Official Review Hardware Updated

ASUS ROG Spatha X Wireless Gaming Mouse (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review

Name: ASUS ROG Spatha X Wireless Gaming Mouse
Item: ASUS ROG Spatha X Wireless Gaming Mouse
Rating: 9
Author: Scarlet

Product Information:

Official Store: https://rog.asus.com/mice-mouse-pads/mice/ergonomic-right-handed/rog-spatha-x-model/

Tired of all these featherweight mice? Want something with a bit more meat on it with the features to boot? The Spatha X may be for you.

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This isn't the first mouse of ASUS' I've looked at. Previously reviewing the Keris, a lightweight wired mouse I praised for its performance and ease of repair thanks to hot swappable click switches, I was left with a great idea of what they can deliver. The Spatha X is at the complete other end of the spectrum to the Keris though. Comparing a lightweight wired model with fairly simple capabilities to the button-heavy mechanical mess of the Spatha X is like night and day, but that's not to say either is particularly wrong. Being somebody who's missed something weightier, something I can really wrap my hand around, this really was a breath of fresh air.

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Out of the box I battled a flurry of first impressions. It's huge, it's heavy, and it looks so pointy! Frankly the mouse looks like a mess, and it baffled me as to how it could be either comfortable or functional. It didn't take much for me to set aside these early preconceptions though. I put the mouse on my desk and rested my right hand on it. It just fit. The awkward-looking grooves and pointed design gave my fingers a natural place to rest, and allowed me to choose between two styles of use I both find comfortable: having my middle finger on the scroll wheel, and having my middle finger on the right click. The left side of the mouse is a behemoth of functionality I'll tackle shortly, but before that I want to shine a light on the how impactful the simple stylings of the right side are in improving the larger ergonomics and ease of use. The ridge to the right of the right click provides you with a great resting point, with a small rubber pad making the side of the mouse comfortable if you want to wrap your little finger around it. As a whole, the mouse is the kind of pointed mess a child would look at and think is cool. I don't have a problem with that though, and that's because you can tell just how much effort has gone into making the substance live up to the style. It definitely won't be a look for everybody, but those who enjoy this kind of thing should find some solace in the fact it's well thought through.

Looking beyond the design and onto what the mouse actually offers, you have your two standard mouse clicks, a DPI button, and a forward and backwards button on the top. On the left side where your thumb naturally rests, you can find an incredibly odd-looking cluster of six additional buttons that are mapped by default to volume up and down, a volume mute toggle, the windows key, and a feature called target focus. There's a few oddities in that list. First of all, there's only five things listed. That's because the smallest key that sits in the middle of this bizarre cluster is mapped to be disabled as standard. It's an odd choice when even something like a play/pause toggle could have been useful. Next, the target focus feature. I actually quite like this, dramatically lowering the mouse sensitivity while held for better precision with things like sniping in-game. The real elephant in the room for me is the windows key being bound to the easiest to reach button of the entire set. This could be useful on a more standard office mouse, but it's just too easy to catch in the middle of a game. If it were going to be included, I don't see why it wasn't put on the harder to reach middle button that by default does nothing anyway.

One good thing about the Spatha X is that each of the mentioned buttons can be remapped to better meet your needs using ASUS' ever-delightful Armoury Crate software. It's incredibly simple to use and outside of allowing you to remap functionality, you can tweak things like DPI, polling rate, and angle snapping to your liking. While it's worked fantastically for me, I actually managed to convince a friend the Spatha X was worth buying during my time with the mouse. His unit arrived and frankly he shared my love of the design and feel. Where it fell short was in the software; Armoury Crate refused to install, and there's no solution to be found online. That's a killer, but having knowledge of it potentially being a problem before buying is a huge benefit. If you're interested in the mouse, or any ASUS ROG product for that matter, try to download Armoury Crate before buying. It's better than the mouse turning up and finding you're stuck with an awkwardly-placed Windows key. If you have a friend capable of running the software, there is a bit of a workaround to be found in the fact the Spatha X has persistent memory for your custom settings. With that in mind, it only needs to be setup once for you to get the most out of it. Even so, crucial software outright failing in this way is unacceptable.

While I'd love to dabble in my understanding of mouse sensors, I find myself a little lost in this instance. It's an unnamed 19,000 DPI optical sensor that is "specially tuned". I can translate that to saying it feels great, and the fact the angle snapping is disabled by default is a plus in my book. If you want to have a better look at the tech specs yourself, you can find them below:

Connectivity - USB 2.0 / RF 2.4GHz
Resolution - 19,000 DPI
Max Speed - 400 IPS
Max Acceleration - 50g
USB Report Rate - 1000 Hz
RF 2.4GHz Report Rate - 1000 Hz
L/R Switch Type - ROG Micro Switches with 70 million-click lifespan

With this being a wireless mouse, there are a few more things of note before closing out the review. Advertising up to 67 hours of battery life if you're willing to go without the RGB lighting on the scroll wheel and ROG logo (or up to 12 hours with those turned on), this is a mouse that'll have charge when you need it. I'd be surprised if you ever had to truly utilise its battery though, thanks to an incredibly stylish charging cradle also acting as the wireless dongle needed to use the mouse wirelessly. When you're not using it, whether you're done for the day or just watching a video, you can sit it down to charge without having to faff with cables. It's a neat idea. The charging cradle also provides you with a clear indication light to let you know when the mouse has finished charging.

I really love the stand!

When you do want to use the Spatha X wired you won't be disappointed by the cables either. I really love the ROG Paracord, and it disappoints me that I can't buy these cables separately. They flow like a piece of string across my desk and with the Spatha X coming with two, I decided to just repurpose one to keep an Xbox controller plugged into the console. The cable just doesn't get in the way, it's magnificent.

As a final note, it's worth mentioning the same hot-swappable switches of the Keris return here, allowing you to swap them out in a fairly simple process. Pop off four rubber caps, unscrew four screws using the screwdriver included in the box, pop out the switches, and replace with the new ones. Though it's something you're unlikely to put much thought into at the start of a mouse's lifetime, additions like this are great to see when wanting to get the most out of what you've paid for. I'd love for this to be common in other brands.

Can I recommend the Spatha X? Absolutely. If Armoury Crate works on your PC and you're after a heftier mouse rich with functionality and the comfort to use it, this is a stellar pick. Retailing at £150 in the UK it's an expensive option, but the features on offer alongside the design and utility make a good case for justifying it.

Verdict

What We Liked ...

Surprisingly comfortable design
Great assortment of buttons that can be remapped
Comes with some of the best cables I've ever used
Charging cradle as a wireless dongle is a unique idea that works well

What We Didn't Like ...

Reliant on driver software that may simply not work to get the most out of its featureset
Odd default mapping of buttons
No left-handed alternative available

out of 10

Overall

The Spatha X is a fantastic pick for anybody out there wanting a mouse with some heft and packing buttons aplenty. It's costly, but for the price you're getting an incredibly premium-feeling mouse that's comfortable and capable. I recommend it.

Reactions: SAIYAN48, x65943, RobXcore and 2 others

Right handed cow dung.

I just had to replace the middle click switch on my rog gladius 2, unfortunately that one is not one of the solderless replaceable ones. but it is working fine now, hoping to get many more years out of this mouse

Reactions: Scarlet

Kioku
Nov 7, 2021

They gave a mouse shingles. I'm done.

Charging cradle as a wireless dongle is a unique idea that works well

check steelseries sensei wireless. it's a shitty mouse but the 'unique idea' starts with this

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