Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Owl-Eye sensor may be very exact and fast
- You gained’t discover a mouse with extra gorgeous RGB lighting
- Dual wi-fi in addition to wired connectivity
Cons
- 81-gram weight can really feel heavy in the event you’re used to a lighter mouse
- Mouse wheel lacks left and proper lateral clicks
- Pricey in comparison with some rivals
Our Verdict
The Burst Pro Air might simply be Roccat’s most versatile gaming mouse, providing up a compelling mixture of dazzling RGB, first rate gaming efficiency, and wonderful connectivity.
Price When Reviewed
79.99
Best Prices Today: ROCCAT Burst Pro Air
$75.99
$79.99
The Roccat Burst Pro Air occupies a cushty area of interest in Roccat’s line-up, being arguably probably the most aesthetically pleasing and a very good performer in video games. More exactly it packs 4 stellar RGB lighting zones in addition to a exact 19,000 DPI sensor and twin wi-fi and wired connectivity.
That stated, there are just a few downsides: It’s each heavier and pricier than rivals just like the HyperX Pulsefire Haste Wireless and the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro. But as I came upon, these compromises are price weighing for a gaming mouse that performs so effectively and gives as a lot versatility because the Burst Air Pro does.
This assessment is a part of our ongoing roundup of the best gaming mice. Go there to study competing merchandise, what to search for in a gaming mouse, and shopping for suggestions.
Roccat Burst Pro Air: Design and construct
Unboxing the Burst Pro Air revealed what seemed like a simple symmetrical, six-button, FPS-style gaming mouse. However, its “special something” quickly burst into view—actually—within the type of its gorgeous RGB lighting.
Roccat buried a honeycomb grid slightly below the floor of the mouse’s semi-transparent plastic outer layer—a design that creates a blinding RGB glow that’s mesmerizing from each angle. But as soon as you turn off the RGB, it’s all black once more—the Pro Air will slot in simply as simply subsequent to your workplace PC as it should your gaming rig.
The 4 impartial Roccat AIMO RGB lighting zones include two on the again and one underneath every of the primary clicks. Consequently, you’ll be able to mild up the entire thing spectacularly or have enjoyable altering up which zones are illuminated and the way. There are 16.8 million programmable RGB colours to play with too, in addition to some neat visible results out there within the Swarm software program app.
By customizing the Pro Air’s RGB within the Swarm app you may get some gorgeous visible results.
Dominic Bayley / IDG
While the style amongst gaming mice tends to be flared fundamental buttons, against this the Pro Air’s two fundamental clicks are tight rectangles. They stretch from the entrance all the way in which to its midsection. This makes it very simple to make use of in the event you’re a claw griper, since you’ll be able to grip way back to the middle and your clicks will nonetheless register. Apart from the primary clicks, you additionally get two left facet buttons, a DPI button, and a mouse wheel in entrance of it—all of which appear ideally positioned.
Palm gripping is tremendous simple to do too for the reason that Pro Air is properly proportioned to relaxation in opposition to the highest of your palm. Its 4.7 x 1.5 x 2.6-inch physique suits snugly into your hand’s contours, feeling neither too small nor too large. The left-hand facet buttons deserve a particular point out, too, for being simply the proper dimension and form in your thumb.
Two massive, heat-treated PTFE glide skates make any actions throughout your mouse pad very clean and easy, and there are hexagonal grids flanking all sides that function helpful grips to forestall your fingers slipping—a bonus when your hand will get sweaty.
That stated, the Pro Air’s design isn’t excellent. While it scores marks for dimension, it loses just a few factors for its 81-gram weight. Just final 12 months 81 grams would have been thought of fairly mild for an FPS gaming mouse, however releases just like the 62-gram Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro and the 63-gram Logitech G Pro X Superlight have set a brand new benchmark for what constitutes light-weight.
RGB lighting zones beneath every of the Pro Air’s fundamental buttons illumiate your fingers as you utilize it.
Dominic Bayley / IDG
In normal, this advance has been mirrored in costs, with mice that exceed the 70-gram mark being a number of the extra reasonably priced now. This makes the Pro Air’s $79.95 shelf worth look a little bit excessive. That level actually hits residence if you examine it to the HyperX Pulsefire Haste Wireless, a superb FPS gaming mouse that weighs simply 61 grams and prices solely $50 USD.
Despite this, most rivals lack a minimum of one of many Pro Air’s options: The V3 Pro, as an illustration, has no RGB lighting, whereas the HyperX Pulsefire Haste Wireless doesn’t provide as many connectivity choices. So whereas the Pro Air may not be the most affordable or lightest gaming mouse you should buy, it actually is an all-rounder that goes the additional mile.
Roccat Burst Pro Air: Connectivity
The Burst Pro Air differentiates itself from its close to sibling, the Roccat Burst Pro, by sporting wi-fi in addition to wired connectivity, which suggests it’s a go-anywhere mouse you can simply as simply use plugged into your house gaming rig as you’ll be able to unplugged on a laptop computer you are taking to your buddy’s home.
Additionally, you get not one, however two wi-fi choices—Bluetooth 5.2 in addition to low-latency 2.4GHz Wi-Fi—which provides to its versatility as a mouse that you should utilize for work in addition to play. By comparability, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste Wireless gives solely a low-latency 2.4GHz Wi-Fi possibility in addition to wired connectivity.
Switching between connectivity modes is easy, requiring simply the flick of a change on the underside. In these unplugged modes, the Pro Air is rated for 100 hours battery life, which is greater than sufficient to get you thru a handful of gaming classes, or perhaps a midweek work journey.
For a wired connection, Roccat offers you with an extended 1.8-meter, versatile USB-C to USB-A cable that ought to service even the toughest to achieve PCs. This cable additionally doubles as a fast-charging cable if you’re out of battery, and it comes with a neat plastic protector to maintain the USB-A facet freed from water or mud.
A discrete dongle storage port on the underside of the mouse can also be a nifty inclusion that makes dropping your USB-A receiver a little bit more durable to do.
ROCCAT Burst Pro Air: Software
The Burst Pro Air makes use of ROCCAT’s Swarm app, which is the place you’ll have to go to assign instructions, create the 5 on-board profiles and customise the RGB lighting colours or results. ROCCAT have made this pretty simple to do with submenus you can simply navigate by way of, and because of a latest replace the app seems trendy and extra visually interesting than earlier than.
In Swarm I used to be delighted to see you can modify the Pro Air’s debounce time, which is a function you gained’t see in all gaming mice. This makes the Pro Air a great possibility for Sandbox-style video games the place debounce charges are significantly helpful. Or in the event you’re into spreadsheeting, it’s possible you’ll even discover a use for this function for rote productiveness duties like filling out columns in half the time.
You can customise the Pro Air’s debounce time within the Swarm software program app.
Dominic Bayley / IDG
ROCCAT Burst Pro Air: Performance
The Pro Air packs a Roccat Owl-Eye optical sensor which tracks motion at 19,000 DPI and at 400 IPS (inches per second). It’s based mostly on the PixArt PAW3370 sensor, which in your reference, is taken into account a superb possibility for FPS avid gamers.
To try it out, I fired up the PC and sunk a good period of time into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. No matter what sort of motion I confronted, the Pro Air saved me aggressive. Thankfully, I didn’t discover any lag, even whereas pulling off massive sweeping actions or spinning to face foes, and it simply as simply dealt with the quick, sharp flicks I wanted to drag off to exactly goal foes from distant.
The Pro Air’s symmetrical form gave it a really predictable really feel and made it tremendous simple to guage how far to maneuver my crosshairs. The mouse wheel was additionally a pleasure to make use of, proving wobble free and extremely responsive. It provides you three instructions—a forwards and backwards scroll perform, and a downwards click on, which have been preferrred for altering weapons or tossing grenades and flashbangs.
I did at instances discover myself wishing it additionally had left and proper tilt performance which might have been extremely helpful in video games like Rainbow Six Siege, the place peeking round corners is simpler to do with a 4 directional wheel. Still, it was simple sufficient to assign further instructions to my keyboard, and avid gamers who want the left and proper lateral wheel inputs, or in any other case extra instructions, can at all times go for the Roccat Kone XP as an alternative, a mouse which does each of this stuff extraordinarily effectively.
The buttons additionally deserve strong reward. They felt smooth and lightweight to press, and their low-latency optical switches, that are rated for 100 million clicks, actuated my clicks immediately. I additionally attribute the Pro Air’s low latency response, to some extent, to its assist for the Nvidia Reflex expertise, which can have completed loads to optimize my click-to-display latency additionally.
Button task within the ROCCAT Swarm app.
Dominic Bayley / IDG
My solely nit-pick in regards to the Pro Air, if I needed to identify one, is that it could very hardly ever overshoot the mark when finishing up tremendous exact maneuvers. This doesn’t occur loads, however the one time in a single thousand when it does, could be a little off-putting.
This might have been because of the inertia of its 81-gram weight or the truth that I had turn out to be accustomed to the a lot lighter HyperX Pulsefire Haste Wireless, so I’ll have been pushing it a little bit over-enthusiastically to compensate. Regardless, it’s price noting, nonetheless.
Should you purchase the Roccat Burst Pro Air?
If you’re in search of the lightest FPS gaming mouse on the least expensive worth potential, then the Pro Air gained’t match the likes of the HyperX Pulsefire Haste Wireless, or another rival FPS gaming mouse which will beat it on each of these fronts.
On the opposite hand, for only a bit extra pocket change and some further grams weight, the Pro Air offer you a mouse that has extra dazzling RGB, extra connectivity choices, and performs equally as effectively in fast-paced video games. Plus, it’ll go as a horny work companion if you need it to, one thing that many FPS mice merely can’t do—but another excuse this mouse ought to win tons of followers.