Speedlink's Flagship Gaming Mouse: The 10-Button Omnivi

Speedlink, a German company heretofore relatively unknown in North America, is promoting its lineup of gaming peripherals in the U.S. with the Omnivi gaming mouse.

It’s an “ergonomic” mouse, which means its curves and body are contoured in particular ways in an effort to provide superb grip and feel. Like any ergonomic mouse, the Omnivi is in a precarious position; by creating a highly specific design, it risks alienating throngs of users whose hands won’t jibe with it. This is why so many mice have rather “neutral” designs--they appeal to a larger potential customer base.

On the other hand (cough, pun, cough), a design for all is a design for none--an approach the company has embraced. Speedlink has decided to try and build something that will surely feel amazing to some and bad to others and it's OK with that. In any case, the Omnivi is the company’s flagship mouse.

As such, it’s unsurprisingly tricked out. The optical sensor offers 12,000DPI, although Speedlink did not reveal the manufacturer; LED lighting; 10 buttons; and software to configure it all.

There are the usual left/right click, scroll wheel, and top-mounted DPI buttons, as well as two forward/back navigation buttons on the right side, but there’s also a cluster of four buttons seated deeper on the thumb rest area towards the palm rest. With the software, you can configure any of the buttons for alternate functions; additionally, the software lets you create macros. It’s unclear if the adjustable lighting is done on the mouse via a series of clicks or if you can play with those settings within the software.

Although the Omnivi offers multiple lighting colors, it’s not an RGB mouse. There are just seven colors--red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet, white--but because there are multiple lighting zones (a ring around the bottom edge, the scroll wheel, logo, and DPI button), you can configure those lights independently of one another. The lack of RGB is one area in which Speedlink cut a corner to cut costs.

The software allows for multiple profiles, which are saved to your PC, not the mouse itself. The same is true of macros. However, the Omnivi does have internal memory, which is where it stashes DPI settings and lighting settings. Therefore, if you plug the mouse into a different PC, your lights and DPI will carry over, but your button configurations or macros will not.

The Omnivi is a hefty beast at 145g (approx. five ounces). That alone will take a number of consumers out of the running--a typical lighter-weight gaming mouse typically weighs between 90-110g or so.

The mouse’s $70 MSRP puts it right about where the market says it should be. You can certainly spend more on a mouse, but many higher-end mice retail in the $50-$70 range. Speedlink did not specify when the Omnivi would be available, but presumably by the time you read this, you can buy one at Amazon, Best Buy (online), and Fry’s.