Roccat Kone Pro Review

Roccat Kone Pro specs

Alternatives

If you want a wireless gaming mouse: The Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro is an ergonomic wireless gaming mouse. It also has better specs, including better latency performance. But consider that the price tag is far higher.

If you want more programmable buttons: The Logitech G502 Hero is a wired gaming mouse with more buttons and total programmable actions. The weight is far higher, but the mouse is grippier with more accentuated curves, strategically-placed rubberized texture, and thumb rest.

If you prefer a symmetrical gaming mouse: The Razer Viper 8K Hz is similarly priced and is fast but has a different shape where your hand lays flat instead of rotated slightly to the right.

Performance

Weight

The Roccat Kone Pro is a lightweight gaming mouse weighing 66 grams. The weight puts it in the superlight category of gaming mice. Sure, it’s not the lightest gaming mouse – some newer models weigh less than 50 grams.

But the Roccat Kone Pro’s weight is comparatively low for a gaming mouse, especially comparable ergonomic models. You can effortlessly flick this mouse, perfect if you’re looking for the best FPS gaming mouse.

It also achieves the low weight without an open honeycomb infrastructure common with competing budget gaming mice, like the Glorious Model D and the HyperX Pulsefire Haste.

Sensor

You don’t have to break the bank to get a gaming mouse with a high DPI optical sensor. In the case of the Roccat Kone Pro case, you get Roccat’s Owl-Eye sensor with a max DPI of 19,000.

The sensor is made in partnership with PixArt, the de facto leader in mouse sensors. A 19,000 DPI sensor is more than most gamers will need. Still, it’s good peace of mind for future-proofing against monitor resolutions increasing and retaining the same on-screen sensitivity when increasing your resolution.

Perspective is also critical regarding the sensor. Many competing gaming mice cost twice as much and have similar or lower DPI sensors. Higher-end gaming mice, like the Razer Viper V2 Pro and the Logitech G Pro X Superlight, have sensors that max out at 25,600 and 30,000 DPI, respectively.

The Roccat Kone Pro’s sensor is also fast and accurate, tracking up to 400 inches per second. This rating is solid for the price point, with many competing gaming mice rated to track from 300 to 450 inches per second, which is more than enough to track the fastest mouse flicks accurately.

Polling rate

You can max out the Roccat Kone Pro’s polling rate by setting it to 1000 Hz. We see no reason to choose the 125, 250, or 500 Hz presets, though having these versatile options is nice.

Setting the polling rate to 1000 Hz reduces latency since your mouse reports actions to your computer 1000 times per second. A lower polling rate reports actions less frequently, which increases latency and can make any gaming mouse slightly more sluggish.

This is also a wired gaming mouse, so there’s no concern over a high polling rate draining battery life when reporting actions more frequently.

Button performance and sound

The Roccat Kone Pro’s L/R switches are surprisingly solid for a budget gaming mouse. When actuated, the L/R switches aren’t mushy and have a solid tactile feel. You can trigger a double click when clicking with the entire length of your finger. But this is common for mid-range and lower models and isn’t a concern since most gamers don’t click this way.

The two side buttons and scroll wheel are audibly similar, with a highly tactile clicking feel when actuated. Scrolling through each step of the scroll wheel produces little noise.

The tactile feel isn’t the only area where Roccat amps up the quality of its switches. It’s somewhat rare for budget gaming mice to choose faster optical switches over slower mechanical switches. Roccat’s Titan Switch included in the Kone Pro is optical and durable, rating up to 100 million clicks. This number is exceptional, especially since many models over $100 are rated for 70 to 90 million clicks.

Gliding

The Roccat Kone Pro glides effortlessly and smoothly on a mousepad or hard desktop surface. Part of this comes down to the fact that this is such a lightweight gaming mouse. We enjoyed the smooth gliding performance when making micro adjustments with our fingers only and wrist stationery when aiming in FPS titles. This sort of performance is what we’d expect from the best gaming mice.

We didn’t test using the included replacement mouse feet, so we don’t know if the performance is any different using the replacements. As with any wired gaming mouse, using the Roccat Kone Pro with a mouse bungee may be worthwhile since the cord can occasionally get in the way.

Design

Buttons

The Roccat Kone Pro has a familiar six-button layout, two side buttons, the L/R buttons, a clickable scroll wheel, and a button on the underside that can be mapped as a DPI or profile-cycling command.

It would be nice if the L/R buttons weren’t so smooth and had more texture, though this is admittedly a user preference.

The two side recesses and the two side buttons have a more texturized design and feel. The side recesses have tiny horizontal ridges but feel like an afterthought and don’t do much to improve the gripping power.

The two side buttons combine a glossy and matte, texturized finish. The area where your thumb presses the buttons has a matte texture, and the outer edges are glossy. This design approach does add some friction to the side buttons, which is a nice added design cue.

Regardless of the texture, we loved how big the two side buttons are. There’s little chance you’ll miss these buttons with your thumb.

Scroll wheel

The Roccat Kone Pro’s scroll wheel is great overall. In fact, we gave it our highest possible rating. The tactile feel leaves little doubt that the wheel has been clicked, especially considering the well-balanced travel distance.

The scroll wheel is also one of the few we’ve come across that doesn’t include rubber and is still precise. Other competing models, like the Logitech G502 Hero, don’t have a rubberized material surrounding the scroll wheel, and precision scrolling suffer. But that’s not the case with the Roccat Kone Pro’s scroll wheel due to the material used (likely plastic) and ridges along each step.

There is no L/R tilt scroll or thumb-scrolling functionality, which is expected for this performance-oriented gaming mouse category.

Shape

The Roccat Kone Pro is an ergonomic gaming mouse with accentuated curves throughout, including on the sides, and a left-to-right downward slant on top. This shape is preferred by gamers that want to hold their hand in a more comfortable, slightly rotated position than is possible with a symmetrical gaming mouse that requires laying your hand flat on top.

We particularly liked how the left side recess is curved inward and provides a small ridge to rest your thumb on. But consider that the left thumb ridge doesn’t offer much support like a more accentuated ergonomic gaming mouse, such as the Razer Basilisk V3, which has more buttons.

That said, the recess is an excellent design cue that provides extra gripping power, particularly when using the gaming mouse with a claw grip and making micro adjustments with only your fingers.

Hand size and grip style

The Roccat Kone Pro is deceivingly small, but it’s not for small hands. The ergonomic curves and big side buttons make it appear large. But compared to some competing ergonomic gaming mice, it’s a few millimeters smaller across the length, width, and height.

The size makes it suitable for most of the market, which is gamers with medium to large hands. If you have extra-large hands, the mouse may work for you, but your mileage will vary.

As for grip styles, the Roccat Kone Pro forms well to a palm grip. The back-biased hump and ergonomic shape provide excellent palm support. We equally like this gaming mouse when using a palm grip, primarily due to the left-side recess that provides gripping power for your thumb.

Some fingertip-grip gamers will like the shape, but the hump will more frequently hit your palm the smaller your hand.

Customization and software

RGB

There are two separate RGB zones on the Roccat Kone Pro, one in each of the L/R buttons. Different RGB effects can be applied to each zone, including wave, heartbeat, and blinking effects. You can also assign a color to each profile so the RGB flashes the custom color when profiles are changed. This feature is an excellent visual cue that tells you which profile is currently selected.

Profiles

You can carry onboard up to five custom profiles configured on a PC in Swarm. This way, you can use the Roccat Kone Pro across different machines and toggle through custom profiles on the fly, great for versatility when switching between productivity and gaming.

Within the profile manager, you can assign a specific application to a specific profile. When enabled, your Roccat Kone Pro will automatically switch to that profile when that application is open.

Swarm software

Roccat’s Swarm software is feature-rich, though a learning curve exists. The UI can be confusing when first using Swarm. That said, you’ll be up and running somewhat after a few tries. Within Swarm, you can adjust the following settings for your Roccat Kone Pro.

• Adjust various Windows essentials such as scroll speed, double-click speed, and pointer speed.
• Adjust the five DPI presets in increments of 50 from 50 to 19,000
• Remap your mouse buttons and enable Easy Shift for an added layer of programmable actions
• Customize the RGB effects
• Adjust the polling rate from a list including 125, 250, 500, and 1000 Hz presets
• Customize advanced features such as the lift-off distance and debounce time
• Set custom configurations to automatically change profiles when opening specific games
• Record custom macros that can be mapped to a specific mouse button

It’s worth noting that you can use the Roccat Kone Pro in macOS, but the customization software only works on PC. You can use your custom profiles in macOS, but you’ll need a PC first to set up the profiles or stick with the default settings.

In the box

• Roccat Kone Pro with cable (1.8m)
• Extra mouse feet
• Quick-start guide