A great mouse, but it’s pricey and offers
little over its predecessor
Gaming mice have a lot in common with film
trilogies - they’re both all about escalation. Everything always has to be
bigger and more intense, while packing in more bells, whistles and explosions.
Well, okay, maybe that last one is limited to films. The point stands, though,
and the Roccat Kone XTD is a good example. Both its predecessors (the Kone and
the Kone [+]) claimed to be the last word in gaming mouse technology, so where
does that leave the Kone XTD? Well, not surprisingly, it’s claiming to be the new
ultimate standard in gaming mice.
Roccat
Kone XTD
To achieve this lofty goal, the Roccat’s
new Kone XTD is equipped with a hefty arsenal of features, although we’ve seen
many of them before. The four clip-in 5g weights, for example, are helpful, but
also featured in the original Kone, and the Easy-Shift[+] button, which acts as
a mouse-based Shift key, doubling the amount of available binds, premiered on
the Kone [+].
So what’s actually new about the Kone XTD?
Well, it has an all-new 8,200dpi Pro-Aim R3 sensor. Whether this is actually an
upgrade over the 6,000 dpi sensor found in the Kone [+] is debatable though; we
don’t know anyone who uses a dpi setting higher than around 3,200, as that’s
when it starts to make games uncontrollable, even for sniper players with big
mouse pads.
More tangible additions are the new Omron
switches under the two primary mouse buttons. These feel satisfyingly crunchy
to use, with a pleasant snap to their action.
Beyond this, however, it’s business as
usual again - the four-point lighting arrangement down the sides of the mouse
is very pretty, and almost infinitely customisable, but we’ve seen it before,
and the shape of the mouse is the same too.
Gaming
mice have a lot in common with film trilogies - they’re both all about
escalation.
The latter point there is definitely a
point in its favour, though, as it means the XTD has the same supportive,
hand-filling shape as its predecessors. also staying out of the way when they
aren’t needed. The ergonomic extravaganza is topped off by the chunky scroll
wheel, which is reassuringly robust and makes well-defined clicks as it
rotates. Meanwhile, the XTD’s body is a pleasure to hold, with a pleasantly
soft-feeling finish.
Unusually for a modern gaming mouse, the
XTD’s software is also attractive and well laid-out, although it’s annoying
that both parts of the software (the application and the Taskbar monitor) had
to be open for any changes to be saved to the rodent’s on-board memory. As
you’d expect, a plethora of tweaks can be applied, with options for everything
from lift-off height to button binds. The obligatory macro support is also
present.
So
what’s actually new about the Kone XTD? Well, it has an all-new 8,200dpi
Pro-Aim R3 sensor.
Conclusion
Make no mistake, the Roccat Kone XTD is a
well- designed, great-looking mouse that feels just right in your hand, while
also offering loads of features. However, it also shares all its best features
(the shape, lighting and software) with the Kone [+], which can be found for
around $82.5, and the extra resolution is needless. As a result, there’s no
reason for you shell out an extra $30 for the XTD.
