As the Tt eSPORTS Saphira gaming mouse hasn't yet been reviewed on Team Liquid, I thought I'd post it up as it's the only mouse I know of that's been designed by a SC2 pro You can read the review below, or with its original formatting here.
This mouse is marked out from its bretheren on the Tt eSPORTS website through its designer – the StarCraft player White-Ra. White-Ra is a well known figure in the StarCraft II gaming community – the Ukranian Protoss is overwhelming well mannered towards friends, opponents and fans alike and his gramatically deviant sayings set him apart. The two most famous are ‘We make expand then defense it’ and ‘special tactics!’ This mouse takes inspiration from the latter phrase, but will it be able to become as well loved as its designer? Let’s find out.
Physical Features
The Saphira is of moderate size, bigger than a Razer Krait but smaller than a Corsair Vengeance M90.
The surface of the mouse is smooth, with oversized buttons that flow into the rest of the chassis rather than being distinct entities. The buttons are divided by a 1 mm gap, and widen to accomodate the scroll wheel. The scroll wheel has a unique textured grip, with the more common straight lines replaced with curvy lines. The lowest part of the top frame includes a white Tt eSPORTS dragon that will no doubt be illuminated later.
The left hand side of the mouse includes the forward and back buttons. Both are integrated above the left-side grippy material, following the curve of the mouse. The back button is small and nearer the front, while the forward button is larger and towards the back. The other point of interest on the left side is the LED panel, which contains four diamond-shaped LEDs that reflect the current DPI settings.
The right hand side of the mouse is unadorned, with a matching piece of grippy material as on the left hand side.
Turning the mouse over, we see a two wide and long feet that travel around the periphery of the device. Inset from this we have the 3500 DPI optical sensor and four buttons that control the profile, DPI setting, polling rate and function lock, respectively. It’s these buttons that allow the Saphira to enjoy a relatively clear appearance on the top, although obviously these buttons are harder to hit in-game.
There’s a compartment near the bottom of the mouse which can hold the removable weights. There are five weights here, each measuring 4.5g for 22.5g in total. They are ensconced in a rubber trapezoidal configuration which should hold them securely without allowing them to rattle around too much.
Finally, we’ll have a look at the USB cable. It’s braided for increased durability and reduced tangles, and also includes a velcro strap for tidying up the cable when travelling. It concludes in a gold-plated USB cable.
Software
The software for this mouse is relatively full featured, allowing for the toggling of mouse wheel and dragon logo lighting, the recording of macros to be assigned to keys, and switching between the five available profiles. Here is the main screen.
This is the screen that allows you to record macros – as you can see there are quite a few options available.
Finally, the performance screen. This allows you to set the DPI and polling rate, as well as activating a scrolling mode for ‘one screen at a time’.
With the software installed, you’ll find that changing settings or going back or forward adds a large red notification to the bottom middle of the screen. I intensely dislike this feature, but I’ve found no way to disable it.
Testing
Methodology
There are few synthetic benchmarks for testing a mouse, so I prefer to just give them a go in the real world. I happened to receive the mouse before a five day LAN event in the south west of England, so I brought the Saphira there and used it as my go-to mouse for the entire event as well as my daily driver for about a week afterward. The following games were played with the mouse:
StarCraft II DotA II CounterStrike: Source Pirates, Vikings, Knights II Ghost Recon Online Call of Duty 4 Hockey? Team Fortress 2
As well as RTS and FPS performance, I’ll be looking at the Saphira’s durability and comfort.
Results
RTS
As the mouse was designed by a StarCraft II pro-gamer, it makes sense to test it in StarCraft II and other RTS games primarily.
Overall, my impression of it was quite strong – the Saphira’s wide shape, relatively light weight (with the removable weights removed) and comfortable grip made it a quick and responsive mouse that could be used for extended periods without problems.
Out of the box the DPI setting is quite low, but when adjusted to 3500 and the highest polling rate I found it more than sufficient. I found that is was certainly accurate enough to work well in StarCraft II and other RTS titles.
I prefer it to the more weighty K90, which includes many more buttons and consequently has a much more complex design despite having a higher DPI laser sensor.
FPS
In FPS titles, it’s often speed that trumps accuracy – it’s about bringing your gun to bear and reacting before your opponent. For this purpose, the 3500 DPI sensor isn’t quite as suited for the task. While it still offers a much more accurate sensor than a standard desktop optical mouse, it is some way behind the most recent FPS-focused mice which offer 5000 DPI or more.
Overall I wouldn’t say this is a dealbreaker for FPS players – you can still use and enjoy the Saphira as your go-to FPS mouse, but know that there are slightly better options on the market if FPS is your speciality and you use a very twitchy playstyle.
Comfort
The Saphira is one of the most comfortable mice I’ve used in a long time. I’ve got fairly large hands, and the Saphira still felt expansive enough for me. The side grips and simple, unblemished design made this mouse a treat to use.
Durability
One area in which the Saphira is perhaps lacking is durability. Even with a protective bag, during my first trip with the mouse I found that the back button had partially come out of the mouse, blocking the left mouse button from being used. Thankfully it was easily pushed back into position again and full functionality was restored, but it isn’t a brilliant sign. If durability is a factor for you, then a mouse with a metal chassis such as the Vengeance M60 or M90 may be preferable.
Conclusion
The Saphira is an excellent mouse for RTS players and is one of the most comfortable high-grade gaming mice that I’ve ever used. While durability, the software and a relatively low 3500 DPI optical sensor may be an issue for some, I’d suggest that they’re relatively minor issues that do little to detract from this top quality mouse – a worthy recipient, then, of White-Ra’s endorsement.
Pros
Nice, simple top design Sensitive and accurate, well suited for RTS Comfortable and sits well in larger hands
Cons
FPS games would benefit from a higher DPI Not the most durable design
Score
9 / 10
Thanks for reading the review - please leave feedback and let me know how I can improve in the future. Also let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to answer them if I can <3
On August 15 2012 01:23 apm66 wrote: Corsair K90 is a keyboard. M90 is what you're looking for
Fixed, thank you :D
On August 15 2012 01:48 tschecko wrote: interesting
Thanks
On August 15 2012 01:52 MisterFred wrote: I'm not a huge fan of the shape, but I am in favor of more higher-end optical mice.
That said, as for your review: who the hell plays SC2 at 3500 DPI? Holy Carpal Tunnel, Batman!
I found the shape quite nice; very comfortable as I've got largish hands.
As I raised the response rate in the settings the mouse felt slower, so playing on the highest DPI setting seems fine - even a bit too slow for me. I'm not sure if this is intended or not.
In FPS titles, it’s often speed that trumps accuracy – it’s about bringing your gun to bear and reacting before your opponent. For this purpose, the 3500 DPI sensor isn’t quite as suited for the task. While it still offers a much more accurate sensor than a standard desktop optical mouse, it is some way behind the most recent FPS-focused mice which offer 5000 DPI or more.
Are you serious? the vast majority of pro FPS players use 400dpi if not 800.
On August 15 2012 01:52 MisterFred wrote: I'm not a huge fan of the shape, but I am in favor of more higher-end optical mice.
That said, as for your review: who the hell plays SC2 at 3500 DPI? Holy Carpal Tunnel, Batman!
I found the shape quite nice; very comfortable as I've got largish hands.
As I raised the response rate in the settings the mouse felt slower, so playing on the highest DPI setting seems fine - even a bit too slow for me. I'm not sure if this is intended or not.
"response rate" setting? If you mean polling rate, that has zero effect on DPI, it only affects prediction.
Seriously though, be careful of carpal tunnel. The small micro-motions that high of a DPI demand of your hand are one of the leading causes of repetitive stress injuries. A lower DPI prompts larger, arm-sweeping motions, which are safe & healthy. When in doubt, move your whole arm, not just your fingers.
I play at 1600 DPI, and I think that's pretty darn high, I recommend people try and get used to 800 or 1200 DPI for optimum RTS settings.
^ as MisterFred said 3500dpi is EXTREMELY high for even RTS. With 1:1 mouse sens in windows and no acceleration (using only DPI as mouse "sensitivity") as you should be doing it is far too high to actuly do anything. I use ~600 and would consider anything significantly higher than 1k to be a major handicap, though im a little lower than average, 3.5k is a complete joke unless you are using settings that are not even close to correct in windows or drivers or there is a major problem with the mouse sensor that prevents it from consistently delivering that DPI
On August 15 2012 01:23 apm66 wrote: Corsair K90 is a keyboard. M90 is what you're looking for
Fixed, thank you :D
On August 15 2012 01:48 tschecko wrote: interesting
Thanks
On August 15 2012 01:52 MisterFred wrote: I'm not a huge fan of the shape, but I am in favor of more higher-end optical mice.
That said, as for your review: who the hell plays SC2 at 3500 DPI? Holy Carpal Tunnel, Batman!
I found the shape quite nice; very comfortable as I've got largish hands.
As I raised the response rate in the settings the mouse felt slower, so playing on the highest DPI setting seems fine - even a bit too slow for me. I'm not sure if this is intended or not.
"response rate" setting? If you mean polling rate, that has zero effect on DPI, it only affects prediction.
Seriously though, be careful of carpal tunnel. The small micro-motions that high of a DPI demand of your hand are one of the leading causes of repetitive stress injuries. A lower DPI prompts larger, arm-sweeping motions, which are safe & healthy. When in doubt, move your whole arm, not just your fingers.
I play at 1600 DPI, and I think that's pretty darn high, I recommend people try and get used to 800 or 1200 DPI for optimum RTS settings.
Agreed. Also as someone already pointed out, a lot of pro fps players even prefer dropping the dpi to 400 for increased accuracy.
On August 15 2012 01:59 Neurosis wrote: "In FPS titles, it’s often speed that trumps accuracy – it’s about bringing your gun to bear and reacting before your opponent"
"it is some way behind the most recent FPS-focused mice which offer 5000 DPI or more"
wut. I'm just picturing trying to play cs go with 5k dpi. Well shit, someone sneezed downstairs looks like I missed my shot.
Yeah I was under the impression they had really low dpi and used there whole arm in mouse movements? may be misinformed
On August 15 2012 01:59 Neurosis wrote: "In FPS titles, it’s often speed that trumps accuracy – it’s about bringing your gun to bear and reacting before your opponent"
"it is some way behind the most recent FPS-focused mice which offer 5000 DPI or more"
wut. I'm just picturing trying to play cs go with 5k dpi. Well shit, someone sneezed downstairs looks like I missed my shot.
Yeah I was under the impression they had really low dpi and used there whole arm in mouse movements? may be misinformed
It would be strange to see somebody not using those sensitivities. Its not really a comfort thing as much as simply better, lower sensitivity = higher accuracy and precision without many drawbacks
I recommend people try and get used to 800 or 1200 DPI for optimum RTS settings.
Wth not true at all. You should increase your DPI to as fast as you can while maintaining accuracy. I use 3500 DPI perfectly fine without any accuracy issues. I increased it gradually over time. I have always used it that high for SC2 and I'm masters league.
Its also much better for your wrist if you minimize the amount you have to move it.
I have been looking into getting a new mouse for a while. This is a mouse that very much interests me because of two main things. One, it is really comfortable and also of a very customisable inside special games (which I assume they will add more) and the software on your machine you can use :D.
EPT
You can read the review below, or with its original formatting here.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Pg3E4.jpg)
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