Review: The ROCCAT Kone Pure Color Edition is the Jennifer Lawrence of gaming mice

With fashion and footwear, it's really popular to feature bright colors – even neon. Why not do that with our gaming peripherals? Sure, there are splashes of color in the logos or parts that light up, but for the most part we're stuck with our gaming mice and keyboard in black or dark gray. ROCCAT – the gaming peripheral company based in Hamburg, Germany – is doing the little things to change that.

Celebrating the five-year anniversary of its Kone series of gaming mice, ROCCAT released the Kone Pure Color Limited Edition, which I've been playing around with for a few weeks. It's just like the regular Kone Pure, but it comes in four bright colors: Hellfire Red, Inferno Orange, Polar Blue and Phantom White. The one I've been using is Polar Blue, and combined with the large ROCCAT logo on its back that can be set to your choice of any vibrant color, the mouse certainly pops when you look at it.

While the Kone Pure Color is pleasing to look at, it's also a really functional mouse. It's more than eye candy. Consider it the Jennifer Lawrence of gaming mice – easy on the eyes and really talented as well. First, it's comfortable and feels good to hold, much like I imagine Jennifer Lawrence would be. The Kone Pure color ois 91% the size of the original Kone, but it's got some good weight and heft to it. It has a soft-touch surface along the entire mouse, which is extremely comfortable. Your hand will get a little sweaty, and I hate smudge marks on my mouse, but that's unavoidable.

Roccat Kone Pure Color Polar Blue

Performance-wise, it comes with everything that you'd expect with a ROCCAT mouse. It has the Easy-Shift technology that allows you to set two functions for each button on the mouse and the scroll wheel. And if you have a ROCCAT Isku gaming keyboard, the mouse and keyboard can talk to each other, with a click of a button the keyboard activating the Easy-Shift on the mouse.

I like to play with my DPI setting around 4800 to 5200; thankfully, the Kone Pure Color features a Pro-aim R3 sensor with DPI settings ranging from 200 to 8200. The switches in the mouse are powered by Omron, so you really feel each click. The responsiveness of the clicks is also superb. When you throw in the 32-bit core V2 processor and the 576KB on-board memory, there's little to complain about.

It's 2013. The Matrix came out in 1999. Why are we still sticking to just black with gaming peripherals? Gaming is colorful; your mouse should be, too. With the Kone Pure Color Edition, you get great looks and quality. The ROCCAT Kone Pure Color – in whichever color you prefer – is available for $69.99, so it won't break the bank.

 
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

You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at [email protected]