Buttons, Scroll Wheel

Zowie mice, especially those of the FK and ZA families, are quite notorious for having stiff buttons. Is it a bad or a good thing? Well, once again, it's up to personal preference. I know I say this a lot, but it is the truth as some people prefer heavier clicks, while others prefer lighter, mushier, or more tactile clicks. As for me, I never really liked Zowie's clicks; that is, up until now. Buttons on the Divina S mice are noticeably lighter than on previous models. They use the same Huano switches that are rated for 20 million clicks as far as I know, but the shell design is modified a bit, which makes these buttons less stiff. There is pretty much zero unnecessary pre travel before actuation, but there's a significant amount of post travel, which makes the clicks mushier than on most other in-house models.


As for the scroll wheel, well, it hasn't been improved. I can objectively dislike it as it just is not great at all. Pretty much all Zowie models use the same scroll wheel design and mechanism as the first Zowie mice released so many years ago, which is something the company has received a lot of hate for. Scrolling is very loud, takes quite a lot of force, and just doesn't feel right. There are 16 scrolling steps, while most mice use 24-step scroll wheels. The encoder is not mechanical, but optical, like the ones on old Microsoft and Logitech mice.


The middle click is way harder to press than the main buttons, which is due to the red-plunger Huano switch beneath the scroll wheel. It's a bit tiring to use over the long run, but at least there is pretty much no way to accidentally actuating this button.


Side buttons are great on the Divina S series—their actuation force is similar to the middle click, but it's easier to press these due to their button design. With no unnecessary travel or wobbling, or them feeling mushy, they feel nice overall.

There are also two buttons on the bottom plate of the mouse that control the CPI and polling rate levels. None of the buttons are remappable (without 3rd-party programs, at least) as the mouse doesn't feature a software driver.

I also made a video in order to demonstrate how the buttons sound. As you can hear, the main ones have a hollow kind of sound to them.

Mouse Feet

The whole bottom area has a big protective film on it, which you should remove before use. Just like on most other Zowie mice, there are two big gliding feet at the bottom of the shell, but there's also a small ring encircling the sensor lens. These skates offer a smooth glide with relatively low friction compared to the competition, but are far from being as good as pure PTFE feet. Thankfully, there is a set of extra feet in the package, so once the initial ones wear out, you can simply replace them without the hassle of ordering new sets.

Cable

Like all Zowie cords, the Divina S mice have great stock cables. They are definitely among the best since they are light, flexible, and don't generate a lot of resistance or drag on the mouse pad. The cable is 2 m long, which should be more than enough for most people, and the USB connector is gold-plated.


There is one more interesting thing about the cable, which is a unique and very thoughtful touch—the cable doesn't simply come out of the shell horizontally; the stress-relief is tilted upward a bit, so the cable won't touch the mouse pad if you use it with a bungee. This is a feature I would definitely like to see on more future products as well.

Disassembling

There's only one screw holding the shell together; it is located beneath the bottom mouse feet. You can simply poke a hole through it (I warmed it up a bit with a hairdryer first) with a small screwdriver. After removing the Philips-head screw, it's easy to separate the two main parts of the shell. There are two ribbon cables that connect the main and side button PCBs with the mainboard.