Roccat have found a formula with their gaming mice, and are very much sticking to their guns which I absolutely love. I have always thought their mice were very nice to use and also incredibly reliable. Which is why when I first cracked open the box for the new Roccat Kova AIMO, I pretty much knew exactly what I was getting, all with new added lighting effects.
The mouse is covered in a very soft to touch black matte plastic which feels like it’s got a decent build quality. The biggest issue is that only after a small handful of gaming sessions, you start to notice blemishes, especially where my first and middle finger sit during gameplay.
The Kova AIMO uses Roccat’s traditional Kova shape and build, and includes their new AIMO lighting effects to the mix, which for the most part is very subtle as it’s only the scroll wheel and a small trip at the back that light up. A far cry from the Kone AIMO that we reviewed before.
The mouse itself was large enough for me to get a comfortable palm grip, although I would have liked the hump at the back to be a little taller, so I didn’t rely on my wrist sitting on the edge of my desk for stability. It’s incredibly light and when paired with a fabric mouse mat, gives a nice gliding feeling when in use, especially if you’re like me who prefer lower DPI sensitivities.
On top you have your standard left and right mouse click, with a scroll wheel in the middle and an adjustable DPI switch below. The DPI switch is a single button, so you’ll be required to cycle the whole set range to get to a lower DPI. There’s plenty of space to fit a second button to cycle up and down. Right next to the top mouse clicks are two more buttons which can be utilised inside of games, making it easier for functions like throw grenade and melee. Being an ambidextrous unit, you have the choice to use it in your left or right hand, so Roccat have provided two sets of thumb buttons on each side of the mouse. I use my mouse in my right hand, and wasn’t too comfortable to hit the side buttons with my little finger, so I ignored these completely.
The sensor on the bottom is rather impressive too, giving me accurate control of my character when in games like The Division 2 or Battlefield V. On the bottom you will find a Pro-Optic R6 sensor that can hit up to 7000DPI. Why you’d need that much sensitivity is beyond me, but it’s there. I barely surpassed 1600 with my time with the mouse, and set my levels at equal increments between zero and 1600. There’s also a 1000Hz polling rate and 20G acceleration. The mouse overall has a 1ms response time which is fantastic, and hard wired using USB. The cable is also braided so it doesn’t get snagged on the rear of your desk.
For one of the cheaper gaming mice on the market, the Roccat Kova AIMO performs exceptionally well. The AIMO lighting doesn’t offer much more compared to the original Kova that was released a few years ago, and the Roccat Swarm software hasn’t seen much in the way of an update for a long time now. Plus if you’ve got both left and right handed gamers in the house, this could be the one for you. For more information, head over to the Roccat website.
