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This Ultralight gaming mouse is a refresh of a fan favorite, the KPOE. This one drops a ton of weight, implements a new, highly accurate sensor, and some flashy RGB. What more could you want?
ROCCAT is fairly well known within the peripheral industry these days, but mainly for their wacky mouse designs that come packed with buttons and RGB like they’re going out of fashion – the ROCCAT Kova being a fine example of this ideology. It was a trait that looked set to continue until they released a couple of stripped-down mice that were more geared towards FPS titles.
One of the most popular mice within their arsenal to start this new trend was the impressive KPOE (Kone Pure Owl-Eye). However, we won’t be looking at that today, we’ve already reviewed that in full. Today we’re taking a look at the latest arrival from the ROCCAT camp, the refresh of the KPOE, the ROCCAT Kone Pure Ultra.
This is a mouse that offers a super lightweight design, new RGB, and a brand new sensor for increased accuracy. It’s everything the original Kone pure was, only improved.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at how this mouse performs in gaming, build quality, design, and value for money.
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Pros
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Cons
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Mouse Size & Weight
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Mouse Tech
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ROCCAT has finally dropped the ridiculous box design and has gone for something a little sleeker and more refined for their new lineup of mice. The new box is fairly generic, offering a picture of the mouse of the front and some detail of specs and features on the back. As you would expect, the Kone Pure Ultra comes housed in a thin layer of protective plastic, alongside a quickstart manual. All pretty standard.
ROCCAT have historically given their mice crazy designs that cater more towards MMO players looking for numerous buttons, over high-performance sensors and aesthetics. However, with their new KPU, as we’ll call it, that is no longer the case.
Let’s get straight into the design of this mouse.
As far as size goes, this thing hasn’t really changed from the original KPOE. It has an almost identical design, still offering itself nicely to small-medium sized right-handed users. The hump is pretty much the same, still offering a slight broadness that makes it easy to grip – perfect for fast-paced FPS shooters.
However, when it comes to the weight category, the new KPU really excels dramatically. It has shed 22 grams of weight from the original (that’s a quarter of its entire makeup) in order to fit into an ever-changing market that seems to lean in the favor of light mice. That makes it one of the lightest mice available right now, certainly without putting any holes in the shell – a trend that is becoming increasingly popular (Glorious Odin for example).
It’ll be interesting to see how that weight difference reflects in the gaming performance of this mouse, especially in FPS games. That’s coming up a little later though.
Moving onto the shape and texture, as mentioned above, the Kone Pure Ultra offers up the exact same shape as its predecessor. Really nothing to report in terms of changes. Having said that, the KPOE was one of their most popular mice, so why tamper with an already complete blueprint?
The shape is sleek and accentuated by subtle curves for grip and ergonomics. The hump is prominent but nothing crazy, while the mouse buttons slope gently towards that peculiar-looking front section that has been argued over since its arrival. The left-hand side of the mouse offers a subtle thumb grip in the ways of a groove, whilst the right offers nothing in terms of design features, only a smooth, slightly recessed area that feels good for grip.
ROCCAT has finished the design of this mouse off with a subtle smooth matt like finish that is both grippy and durable. The coating used encases the entire top and sides of the mouse, so gripping this thing whilst in the heat of battle is no problem whatsoever. Overall, very impressed with the shape and texture.
Next up, are the buttons. Now, as this is tailored towards FPS gamers, we won’t moan too much about the buttons. Well, I won’t personally, because I only use four buttons whilst playing FPS games, but some might.
Anyway, the ROCCAT Kone Pure Ultra offers up seven buttons that are all nicely placed to promote their usage while in-game. The two main clickers feel pretty tactile and don’t require a great amount of force to actuate. The scroll wheel is, once again, fairly tactile and offers a nice feel and actuation sound for the most part. It has a nice resistance that can be used for accurately scrolling through weapons in-game, but can’t be altered like some mice out there like the Razer Basilisk V2. The two DPI buttons are probably the least impressive of the bunch, displaying a fairly spongey feel if truth be told. They are quite large, however, meaning if you are going to use them for binds, they’re easy enough to hit. The side buttons are very similar to the DPI switches, only offering up slightly more firmness when in use. On the plus side, they offer a powerful spring back force which means rapid clicking of the side buttons is certainly an option.
Ultimately, the buttons have been left pretty much as they were in the original KPOE. They all still use Omron switches rated for 50 million clicks, and all feel fairly decent – albeit some a little on the spongey side.
As far as build quality is concerned, I can’t really knock this mouse at all. I mean, there is a slight rattle when I shake the mouse quite aggressively, but nothing too crazy. More impressively, however, is how the ROCCAT team managed to design a mouse at this weight without putting holes in the shell.
Now, spoiler alert, there are holes in the design of this mouse, just not on the surface. The ROCCAT team took what many manufacturers are doing these days and turned it on its head. They decided to put the holes on the inside so the aesthetics on the outside weren’t affected. Nice move. To me, that shows real ingenuity from the guys down at ROCCAT, something that installs confidence in me, as a buyer.
The shell feels extremely robust, even when under extreme pressure during testing. There’s little to no flex or bending on the shell. However, as mentioned above, there is a small rattle when shaking quite aggressively.
Moving onto the cable, ROCCAT has equipped this mouse with a 1.9m rubber-coated cable that feels quite robust and flexible. I personally enjoy the look of a rubber-coated cable over the latest braided ones, and definitely believe they offer less abrasion.
So, let’s get onto the good stuff, the stuff you came here to read about – how this thing performs in a gaming scenario. Well, to cut a long story short, the ROCCAT Kone Pure Ultra performed extremely well over a number of different platforms. I was a bit unsure of what to make of this mouse when reviewing the size, weight, and shape, but after I gamed with it, those initial thoughts were soon forgotten. This thing is awesome!
Before we discuss performance though, let’s look at the sensor ROCCAT decided to go with.
At the center of this mouse lies ROCCAT’s Owl-Eye sensor – a variant of the hugely popular 3389 sensor that we have seen in so many high-performance mice over the years. Like other mice that utilize this sensor, the ROCCAT KPU feels pinpoint accurate and extremely responsive. The new sensor offers up to 16,000 DPI, not that you’ll need it, and doesn’t offer any gimmicky features like smoothing or acceleration – as you’d expect. The LOD (Lift off distance) is around 2 CDs, but luckily, you can alter the distance in ROCCAT’s software suite.
So, let’s get into some gaming, how did this thing feel? Well, to put it in perspective, I’ve been using the MX518 Legendary for a long time now, it’s an amazing mouse to say the least. So, when I got tasked to review the ROCCAT Kone Pure Ultra – a mouse that weighed half the weight, I was less than thrilled. However, after using it for a week or two, I soon understood why so many professionals are leaning towards the lighter mice in today’s esports.
I started by playing CS:GO, a fast-paced first-person shooter that requires fast reactions and accuracy. I’ll be honest, at first, it took me a little bit of time to get used to the weight as it was so much lighter than the MX518 I was using before. Luckily, however, the shape fit my hand perfectly from the word go. Once I got used to the weight though, I have to say, I think my in-game performance actually improved when compared to using the MX518. I felt more agile, more accurate, and generally found aiming a little easier. The lightweight design allowed me to game for longer without the feeling of fatigue or wrist strain – I’m talking a 5-6 hour CS:GO session here by the way. After a good few games, I could feel my aim becoming a little sluggish when using the MX518, AWP flick shots weren’t as snappy, AK sprays seemed a little wilder. However, that wasn’t the case when using the ROCCAT Kone Pure Ultra.
I played a couple more FPS titles after CS:GO, all of which resulted in the same outcome. I tried my luck at some MMO titles shortly after that, but let’s be honest, you could use a laser mouse and get away with playing MMO titles – no disrespect lads!
Sensor aside, the shell of this mouse felt VERY grippy whilst using it. The new coating technology ROCCAT has used in this mouse clearly works wonders, even when a little perspiration has occurred. The skates on the bottom are fairly large, but I feel they added a little extra something to the feel of the mouse. Especially when spraying – where minute adjustments are required.
So, overall, I was hugely impressed with this mouse. With its no-frills design, the Kone Pure Ultra does the simple things extremely well. Its shape offers great grip, whilst the sensor brings an accuracy that is bang up to date with modern sensors. A great FPS gaming mouse.
To quickly touch on the software, ROCCAT offers up its SWARM peripheral suite to users wanting to adjust the settings of their mouse. Now, having said that, this mouse can be plugged in right-out-the-box and will work perfectly, thanks to DPI buttons underneath the scroll wheel. However, if you want to remap some buttons or alter the polling rate, you will need to use the software.
The RGB can be changed as well, however, because the Kone Pure Ultra only has one RGB lightning zone, the options are fairly limited to what you can actually do. Overall, the software is pretty basic but gives users everything you’d need to customize the mouse to your likings.
So, onto the verdict. This is where we break the mouse down based on price and performance, and ultimately, say whether or not we feel it’s worth your money.
For me, this is a pretty easy one to answer, this mouse is absolutely fantastic. I’ve had the pleasure of using many mice that are categorized as “lightweight” over the years. However, they always fall short in one way or another. It seems like a difficult task designing a mouse that looks great and performs well. ROCCAT seems to have found a very nice middle ground between the two though.
As far as value goes, I have to say, this mouse displays pretty good value for money if truth be told. It currently retails just under $60, and when you compare that to other alternatives, I really feel this offer something the other don’t.
So, if you’re looking for a high-performance gaming mouse that is ideal for FPS shooters – whilst being grippy and lightweight, then look no further. The ROCCAT Kone Pure Ultra ticks all the right boxes!
