review

ROCCAT Kova AIMO FPS Gaming Mouse For AIM Accuracy

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

Mice have come a long way since the days of the 8-bit mice with one-time-programmable micro-controllers!
Take for instance, the ROCCAT Kova AIMO and its 32-bit ARM processor with AMD turbo core, which is the same technology found in Intel laptops with turbo boost that automatically adjusts frequency to increase performance. Turbo core and Turbo boost, essentially, clock the speed of the processor. In the case of the Kova AIMO, turbo core raises its clock speed to 50MHz.
There is also 512 kB of onboard memory built-in to the ROCCAT Kova AIMO for saving macros and profiles, which are created via the ROCCAT Swarm desktop software application
Your computer has to be running Windows 7 or higher in order to use the Swarm software and you can have up to 5 active profiles at one time but you can create as many profiles as you want. You can export and edit macros and save profiles on to a hard drive and import them later when needed.
A perfect mouse is all about shape, size, and balance but everyone's hand sizes are different so, there is no perfect mouse. The shape of the Kova AIMO though, it's ergonomic and close to universal because of its ambidextrous design.
It's not secret that lightweight mice will up your gaming, especially in first-person shooter games. The Kova AIMO measures 13cm long, 6.6cm wide and 3.8cm high, and weights just below 100 grams, making it a very lightweight mouse for fast-paced FPS and RPG games such as Mass Effect 3, Warframe, Overwatch, Wolfenstine: The New Order and Borderlands 2.
The Kova AIMO features a pro-optic R6 optical sensor, which tracks well on cloth and hard surfaces, thanks to rubber pads on the bottom of the mouse, which are strategically placed all around the bottom of the mouse. 
The pro-optic R6 optical sensor allows the Kova AIMO to run natively at 7000 dpi, which is twice as much DPI as the previous 2016 Kova gaming mouse generation. The lowest DPI you can set the Kova AIMO mouse is 250 dpi, which is a great if you are a pro player or gamer wanting to improve accuracy. There is only five dpi levels available though and you can only crank up the Kova AIMO's dpi in high dpi increments from 400 dpi, 800 dpi (default), 1600 dpi, 3500 dpi and 7000 dpi.
The higher the dpi, the more sensitive a mouse is and the faster the mouse cursor will travel across the screen. You can get mice with up to 16,000 dpi so, the Kova AIMO is middle of the road in terms of dpi. Higher DPI mice come in handy for high resolution displays and triple 4k monitor gaming setups so, you don't have to swipe the mouse as often to get from one monitor to another. 
If you have a single monitor setup (i.e. 1080p 144hz monitor), 7000 dpi is more dpi that you will ever need. In fact, if you have a 1080p 144hz monitor setup, you won't need more than 1800 dpi but that, of course, depends on the type of game (i.e. weapon and situation). Either way, having a dpi button in the middle of mouse is a very convenient way to adjust dpi sensitivity on the fly, especially while sniping. 
The dpi switch button on the Kova AIMO gaming mouse is located just behind the scroll wheel, like on most mice, but it's slightly embedded making the dpi button not protrude as much so, it doesn't get in the way of the scroll wheel. 
The polling rate on the Kova AIMO gaming mouse can also be adjusted from 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz and 1000Hz, which translates to 8ms, 4ms, 2ms and 2ms responsive time respectively. 1000Hz (1ms) is the highest polling rate most gaming mice use though, you can get 2000Hz (0.5ms) polling rate mice. 
High polling rate is useful for certain games where you need a fast, precise response time. High polling rate decreases the input delay between you swiping the mouse and the computer registering your movement. If you plan to use the Kova AIMO gaming mouse with a low spec computer, 500Hz polling rate should you be the max polling rate because high polling rate taxes the CPU. With a high spec computer that can run 60 frames per second (fps) or higher, 1000Hz polling rate would be ideal.
The maximum acceleration the Kova AIMO gaming mouse can handle before the sensor starts having problems tracking is 20G. High mouse acceleration is mostly advantageous for games such as Quake, which require a lot of vertical and horizontal mouse movements. 
Mouse acceleration lets you have slow sensitivity when aiming slowly and fast sensitivity when swiping the mouse quickly, which some gamers like and others don't because of muscle memory. Luckily, the built-in mouse acceleration of the Kova AIMO can be disabled.
The ROCCAT Kova AIMO has a total of 12 physical buttons and 8 virtual buttons via the EasyShift special key, which acts like a keyboard function keys so, you can map a second function to any of the  programmable buttons on the Kova AIMO mouse. The EasyShift key can be any programmable button on the Kova AIMO so, you can choose which programmable button acts as the EasyShift key.
The extra button functions come really handy because you can assign keyboard shortcut functionality to the Kova AIMO so, you can have a browser forward or backwards button, volume up/down button, previous/next track button, etc. You can also assign gaming presets to the Kova AIMO, including EasyAim to lower the dpi of the Kova AIMO mouse at a push of a button.
The top buttons and middle-side buttons are great for macros and while, it takes some getting used to them the Swarm software makes changing button functions very easy. Buttons are not too loud and the clicks provide good feedback.
The scroll wheel doesn't have any texture to it but it's rubberized, providing enough grip against oily fingers. The scroll wheel has a solid build and features "bidirection"for vertical and horizontal scrolling. 
The Kova AIMO scroll wheel also features RGB lighting with its own lighting zone so, you can configure the lighting differently to the RGB lighting on the backside of the Kova AIMO.
The overall rubberized texture of the Kova AIMO mouse makes it comfortable to hold in the right hand and left hand, thanks to a rounded-flat surface that makes it ideal for  palm grip and fingertip grip.
The Kova AIMO is a wired mouse and features a 1.80 meter long braided cord with a USB connector at the end. The USB connector requires a USB 2.0 port since the Kova AIMO mouse will not work connected to a USB 3.0 port of a computer because the Kova AIMO mouse does not have a USB 3.0 interface. Check out the review of the Vulcan TKL Pro  tenkeyless keyboard and Burst Pro optical switch mouse.

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