By David Ramsey
Manufacturer: Tesoro Technology
Product Name: Sagitta Spectrum Gaming Mouse
Part Number: TS-H6L
UPC: 79943037423 EAN: 0799430374231
Price As Tested: $43.58 (Amazon | Newegg)Full Disclosure: Tesoro Technology has provided the product sample used in this article.
Founded in 2011, Tesoro has been making a name for themselves in the enthusiast peripherals market. They offer a broad line of keyboards, mice, and headsets, and in this article Benchmark Reviews has the Tesoro Sagitta Spectrum Gaming Mouse for review. Boasting full RGB lighting, 5000dpi resolution, 1MHz polling, a 32-bit ARM processor backed by 512K of internal memory, and a comfortable, anti-microbial coating, this could be one of the best midrange gaming mice out there.
| Sensor DPI | 50 – 5000 dpi (switchable) |
| Sensor | IR sensor |
| Switch type | Omron – 10 million clicks life cycle |
| Programmable buttons | 8 |
| Polling Rate | max 1000Hz |
| Cable | 2 meters, braided cable with gold-plated USB connector |
| Weight | 122g |
| Profiles | 5 onboard |
Let’s unbox this mouse in the next section…
The Tesoro Sagitta Spectrum is almost plain-looking next to some other gaming mice that resemble props from a science fiction movie. With its smooth, generic shape, matte black soft-touch coating and lack of metal accents, the Sagitta Spectrum wouldn’t rate a second look on a secretary’s desk…at least with the lighting turned off.
Aside from the mouse, the only things included in the box are a catalog of Tesoro products and an extremely brief multi-lingual quick start guide. As with most gaming peripherals these days, you’ll need to head for the vendor’s web site to download the latest drivers.
This view shows all the mouse controls: the standard left click and right click buttons, the rubber-ridged scroll wheel, a single button behind the scroll wheel, and two thumb buttons. All of these buttons are programmable with the Tesoro utility software.
The right side of the mouse is contoured but has no buttons. The overall shape of the mouse is non-symmetrical and designed for right-handers only.
The bottom of the mouse shows standard Teflon glide pads and the laser sensor. Since this is an infrared sensor, it won’t show any visible light when the mouse is in use.
The mouse connects to your computer with a two-meter long, sleeved USB cable with a gold-plated connector. No, of course the gold plating doesn’t provide any benefit other than looking cool.
Let’s take a look at the Tesoro utility software in the next section.
Tesoro’s utility software is named simply “Sagitta Spectrum”, and it offers complete control of the mouse’s features. (Reviewers like me really appreciate utilities that have simple rectangular windows rather than weird windows modeled after fighter jet viewports!) Anyway, the utility has four sections, selectable via tabs labeled Assignment, Performance, Lighting, and Macros.
As you might expect, the Assignment tab controls the actions assigned to any of the eight possible buttons– which include the scroll wheel movements as well.
Clicking on one of the eight numbered selectors at the right of the screen (matching the number of the button you wish to affect) invokes this menu of choices. I do like seeing the “Precision Aim” feature, which reduces DPI while the assigned button is held down, making it easier to get those all-important head shots.
The Performance tab offers controls for setting the DPI, scroll speed, polling rate, acceleration curve, double-click time, “snapping angle”, and lift height. The lift height determines how far you can lift the mouse from the surface before it stops tracking and seems to be calibrated in millimeters, although it’s hard to be sure.
The Sagitta Spectrum has two lighting zones: the scroll wheel and the Tesoro logo. Each is backed by a full RGB LED that you can set to any color; you can also apply a number of effects like “breathing” or “rainbow” to spice things up.
The macro section is last, and it’s so good it’s really a pity the mouse doesn’t have more buttons! You can define macros here, and unlike almost every other macro feature I’ve seen for keyboards and mice, macros are fully editable: you can insert and delete individual steps after creating a macro. As you’d expect, you can program mouse button clicks, and key presses, although oddly there doesn’t seem to be any way to directly record mouse movements. You can insert mouse movements with the “Insert EVENT” section at the right, but you have to enter the precise number of pixels you want the mouse to move on the “X” and “Y” axes. Macros can be named and assigned to one of the mouse’s five built-in profiles.
One thing to keep in mind is that since these profiles and settings are executed by the mouse’s on-board CPU, you must remember to click the “Save” button to send the new settings to the mouse before they take effect. This does mean that the macros travel with the mouse should you ever have occasion to use the mouse on another computer.
Let’s see how this mouse is to use in the next section.
I had two initial problems with this mouse: first, the current driver hosted on Tesoro’s web site causes the Malwarebytes anti-malware utility to throw up a false positive for Adware.EoRezo, a moderately nasty and difficult-to-remove bit of malware that highjacks your browser and redirects it to sketchy ad sites. Although this concerned me initially, further investigation revealed that the driver is in fact OK. This is the only false positive I’ve ever gotten from Malwarebytes.
The second problem was that when using the mouse on my computer desk, which has an “industrial” Formica top with a random pattern of tiny speckles, the mouse would not track well: the cursor would lag and skip.
Switching to a plain black mouse pad cured the problem but I’ve tested a lot of optical mice over the years and this is the only one that’s ever had a problem with this desk surface.
These issues aside, I liked using the mouse more than I had initially thought I would. I prefer heavier mice, preferably with metal frames, and the all-plastic Sagitta Spectrum is quite light. Still, something about the shape and feel just clicked with me, and I spent several days using it for gaming instead of my long-preferred Mad Catz R.A.T. 9 wireless mouse. Mouse preferences are of course very individual things, and your mileage may vary.
The mouse performed very well, and unlike some of the other lightweight mice I’ve tested, I had no problem with the mouse being nudged by tension in the sleeved USB cable. The only thing I really missed was having one more button below the scroll wheel: I like to program these buttons to increase or decrease the mouse DPI, and although you can easily assign these functions to the “forward” and “back” buttons operated by your thumb, I’ve many years of (R.A.T.) reflexes to overcome.
I set the Sagitta Spectrum to poll at 1kHz and waved the pointer over Mouse Rate Checker…and yes, it can hit 1kHz.
After a week or so of using this mouse, I think it’s a great mid-range product and especially liked how easy the utility software was to use. My only real complaint is the poor tracking on my desktop.
Intense competition among vendors has driven prices on enthusiast peripherals such as mechanical keyboards and gaming mice down dramatically, and this sub-$50 mouse (currently $43.58 at Amazon) has performance and features that would have cost much more just a few years ago.
Even so, it might not be enough. Although the TS-H6L Sagitta Spectrum stands well on its own, competitors like the Zalman ZM-GM4 offer more features (adjustable mouse body, adjustable weight, more buttons) for a similar or slightly higher price. Admittedly some gamers may prefer the smooth elegance and clean, rounded feel of the Tesoro mouse to the blocky, space-age aesthetic of the Zalman, but that’s something that’s hard to quantify on a spec sheet.
The TS-H6L is Tesoro’s almost-best mouse (the Ascalon Spectrum offers a few extra features) and represents a solid entry in the field, especially for novice gamers looking for their first “performance” mouse. It has the basic features– performance, lighting, and macros– that a gaming mouse requires, leaving off the higher-end extras that some might find confusing or intimidating.
Still, the fact is that you can find mice with these extra features in the price range of the Sagitta Spectrum, and that’s a strike against it: even if you don’t want those features, you’re paying a price that would let you have them if you did want them. We’re probably slicing hairs here, though, since at the $50 range there simply isn’t a lot of room for movement downwards.
At its street price of $43.58 (Amazon | Newegg), the Tesoro Sagitta Spectrum is a solid-performing, comfortable to use, midrange gaming mouse.
+ Smooth consistent tracking– on the right surface
+ Two programmable RGB LED lighting areas
+ Easy-to-use utility and macro software
– Doesn’t track well on my bare desk
– Can’t easily record mouse movements in macros
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Performance: 9.50
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Appearance: 8.50
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Construction: 8.75
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Functionality: 8.00
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Value: 8.50
Recommended: Benchmark Reviews Seal of Approval.
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