ROCCAT Kone XTD Gaming Mouse Review

By Greg Schepers

Manufacturer: ROCCAT GmbH
Product Name: ROCCAT Kone XTD Gaming Mouse
Model Number: ROC-11-810
UPC: 4250288118102
Price As Tested: $69.99 (Amazon | Newegg)

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by ROCCAT.

One of the real movers and shakers right now in the world of gaming peripherals is ROCCAT. This organization continues to give us something to talk about on a consistent basis. Just look at the recent history; we have three very new products to check out including the Tyon gaming mouse, the Nyth MMO mouse, and the Skeltr gaming keyboard. In this review, Benchmark Reviews has the opportunity to look at the ROCCAT Kone XTD, which is a souped-up version of the Kone[+]. The ROCCAT Kone XTD is armed with a 8200 DPI Pro Aim R3 laser sensor, an obvious upgrade from the 6000 DPI Pro Aim laser sensor of the Kone[+]. There are some other treats as well onboard the Kone XTD, like the 32-bit Turbo Core V2 72MHz ARM MCU processor and what ROCCAT claims is “the most advanced Tracking & Distance Control Unit around.”

As you can see in the “Features & Specification” section below, the ROCCAT Kone XTD is more than just a pretty face. Well, we have not exactly established its aesthetic appeal in this review yet, but I think the Kone XTD looks good. Anyway, it is packed with plenty of features that, while impressive, are pretty standard when it comes to gaming mice nowadays. For example, it’s hard to find a laser gaming mouse WITHOUT a DPI in the 8200 range. So, you may ask, “why should I consider the ROCCAT Kone XTD?” The answer will boil down to its performance and a couple of tricks that ROCCAT had up its sleeve when developing the Kone XTD. Curious? Read on…

Mouse Features

FULLY-ADJUSTBALE 8200 DPI PRO-AIM (R3) SENSOR
with 41 true DPI setting ranging from 200 to 8200
ROCCAT CLICK MASTER
switch tech powered by Omron© for precision button activation
EASY-SHIFT[+] BUTTON DUPLICATOR
with Easy-Aim + Easy-Wheel functions for max command power
32-BIT TURBO CORE V2 PROCESSOR
for lightning-fast computing speed
TRACKING & DISTANCE CONTROL UNIT
for less pick-up flight & more precise gaming
576KB ON-BOARD MEMORY
for storing a wealth of macros and settings
4-LED LIGHT SYSTEM
for customizable colors + effects
8 MOUSE BUTTONS + SOLID 4D WHEEL
for a full complement of command options
4 EASY-TO-CLIP-IN WEIGHTS (4 X 5G)
for customized weight adjustment
ROCCAT DRIVER + MACRO MANAGER
for advanced customization + presets for games & apps
ROCCAT ACHIEVEMENTS DISPLAY
for monitoring gaming performance

Technical Specifications

Pro-Aim Laser Sensor R3 with up to 8200dpi
1000Hz polling rate
1ms response time
12000fps, 10.8megapixel
30G acceleration
3.8m/s (150ips)
16-bit data channel
1-5mm Lift off distance
Tracking & Distance Control Unit
72MHz Turbo Core V2 32-bit Arm based MCU
576kB onboard memory
Zero angle snapping/prediction
1.8m braided USB cable

ROCCAT Kone XTD Gaming Mouse Closer Look

Sometimes it seems as if gaming peripheral companies are placing too much emphasis on coming out with a product that has an innovative feature. Sometimes they nail it, and sometimes that innovative feature just turns out to be nothing more than a gimmick. It seems as if ROCCAT had a solid plan when developing the Kone XTD; work on improving upon an already successful design. I appreciate that.

On the front of the box, there is an image of the ROCCAT Kone XTD sporting its lighting. I like the subtle lighting of this mouse; some of the mice we see end up looking like rejects from the disco era. Not the Kone XTD. More about lighting later…. The ROCCAT Kone XTD is packaged and protected well, and the box is as informative, if not more so, than the literature provided, which is in the form of a quick installation guide / manual. Along with the mouse and the weights, the guide / manual rounds out the contents of the box.

When I first saw the Kone XTD, my first impression was to think that it was shaped like a left-handed mouse. However, once I put my hand on it, I understood the reasoning behind the way it was shaped. It fit my medium-sized hand like a glove. The ROCCAT Kone XTD is going to be a palm-style grip mouse for most people, unless you have the sort of hands that allow you to easily palm a basketball.

The contouring on the left-side of the mouse is perfect, well, for my thumb at least. Also, I like the branding the ROCCAT decided to drop on this side of the Kone XTD. The thumb buttons seem to be situated perfectly; again, for me. I also like the fact that these buttons are not hard to find. We have all had mice that had these buttons too close together or were otherwise hard to feel and find in the heat of battle. The ROCCAT Kone XTD will not present that problem.

The right-side of the ROCCAT Kone XTD is not particularly exciting to discuss. What I will say is that it comfortably houses my fourth and fifth digits. Some of the designs out there surprise me; I end up wondering where I should be positioning my fingers. Do they go here, there, or just drag along the mat? The Kone XTD eliminates that conversation.

Take a look at the bottom of the ROCCAT Kone XTD. The mouse feet allow the Kone XTD to effortlessly slide across any relatively smooth surface. You will also notice the circular door that, when unlocked, reveals the chamber that houses up to four 5g weights, which are included with the mouse and come in a small rectangular plastic “ROCCAT WEIGHTBOX.” You may also be happy to see that the Pro-Aim Laser Sensor R3 with up to 8200dpi is centered.

This view of the bottom reveals the aforementioned weight chamber. When the door was replaced and locked into position, it did not seem secure completely. It will move around slightly, but it does remain firmly in the locked position. The good new is that, when the mouse is placed on the surface and put into action, there is no evidence of any moving, audible or otherwise.

ROCCAT Kone XTD Gaming Mouse Detailed Features

What have we learned so far about the ROCCAT Kone XTD? Well, we know that it looks good, it fits well in the hand, it’s sized to be a palm-gripper for most people, and it is endowed with some great features. The only tick against it so far is the weight door, which, as it turns out, is not an issue when the mouse is gliding along the surface.

Before moving on and talking mainly about the buttons, I must mention a couple of the great features offered by the ROCCAT Kone XTD. One is called Easy-Shift[+]. Basically, this feature allows you to assign a button that serves as a “shift” button, like a shift button on your keyboard, providing the other buttons on the mouse with a secondary function. In essence, this feature doubles the number of functions that your mouse can perform. Another feature that can be part of your arsenal is the ROCCAT Talk feature. If you pair the Kone XTD with a compatible ROCCAT keyboard, you can take advantage of this feature, which basically allows your devices to “communicate” with each other. For example, you may not want the Easy-Shift[+] button on your Kone XTD; maybe you want it on your keyboard. If you choose this setup, you can hit your Easy-Shift[+] button on your ROCCAT keyboard and utilize your secondary button assignments on your Kone XTD. It is a very, very useful feature.

So now, let’s talk about the ROCCAT Kone XTD in a bit more detail.

Simply stated, this is the best scroll-wheel I have ever used. It is the Cadillac of scroll wheels. Well, Mercedes, since it is German-engineered. It is the Wayne Gretzky / Joe Montana / Babe Ruth / Michael Jordan of scroll-wheels. Anyway, its big, its easy to grip, its movement is extremely smooth and precise, and the downward/lateral clicks are perfect. I have no idea how this scroll-wheel could be trumped and I am positive that I will never rave about a scroll-wheel like this again. There is a reason ROCCAT deemed it the Titan Wheel, and yet, that somehow does not quite do it justice. Easy-Shift[+] assignable? Yep. Okay, that’s all I got to say about that.

This little button with the three hashes on it is located above the Titan Wheel. By default, it is assigned as a Windows key. Like the other buttons on the mouse, it can have an Easy-Shift[+] function assigned to it. It’s difficult to consider this button useful, since it is located above the generously-sized Titan Wheel. Unless you have fingers the length of a professional basketball player’s, you are probably going to have trouble realistically actuating that button without accidentally engaging a scroll-wheel function.

Here we have the buttons that are located below the Titan Wheel. By default, these buttons are for increasing and decreasing the DPI. By-the-way, when you do change the DPI, the narrator from the recent ROCCAT video advertisements will audibly inform you of the current DPI setting. He kind of sounds like Vincent Price, in my opinion. Anyway, these buttons can also be customized to do your bidding and can have an Easy-Shift[+] function assigned to it.

The buttons on the left-hand side of the mouse are very well-positioned for me, as I had mentioned earlier. The button that would normally serve as the browser back button is billed as being the Easy-Shift[+] button, but you can assign another button to serve in that capacity, or set up the Easy-Shift[+] button on your ROCCAT keyboard and go with the ROCCAT Talk feature. It’s your choice.

ROCCAT Kone XTD Gaming Mouse GUI

Intuitive is the word I would use to describe what I am looking for in a GUI for a gaming mouse. Making it look aesthetically pleasing is nice, but if it is difficult to navigate and it is hard to find what you are looking for, it really does not matter how nice it looks.

Let me first point out that toward the bottom of the GUI you will notice a section titled, “GAME PROFILES.” This section, which takes up about 25% of the page, appears on each and every page of the GUI. In this section, you have the ability to manipulate the profiles or create new profiles.

In the MAIN CONTROL section, you can perform a number of different changes to your mouse, including changing the sensitivity, vertical scroll speed, and horizontal tilt speed of the Titan Wheel. Also, you can fine-tune your DPI settings and adjust the double-click speed.

The BUTTON ASSIGNMENT page provides you with all kinds of options for setting up the functions of each of your buttons. ROCCAT was even kind enough to provide predefined macro setups for popular games. Also, I would recommend finding the “Assign a Shortcut” option in the drop-down menu and become familiar with it. It can alleviate the burden of recording a macro. Even though it is not difficult to record a macro in this GUI, it is a pain to figure out how to get to the point to where you can record one. The GUI makes you create a macro set first before recording a macro. To save you some headaches, here’s how you do that:

Click on “MACRO MANAGER” located in the center of the page above “GAME PROFILES.”
Below “//MACRO SELECT” in the upper left-hand corner, click on the dropdown.
The second selection from the bottom of the drop-down is the option to [+]Add Macro Set.

ADVANCED CONTROL allows you to fine-tune your Kone XTD. The options on this page include x-y axis sensitivity, tracking control, distance control, sound feedback, windows pointer speed, polling rate, and driver reset. Might I suggest turning off the volume up/down setting under “//SOUND FEEDBACK?” I assigned my Titan Wheel to scroll volume when in Easy-Shift[+] mode, and the dude was driving me nuts by saying “volume up” and “volume down” as I dialed in the right volume level.

The lighting is subtle on the ROCCAT Kone XTD, which is just fine with me. Still, there are plenty of options available that allow you to customize the rail lighting on it. There are plenty of color options, the color flow can be changed, the effect speed adjusted, and the light effect changed. The light effects include fully lit, blinking, heartbeat, breathing, and off.

Do you want to know the mouse statistics? You can find them by clicking on the ROCCAT R.A.D. tab. The statistics include the number of button clicks for each button, the number of scroll “steps,” the number of times Easy-Shift[+] was used, the number of times Easy-Aim was used, and the total distance moved. You also have the opportunity to unlock achievements.

Testing & Results

Testing Methodology

The ROCCAT Kone XTD that was provided to me for testing and producing this review was put to very good use over the past 2 1/2 weeks or so. I would estimate that it has approximately 100 hours under its belt, plenty of which was for Battlefield 4 purposes. I also played some other games in order to test the consistency of the mouse from game to game. The other games included Company of Heroes, Splinter Cell Blacklist, and Wargame. The ROCCAT Kone XTD was also employed for what I like to call everyday, ordinary tasks, which include browsing, editing photos in Photoshop, and so on.

Keep in mind that what you have been and will continue to read is all based upon my experience with the ROCCAT Kone XTD that was provided to me by ROCCAT. Reviews on gaming peripherals are subjective; there is no hard data to share and compare. And, my experiences with the Kone XTD might just be vastly different from that of another reviewer. My goal is to provide you with an unbiased review that is accurate; accurate in the sense that it is a true representation of the product tested by this reviewer.

Test System

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
System Memory: 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1333 G.Skill Ripjaws X Series
Processor: AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3 GHz Six-Core Processor
Audio: ASUS XONAR DG PCI 5.1 Audio Card
Video: HIS Radeon HD 7950 IceQ Boost Clock 3GB GDDR5 PCI-E Graphics Card
PSU: Corsair HX Series HX750 750W GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Monitor: AOC e2752Vh (27″) & Samsung SyncMaster PX2370 (24″)
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate

Test Results

The rigor in the testing phase was, no doubt, performed through hours-straight of gaming. Well, there’s no need to worry when considering the comfort level you will experience when using the ROCCAT Kone XTD for extended periods of time; it is fantastic! Ergonomically, it feels as if it was shaped to fit my hand. And, I’m not sure what the material is the covers the Kone XTD, but it is as soft as a baby’s backside. So, whether you are gaming for hours or browsing for a few minutes, you will appreciate the comfort level the Kone XTD provides to you.

I did use the Easy-Shift[+] function solely on the ROCCAT Kone XTD initially and thought it worked extremely well. I used the default button, which is the browser back button, for that purpose. What a handy feature! Playing Battlefield 4 while using the Easy-Shift[+] function has the potential to greatly improve your in-game efficiency. For example, instead of scrolling from weapon to ammo pack, I set the right-click button to select my ammo pack through Easy-Shift[+]. No more scrolling or hitting the wrong key on the keyboard.

What works even better for me is the ROCCAT Talk feature. I paired the ROCCAT Kone XTD with the ROCCAT Ryos MK Pro, and this has turned out to be a fantastic combination! Instead of assigning the Easy-Shift[+] feature to a button on the mouse, I assigned it to the keyboard. On the Ryos MK Pro, the Easy-Shift[+] button, by default, is the caps lock button. I figured that would work well… and work well it has! Now, I can toggle the Easy-Shift[+] button on the keyboard and have access to, literally, dozens of total functions on the Kone XTD.

There is another feature worth mentioning. It is called Easy-Aim and it allows you to assign a button to instantly decrease the DPI of the mouse, so that you can accurately engage targets downrange or perform more precise movements, such as when images are being edited in Photoshop.

To conclude the testing phase, I would like to say that the ROCCAT Kone XTD performed flawlessly and it provides a high-level of comfort while doing so. As solid as this device is and as much functionality as it provides to the user, there is no doubt that this mouse should find its way into plenty of homes.

Gaming Mouse Final Thoughts

The ROCCAT Kone XTD is an attractive, ergonomically-friendly, highly configurable mouse that is clearly built to withstand years use and abuse. At first glance, this mouse does not really appear to be anything special, but I think that’s part of its appeal; it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Easy-Shift[+] feature doubles the number of functions that a user can perform with the Kone XTD. And, when you pair it with a compatible ROCCAT keyboard, you have in your hands a truly lethal combination while gaming, and an extremely productive duo while addressing your workload.

This should be a very successful product for the folks at ROCCAT and I have no doubt we will see another Kone variant in the future. I would recommend that the engineers address the clunky weight door. Even though it does not adversely impact the experience during use, it has some slop in it that needs to be cleaned up. The other comment is that it is hard to see the benefit of the button on the top-side of the Titan Wheel. It is too hard to actuate without engaging the Titan Wheel in some way.

ROCCAT Kone XTD Gaming Mouse Conclusion

This concluding section breaks the ROCCAT Kone XTD gaming mouse review down into categories, which include appearance, performance, construction, functionality, and value. I mentioned earlier that this review is based on my experience with the Kone XTD and, even though my goal is to provide you with and unbiased and accurate review, the results are subjective. Another reviewer may have had a different experience with this device. The bottom line is that I recommend using this as reference material as you research this product and nothing more.

Initially, I thought I had received the wrong mouse. The ROCCAT Kone XTD looked like a left-hander to me. However, once I put it in my hand, its shape made complete sense, and it is an attractive shape. I really appreciate the subtle lighting on this mouse; it looks attractive, yet can be customized to suit your tastes. And, it does not look like it belongs in a 70’s disco. Also, the branding on the right-side was smartly applied. Finally, the matte finish looks great and prevents smudges and fingerprints.

The ROCCAT Kone XTD performed extremely well throughout the course of the testing phase. An example of this performance is the Titan Wheel. If you have read this entire review, you already know my affinity towards this scroll-wheel. It is a great example of the length that ROCCAT has gone to ensure this mouse exudes quality. Scroll it up or down, click it down, right or left, and you will know what I mean.

The only demerit that the ROCCAT Kone XTD received in terms of construction was due to the circular weight door. The good news is that when the mouse is being used, the issue with the door is not noticeable. The bad news is that the door should have been made to better fit the mouse. However, everything else on this mouse is top of the line and this is a solidly built peripheral. Also, I am not sure what material covers the surface of the ROCCAT Kone XTD, but it feels like velvet and it is extremely pleasing to the touch.

The keys to the ROCCAT Kone XTD’s overwhelmingly high marks on functionality is both the Easy-Shift[+] and ROCCAT Talk features. By itself, the Easy-Shift[+] feature doubles the number of functions that the ROCCAT Kone XTD can perform. So, you don’t have to buy an MMO mouse with 18 buttons on it to have the functionality you need. Also, ROCCAT Talk provides more Easy-Shift[+] flexibility, that is, as long as you have a compatible ROCCAT Talk mouse and keyboard.

As you will see below in the pros and cons section, my experience with the ROCCAT Kone XTD has been a very good one. Even though it is an attractive mouse, it really does not look as if it is an overtly capable mouse. The ROCCAT Kone XTD proves that you cannot judge a book by its cover.

As of August 2014, the ROCCAT Kone XTD was available online for $69.99 (Amazon | Newegg). After looking at gaming mice that fall at a similar price point, the ROCCAT Kone XTD, in my opinion, is clearly a value. There is not one issue that is a deal breaker and it is chalked full of desirable features and qualities.

Pros:

+ hall-of-fame scroll-wheel, a.k.a. Titan Wheel
+ Easy-Shift[+]
+ compatible w/ROCCAT Talk
+ velvety texture
+ ergonomics
+ Pro-Aim R3 Lazer Sensor @ 8200 DPI
+ solid construction
+ 32-bit Turbo Core V2 72MHz ARM MCU
+ “the most advanced Tracking & Distance Control Unit around”
+ “Assign a Shortcut” option in the GUI
+ glides like a champ

Cons:

– weight door could be a better fit
– poorly positioned button in front of Titan Wheel
– creating macros is a pain

Ratings:

Performance: 10.00
Appearance: 8.50
Construction: 9.00
Functionality: 10.00
Value: 9.25

Final Score: 9.35 out of 10.

Excellence Achievement: Benchmark Reviews Golden Tachometer Award.

COMMENT QUESTION: The ROCCAT Kone XTD also comes in an optical version. Which do you prefer: a laser or optical gaming mouse?