When I first started using the Roccat Kone Pure SE, it took me a while to get used to it because I normally use a palm grip for mice. The Kone, however, seems to be designed with a claw grip in mind. It doesn’t seem to have quite enough surface area to rest my entire hand on without having my pinky finger drag on my desk, so palm-users beware, you may want to try it in-person before buying. That being said, once I transitioned to using it with a claw grip, the Kone became much more comfortable to use. It has a very nice groove for the thumb that I feel gave me better control over the mouse, control that I might normally lack when using other palm-grip mice. The two thumb buttons are placed above this groove in such a way that helped prevent me from accidentally pressing them. The Kone also feels light and easy to move, so it should be comfortable for long gaming sessions and easily allow for precision relocation of the mouse.
The Kone also comes with some of the best software I’ve seen so far for gaming peripherals. Most gaming software is either unnecessary or unintuitive in my opinion, but the Roccat Swarm software made changing color and DPI presets easier than I would have expected (though I’m not sure why it wants to connect to the internet, good catch Windows Firewall). I would prefer to have more than one lighting area on the mouse, as the only area that lights up is the Roccat logo. While it does look sleek and professional, it is perhaps a bit understated in my opinion. They could have added lighting to the scroll wheel or DPI buttons perhaps.
As for build quality, it is as sturdy and well-built as one would expect from an established gaming peripheral company like Roccat. The only (minor) issue I could find with it was the exclusion of a braided cable. I know it’s not necessary, but it’s something I definitely like to see, and it gives products a premium feel.
If you are looking for a sleek gaming mouse and aren’t a die-hard palm-gripper, then the Roccat Kone should offer everything you’d need or want in a mouse (except maybe twelve thumb buttons).
Aesthetics 4/5
Functionality 4/5
Build Quality 5/5
Special thanks to Roccat for sending us this product for review.
