Software
The Spawn Gaming mouse comes equipped with a CD for the mouse software or you can download it online. You can use the mouse without the software, but you can’t make the advances changes, such as Macros without the included software.
The Spawn software follows the CM Storm color scheme. The software looks good in terms of visual appearance, but I found it to be lacking some features that I’ve found in other mice. Your first tab, the Main Control, has the changes to button assignments, double click speed, scroll speed and pointer acceleration; the stuff you can find in your standard mouse settings in your operating system. The second tab is the Macro tab, which allows you to set your Macro’s. In my tests I only found the Macros to hold up to 10 keystrokes; this includes up and down movements, a total of 5 different keys.
The third tab in the software is the Custom tab, which really isn’t that custom. You can adjust your DPI settings for the three different steps. However, it’s the same DPI’s that are already programmed in: 800, 1800 and 3500. You don’t have the ability to fine-tune the DPI settings. You can also change your pointer speed and the polling rate. The fourth and final tab is your standard support and update tab with all the info you will need for the software.
Usage
When I first picked got the mouse in to review, I wasn’t really aware that it was a different style of mouse. I was expecting it to be a standard sized mouse, but low-and-behold it was a shorter and wider mouse. It was difficult to get used to at first, since I was used to a larger, taller gaming mouse.
After a while of using it for standard applications I got the hang of it. Since I have larger hands I had a tendency to move my hand towards the back of the mouse. From what I get from the design of the mouse is that you’re supposed to let your fingers hang over the edge of the mouse. Hanging my fingers over the edge was comfortable at first, but then became hard to use especially when making quick movements while you’re gaming.
For some reason I just couldn’t get used to the shorter (length) design of the Spawn. It was fine for standard use, but I found it to be more difficult to use when gaming than other mice I’ve used before. If you have smaller hands, this mouse would probably be perfect for you.
