Two particularly light new additions complement Roccat's Kone series. Both the Kone Pro and the Kone Pro Air convince in the test, but they do without the two usual buttons. The wired mouse is still recommended, but the wireless mouse is simply too expensive – and has another problem.
Table of contents
- 1 Two times very easy, twice very good, once recommended
- Proven right-handed shape in aerodynamic
- Optomechanical primary and fewer auxiliary keys
- 2 Sensors, software and processing
- Precise sensors thanks to PixArts PAW-3370
- Latency and battery life of the Kone Pro Air
- Roccat Swarm offers a lot of leeway
- Processing without abnormalities
- 3 Conclusion
Even in mid-2021, most mouse manufacturers are still busy making their entire mouse portfolio lighter, piece by piece. Initially, Roccat had left the popular Kone series quite untouched by the trend towards lower weights and better sliding properties; Only the small Kone Pure Ultra (test) was released at the end of 2019. Instead, with Kain 100, Kain 120 (test) as well as Kain 200 (test) and Burst Core as well as Burst Pro (test), two new – all in all quite successful – series came onto the market. The manufacturer now wants to use the experience gained in this way to also offer updated, i.e. lighter and more slippery Kone models in the usual size in mid-2021.
However, the Kone Pro and Kone Pro Air are not to be understood as replacements, but as an extension: The already mentioned Kone Pure Ultra will continue to be offered, as will the much heavier Kone AIMO Remastered. This makes sense insofar as both new cones identify themselves as light versions in two respects: Not only was weight saved, but also the amount of equipment. On the other hand, the Kone Pro Air has a unique selling point compared to all previous Kone mice: for the first time there is a wireless version. In the test, both newcomers have to prove that they can offer added value compared to the older Kone mice (and also the competition) – despite some fewer buttons.
Roccat Kone Pro Cooler Master MM720 (Matte Black) Cooler Master MM730Cooler Master MM731Corsair Saber ProCorsair Saber RGB ProGlorious PC Gaming Race Model D ✔Glorious PC Gaming Race Model D-Logitech G403 HeroLogitech G703Logitech G703 LightspeedLogitech G703 LightspeedLogitech V2 DeathAdultiderMicros.RazorAdazRMacros. DeathAdder V2 ProRazer Mamba EliteRazer Mamba WirelessRazer Naga Left Handed EditionRazer Naga ProRazer Naga XRazer Pro ClickRoccat Burst CoreRoccat Burst ProRoccat Kain 100 AimoRoccat Kain 120 AimoRoccat Kain 200 AimoRoccat Kone Pro RGB M4Roccater Ultra CoolXtrone Pro Air✔Roccat Air MM720 (Matte Black) Cooler Master MM730Cooler Master MM731Corsair Saber ProCorsair Saber RGB ProGlorious PC Gaming Race Model D ✔Glorious PC Gaming Race Model D-Logitech G403 HeroLogitech G703Logitech G703 LightspeedLogitech MX518er LegendaryMicrosoft Pro IntelliMouse 67Razountain Makers Death Adder V2 MiniRazer DeathAdder V2 ProRazer Mamba EliteRazer Mamba WirelessRazer Naga Left Handed EditionRazer Naga ProRazer Naga XRazer Pro ClickRoccat Burst CoreRoccat Burst ProRoccat Kain 100 AimoRoccat Kain 120 AimoRoccat Kain 200 AiousRoccat Kone Kain 200 AiousRoccat KoneX Pro ✔Rocfy Race Model D Cooler Master MM720 (Matte Black) Cooler Master MM730Cooler Master MM731Corsair Saber ProCorsair Saber RGB ProGlorious PC Gaming Race Model D ✔Glorious PC Gaming Race Model D-Logitech G403 HeroLogitech G703Logitech G703 LightspeedLogitech V2 DeathAdder V2 ProRazer Mamba EliteRazer Mamba WirelessRazer Naga Left Handed EditionRazer Naga ProRazer Naga XRazer Pro ClickRoccat Burst CoreRoccat Burst ProRoccat Kain 100 AimoRoccat Kain 120 AimoRoccat Kain 200 AimoRoccat Kone Pro ✔Roccat ig Sensor: PixArt PAW-3370
Optical
Lift-Off-Distance: 1.0 – 2.0 mm PixArt PMW-3360
Optical
Lift-Off-Distance: 1.5 – 3 , 0 mm resolution: 100 – 19,000 cpi
5 levels 400 – 12,000 cpi
6 levels Speed: 10.2 m/s 6.3 m/s Acceleration: 490 m/s² USB query rate: 1,000 Hz Primary button : Roccat Titan Optical, 100 mio. Clicks Omron D2FC, 20 mio. Clicks Number of Keys: 6
Top side: 3 Bottom side: 1
Left side: 2 6
Top side: 4
Left side: 2 special keys: Mouse wheel
Profile switch Mouse wheel
cpi switch Software: 5 profiles
fully programmable , Secondary occupancy
Macro shot
Internal memory: 5 profiles 10 profiles
fully programmable
Macro shot
Internal memory: 1 profile Lighting: Color: RGB, 2 addressable zones
Modes: Breathing, waves , Color loop
reactive color: RGB, 1 addressable zone
Modes: breathing, waves, color loop and cpi indicator housing: 126 × 72 × 40 mm
hard plastic, metal, coating
glossy elements 128 × 63 × 42 mm
hard plastic variant 128 × 63 × 42 mm
Hard plastic and glossy elements Weight: 63 grams (without cable) 73 grams (without cable) 68 grams (without cable) Variant 69 grams (without cable) Connection: USB-A cable, 1.80 m, wrapped USB-A to USB-C cable, 1.80 m, wrapped
Radio: 2.4 GHz
Bluetooth
proprietary battery, 100 hours running time
Charging: Cable USB-A cable, 2.00 m, wrapped Price: from € 74 from € 121 from € 60/from € 60/from € 59/from € 60
Both Kone Pro and Kone Pro Air are available in black and white. The recommended retail prices are around 80 and 130 euros, respectively, while the two mice are available on the open market from around 60 and 120 euros, respectively. The most obvious competitor of the wired Kone Pro is therefore Glorious & apos; Model D (test), while the sparkling Kone Pro Air has no direct opponent due to its low weight: Razer's DeathAdder V2 Pro (test) as the best-equipped wireless palm grip mouse weighs significantly more at around 82 g, while Cooler Masters potentially The equivalent MM731 is not yet available and the Model D Wireless has not even been specifically announced.
Proven right-handed shape in aerodynamic
The basic shape of a Roccat Kone has been the same for years and is quite popular: Basically, it is a shallow line for right-handers who like to enclose their mouse with their entire hand. This means that Kone Pro and Kone Pro Air also fall into a category with, for example, Glorious & apos; Model D, Razer's Mamba or – very classic – Zowie's EC series. The also popular form of the DeathAdder mentioned at the beginning is again significantly more expansive and more aggressive in terms of the lines, so that the mouse lies very well in the hand of some users, but the chassis potentially gets in the way of some other users. Roccat's Kone series has traditionally tried to avoid such traps – and this also works well with the two new mice.
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Roccat Kone Pro (Air)
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Roccat Kone Pro (Air) 
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Roccat Kone Pro (Air) In fact, it is even better than the previous Kone variants, i.e. the Kone Pure Ultra and the Kone AIMO Remastered: the former is usually only easy to grasp for small hands due to its smaller size with identically incisive lines in the palm grip, while the more playful shape of the larger ones AIMO leaves an uneven surface, which sometimes requires particularly large hands. Kone Pro and Kone Pro Air are exactly in between and are ideal for medium-sized hands, but can also be comfortably operated with smaller or larger hands. Only with very large hands do the fingertips protrude beyond the mouse if they are nestled in the palm of the hand – then the Kone AIMO or a DeathAdder, for example, are probably the better choice.
Ideal for the palm grip, good for the claw grip
The surface of the new Kone rodents is almost aerodynamic: Roccat completely dispenses with rubberized areas, a playful gaming design and buttons on the top, so that only a flat, matt – but still smooth – plastic surface remains. Only on the two flanks are horizontal grooves running through the material, which provide additional grip when the mouse is lifted. This is actually not necessary, as the Kone Pro and Kone Pro Air with the palm grip are very secure in the hand anyway.
Roccat also advertises the two mice for the claw and fingertip grip. For the former, where only the fingertips and the one under the heel of the hand or wrist are in contact with the mouse, the cones are actually surprisingly well suited, although dedicated claw-grip models remain raised. For the fingertip grip, in which the input device is only touched with the fingertips, the Kone Pro and Kone Pro Air are only of secondary importance: The grip is possible without any problems, but by no means optimal. Unsurprisingly, the latest Kone rodents are primarily palm-grip mice.
Twice excellent sliding properties
Both Kone Pro and Kone Pro Air have very good sliding properties. Roccat himself specifies the mice with weights of 66 and 75 g, respectively, whereby the two ComputerBase samples actually only weigh around 63 and 73 g, respectively. This means that the two input devices are not as outstandingly light as, for example, Cooler Master's recently introduced MM730 and MM731 with 48 and 59 g, but – especially for ergonomic gaming mice – they are still lighter than most of the competition. In any case, the mass of a palm-grip mouse plays a less important role than that of fingertip-grip and claw-grip models.
So all that remains is to look at the sliding feet and cables. Unsurprisingly, Roccat once again installed sliding elements made of pure – and consequently whitish-grayish – PTFE. Both cones each have a larger sliding surface in the front and rear area and also a ring around the sensor. The edges of the feet are rounded off in an exemplary manner, so that the rodents glide perfectly even after unpacking. At this point, the Kone Pro distinguishes itself for the first time from the Kain 100 and Burst Core, which – like the Kone Pure Ultra – have black, coated PTFE, and is next to the Kain 120 and Burst Pro. Another positive aspect is that Roccat includes a complete second set of sliding elements with every mouse, so that the factory-mounted feet can be exchanged yourself if necessary.
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Roccat Kone Pro (Air)
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Roccat Kone Pro (Air) 
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Roccat Kone Pro (Air) Both new Kone mice have a flexible nylon-wrapped cable, with the Kone Pro firmly attached to the input device, while the Kone Pro Air cable has a USB-C port on the mouse. Both models are connected to PCs via USB-A. The sliding properties do not affect the otherwise identical cables, or at most marginally, provided there is enough leeway. However, it is annoying that the Kone Pro Air's USB-C socket is difficult to access, so that third-party cables with thick plugs may not be compatible.
Discreet RGB lighting on the primary keys
The new cones, which are otherwise puristically designed, also have the RGB lighting, which is more or less mandatory for gaming mice, but in this case unusually placed. Both the Kone Pro and the Kone Pro Air have RGB light-emitting diodes next to the primary switches, ie visually “under” the left and right mouse buttons. If the LEDs are deactivated, the key covers appear inconspicuously black, but if they are activated, they turn out to be transparent – due to the low material thickness – and reveal the hexagon skeleton underneath, which gives the mouse shell stability. Although the colors are falsified by the dark cover and ultimately appear dull – especially in a light environment – the placement is nevertheless a successful change from the familiar monotony.
The two mice do not have LEDs to indicate the currently selected sensor resolution or the active software profile.
Optomechanical primary and fewer additional keys
A significant difference to many other mice can be found in the primary buttons. So far, Roccat has mostly installed the Omron D2FC, which is common in the price segment and which has a lifespan of 20 to 50 million clicks on paper. Often, however, the switches do not last as long as corrosion and soiling of the metal contacts at some point no longer allow a clean signal to emerge before the debounce time, which is aggressively set to a few milliseconds in gaming mice, has been overcome. As a result, the mouse can potentially register a single click as a double click – a problem that is unfortunately still very common, but some manufacturers have become aware of this in recent years and encounter it in different ways.
An approach that is becoming more and more common is the use of optomechanical buttons: If a light barrier is closed instead of traditional metal contacts, the problem area described no longer exists. Roccat offered such a solution for the first time as a Titan Optical Switch in, for example, the Vulcan 120 AIMO (test), before it also found its way into mice at the beginning of the year with Burst Core and Burst Pro. Roccat joins a number of manufacturers who produce gaming mice with optomechanical switches, including primarily Razer – all current DeathAdder models have optical signaling – but also, for example, Cooler Master.
Good in the first iteration, better in the second
But while Razer's implementation of opto-mechanical primary buttons has matured for over two years and the current implementation is convincing across the board, the left and right mouse buttons of Burst Core and Burst Pro left a mixed impression. On the one hand, Roccat has succeeded – as before with the Kain models – in keeping the travel of the switches to a minimum, so that the pre-travel in particular is very small. On the other hand, the manufacturer's first opto-mechanical mouse buttons did not manage to reproduce the tactility of mechanical switches so well: Although the buttons trigger quite directly, they left a dull impression – especially in direct comparison to Razer's opto-mechanical or classic switches.
In Kone Pro and Kone Pro Air, Roccat is now building on the characteristics described, but also has the problem under control much better. The primary switches still don't feel as tactile as they do with a classic mechanical solution or Razer's DeathAdder V2 (Pro). The difference can only be seen in a direct comparison, and even then only qualitatively to a limited extent: The primary buttons of the new Kone mice click a little differently, but not necessarily worse. The acoustic echo that was sometimes associated with the clicking of the burst buttons hardly occurs with the Kone patterns.
Another positive aspect is the filigree aluminum mouse wheel. On the one hand it is clearly and precisely rasterized, but on the other hand it remains relatively quiet even when turning quickly. A comparison to Endgame Gears XM1 (test) or again to Roccat's Kain and Burst models, whose mouse wheels are similarly easy to feel and operate, is a good idea. The somewhat rough metal surface is unusual at first – especially if the fingernail accidentally scratches it – but in the end it is quite pleasant and extremely handy.
The thing with the buttons on the back
The further equipment with additional buttons – the usual pair of thumb buttons is attached to the left and a button for sequential profile change is located on the underside – does not allow any qualitative criticism either. However, it is extremely unusual for a Kone mouse not to have any additional buttons on the back. Even the smaller Kone Pure Ultra has two such buttons, as do the older versions. Roccat told ComputerBase that the switches were missing primarily for reasons of weight.
With the Kone Pro Air, we wanted to develop a wireless mouse that is particularly light – and the placement of the DPI button under the mouse actually saves weight. In addition, the mouse is designed for the competitive area and if you continuously play Counter-Strike, Fortnite or Apex, you don't actually need frequent DPI changes. And we're actually not the only ones who do it that way.
Roccat
And these statements are all true, but ignore the fact that the buttons of a fully programmable mouse are by no means tied to just one action. The possibility to mute the microphone by pressing a button on the back of the mouse, to select the next track in the playlist or to throw a grenade in the shooter is lost if the thumb buttons are not reassigned.
This is undoubtedly not serious and is found more often with mouse lightweights – the same applies, for example, to Logitech's G Pro X Superlight (test) or the already mentioned Cooler Master MM731. However, it remains at least questionable with a palm grip mouse. The Model D offers an additional button on the top, while the DeathAdder V2 has two in number. Here it ultimately depends on the preferences of the user, whether lower dimensions or higher functionality are preferred.
On the next page: sensors, software and processing