ROCCAT Kone XTD Review

👤by Tim Harmer Comments 📅25-10-12
Customisation Options


The ROCCAT Kone XTD feature three mains areas of user customisation: lighting, weight and the plethora of button assignments. We'll discuss the software aspect of this on the next page, but first we should take a moment or two to investigate the first two.

Weight



High-end mice are increasingly allowing users to add or subtract weight from their mouse, especially in the case of non-wireless mice unencumbered by heavy battery packs. Comfort is generally the overriding factor, although the ability to change the centre of mass can be useful in certain niche circumstances. Increasing the weight of the mouse can also benefit the user if the cable is particularly heavy and inflexible, causing the mouse to move when not actively held in place; or by dampening harmonics if there's a slight vibration in the desk causing movement reflected in the on-screen cursor.

The Kone XTD includes four weights, with a small compartment on the underside for all four. This can increase the mouse's weight by up to 20g to a total of 143g, which is still lighter than many mice with an aluminium base. When no weights are installed the compartment door is loose, which is a little disappointing, but upon insertion the door fits more snugly and no longer rattles in place.

The weight options aren't as extreme as some other high-end mice on the market, but are solid and should suit the vast majority of gamers. We should also once again mention the carry case for the weights, which is a nice little touch to make sure they don't get lost during storage.


Lighting



In the transition from the Kone[+] to the Kone XTD ROCCAT retained the 4-LED light-bar, yet removed the customisable logo lighting. This reduces the customisation options a little, but thanks to the 34 different colours options the total number of variations is still on the order of 1.33 million. The light bars which run down the sides of the mouse blend the colour nicely, so there is no perceptible boundary point. That's a pretty nice feature for a mouse with ostensibly only four LED positions.

Extremely close inspection of the light bar indicates a few flaws in the plastic, but anyone looking from further than six inches away would struggle to notice. The colours produced are varied - from a deep blue to a deep red, deeper than shown above - and vibrant, and only really lacking in a true white rather than pale blue. Of course you can also turn them all off entirely if that's you're preference, at which point you can only dimly see a greyish line of the lightbar plastic under the mouse's glossy finish.

Lighting can be controlled on a per-LED, per-Profile basis, with additional options to make the lighting change over time. These effects include the ability to pulse the intensity of the lighting, or add a flow which changes the colour through the available spectrum. At times the transition from one colour to the next was a perceptible step, rather than smooth. The ability to change lighting on a per-profile basis gives a very clear indication of which profile you have active, if that's a useful feature for your own usage pattern. Easy-Shift[+] activation also changes the colouring to a cool and even blue, and whilst a cool visual indicator disabling it would also be handy lest it prove distracting in those instances where you're using it often.

Overall, aesthetic customisation options are solid without being extravagant and though their software ROCCAT make the most of that which they have made available. There are a couple of quality issues which could do with being cleared up, although they are by no means cataclysmic.



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