Speedlink come back with an optical mouse that stands out from the crowd. It features a heavily ergonomic shape, 7 programmable buttons and a metallic red finish.
Product on Review: Decus Respec
Manufacturer & Sponsor: Speedlink
Street Price: UK: £39.99, US: $49.99
Apparently palm grip is the most widely used mouse grip, and with that knowledge, it makes sense for manufacturers to cater for that in their designs. We often see a wide range of mice shapes, from the neutral ambidextrous mice to the more heavily ergonomically shaped mice. Without confusing ergonomic design for comfort, ergonomics is more about efficiency and consideration.
In the case of the Decus Respec, the consideration is that it is a highly shaped mouse that caters for your entire hand. Though that is nothing new, it does seem like a design consideration that is being seen less often. Likely because more people are taking up the esports hype (with more of a bias towards neutral shaped/ claw type mice) rather than buying products that are more suited to their natural play style. In this you can find many people feeling like they are getting the back end of the stick in regards to ergonomic design and performance, especially since many of mice that cater more for palm grips tend to be stuck with laser sensors that aren’t quite cutting the mustard. At its core, the Decus Respec is outfitted with the Pixart 3310 optical sensor, renowned for its reliable, responsive performance. On the outside, other than the outstanding shape, we are greeted with an attractive metallic red, rubber coating that looks quite lavish.
Overview by Speedlink
Maintain your focus and precision even in extended battles with the DECUS RESPEC Gaming Mouse and its huge array of customisation options. The configuration software allows you to customise the mouse to suit your preferences, letting you game the way you want and enabling the mouse to respond to your reflexes perfectly. Thanks to its integrated lighting system, the DECUS RESPEC bursts with colours that match the gaming atmosphere – becoming not just a visual highlight but also serving as a profile indicator. What’s more, its rubberised side grips, extra-grippy scroll wheel and extended finger indents offer maximum comfort.
Technical Specifications
Fully customisable functions and look
Pixel-precise optical sensor with adjustable accuracy from 400 to 5,000dpi
Customisable lighting with 7 colour options
7 programmable buttons, incl. dpi switch and rapid-fire button
Powerful Macro Editor
5 profiles with separate button, sensor and colour configurations
Auto-loading game profiles
Internal profile memory (128Kb)
USB polling rate configurable up to 1,000Hz (ultrapolling)
Ergonomic shape with rubberised surface
4 additional weights for weight customisation
Flexible USB cable with hardwearing sheathing (1.8m)
Dimensions: 92 × 128 × 41mm (W × D × H)
Weight: 127-145g
Base weight system with 4 x 4.5g weights
Pixel-precise optical sensor with adjustable accuracy from 400 to 5,000dpi
Customisable lighting with 7 colour options
7 programmable buttons, incl. dpi switch and rapid-fire button
Powerful Macro Editor
5 profiles with separate button, sensor and colour configurations
Auto-loading game profiles
Internal profile memory (128Kb)
USB polling rate configurable up to 1,000Hz (ultrapolling)
Ergonomic shape with rubberised surface
4 additional weights for weight customisation
Flexible USB cable with hardwearing sheathing (1.8m)
Dimensions: 92 × 128 × 41mm (W × D × H)
Weight: 127-145g
Base weight system with 4 x 4.5g weights
Packaging & First Look
The Speedlink packaging looks fairly busy with information thumbnails scattered all over the place as if to give someone with ADHD nightmares. I think Speedlink could dial back the livery a touch.
The front cover opens up in a fairly unreliable manner as the velcro tabs pull eachother off the surface they are stuck too, but it does the trick. Inside there is information about the software and programmability of the mouse.
The rear gives further information and basic specification of the Decus Respec in various languages.
The Decus Respec features a 1.8m black and red braided cable and a gold plated USB connector. The mouse itself shows off some lines and shapes instantly and looks a lot sleeker in the flesh.
Closer Look
The birds-eye view of the Decus Respec gives a much more detailed impression of the shape, having various levels of contours with LED backlighting lines that compliment the design.
The front gives a great view of the rubberised mouse wheel and the additional ‘rapid fire’ button. Sitting behind the mouse wheel is the DPI switch.
This side we get a good view of the forward/back buttons, above the thumb rest/groove. The four bars allow LED light to shine through.
The rear gives an excellent view of the ergonomics, including the thumb rest and ring/little finger rests. There are also some lighting lines on the main body.
This side shows off the rests for your ring/little finger, behind which are more lighting lines.
The base is rather large, as expected of the design with the sensor positioned approximately centre from front to rear between the main buttons. Also found on the underside are four large slip pads and access to the removable weights.
Opened up we find 4x 4.5g weights that can be removed or adjusted to preference, though there is no proved safe place to store removed weights.
Software & Lighting
The software isn’t needed for general operation and there are pre-programmed DPI settings of 800/1600/2400/5000DPI available. For full functionality, installing the software available from the product page is advised.
Though Speedlink do not yet have a unified software driver, the software provided is easy to install and easy to navigate the features. There are 5 profiles that can be saved, and with it you can set them to automatically switch to when starting up your favourite game should you have saved macros/programmed buttons/ settings you have created in advance. The macro recorder is extensive though you have to manually insert mouse actions.
The lighting looks quite cool with the overall design and is visually stunning, however it is a shame that it is limited to 7 colours rather than a fully customisable RGB experience. The only effects are static and breathing and unfortunately I couldn’t find where to adjust the mouse wheel colour. The lighting here feels like a missed opportunity as it could be better/brighter, though this is a fairly minor point.
Performance Testing
Setup, Design & Observations
Once setup, the Decus Respec comes to life with its cycling LED colour/ breathing effect. In the light, the mouse looks impressive thanks to that metallic red finish, but when it gets dark, the LED lines create a whole new story. I am again, disappointed that I couldn’t alter the colour of the mouse wheel LED, but I did find that the Blue or RED LED setting was visually awesome.
As this mouse has a rubberised coating, I was at first sceptical as to whether it would be a nice texture, or that slippery latex glove feeling and I am pleased to report that the Decus Respec feels fantastic. Due to the strong ergonomic design, it is no mystery that it caters more for palm grip, and as such it feels good and comfortable. You can claw grip it too if you wanted, but I found that the ergonomics felt a little strange while doing so. In the claw grip I found that it is too rear heavy with weights (so took them out) and found that the side buttons were hard to press accurately as they seemed a little too far back, so I kept pressing forward with the rear part of my thumb instead of the back button.
Each of the buttons, main clicks and the mouse wheel does exactly as you expect, clicks quickly with satisfying tactile feedback and strength with no real concerning mishaps of concern.
Performance
At maximum DPI there is very little jitter to report, and tracking remained flawless on matte black fabric mouse mat, white paper and bare desktop. It performed fine on plain cardboard, but struggled a little with glossy coloured/printed material.
In game, performance was exactly as I expected, responsive, reliable and accurate, which made for a confident gaming session. As it is an optical sensor there is no squirly artificial acceleration to throw you off, opening up that precision you need in game.
Conclusion
The Decus Respec falls into a very competitive price bracket at £39.99, one that is affordable, yet features some top performance. Though most are fairly neutral mice, catering for the smaller, high speed esports style mouse, where as the more common PC gamer may desire a larger, ergonomic palm grip mouse. On top of that, it has 7 programmable buttons that is supported by easy to use software that allows you to make the most of them.
The most surprising thing about the Decus Respec is actually its design/aesthetics. The build quality is surprisingly good, despite the lack of specifics from Speedlink. The rubberised surface feels great, the metallic red finish looks outright awesome, the photos do not do it justice. Then the performance, simply speaks for itself, though it is aging, the 3310 optical sensor is still a firm favourite for gaming performance and is now starting to pop up in the £30-40 price range.
Despite its overall impressiveness, there are some missed opportunities, and it is mostly with the LED lighting. There are 7 selectable colours, or OFF. Though these colours will serve most people in regards to their desires (it has red, light blue, dark blue, green, purple, white, yellow), it could have used full 16.8m customisable RGB LEDs. It could have been brighter, and most of all, we needed to be able to change the colour of the mouse wheel LED which is stuck on blue. LED lighting generally isn’t the number 1 reason for picking a mouse, but it is now something that is simply expected. Certainly not a deal breaker, but could have been done a little better.
Overall, this mouse offers fantastic performance, fantastic ergonomics and is something you should seriously consider if you are looking for a palm grip mouse that caters for a full hand grip.
Palm grip gamers, if you are looking for an affordable, eye-catching mouse that neither compromises on performance or build quality, the Decus Respec is one to look out for!
Pros.
+ Good build quality
+ Ideal for palm grip (full hand ergonomics)
+ Precise and responsive sensor
+ Interesting aesthetics
+ 7 programmable buttons
+ Easy to use software
Cons.
– LED lighting could be better
+ Good build quality
+ Ideal for palm grip (full hand ergonomics)
+ Precise and responsive sensor
+ Interesting aesthetics
+ 7 programmable buttons
+ Easy to use software
Cons.
– LED lighting could be better
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