Asus ROG Spatha: a wireless mouse for players with large hands

Presentation

With its Spatha, Asus did not go to the economy. The mouse is indeed based on a magnesium alloy base and has an 8200 dpi laser sensor. It can operate wirelessly up to 1000 Hz or wired up to 2000 Hz, has 3 zones backlit by RGB LEDs and offers 9 additional buttons. In addition, there is a magnetic charging base, interchangeable main switches and a carrying case, for a very complete offer which, alas, also makes the price soar, since the Spatha is displayed at 179 €. Let's see if all these technologies really justify such a high selling price.

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Precision

Thanks to its laser sensor, the Spatha can operate on a wide variety of surfaces. However, we could not use it on glass, but being a mouse for players, it is better to use a good mouse pad which will ensure both gliding and precision. Capable of withstanding accelerations of up to 30 g, the sensor is quick enough for any type of game; impossible to fault it.

Although it works wirelessly, the Spatha can communicate with the computer at a frequency of 1000 Hz (1 ms), which makes it usable with the fastest games (FPS, etc.). Asus even pushes the vice to double this maximum frequency when the mouse is used in wire. The gain from operating at 2000 Hz seems to us quite relative, especially as the CPU consumption increases proportionally. With a sufficiently powerful processor, that remains possible, but a use at 1000 Hz is according to us already quite sufficient and less greedy in resources.

Especially since we come to the target of such an imposing and heavy mouse. The Spatha is thus suitable for MMOs and RPGs, even strategy games and MOBAs, insofar as its size is handicapping for large and rapid movements. For such a use, insofar as we have not observed any perceptible latency, an operation at 1000 Hz in wireless seems quite suitable and that is why the Spatha is designed. The most demanding, however, have the choice of using it wirelessly only in office automation and connecting it via USB when it comes to playing. To do this, Asus provides another cable in addition to the one used to connect the charging base to the computer. This provides a braided cable of 2 m and another rubberized 1 m. The connection is simple and the mouse can accept other micro-USB cables than those provided by Asus. The latter are nevertheless recommended, because the groove of their connector allows a perfect support in the frontal opening of the mouse. Unsurprisingly, wired use is convincing.

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Conclusion

The Spatha is a very complete mouse, pleasant to use if you have a large hand - right -, despite a format certainly heavy weight. With its very precise sensor and its flawless reactivity, it excels in MMOs and strategy games, but its size makes it less recommendable for very fast games (FPS in particular), for which we will prefer a more compact and light mouse (G900, for example, to stay in wireless).

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