The Roccat Burst Pro Extreme Lightweight Optical Pro Gaming mouse is one hell of a mouthful but pretty much says it all. This new mouse is Roccat’s response to the demand of pro-gamers who want featherweight gaming mice for their speed and faster reaction time. Since the Glorious Model O popularized punching the mouse frame with tons of hexagonal holes to reduce the overall weight,every mouse maker has been following suit.
And in true Roccat fashion, the Burst Pro exhibits the company’s penchant for exceptional engineering — somehow managing to keep the mouse closed while still having the holey frame. Add on some of the slickest feet and this mouse does the electric slide on any surface you put it on. Roccat has also brought their Titan Switch Optical(no, I didn’t misorder that phrase) offering its fastest actuation so you don’t have any excuses that you missed the kill.
But unless you are an esports athlete playing with highly attuned skills, the Burst Pro will be just a small, comfortable mouse that doesn’t do anything too special.
Roccat Burst Pro Review
I expected the Burst Pro to be a tiny mouse and was promptly disappointed when I unboxed it. At 12cm long and 5.8cm wide, it’s practically identical to the excellent Roccat Kain 200 AIMO that I reviewed a while ago. The two mice share a similar shape that’s fairly neutral but the thumb buttons on the left establish the Burst Pro as a right-handed mouse. It’s still a great fit in the hand though and I’m glad they didn’t trade size for weight.
The biggest obvious difference between the two mice is how much lighter the Burst Pro is. At 68g, it’s 40g lighter than the Kain 200 and while that doesn’t sound like much, in reality it’s a huge difference when moving the mouse around. The Burst Pro feels noticeably less strenuous on my wrist compared to regular gaming mice.
Roccat shed weight using the ubiquitous hexagonal hole-punches in the frame but still managed to keep a translucent skin on top. It’s so good that you wouldn’t know it’s got holes in it until you plug it in and the AIMO RGB lighting comes on. However, I’m still undecided whether I like the final look.
On one hand, it’s certainly eye-catching but I also don’t like the way the light doesn’t pass through the translucent skin evenly. Some spots look duller than others, producing a sort of cheap looking vignette effect which undermines the overall look. The culprit is single-zone RGB which is a trade-off necessary to keep the weight down.
Underneath the mouse are two large and very blue heat-treated pure PTFE feet which Roccat says are pre-tuned to give the smoothest possible glide on any surface. As such, the Burst Pro responds to the lightest of flicks of your wrist to effortlessly glide across your mouse pad. This was most apparent to me when I switched back to my Razer Basilisk Ultimate which felt heavy and sluggish.
It’s a shame then that the Burst Pro isn’t a wireless mouse so you aren’t hindered by an annoying cable. Still, I was impressed by how little I even noticed the Phantomflex cable in daily use which is a testament to how frictionless it is. .
The Burst Pro uses Roccat’s proprietary Titan Switch Optical, uhm, switches that feel more meaty and quiet than mechanical switches. The optical switches use light instead of mechanical parts to actuate really fast and also have a long life of up to 100 million clicks. They are very responsive in games and you’ll never blame the mouse for getting fragged.
The scroll wheel has a nice clickiness through its movement and a textured rubber that helps for better grip. It too, has AIMO lighting that you can customize. Unlike other high-end mice, the scroll wheel isn’t clickable to the left or right. Sitting behind the scroll wheel is the DPI switcher while on the left side of the mouse are two chunky thumb buttons that are very easy to reach. This isn’t a MOBA mouse so if you need more customizable buttons, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Inside the Burst Pro is the Roccat Owl-Eye optical sensor which is based off a 16,000dpi Pixart PMW3389 sensor with a speed of 400 inches per second and 50G acceleration. Together with the lightweight frame and those slippery PTFE feet, the Burst Pro becomes a deadly weapon in the right hands. Since I’m a 40 year old man, my senses aren’t as sharp as some of you whippersnappers but I will say, traipsing through the demon infested worlds of Doom Eternal was a breeze with the Burst Pro. The smooth movement and fast response makes snap turns easy and aiming precise.
Verdict
At $99, the Roccat Burst Pro is fine mouse that both pro and casual gamers will like. While I’m not personally in need of a light mouse for gaming, I was surprised how much better doing normal, daily things like web browsing or design work is as a result. The preheated glide feet are wonderful to throw the mouse around and the Tital Switches feel very nice and satisfying to click while staying relatively quiet.
While I am impressed that Roccat were able to keep a hardshell on this mouse, there’s something incredibly nerdy and ballsy about open shell mice — not to mention how awesome RGB lighting looks through holes. It’s worth noting that the Glorious Model O I talked about earlier retails for $89 and looks much nicer with better RGB implementation and wider variety of colorways. I can’t speak for it’s switches, comfort or durability though where I can vouch for Roccat’s build quality and engineering.
The Burst Pro isn’t the prettiest mouse Roccat has made but it is a good one and will do everything you need to win on the battle field.
