ROCCAT Kone XTD Laser Mouse Review

Overview

 

I’ve used (and owned) a ROCCAT Kone mouse in the past and loved the experience, the Kone was marvellous until it suffered some issue with the wire and started to play up. At that point I was offered a Gigabyte Aivia Uranium wireless mouse at a very reasonable price and so jumped on it with the benefit that no wires gave me. That being the case I always had a soft spot for the Kone and so I’m really pleased to be getting to try out the ROCCAT Kone XTD. The new incarnation of the Kone offers all the usual cool lighting effects along with a 8200 DPI Laser sensor, on the fly DPI switching, 8 Programmable buttons and Omron switches.

 

 

The Kone XTD came in a very smart box with an image of the mouse on the front and provides plenty of info about the features of the mouse, including the 8200 DPI of the Laser, EasyShift, Multi-colour LEDs and TDCU Tracking. The box front provides pretty much all the main info you need to know about the mouse inside.

The back of the box shows a picture of the mouse with key feature points highlighted and lists the features (in multiple languages).

 

 

The Top, Side and Bottom of the box covers the features again, seems like ROCCAT have all the bases covered here, it doesn’t matter how this box is placed on a shelf you won’t miss it’s features!

 

 

Opening the front of the box shows us the Kone XTD itself, along with the weights case (nice touch this). On the back of the opening panel, the Easyshift system is described along with some example uses (for World of Warcraft and multimedia). The main panel shows the mouse and discusses “Dominant Design”, “Relentless Power” and “Masterful Control”. There are also paragraphs about ROCCAT Talk.

Removing the inner plastic cover gives us access to the Kone XTD and the Weights stored in that smart weight case. The only other thing in the box is a quick start guide.

At the time of writing the ROCCAT Kone XTD is retailing for its RRP of £72.99 at ebuyer (but its worth keeping an eye out as it can be fairly regularly available for approx £50.00) and offers a 12 month warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of ROCCAT

* Additional details available here

 

First Impressions

 

Having owned a ROCCAT Kone before I had a clear view of what I was expecting from this mouse, and my expectations were met when I first unboxed the Kone XTD. The familiar Kone shape, button positions and those oh so useful DPI switch buttons so close to hand. Laying my hand on this mouse brought back fond memories of the FPS’s I was playing when I last owned a Kone, and the feel of the shape and the fit to my hand just felt natural.

 

• Top

The top of the Kone XTD presents the user with a view of the ergonomic shape of this mouse, shaped mainly for right handed players. Visible are the DPI switch buttons, the rubber feel 4D wheel and the additional button in front of the Mouse Wheel. Along with these of course you can also see those oh so cool LED strips.

• Front / Back

The front of the Kone shows off that rather nice 1.8m long braided cable, along with another view of the wheel and buttons.

The back view shows off a nice ROCCAT logo and the XTD badge.

 

• Sides (left & right)

The left view of the Kone XTD shows the thumb buttons which are placed perfectly for my grip. More labelling here, with there being no doubt that you are looking at a ROCCAT Kone XTD. Right hand view simply shows the flowing shape of the mouse.

 

• Underside

The underside of the ROCCAT Kone XTD presents a view of the three slides along with the weight storage and the 8200 DPI laser.

 

 

The ROCCAT Kone XTD appears to be a rugged well designed mouse, all the buttons appear to be in the right places and the features appear to all be there!

 

Hardware Installation

 

The ROCCAT Kone XTD connects by way of its 1.8 metre braided nylon cable and a single (non-gold plated) USB plug, with cool ROCCAT Kone XTD logos on it!

Testing Methodology/Setup

 

The ROCCAT Kone XTD was tested using our Test Rig with a fresh installation of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (service pack 1) installed together with all the latest relevant drivers and software.

The latest version of the ROCCAT Kone XTD software (v1.18) was downloaded (here) and installed, which prompted a firmware update to 1.20, these versions of the software and firmware were used throughout testing.

 

Mouse Surface:

The ROCCAT Kone XTD was tested using a ROCCAT Alumic Double-Sided Gaming Mousepad.

The following games were used to help in the evaluation of the mouse:

• Survarium (BETA)
• Farcry 4
• Metro Last Light

 

Hardware Performance

 

• MOUSE

Having used a ROCCAT Kone XTD in the past I was sure that this mouse would perform well, and I wasn’t disappointed. The buttons were in the right places and have a nice tactile feel during activation, registering even the most rapid of clicks. I never found any loss of control whether I was whipping the mouse across the mat rapidly, or sniping with very precise slow movements. All in all this mouse performed very well indeed.

Add to the great performance, the ability to bling out this mouse with those fully configurable LED strips and you have a great looking, capable mouse.

 

 

The LED configuration was fun to play with, and I had to get some photos to show off the options, seeing this mouse next to my back light keyboard in a darkened room is a sight to behold.

 

• SOFTWARE

The ROCCAT software is comprehensive if a little complicated, there are numerous options for all the features of the mouse, and this can lead to the options tabs looking a little daunting when setting up the mouse just as you want it.

 

• SOFTWARE – (Profiles)

There are 5 profiles available for the ROCCAT Kone XTD and most of the following screens effect only the profile currently selected. These profiles can be configured to be selected when a specific executable is run, so you could say setup a profile for playing FarCry 4, and the mouse would switch to that profile when the executable is run. Each profile switch is declared by a voice playback stating “Profile {n}” where {n} is one to five.

 

 

• SOFTWARE – (Main Control)

The Main Control tab is where the main settings of the mouse are configured, these include Sensitivity, Vertical Scroll Speed, Horizontal Tilt Speed, Double Click speed and most importantly the DPI values for each of the 5 DPI available DPI settings. A point to note here, is that when a DPI is selected using the buttons on the top of the mouse, there is no visual indication of the DPI selected, instead there is that voice stating the DPI value chosen (whatever DPI value you have set in this screen), what I did notice (and this is new compared to my old Kone) is that as the DPI value increases the voice takes on a more excited tone!

 

 

• SOFTWARE – (Button Assignment)

The Button Assignment tab is where you, well, assign the buttons. Here you can select from a list of standard actions or even record macros (see below). This is also where you can allocate a button to “EasyAim” which is a quick DPI switch button option, here you are offered a set of pre-defined DPI values, one of which this button will activate regardless of the current DPI of the mouse. The most common use for this button would be to drop the DPI to 800 to allow easier more accurate sniping.
 

 

• SOFTWARE – (Macro Editor)

Macros can be edited in a Basic screen or an Advanced screen, with the basic screen allowing recording of a macro of button presses (and delays) and once recorded edited for precision. The advance screen shows the button press durations and delays in a horizontal timeline type view for more precise GUI editing.
There are some pre-defined macro sets here, for use with some common games, like “Battlefield Bad Company 2”.
 

 

• SOFTWARE – (Advance Control)

The Advance Control tab is where some of the more complex settings are stored and here the X and Y axis “scaling” can be defined. This acts kind of like a multiplier and allows you to tweak the way you use your mouse. If for example you find you are more precise in movement left and right than you are forward and backward, you might want to lower the Y axis sensitivity so as not to exaggerate your inaccuracy. The TDCU (Tracking/Distance Control Unit) helps with tracking on certain surfaces and it makes sense to calibrate the sensor for your surface with the TCU, the DCU deals with lift off and allows the user to configure how far off the surface to lift before the tracking stops, this is great for people that lift a little in game, but want to maintain tracking control.
Polling rate can be set here also, with the options being 125hz, 250hz, 500hz or 1000hz. Other than that, there are some sound options (want to turn off the DPI change voice? do it here), and pointer speed options along with a “Driver Reset” button, if it all goes terribly wrong.

 

 

• SOFTWARE – (Colour Control)

The Colour Control tab is where all the LED configuration work takes place. Here the LEDs in each of the four corners of the mouse can be set to a colour and the result is that the LED strip is gradiated from one colour to the other. Along with the colours, the lighting flow and effects can be set. I found that breathing was my personal favourite, with the flow effect turned off.
You will also notice that the colours chosen are displayed against the Profile you have currently selected, and this can be used to see which Profile you are on, set certain colours for each Profile and a quick glance at the mouse will indicate which profile you are in.

 

 

• SOFTWARE – (R.A.D.)

This R.A.D. tab is a new addition that wasn’t there when I last owned a Kone, and displays statistical information about button actuation, and trophy info. The trophies I assume are gained for using the mouse in a certain way, but I didn’t unlock any in my time with the mouse.

 

 

• SOFTWARE – (Update/Support)

The last tab is the Update/Support tab, here you can download the latest drivers and firmware, along with accessing online support.
 

 

Overall the ROCCAT Kone XTD Software was very comprehensive if a little daunting when first opened, I remember this being the case when I last owned a Kone. There is lots here to configure, but if you just wanted to get on with some gaming you could very easily just leave everything at it’s default setting.

 

Final Thoughts

 

I have always had a soft spot for the ROCCAT Kone and this XTD version has re-affirmed my love for this mouse. I found the mouse to be precise and accurate in use, with those lovely tactile buttons adding to the experience. I never felt out of control when gaming whatever the use (fast pasted run and gun, or slow and steady sniping).

The feel of the mouse in the hand is very comfortable, with extended periods of gaming offering no issues with comfort. All the main buttons were easy to reach (apart from that button in front of the mouse wheel) and I never felt the mouse was at risk of shifting in my hand even in the most intense fire-fights.

The software options were all there, albeit in a slightly complicated interface, I don’t mean in use, but in the number of things that could be changed. The X/Y sensitivity option on it’s own potentially could cause issues as it is directly linked to and effects the DPI settings that are stored on another tab. There is a part of me that thinks that some of these settings needn’t be there, or at least should only become available when an “advanced” check box is ticked.

Price wise, for what you are getting (a very accurate mouse with some cool LED effects), I think the ROCCAT Kone XTD is competitively priced and although a fairly expensive mouse compared to some of the others that have passed through pcG’s hands, offers a lot of configuration and coolness for the money.

All in all I have been very pleased with the ROCCAT Kone XTD’s performance during review. If it were wireless then it might have even replaced my Gigabyte Aivia Uranium!

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Ebuyer for providing this sample for review