ROCCAT KONE Pure Ultra Gaming Mouse - White

So I’ll start by saying that I collect mice, I’ve always loved trying different shapes and modding them. Right now, I have about 25 different mice that I’ve collected over the last year or 2, so I have a good bit of ergo shapes, and ambidextrous shapes. Before I tried the KPU, the Zowie EC2 was my favorite ergo shape, but I’ve always preferred ambi mice and have mained the Zowie ZA13-B for awhile. Out of the box, I immediately fell in love with the shape. That thumb groove is just perfection. But now to the part that bothered me, and a lot of others. The stock rubber cable, and the stock mouse feet. In my opinion, the rubber cable is pretty much unusable without a bungee, but it may be because I’ve been spoiled by custom paracords. If you’re too afraid to take the mouse apart and void the warranty to paracord it, a bungee is pretty much needed in my opinion. The stock feet are very slow, which some people may prefer. They’re black Teflon feet, not PTFE like we see from other companies these days. I always buy aftermarket feet for my mice, Corepads in particular, $8.99 for 2 sets and are very easy to replace. When the mouse has a custom paracord AND aftermarket skates, it is a god tier mouse for me personally. The shape seems to be a hate it or love it type of shape. Scroll wheel is the best I’ve ever tried which says a lot. The main clicks feel pretty good, side buttons feel nice too. Literally virtually no pre travel on my copy, very minimal post travel. Has 2 dpi buttons, 1 up and 1 for down. The Roccat swarm software is abit clunky but easy enough to navigate. The rgb is pretty cool if you care about that for whatever reason on a mouse. I usually keep 3-4 mice out on my desk at a time to play around with, but the KPU will never be put away and may replace my ZA13-B as my overall main with how nice it fits my hand and how well I perform with it. I strongly urge everyone to try it, especially with it on sale right now for $40.

Ok, I will start off by saying this mouse is light, feels very comfortable in the hand, and the sensor is phenomenal. Also, I personally don't have any issues with the cord, as some others have stated but that's just my opinion. The scroll wheel is also awesome, and the two side buttons aren't too much of a hassle to press, at least for me they aren't. However, one big thing (in my eyes anyways), is that the DPI buttons right by the scroll wheel are either very touchy, or the software (Swarm) is buggy and keeps changing my DPI to 1600, when I play on 800. So this just hampers with muscle memory for my aim. Yes, it is usually is very obvious when it happens, but it still is a hassle to deal with on a consistent basis. Edit (June 14, 2020): This mouse has now developed a double click issue. Far be it from me to be a critic here, but I feel like I should get more than 5 months out of a mouse I paid $69.99 for. I had such high hopes for this mouse, as it is fairly decent outside of the double clicking and the dpi changing. Honestly, I could just take the mouse apart to remedy the double click issue, but this shouldn't be an issue, and it is a common one at that with mice these days. I've had SEVERAL mice develop this issue.

My history with Roccat is long and sordid. I love the design of their products but they usually tend to have one or more fatal flaws that rear their heads over time. I owned the original Roccat Kone back in 2019 (bought it to play Apex Legends) and loved it except for when the mouse wheel started registering my up-scrolls as down-scrolls. Roccat design has always been A+ but their quality control has been more like a C+. The Kone Pure Ultra is basically the Kone with no flaws. It only has one lighting zone, so it's a little more understated, and it's ever so slightly smaller while still preserving the ergonomic design with the thumb groove on the left. For me, this is the most comfortable mouse I've ever owned. I have medium to large hands. This is probably the most direct successor to the legendary MX518 you can find in terms of shape and feel. I used a G502 for years and liked it but found that its narrow shape left my hands cramping and would blister my pinky finger over time. That design is better suited for gamers with smaller frames and hands. Guys like Shroud or XQC. The Kone Pro Ultra has the PERFECT amount of width for someone who has medium to large hands and uses a fingertip grip. Accuracy at 1000hz polling rate is fantastic, and all the buttons have a satisfying feel. The side mouse buttons are pristinely positioned and unlike other mice, they are curved and flat, meaning you don't have to deal with a sharp edge digging into your thumb all the time. Now onto the BEST part of this mouse for me, aside from its shape and size - the scroll wheel. I've gone through SO many mice trying to find the perfect scroll wheel, and they have ALL either become sludgy over time to where the notches are indiscernible, OR they begin malfunctioning. In my FPS games, I bind middle mouse to toggle crouch and I use scroll up and scroll down for weapon 1 and weapon 2, so I am using the scroll wheel A LOT. I also do IT for my job and I work from home, so the scroll wheel sees lots of use here. I am happy to report that I've owned this mouse since February 2023 and it still functions like day 1. No malfunctions, the middle mouse click still feels great, and the notches when scrolling up or down can still clearly be felt. Hallelujah. I will note that I replaced the stock feet on this mouse with some PTFE Corepad Skatez. The default feet were fine but did start to get a little worn down after about 4 months. I've had zero issues since replacing the feet, which have lasted me 6 months with no wear. I like that there are only two mouse feet and that they are BIG. There are less things that can go wrong and overall more contact area with the mouse pad. I'm using a Skypad 3.0 glass mousepad for reference. One nitpicky criticism of this mouse is that the cable is standard rubber. A braided or paracord cable would be great if this mouse is redesigned in the future. But that doesn't take away from the fact that this mouse has the perfect size for medium to large handed fingertip grippers, amazing ergonomics, and the best scroll wheel on the market. An easy recommendation if you meet the above criteria and want to click on some heads on FPS games.

*Long review, summary at last paragraph* So I am a bit of an aim fanatic. I own 13 mice at the time of review, and have tried several others out. I play a lot of CSGO, Valorant, COD, Battlefield, and just whatever FPS game is popping, along with a good bit of KovaaKs FPS Aim Trainer (around 450hrs as of right now). Given the games I play, I think that aim potential is the most important part of a mouse, that means I will be focusing on the shape, size and weight, then looking at the other features. I have short hands, but they are pretty normal in width. 17cm long, 9.5cm wide, and I "relaxed" claw grip. I generally stick to smaller ambi mice (like the G203 or Hati S for example). This is still a "small" mouse, but it's more small-medium and it's an ergo, meaning that it feels a tad bit bigger in the hand than it would appear. According to gearsearch.gg, it's measurements are 120x70x38.5mm, so yeah, small-medium. If you want to get an idea of how it compares to your current mouse, that's a good website to check btw. This mouse fits my hand pretty well but I do wish it were a bit smaller. Maybe 118x65x38mm? It's more the width that gets me than anything, I will get into that later on though. Actually, the shape of the mouse is pretty neat. Again, it's ergo but it's kind of an ergo made for claw grip, for me it's comfortable in the hand. I think this will work best for medium hands, specifically claw grip. With small hands you can palm it, and I know of a guy who has insane aim (I mean as good or better than Shroud) who fingertip grips this mouse and has larger hands. It's actually a very underrated fingertip mouse. I'm not the greatest with fingertip, but when I used it I could see why the guy likes it. It weighs in at about 65g (according to other sources). I own the Ultralight 2, and several other lightweight mice, and I generally prefer mice that are 65-75g, it feels like the sweet spot because it's light enough you can still move around quickly and microadjust smoothly, but heavy enough that you are stable and not shaking around like you have Parkinsons. I don't think the mouse weight should be a reason you buy a mouse. Size and shape are a lot more important for aim imo. A good way for me to tell if a mouse is good for me is how I score on KovaaKs, and with this mouse I perform well. Tracking based scenarios I score better than I do with most mice, and "target switching" scenarios (flicking quickly to larger targets, COD type stuff) I also score better than most mice. In click timing scenarios (CSGO headshot type stuff, precision) I score well but my movements are often wider than other mice, meaning that the precision stuff I sometimes whiff a bit (more on that later), however I noticed when I'm feeling good or having a good run, I go nuts. This mouse is very stable, the shape sort of just locks you in and you'll find that shakiness is a lot easier to avoid, it's the best part of the mouse. It's also easy to move in straight lines, which is pretty important. In actual games I have a LOT of difficulty microadjusting. It's the "wider movements" problem I had in KovaaKs, but hyperbolized. When I'm not super focused in, this thing gets the better of me when going for headshots. This means in Valorant I am missing a good bit of headshots that I would normally hit on my favorite mice. It's actually really frustrating. When I see a guy and I go to adjust a bit to get on his head, I just end up going too far and then get caught in this back and fourth loop, then boom I'm dead, but when I am accurate on my first shot this thing is a dream and makes me feel like a god. I chalk this up to the width and the fact that it's an ergo, I have heard others with similar complaints as well. I can say that in less precision based games like COD for example, this thing is great. I have spent a good bit of time with this mouse and I think it's just the way it is for me, I've owned this thing for several months and used it off and on, just picked it back up for a couple days for the sake of this review, and there's definitely a bit of a "learning curve" where you have to get comfortable aiming with it. Again, wish it was a tad bit shorter and a good bit thinner, but with the right hand size this won't be as big of a problem as it was for me. Now onto the features/build quality. So the coating on this mouse is neat. It's like a mix between glossy and matte. I like it. It "sticks" to your hand enough that you don't lose grip of it, but it doesn't get super sweaty. It's different, but in a good way. This mouse has a rubber cable, which sucks, but it's the best rubber cable I've used at least. I don't think you NEED to paracord it so long as you have a bungee or have taped it to your monitor or something, but if you end up liking the mouse and plan on using it for a long time it would be worth it. Not too difficult to do either, but the clicks DO get affected by the screws underneath, so don't overtighten! The feet aren't PTFE, which sucks, but they aren't terrible for stock feet. They're pretty slow. Also there is plastic over them, so remember to take that off. Anyway, I think it's definitely worth replacing them. Go buy some Tiger Arcs or another popular replacement for like $10, it's worth it. The switches are 50m Omrons and the clicks feel pretty good. They are pretty firm and have little travel distance, a tad bit mushy. Not my favorite but I'm not necessarily a stickler about clicks, they aren't bad. (Again, clicks are affect by the screws underneath, be warned). The side buttons are in a bit of an odd spot, the way the mouse curves in on the left side makes it so you sort of have to reach over the curve to hit them. I didn't find them to be a problem, but I have heard others say they did, I even use my side buttons for push to talk (both of em), and it was fine, but it's something to be aware of. The sensor is a 3389, but it's Roccats in house variant of it called the "Owl Eye". It felt a tad slow, so I checked and the DPI is off compared to a normal 3389. Maybe by like 50dpi. It tracks fine so this isn't a big deal, just be aware that your sensitivity might feel a bit lower in game compared to other mice, all you gotta do is raise the DPI (by 50) or in game sensitivity, so not a big deal. Scroll wheel has fairly long steps, and they are pretty defined, a bit of a rubberized coating to it as well. More defined than say the Viper Mini, but not as slow and defined as a Zowie. Good for both in game and desktop use. It has SUPER bright RGB. I mean it's bright af. When I plugged the mouse in for the first time it blinded me like some LED highbeams hittin you when you're driving outside of town. No exaggeration. You can change it in the software of course. Different color effects too, I have mine cycling slowly through all the colors. Software has a lot of stuff in it. Macros/rebinds (it has two DPI buttons on top you can rebind, which is nice!), LOD adjustment, scroll speed, you can also so it to "Zero Debounce" which makes the clicks feel super responsive, but it double clicked/slam clicked a lot when I had it on. Sucks because I really liked it. Mouse doesn't do it with the setting off, so nothing to worry about. So I guess the overall summary here is that it's a good mouse for claw grip for medium hands, small hands will find it comfortable but might find their aim lacking. It has a unique shape that aids in comfort and stability. It's good for aim generally speaking but I personally had issues with precision at times, but again, probably hand size. It has satisfactory build quality/features, although the cable/feet could be better, but those can be replaced. If you want to try something new it's definitely worth it, but there are safer choices out there. If you like it you'll love it, if you don't like it you'll probably hate it. Give it a shot I say.

If you buy the KPU brand new, it's priced just a little bit on the high side for a wired mouse, so the harshness with which I judge this mouse will be based on that. Keep in mind there are some top-tier wired mice which cost less. That being said, here are both the good and bad attributes: ***GOOD*** -Weight is very light despite the shell not having holes in it. -Scroll wheel feels premium. Excellent tension on the scroll and fairly light on the press. The width of it also feels great. -Very comfortable for aggressive claw grip. The grooves aren't as noticeable, and the shape provides more than enough palm support in the back. Bulkier in the rear than a lot of other mice, but this is still smaller than many ergo mice overall. -Good sensor. That hardly needs mentioning anymore. -Most of the buttons feel good. On the lighter side in terms of actuation force. Travel distance for the most part is well within what I'd consider acceptable. -Separated side buttons. -Appearance is pretty cool if you care about that. -The below average size (for ergo mice) allows it to be fairly nimble. ***BAD*** -Right click has slightly more post travel and feels mushier than the left click as a result. Few mice have achieved good click feel with relatively high travel, and this is not one. Rocket Jump Ninja's old review of this mouse raised a similar concern. Definitely not a deal-breaker, however. Still usable. Would have hurt the mouse more to have this issue on the left click. -Stiff rubber cable. Bungee is a necessity. Paracording is also an option, but cheaper mice than this already have a paracord. -Sub-par skates. Not horrible, but slow. Easily replaceable, but again, plenty of cheaper mice are better in this regard. A fast mouse pad will combat the sluggish skates quite nicely though. At least the size of them is nothing to complain about. They could certainly be worse than what they are. - Shape can be uncomfortable for more relaxed grip styles because you'll feel the aggressive curve on the right side dig into your pinky. You'll really feel it with palm and relaxed fingertip. Maybe not as much with relaxed claw, but that sharp bump is definitely not comfortable, albeit far from painful. The thumb groove is very aggressive, too, but not quite as bothersome in my experience. -The area between the side buttons is raised to fill the gap between them. To some degree, this defeats the purpose of separating them. Leaving that gap empty results in the separation being more pronounced, which helps you avoid hitting the wrong side button by accident. The separation still feels better than side buttons on some other mice which offer none at all (Model O series, Viper series, Pulsefire Haste, etc). This does help you tell them apart, but this feature is hindered by what is simply unnecessary plastic. It also doesn't feel pleasant to have the protruding plastic gap filler touch your thumb while a button is being pressed. The gap filler actually protrudes FARTHER from the body than the side buttons when they are fully depressed. It's not uncomfortable, but it makes pressing the side buttons less satisfying. Not a huge deal. I just had a lot to say about it because WHY would someone do this? I can't understand it. ***Summary*** It's a good mouse with outdated features priced like a higher-end wired mouse with 2021 features. Very comfortable for aggressive claw, but I can't recommend it for anything else. The Zowie EC shape is a more versatile ergo, but the KPU has better palm support. I'd recommend the Skoll Mini (small EC shape) over this as a small ergo. Roccat's own Burst Pro is better if you just want something below large in size with good palm support. The XM1 is also highly regarded as a great claw mouse. I honestly like the KPU, but it has SO MUCH competition at both similar and lower price points that I feel I have no choice but to give it a critical review.

I've used this mouse for several months with zero problems. It's still in great shape and does everything I need it to.

The Kone Pure shape is polarizing, people seem to either love it or hate it, I'm in the love it group. My previous main mouse was the Roccat Leadr, which is a bit bigger and literally twice the weight. The KPU clicks are nice, not quite as good as the Kain series. Mousewheel is top tier. Build quality is great, much better than my Glorious Model O. The finish is almost a matte finish, it's not grippy like gloss, but it doesn't slip in my hand, it's hard to describe accurately. Cable is a cable, some reviewers have complained that it's not super flexible, I have it in a bungee and never notice it, and I came from a wireless mouse. If you like the shape, this is a fantastic mouse.

I have gone through a lot of mice. Not because they broke but because I have very small hands and I use a hybrid palm grip. Most of the mice which are recommended for claw or hybrid grips are really kind of big. My thumb struggles to reach the side buttons and it becomes pretty bothersome to use very quickly because the ergonomics are wrong for the size of my hand. This mouse is probably my 8th mouse I've tried in the last year and a half. I'm so thrilled with it. I finally found one that's comfortable for me to use. I'm also very happy with the quality of t he build and the software that it comes with. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be the ability to customize the acceleration and deceleration rate, which is a feature I appreciate, but not a deal-breaker for me. That said, some of you might feel otherwise, so if that's a feature that's very important to you, give that one some thought. Overall, I'd give this 4.8/5 stars, docking 0.2 points for some of the missing customization features I enjoyed with the razor and steelseries mice sitting in my drawer now because they were too big for my hand. Can't win 'em all, though.