Roccat Kone XTD Review: All-Purpose Gaming Mouse
Tom’s Guide Verdict
The Roccat Kone XTD is still close to the top of the all-purpose gaming mouse hierarchy, held back by only a few forgivable foibles.
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Demanding a high price for a product is perfectly fine, as long as you’re willing to pull out all the stops for it. The Roccat Kone XTD gaming mouse ($90) does just that. This device has it all: an attractive design, tunable weights, sophisticated software, pretty lighting and fantastic performance. In the time since it hit the market, some other mice have outclassed it, but the Kone XTD is still close to the top of the all-purpose gaming mouse hierarchy, held back by only a few forgivable foibles.
If you have large hands, the Kone XTD could become one of your best friends for gaming. The mouse is large and optimized for either a palm or claw grip. With a deep groove for the thumb and a wide profile for the two outermost fingers, the Kone XTD belongs right up with the Logitech G502 Proteus Core or the Corsair Vengeance M65 as one of the most comfortable mice I’ve ever used. The fierce silver outline of a roaring lion on the peripheral’s face doesn’t hurt, either.
MORE: Best Gaming Mice
The Kone XTD also sports an impressive 12 buttons. While they’re not all equally easy to use, the ones you’ll use most frequently are about as good as these things get.
The left and right buttons are big and easy to depress, while the clickable scroll wheel provides excellent resistance and clicks both left and right for additional controls.
The thumb buttons are the real standouts, however; they’re just big enough, evenly spaced and textured for an easy grip. So many manufacturers botch the thumb buttons on gaming mice that it’s heartening to see a company get them 100-percent right.
Not every button is perfect, though. Above the scroll wheel is a shortcut to the Windows key, which admittedly did not get much use. The two dots-per-inch DPI sensitivity buttons beneath the scroll wheel required me to contort my middle finger in unusual ways, but it was more awkward than painful.
The Kone XTD also sports four 5-gram weights so that you can customize how much heft the peripheral has. The hatch holding the weights in place was a bit flimsy, but once it was firmly in place, I appreciated having an adjustable weight profile.
Features
Roccat is in the process of developing a comprehensive software suite for all of its gaming mice and keyboards in 2015, but existing products will not be able to use the new software. As such, the Kone XTD software is perfectly good, but it’s hardly best in class, nor is it future-proof.
After downloading and installing the Kone XTD software (which has Roccat’s typical idiosyncrasy of opening once, installing new firmware, shutting down and then running as intended), using it is pretty simple. The software has different tabs that let you control everything from sensitivity to DPI (which ranges from 100 to 8,200) to four different strips of colorful lighting.
The most important feature of mouse software is whether it can set up different profiles and link them with games. In this, the Kone XTD does its job admirably. You can set up five different profiles and link each one with up to three different programs. One of these profiles acts as your Windows profile, to which the mouse reverts each time you exit a program and return to the desktop.
Unlike with the unpredictable Roccat Savu software, the game-linking worked perfectly for the Kone XTD, and being able to link each profile with a different color scheme was a real delight. I have only two nitpicks about this functionality: The colors aren’t all I hoped they’d be, and I had to hit the Windows button before the default Windows profile would kick in when I returned to the desktop.
Lighting
The colorful illumination is one of the few things that sets the Kone XTD apart from similar mice. The peripheral has two lighted strips that travel along the edges of the device, and each strip contains two separate areas of illumination.
You can customize the colors for all four areas, but there aren’t many colors to choose from, and they tend to bleed together in ugly ways. For instance, trying to get a «bleu, blanc et rouge» configuration for the French Revolution-era Assassin’s Creed Unity left me with something that looked kind of like a malformed bruise.
The colors are a nice touch, but I’d recommend sticking to mono-color profiles.
Performance
I tried out the Kone XTD with Titanfall, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Assassin’s Creed Unity and Star Wars: The Old Republic to test the mouse’s in-game performance. From a gameplay perspective, the Kone XTD performed very well across the board.
While there’s no one genre this mouse favors, I particularly enjoyed using the Kone XTD with The Old Republic. Although this is not a massively multiplayer online (MMO) mouse in the strictest sense, it has a feature called Easy Shift [+]. By holding down a button with Easy Shift [+] assigned, you can open a whole new set of mouse commands. This meant that I could access my entire skill bar from my mouse rather than having to hunt and peck on my keyboard.
MORE: Best Gaming Keyboards
I did encounter two slight performance problems. Since the Kone XTD’s texture is smooth rather than coarse, it did not do much to repel moisture, and got a bit slippery when my hand began to sweat.
Furthermore, the DPI buttons were not ideally situated to change DPI on the fly during high-intensity firefights in Titanfall.
The Kone XTD is a good mouse all around, and at one time, it was arguably the best all-purpose mouse on the market. Now, with the arrival of contenders like the Proteus Core and Razer’s DeathAdder Chroma, the Kone XTD is beginning to show its age. Its design is good, but not perfect; its software is intuitive, but not optimized; its lighting is forward-thinking, but not detailed enough.
If you’re on a budget, the Kone XTD should start dropping well below its retail price as Roccat’s new line of gadgets debuts in 2015. That would be an ideal time to pick up this excellent mouse at a very affordable price. Otherwise, stick with something newer, or wait until Roccat pushes out the Kone XTD’s successor.
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Marshall Honorof is a Staff Writer for Tom’s Guide.
Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him @marshallhonorof and on Google+. Follow us @tomsguide, on Facebook and on Google+.
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Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom’s Guide, overseeing the site’s coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.
ROCCAT Kone XTD Gaming Mouse
Introducing ROCCAT Kone XTD
Few weeks back, we reviewed the ROCCAT Kone Pure mouse which we concluded it being a real performer mouse and thus earning a gold rating from us.
The creative integration between the software and the hardware has showed us how they could change the whole user experience, especially the ROCCAT Power-Grid app.
Today we have Kone Pure’s higher end brother, namely Kone XTD. In case you’re wondering, the XTD stands for “Extended” and it is direct upgrade to the Kone[+]. As ROCCAT claims the XTD to be a “Maximum Customization gaming mouse”, read on for our quick review on this mouse and see if it live up to its name.
The mouse comes in a bubble wrap instead of standard packaging, we’ll skip the packaging and review only the mouse itself.
SRP for ROCCAT Kone XTD is MYR345.
Tech Specs
- Pro-Aim Laser Sensor R3 with up to 8200dpi
- 1000Hz polling rate
- 1ms response time
- 12000fps, 10.8megapixel
- 30G acceleration
- 3.8m/s (150ips)
- 16-bit data channel
- 1-5mm Lift off distance
- Tracking & Distance Control Unit
- 72MHz Turbo Core V2 32-bit Arm based MCU
- 576kB onboard memory
- Zero angle snapping/prediction
- 1.
8m braided USB cable
Closer Look
ROCCAT logo at the body of the mouse. Unlike Kone Pure, the logo is not illuminated as the lighting feature is applied to the transparent stripes at both sides of the mouse.
The mouse is ergonomically designed for right handed users.
It has slightly larger body and heavier if compared to the Pure. But then you could customise the weight of the mouse with the included weight management kit. We will talk about the weight management kit in a short while, but for the time being, the first impression of the build quality is great.
Contoured side for your thumb. There are two buttons at the side, though they are labelled as forward and backward, you can customise all the button’s actions via the driver software.
By default, the back button is assigned with the Easy-Shift[+] feature where you can hold it and click other button on the mouse to activate their secondary function. For example, you can assign your right click button’s secondary function as play next song, then while holding the Easy-Shift[+] button, right clicking would play the next song instead of opening a right click menu.
I do appreciate the functionality of the Easy-Shift[+] button, however, I think ROCCAT could have added a dedicated button for it so that we don’t have to sacrifice the back button.
There are a total of 7 mouse buttons along with the scroll wheel (Titan Wheel). Speaking of the Titan Wheel, ROCCAT advertised it to be higher quality than any other scroll wheels and extra durable. Though I can’t comment on the durability of it but I am impressed with the wheel.
Each scroll is precise and you get that specific feedback for each action. Even impressive would be the wheel’s tilt action which I find it to be one of the best. There are loads of mice out there offering tilt action for the scroll wheel but none of them could have provided such subtle and responsive feedback as the Titan Wheel.
Meanwhile the switches under the buttons are using Omron micro switches. The clicks are precise and especially the feedback is consistent, but not all of the buttons are equally good.
Take a look at the additional button at the top of the Titan Wheel. It find it useless especially when it stays at that position. I would have been glad if ROCCAT would move that button to the thumb rest area and use it as Easy-Shift[+] button.
Speaking of the differences between the XTD and the Pure, they would be the Titan Wheel and the additional button at the top it.
Titan wheel is slightly taller than the Pure’s scroll wheel.
Bottom of the mouse. Pardon the absence of the label.
Two smaller glide feet at the top while a larger piece at the bottom.
The round cover houses the mouse’s weight management kit. Perhaps that’s the reason why the bottom has a larger glide feet than the top.
Closer look at the weight management enclosure.
As you can see, the cap is secured to its place with a simple twist lock mechanism.
The mouse weighs 123 grams excluding the cable. Each weight button is 5g, which makes up the customisability of 123 grams, 128 grams, 133 grams, 138 grams and 143 grams.
Placing all the weight buttons into the slots. Then here comes the problem, I find the buttons are extremely difficult to be removed from the slots. I am aware that most of the time one would just customise the weight for the first time and then leave them throughout the rest of the mouse’s lifespan, but the mouse does not come cheap and for sure we would expect the designers to take the product’s user-friendliness a little more serious.
Standard USB jack. Though it is not gold plated, but we all know that doesn’t matter.
Plugged in.
There are 33 customisable colours you can configure in the driver software. Since each side would have 2 customisable lighting effect, you can configure it to light up as shown on the picture above.
Not to forget about the lighting effect could be integrated with the ROCCAT TALK FX for extra lighting effects. More information here.
Software
Driver
Main control for general configurations such as the sensitivity, clicks and scroll action.
Meanwhile you can manage the macro and assign different functionalities to the mouse buttons.
Advanced configurations for your mouse which incldes the polling rate, X-Y axis sensitivity and the sound options.
Colour control centre to customise your XTD’s lighting effect.
Then ROCCAT even has your mouse usage statistics and award.
Lastly the update and support panel.
Power-Grid
Not to forget the Power-Grid Android and iOS app which utilise your mobile device as secondary display and control for you system and games.
First you have to install the Power-Grid desktop application and the mobile app.
You could edit the grids as you see fit to your needs.
There’s even social settings where the Power-Grid app displays you favourite social media contents.
As you can see, setting up the Power-Grid is fairly easy and straight forward, but if you face any trouble there’s a lot of useful information available at the support.
Connecting your mobile device to the desktop app is fairly easy if your network and firewall is properly set.
System stats.
The configured grids would be shown in your mobile.
Final Thoughts
ROCCAT Kone XTD
Pros
- Smooth and comfortable grip
- Great build quality
- Responsive clicks
- Excellent scroll wheel
- Intuitive driver software
- Weight management
Subjective
- Sculpted for right handed users
- Power-Grid – creative use of smart devices
- ROCCAT Talk
- LED stripes
Cons
- Stiff USB cable
- Lack of ergonomic customization
- Weight management module not so user-friendly
- Power-Grid need to cater boarder range of screen resolution
- Too many individual driver for each product
- No dedicated button for Easy-Shift[+]
Looking at the spec-sheet of the XTD and the Pure, you can immediately notice that both of them has exactly similar bits and pieces.
They literally shares the same internals except some added features from the external. Even both of them has almost similar build quality and ergonomics when compared, albeit the size and weight of XTD is slightly larger and heavier than the Pure. But one could easily differentiate them when they hold the mouse.
Performance-wise, we were very satisfied with the Pure and we find that the XTD performs on par with it. No doubt it is a real performer mouse, the button clicks are accurate and works really well, worth mentioning is the awesome Titan Wheel.
On the side note, ROCCAT claims the XTD to be “Maximum Customisation Mouse’. To be frank, I find the extra customisation options when compared to the Pure are just the weight management, extra buttons and extra lighting effects. Let’s face it, both of them shares almost identical internal except the scroll wheel and not so important lighting gimmicks.
Does the extra really worth what you’re paying? It could be both yes and no, depends on how you see the extra features.
It is not the XTD’s fault for being overshadowed, but the fact that ROCCAT decided to make them so similar and priced the Pure at much competitive price makes the XTD an expensive upgrade.
Review of the Roccat Kone Pure 2017 gaming mouse Owl-Eye / Overclockers.ua
The Kone series is the base in the line of gaming mice from Roccat and today has six modifications that differ in filling and design, but retain approximately the same design of the shape of their case. Since the company hasn’t bothered much about breeding its models by name, and the name of our today’s review subject sounds like Kone Pure (ROC-11-725), so as not to mislead the reader, we note that this mouse belongs to the 2017 model range and is equipped with an Owl-Eye sensor. And now about everything in detail. nine0003
Specifications
| Model | Roccat Kone Pure 2017 Owl-Eye |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer website | roccat.org |
| Interface | Wired (USB) |
| Type | Gaming (FPS/MMO/RTS games) |
| Sensor type | Optical |
| Sensor model | Owl-Eye (Pixart PMW 3361) |
| Resolution cpi | 100 – 12,000 |
| Number of buttons | 7 buttons + scroll (left, middle, right, two resolution keys, two side buttons) |
| Maximum acceleration, g | 50 |
| Lift-off height (LOD), mm | 1-3 mm |
| Maximum speed, m/s | 6. 35 |
| USB port polling rate, Hz | 125 / 250 / 500 / 1000 |
| Frame rate, fps | 12 000 |
| Internal memory, KB | 512 |
| Scroll | + |
| Scroll vertical/horizontal | +/- |
| Cord length, m | 1.8 |
| Variable weight | – |
| Adjustable body shape | – |
| Cable material | Nylon braid |
| Housing surface material | Plastic |
| Color | Black |
| Light | + (RGB, 16.8M colors) |
| Illumination zones | Stern logo |
| Leg material | Teflon (PTFE) |
| Software | + (Roccat Swarm) |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) mm | 118 x 70 x 39 |
| Weight, g | 88 |
| Compatible with OS | Windows 7 / 8 / 10 |
| Optional | Embedded ARM Cortex-MO 50 MHz processor |
| Average cost, $ | 70 |
Equipment
The packaging of the mouse is very colorful, in every sense of the word.
Even in shape, it is not the same as all the boxes, but with a bevel on the right front edge. On all sides there are images of the product, a description of its marketing advantages (in 10 languages) and technical characteristics (on the basis). nine0003
Includes instruction manual, product disposal leaflet and three stickers. Inside the mouse is packed in another plastic tray with a transparent lid.
Appearance
Roccat Kone Pure has an asymmetric, right-handed body shape with pronounced curves for lateral finger grip. The coating of the entire body is a smooth to the touch, but at the same time very tenacious plastic, which Roccat calls Pro-Grip. It is resistant to scratches and the hand on it practically does not sweat. Its only drawback is the speed with which it collects dirt and fingerprints. The scroll wheel bezel is made of glossy plastic. The two keys behind it, with the symbols «+» and «-» are used to change the resolution level. They work from medium effort and sound quietly.
The left and right keys are pressed with medium force without free play, and they click a little louder than usual. The switches below them have a MTBF of 50 million clicks. The fit of the solid button panels is excellent, with no play in any direction. nine0003
The left side of the mouse is made of the same plastic as the top panel. The most notable thing here is the embossed notch for the thumb. Two side buttons are raised almost to the top, which eliminates accidental pressing on them. They do not have a free wheeling reserve, the force required for activation and the volume of operation are average.
The main button panels, when viewed from the front, are tilted to the side, the gaps between them and the body are minimal. The «titanium» scroll wheel is rubberized around the rim, spins with the same crunch up and down and has clearly audible and tactile fixation positions. The middle key below it is average both in pressing force and in click volume, its resistance is chosen correctly.
The cable enters the mouse body in the middle, and its anti-kink protection is small and hard. nine0003
The cable itself is quite good, despite the nylon braid, it maintains a good balance between flexibility and rigidity, maintaining a given shape without hindering movement. The length of the cord is 1.8 m. There is no ferrite interference filter here.
The right side of the mouse also has a characteristic notch, where the little finger and ring finger fit quite comfortably.
No side buttons on the right.
The only illuminated element on the back of the mouse is the outline image of the Roccat logo. nine0003
Roccat Kone Pure 2017 is shaped for right-handers and will not be able to be used by left-handers. The size of the manipulator is medium, it fits very well under a finger or claw grip, and holding it with the palm of your hand will be convenient only for owners of medium and small hands.
The base of the mouse has two shaped Teflon feet on the front and back.
The optical sensor with infrared illumination Owl-Eye (aka Pixart 3361) is located in the middle, surrounded by a sticker with a serial number. nine0003
There is only one illumination zone — the logo on the stern. It has three effect options and 16.8 million color combinations. Unfortunately, white color and most light shades are not reproduced correctly. Roccat Swarm In this case, software version 1.9310 was used, and there were problems with its installation. Because of what I had to roll back to an earlier version and already upgrade from it. The current mouse firmware version 1.11 was downloaded and installed automatically without problems. The main page of the software, which greets the user when downloading, contains the most commonly used settings. To bring the corresponding window to it, you must click the blue icon in the form of a clerical hairpin in the upper right corner. At the top there is a list of available tabs, and at the bottom there are slots with five profiles that can be saved in the built-in memory of the manipulator.
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In the Settings section, the basic settings of the mouse are configured. There is an adjustment of the cursor speed, vertical and horizontal speed of the scroll wheel, a delay setting for double-click recognition and a slider that duplicates the speed of moving the Windows cursor. You can enable mouse cursor acceleration or display a trace of its trajectory. Five levels of resolution are individually adjustable in the range from 100 to 12000 CPI in 100-unit increments over the entire range of values. Extra permission levels can be turned off. nine0003
The Button Assignment defines the assignment of all keys and the direction of the scroll wheel, for a total of nine commands. For each of the commands, you can assign a main and an alternative action, which is activated when the Easy-Shift technology is triggered. The choice of command options is very wide. In particular, each button can be disabled, or assigned to a macro, an individual combination of commands, or the launch of a voice timer.
All basic and advanced mouse commands, Internet navigation and media functions, quick launch of applications or documents, system commands and Windows applications are available for remapping. nine0003
Advanced Settings adjust advanced sensor settings and backlight modes. In particular, you can set the polling frequency within 125/250/500 or 1000 Hz. Voice accompaniment of certain commands is also available — changing resolution, profiles, sensitivity level or sound volume. It’s all possible to turn it on or off and adjust the notification volume. The Distance Control Unit tab is responsible for adjusting the liftoff height (LOD). There you can set only two values - Low or High. All settings can be reset to default settings. In the highlight section, you can individually set any color for a single zone, select an option for it and the speed of changing the lighting effect, or turn it off completely. Of the effects, a constant glow, blinking, breathing and pulsation are available.
Plus, you can use a sequential enumeration of all the colors of the spectrum. nine0003
The Profile Manager stores all the profile options that the user has created for their mouse. Five profiles fit into the mouse’s memory, the rest can be stored for future use in the PC’s memory. It supports editing profiles, linking them to autorun along with individual applications and automatic switching.
The macro editor contains a huge library of ready-made macro commands for almost all the most popular modern games. But you can write your own version. It supports mouse and keyboard input and setting time delays. Recording the position of the mouse cursor is not supported. nine0003
Swarm Connect allows you to connect your mouse to a mobile device like a tablet or phone and control its settings remotely and wirelessly.
The AlienFX section allows Alienware owners to sync their devices with Roccat products.
And the Talk FX section is responsible for synchronizing individual Roccat devices with each other.
Three tabs can be found in the program settings. General — here you can configure how automatic software updates work (on / off and silent installation or with notification). In addition, you can choose one of the 17 supported languages of the program. nine0003
In the Update center there is a report on the current software and firmware versions of the product, as well as the Recovery Tool — rollback to the latest working version of the mouse firmware.
In the monitoring section, you can select the parameters that will be displayed on an additional screen when connected via Swarm Connect. In particular, this is information about the current state of the PC, the number of clicks per minute and erroneous clicks. Statistics can be reset if desired.
The Help section is more than helpful. Here you can directly send a request to the support service, or read the most frequently asked questions. nine0003
Ergonomics and testing
The Roccat Kone Pure 2017 mouse was tested on the Razer Goliathus WoT (Speed medium).
The shape and size of this mouse is ideal for the right hand and any form of grip for owners of medium-sized palms. For those who have a large hand, this manipulator will seem slightly short and narrow. The mouse coating is generally pleasant and not slippery to the touch, it evaporates sweat well, but tends to get dirty quickly. The degree of rigidity of all switches is well chosen, they are tactilely responsive and not particularly noisy. The scroll wheel is crisp, but it pays for it with a crackle when spinning fast, which isn’t particularly annoying, though. The implementation of Easy-Shift technology allows you to actually double the number of commands executed on the manipulator, which will appeal to fans of MMOs. To call it, it is most convenient to use one of the side buttons. The weight balance of the case is well maintained, the manipulator is convenient to lift and rearrange on the surface. The legs are quite slippery, because of this, the Kone Pure has a noticeable inertia during fast movements.
The cable, although not the softest, does not interfere with movements. The backlight here does not look very good, and when using the mouse it is not visible at all. Built-in memory for five profiles allows you not to use the software at all, except for the initial setup. nine0003
The Pixart PMW 3361 Owl-Eye sensor works great. It is undemanding to the quality of the surface, does not break, does not have parasitic moments in its work, there is no acceleration, if it is not forced to turn on, the separation height is well chosen. Tracking accuracy of 1:1 is achieved by the sensor in the range from 400 to 3000 dpi. Above this threshold, the level of smoothing increases and the accuracy sags slightly.
Results
The mass distribution of the top Pixart PMW3360 sensor and its variations in modern manipulator models of the middle price segment cannot but please potential buyers. Especially considering that their performance is close to ideal, and the cost is not so high.
Today, in fact, this is the gold standard for a gaming mouse. Moreover, the leading manufacturers have finally focused not on increasing the number of dpi, but on fine-tuning the accuracy of the sensor in the “reasonable” resolution range that is most often used by players. nine0003
In this context, Roccat Kone Pure 2017 with proprietary Owl-Eye sensor can be considered a very successful update to the old line. There is practically nothing superfluous in it, and there is a full set of necessary functions, including advanced software in combination with on-board memory. There is a normal cable, a comfortable body, slippery feet, a small and balanced weight, good switches, a clear wheel, in general, a complete “gentleman’s” set of a high-quality FPS mouse. However, it should be noted that the body of this mouse is deliberately slightly cut in size and therefore will not be very comfortable for large hands. nine0003
The main disadvantage of the manipulator is that its surface is quite dirty and requires regular cleaning every few days.
In addition, the backlight does not look very good here. Without it, it would be quite possible to do without, thereby reducing the cost of the product. Well, the software in the current version contains some errors, although this is quite fixable over time.
The Roccat Kone Pure 2017 can be recommended for owners of medium and small hands, for the right hand and any type of grip. It will suit any genre of games, but the main thing is that it meets all the requirements of the most dynamic FPS games. nine0003
Overview ROCCAT Kone AIMO Black
The ROCCAT Kone AIMO Black is designed specifically for eSports. Therefore, it has a huge number of features, as well as a top-level optical sensor. In addition, this panel has a number of other advantages. You can learn in detail about all the features of the gadget, as well as all its pros and cons, from our review.
Specifications and Features
ROCCAT Kone AIMO features:
- Form factor — for the right hand.
- Connection interface — USB.
- Sensor resolution — 12000 DPI.
- Speed support — up to 250 IPS.
- Maximum acceleration — 50G.
- Polling rate — 1000 Hz.
- Backlight color range 16.8 million colors.
Packing and contents
The ROCCAT Kone AIMO mouse is sold in a black cardboard box, designed in the standard Roccat style — a dark background on which a photograph of the device is located. Also on the box, all the features of the device and advantages are described in detail. nine0003
Inside the player’s box is the following:
- PET package with the mouse inside.
- ROCCAT logo sticker.
- Documentation.
To unlock all the features of the mouse, a special utility is required. However, it is not included in the kit, so it must be downloaded from the official website. But the mouse can work without it.
Features and Appearance
ROCCAT Kone AIMO has a fairly large size, so it is designed for medium and large hands, and focused only on the palm grip.
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When developing this model, the developers set themselves the goal of obtaining the most ergonomic mouse that would not cause discomfort even after the longest gaming sessions. And now we can say with confidence that ROCCAT engineers coped with this task just perfectly. The shape of the back is close to the classic one, with the exception of the side faces, which have cutouts for edging with an LED insert. It, like the rest of the case, is made of matte black, slightly rough plastic. The surface of the back is adorned with the ROCCAT logo in silver paint, as well as the model name. nine0003
Both sides are wide enough so that the hand rests comfortably on the surface of the mouse in a natural position. For greater convenience, the sidewalls have anatomical recesses. As mentioned above, backlight strips separate the sidewalls from the back. The latter is quite bright and supports dynamic glow modes.
The lower part of the device is also made of durable matte plastic.
The sensor window is located in the center. In addition, five thick Teflon legs are also located here. Thanks to them, the mouse glides easily and smoothly on any type of rugs like on ice. Thanks to this, the mouse allows you to quickly and accurately aim. In addition, it allows you to make sharp and fast movements in dynamic games such as shooters. nine0003
Attaches to the front of the mouse with a strong, braided memory cable. Therefore, even with the most intensive use of the mouse, the cord can last more than one year.
In general, the design turned out to be modern, sporty, very elegant and recognizable. In appearance, the features of other gaming mice from ROCCAT are traced. Like all other peripherals from this manufacturer, ROCCAT Kone AIMO Black is perfectly assembled. You will not find any squeaks, cracks, backlashes or other defects. nine0003
Operation
We got acquainted with the appearance and design, now we will look at the controls, functions and try the mouse in operation.
The Kone AIMO Black has a lot more controls than the average gaming mouse, with the exception of models designed for MMO games, but this is a separate category that we do not take into account. Scroll is traditionally located between the main two buttons. It’s big enough here, with a rubberized surface and RGB-lit rims. Of the features of the wheel, it can be distinguished that it is a four-position, that is, it can not only be pressed vertically, but also moved left or right, like a joystick. On any click, you can «hang» any command or even a macro. Another big plus of the wheel is a frequent and clear cutoff, which improves control. nine0003
Right behind the scrollbar are two buttons that allow you to adjust the sensitivity of the sensor. Resolution can be adjusted in increments of 100 DPI. The minimum value is 400 DPI, and the maximum is 12000. This makes it easy to aim at the longest distances in games.
Additional keys also available on the left side panel. Above the thumb (subject to a palm grip) are two keys that can be pressed without lifting the thumb from the mouse, that is, by swiping up.
They can be assigned, as well as to scroll, any actions or macros at your discretion. nine0003
The most interesting button is located under the thumb — this is the branded «EASY-SHIFT» key, when pressed, all other keys, including the main ones, can perform additional actions. Of course, if you have enough regular buttons, you can not use «EASY-SHIFT», but assign the action, command or macro you need to this key.
To fine-tune the mouse on the site, ROCCAT offers proprietary SWARM. It allows you to record macros and control all buttons. In addition, the utility allows you to fine-tune the backlight modes — color, type of blinking. There is also a function of «smart» backlighting, when the device itself decides, depending on the actions performed on the computer, what color to highlight and with what brightness. The built-in processor is responsible for playing dynamic effects. nine0003
SWARM allows you to configure the main sensor parameters — sensor resolution, mat separation height, etc.
It should be noted that the mouse has built-in memory, so all settings and macros are stored in the built-in memory. Thanks to this, you can connect the device to any computer, and at the same time, all settings will be saved even if the drivers are not installed on the PC.
As for the operation of the device, the sensor from PixArt, designed specifically for ROCCAT, deserves attention first of all. It is designed for the most aggressive playing style in FPS games. Whatever sharp movements you make with the mouse, the sensor does not break, that is, the cursor correctly repeats the movements of the mouse. It even withstands mouse release from the mat, so the device is suitable for those gamers who are used to playing with a high resolution sensor and “flipping” the mouse. nine0003
The same pleasant sensations leave behind the keys. They have a clear click, good tactile feedback and a medium length travel. Such switches, like the sensor, are the best solution for fast games, where reaction and quick pressing are important.
They allow the user to give commands as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, the manufacturer does not say which switches are used under the trims. But by the nature of pressing and even the sound of a click, one can conclude that this is an Amron, perhaps “branded” specifically for ROCCAT. nine0003
Thus, we can conclude that the ROCCAT Kone AIMO mouse is primarily focused on shooters like «KS», «Battlefield», «Call of Duty», etc. If you are a fan of such games, the gadget will surely help you new records. Of course, this does not mean that the device is not suitable for games of other genres. It’s just that these games are the most demanding for gaming peripherals. As for the scope, the mouse is suitable not only for games, but also for working with various software. The ability to use macros allows you to simplify and speed up the workflow when working in any software. nine0003
Thus, this device is suitable not only for e-sports players, but also for all other users who not only play games, but also perform everyday tasks.
Now you know what the ROCCAT Kone AIMO gaming mouse is — this review is over. We hope that the above information was useful to you and helped you make your choice.
Conclusion
ROCCAT Kone AIMO Black is a professional gaming mouse focused on fast games. Many gamers call this model one of the most convenient and successful in its price range, because friendly ergonomics are a characteristic feature of ROCCAT peripherals. In addition, the device is the best in its class, as it contains the most advanced stuffing. nine0003
However, keep in mind that the mouse is not designed for the small hand. Other than that, it’s a really good choice no matter what you’re going to use the device for.
Pros:
- Ergonomic housing.
- Nice modern design.
- Fine-tuning RGB lighting.
- Lots of extra keys and four way scroll.
- Built-in memory and processor. nine0280
Cons:
- Large dimensions make it convenient to use the device only for people with medium and large hands.
