings (Report Rate/Screen Saver/Memory Storage)

 

The next three tabs allows the Report Rate (defaults to 500Hz, up to 1000Hz) to be set, the screen saver image to be modified or imported (check out the MSI Dragon one that I did!) and the memory (on-board the mouse) to be cleared/backed-up, restored etc.

 

• SOFTWARE – Settings (Cooling Timer/Pairing)

 

The last two options allow you to set the Cooling Timer; gives you the ability to run up to three basic timers while in game, with the Macro Station screen showing a custom message when the timer is up. The final option (Pairing) provides an additional way to pair the devices (not sure why this is needed, I never used it!).

Overall the Aivia software provides pretty much all the functionality you would/should want, apart form being able to rename your Profile names, maybe I just couldn’t find it! It’s easy to use and communicates with the on-board mouse memory quickly (although saving a screen-saver does take a little longer).

 

Final Thoughts

 

To say that I have enjoyed my time with the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium is somewhat of an understatement, for me it’s one of the stand-out products of the last 12 months. It’s certainly one of the products that I would love to have on my gaming desk, that’s for sure…

From the excellent premium grade packaging, through the un-boxing and to the point that you first get your hands on the Uranium and its associated hardware, everything just shouts premium grade and quality! The Uranium is without doubt a serious bit of Gaming kit!

The Ghost Macro station is obviously what sets the Uranium apart from the competition, but do you need it? No! But would you want it? Yes; I think so as it really does provide the best interface yet seen to give you all of your mouse settings at a single glance. It’s one of those cool things that unless you’ve seen it you won’t miss it, but once you have…

I do think that Gigabyte could have done more with it though (although I have to confess I’m not sure what, although not being able to change the Profile Name seems to be a big oversight IMHO), it just seems like such a great opportunity for something new, I’m unsure whether it has yet been fully realised. I’m sure we will see more of this kind of a setup in the future (Uranium 2 perhaps?).

Of course the most important aspect of a Gaming mouse is its performance, this is even more important when the mouse in question is Wireless of course. Gigabyte seem to have nailed this also with the Uranium putting in a fine showing with no drop-outs or glitches detected in over 50 hours of testing…

I would love the Uranium if it was a wired mouse, but add in its wireless credentials and the Ghost Macro Station easily elevates the Uranium to the position of the best Gaming mouse tested so far here at pcGameware (there we go I said it!), I guess I don’t really need to say much more than that, other than the fact that I also feel that the Gigabyte Aivia Uranium is worth every bit of its £90 street price too…

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Gigabyte for providing this sample for review