ROCCAT Kova Mouse Review

Overview

 

Hot on the heels of the ROCCAT Renga, that I took a look at last week we have the next installment in the ROCCAT line of peripherals. Today, we have moved on to Mice and I’ll be taking a look at the new ROCCAT Kova. This is an updated version of the original ROCCAT Kova[+] and is new for 2016.

The ROCCAT Kova is an ambidextrous Gaming mouse with an optical sensor and a maximum DPI of 3500 (7000 with Overdrive Mode). In addition to this the Kova sports twelve programmable buttons (22 functions using EASY-SHIFT[+]) and two-level, multi-colour illumination. There’s also a 50MHz Turbo Core V2 32-bit Arm based MCU and 512kB of onboard memory. The mouse measures in at Width 6.6 cm, Height 3.8 cm, Length 13.1 cm with a overall Weight of 99 g.

 

 

 

The ROCCAT Kova arrived at pcG in a odd shaped, predominately black box with a large image of the Kova on the front. In addition to this ROCCAT have chosen to highlight the following:

There’s more information on the left side of the box also. Here ROCCAT highlight their STREAMLINED Philosophy, OVERDRIVE Mode and ROCCAT SWARM. Looking at the back of the box we find another image of the Kova from the side pointing out the smart cast buttons, braided cable, 2D Titan Wheel, Optimized Ambidextrous Shape and the Reflective Button Layout! In addition to this there’s a list of features (see Specifications/Features below) in English and various other languages.

 

 

The Kova was found to be both the adequately packaged and presented and inline with the current retail price. Getting into the box is a rather frustrating affair, thanks to that odd shape and the plethora of tabs, trying to keep the box in good condition was almost impossible! There’s not much to be found in the box other than an Important Document and Disposal Information!? 😮

 

At the time of review the ROCCAT Kova is available from Amazon for approximately £45 and comes with a 1 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of ROCCAT

 

 

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

 

First impressions of the ROCCAT Kova are good, it’s unusual looking despite its ambidextrous shape due to the plethora of large (protruding) buttons. The shape itself is quite low and wide and is likely to cater well for Palm style grip Gamers. Despite this it appears to be relatively comfortable when gripped with my bastardized Claw grip. Let’s take a closer look…

Being an ambidextrous mouse the Kova is (somewhat obviously) the same both sides. Each side features two very well placed thumb buttons and an additional finger button. This latter button can be pressed to the side using your index finger and is surprisingly easy to use. From this angle you can also appreciate the somewhat aggressive design, something I really rather like. Also the mouse surface features a very nice soft touch (high grip) surface treatment.

 

Looking at the front of the ROCCAT Kova we can see the centrally attached braided cable. Left and right of this we have the two main left/right buttons. In the centre we have the 2D Titan Wheel featuring a nice (grippy!) rubber tyre with subtle yet palpable graduations. The wheel itself illuminates with 16.8 million colours to choose from via software.

Looking at the back of the ROCCAT Kova there’s not that much to see other than the back of the ROCCAT Kova logo and the under body shape, that looks very similar to the rear diffuser of a sports/race car.

Looking at the Kova from above we can see all of the buttons, the centrally mounted illuminating scroll wheel and the DPI switch that sits just behind the wheel. This switch is programmable, but by default cycles between the Kova’s five user defined DPIs.

Flipping the mouse over we see the centrally mounted optical sensor (Pro-Optic Sensor R6) and a large number of glides. There’s three at the front and three larger ones at the rear, no additional glides are supplied.

 

I must say that at this point there really is a lot to like about the ROCCAT Kova, I like the shape and the design, button placement is very good indeed and the surface grip is also good. The only thing that’s not here (that I can see) is a DPI indicator…

 

Hardware Installation

 

 

Hardware Performance

 

 

For full operation of the ROCCAT Kova the ROCCAT Swarm software needs to be downloaded as it is not supplied. I downloaded version V1.45 from here and this version was used throughout testing. Version 1.18 of the Kova’s firmware was also used throughout testing.

 

The following games were used during testing:

• Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Blood and Wine)
• Overwatch
• DOOM

 

Once powered on the Kova came to life and it’s illumination could be seen. There are two illumination zones the scroll wheel and the strip at the back. Both can be controlled independently via the ROCCAT Swarm software. Both also support up to 16.8 million colours and various illumination effects are also on offer.

 

 

In Game (that’s mainly looking at you Overwatch) the ROCCAT Kova performed well. My base setting was 1500 DPI as much above felt a little twitchy, I also turned off Mouse Acceleration in the SWARM software as this was on by default! With these settings dialed in I found that the Kova’s optical sensor was both accurate and sensitive with no sign of software assistance, which is always good. Tracking on the whole was excellent whether playing fast Games such as Overwatch or slower Games such as The Witcher 3. The only thing I would say is that the optical sensor aboard the Kova, can’t quite match the razor sharp precision of others we’ve seen here at pcG.

The left thumb buttons (for my bastardized Claw grip) were perfectly positioned, so well done to ROCCAT for getting it right when so many others fail to do so! I also rather liked the index finger button, as it’s easy to reach and easy to activate without taking your finger off of the left click button. DPI switching was also easy enough with five user definable DPIs to select from, although the lack of a dedicated DPI indicator disappoints.

Overall though when looking at the Kova as an ambidextrous Gaming mouse there’s really nothing to complain or moan about here. It’s a damn Gaming good mouse and I’d be happy to use it as my daily driver… 😉

 

SOFTWARE

 

ROCCAT’s Swarm software is pretty impressive to say the least, especially as it’s unified, meaning that the software integrates all of ROCCAT’s peripherals into one common place. Those with eagle eyes may have spotted the ROCCAT Ryos MK FX in the Swarm screenshots (review coming soon). The software consists of three main tabs (Settings, Button Assignment & Advanced Settings) although any section from any tab can be pinned to the first tab for convenience. Note that along the bottom is the Profile selection strip binding whatever you may be doing to a certain Profile at all times. There are five by default that are also stored aboard the Kova’s 512kB of memory, but this can be further increased and managed via the Profile Manager.

 

 

The first tab (ignoring the pin) Settings allows basic Windows type settings to be tweaked, all of the usual suspects are here from Double Click Speed to Pointer Speed. What is rather alarming though is that Mouse Acceleration can be also found here, on by default, but best turned off! In addition to this it is here you can mange the five user definable DPI settings from 250 to 7000, DPI’s can also be disabled, which can often be more handy than you’d think…

The second tab (Button Assignment) allows control over the twelve (effective) buttons, although this can be increased to 22 via ROCCAT’s Easy-Shift[+] function. The layout here is simple and very easy to use; buttons can be bound to keyboard functions, Windows functions, Media function and of course Macros. Other more advanced functions are also supported such as DPI cycle, Profile cycle and even Sniper control.

Finally we have the Advanced Settings tab, here you can adjust the Polling Rate (I used 1000Hz), Reset the mouse to factory settings (often useful!), change the Kova’s orientation for left or right handed users and turn on Sound Feedback. This latter feature I really like and as you can see (screenshot above right) you’ll get a voice announcement should you change either DPI, Profile or Volume, if ticked! It is here you can also mess with the Kova’s 16.8 million colour illumination. Two main zones are supported (scroll wheel & back) and various effects are also on offer.

 

 

Final Thoughts

 

The ROCCAT Kova has grown on me more and more over the last week or so, so much so I’d be happy to use it as my personal Gaming weapon of choice. Everything about the Kova is good; good shape (for me), good design, good tracking and excellent software. A damn good Gaming mouse then? YES!

The Kova arrived at pcG in a smart odd shaped box, the contents were both adequately packaged and presented and inline with the current asking price. Once out of the box it was soon apparent that the Kova is a well made mouse, an ambidextrous mouse at that! The mouse features 12 programmable buttons and a DPI of 3500 (7000 in Overdrive Mode). The design itself sees a Gaming mouse that’s quite low and wide, yet seems to cater well for both Palm and Claw grip styles well. After only a short time I found myself most comfortable with the Kova using my right handed bastardized Claw grip. The thumb buttons (for me) are also beautifully positioned and easy to reach and actuate. I also like the forward finger button that’s also pretty easy to activate with your index finger after some practice. The scroll wheel works well and the lighting and its effects are also welcome. The only thing that I’m not so keen on is the lack of a dedicated DPI indicator. Although this can be overcome via the software by setting up dedicated Profile to DPIs, or by enabling the Sound Feedback.

Tracking and precision of the 3500DPI optical sensor was also found to be very good. I used the mouse at a DPI of 1500 most of the time as this offered me the best control/precision. Although the precision was good it didn’t quite match the precision of some of the other optical sensors we’ve seen here at pcG, although to be fair (again) I’m beginning to nitpick here.

ROCCAT’s Swarm software is also particularly impressive, especially as it’s unified; meaning that other ROCCAT devices can simply be integrated into the software. Everything that the serious Gamer wants is here, from Profile Management to Macro Management and from Sniper Control to the Sound Feedback.

To be honest there’s a lot to like about the Kova and I have enjoyed my time with the mouse immensely. It’s easy to recommend, especially if your looking at other ROCCAT peripherals such as the Renga and RYOS MK FX. If you’re looking for a real Gaming mouse and the ROCCAT Kova’s on your wishlist, I suggest you move it near the top, I’m sure you wont be disappointed.

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to ROCCAT for providing this sample for review