Introduction
Contents
Gamers usually shun wireless peripherals, always wary of a possible energy loss. No one wants to rummage around for a cable and lose an online match. With that in mind, Gigabyte has released a wireless gaming-grade mouse with a long lasting 50 hour battery that comes with an extra battery that you can rapidly switch. Besides those characteristics, the Aivia M8600 reaches 6,500 DPI and features a design for both right- and left-handed users, plus ten reprogrammable buttons. Let’s talk first about its physical aspects and then test its wireless operation.
Figure 1: The Aivia M8600
We follow the guideline of never taking into consideration how a particular product is packaged when reviewing it; that’s why we rarely comment on a package. However, rarely doesn’t mean never, so the Aivia M8600 is one of the few exceptions we will talk about. Gigabyte really broke the mold with the tubular package in which the mouse comes. When the user opens the tube in three parts, he/she finds the mouse itself and a bag, also tube-shaped, with the accessories – two USB cables, the receiver/charging base, a mini CD with the Ghost software, and an extra battery.
Figure 2: Tubular packaging
Figure 3: Bag and accessories
The mouse has a longitudinal symmetrical body with four lateral buttons, two on each side. The upper body is made of smooth plastic, but on the sides it has some texture for a better grip. Below the wheel – which does both vertical and horizontal scrolling – you can find the LED that indicates the resolution level and the current user profile, plus two buttons to switch the sensitivity.
Figure 4: Side view
On the nose, there is a niche with a retractable cover for the USB cord so the Aivia M8600 can operate as a wired mouse. The battery is housed on the other end and can be ejected by a button on the underside.
Figure 5: Ejected battery