From the first leaks, we knew that the Burst Pro was going to be a departure from Roccat‘s past designs. Its their first lightweight ambi mouse with a newly designed paracord style cable.
Dimensions (L x W x H)
120 x 58 x 38.70 mm
Weight
69g
Packaging and Presentation
The mouse comes well packaged in a simple compact style box with documentation and an extra pair of mouse skates.
Design and Build Quality
The appearance of the Roccat Burst Pro is instantly noticeable. It’s sturdy and lightweight in hand but the first thing you’ll notice when you plug it in is the RGB inside the shell. While not everyone may appreciate the look, the light is nicely diffused inside the shell which exposes the honeycomb structure inside the outer body of the mouse.
The build quality definetly feels good on first inspection, it has no rattle, creaking or side flex. You can grip the mouse really hard and it won’t feel flimsy or unstable. I can press in the bottom side a bit but I don’t think that will ever be an issue in practical use. Roccat should definetly be commended for making a mouse that feels this light and sturdy.
The coating on the mouse is hard to describe but there’s basically a smooth plastic feeling on the upper side of the mouse with textured sides that offer slightly more grip. It’s smooth and my hands didn’t really slip or sweat at all with this mouse but the coating isn’t anything too special either. It’s very neutral in terms of how it feels in-game.
Buttons & Scroll Wheel
Now onto the clicks which is my least favorite aspect of the mouse. The Burst Pro uses the Titan Switch Optical. I haven’t really enjoyed many optical switches in the past and this continues with this model. These feel like the Cherry MX silent browns of mouse clicks. They are a bit dull and have a slight hollow feeling when clicking in. Not really crispy sounding at all they provide light tactility with a lower pitch sound. I’m pretty picky about clicks especially on optical switches and these ones are worse than second generation Razer optical switches and not as satisfying as the ones on the Coolermaster MM720.
Barely and pre-travel but some post travel and you can definetly feel a tiny bit of side play when fully pressed in. It feels like the the right click can stick a bit on rebound which is a bit annoying at times. For spam clicking, I really didn’t like this mouse and I can click noticeably faster with other mice. While the clicks did break in a bit and feel better after a week of use, they’re still not something I enjoy using on a daily basis for gaming or desktop use.
The side buttons remind me of the GPW, they are large and satisfying to click. There’s some pre and post travel though. Overall not perfect but above average. They also lack the same crispiness that’s found on the main clicks. TTC switches are used for both the side buttons and DPI button. The DPI button actually feels quite good and is a satisfying click that’s not easy to actuate by accident. It’s good enough to re-map and use in-game.
The wheel feels tactile and is well positioned. The rubber provides enough grip but I wish there was slightly more resistance or tension to it. The size of the wheel itself is pretty much ideal. It feels decent otherwise although you can push it a bit on either side which lends me to wonder about durability but that’s a bit of a nitpick. The middle wheel itself has a nice tactile click that requires a moderate amount of force.
Sensor, Skates and Cable
The ROCCAT Owl-Eye is just a re-branded PixArt PMW3389. The 3389 is capable of up to 16,000 CPI, as well as a maximum tracking speed of 450 IPS with standard steps of 400, 800, 1200, 1600, and 3200 CPI out of the box. The implementation here seemed perfect with great precise tracking and no LOD issues.
The heat treated PTFE feet don’t really feel that fast out the box. These feel like skates built for control and not speed. As many others have mentioned they also feel slower moving up and down than side to side and that lack of consistent feel does bother me a bit. This will feel scratchy on a textured pad and better on a smooth pad. That being said these feel slow even on fast pads and for that reason I’m not a fan of them. They do feel better after breaking in with a week of use, but it’s still not up to par with some of the other brands at the moment. Given how much Roccat hyped these up, I’m a bit disappointed by them.
The cable on the is the first paracord style one from Roccat which they call PhantomFlex. The cable is decent and might be on par with ones found on Coolermaster mice. I put it a slight bit underneath the XM1 and the Pulsefire Haste in terms of how lightweight and flexible it is. It is nicely angled upwards however and you won’t experience any drag with a bungee. It’s good enough not to have to paracord but not the best on the market either.
Shape, Software and Performance
The Burst Pro is compatible with ROCCAT Swarm which is fully featured. Besides re-bindings, DPI, setting RGB zones and the like it also has the ability to set separate values for x and y-axis movements. The software has everything you’re likely to need but this mouse functions quite well out the box if you just want to plug and play.
In terms of shape this was a comfortable mouse for me right away. It’s got a hump in the centre but the body is short enough to claw comfortably. It’s well suited to all grip styles although I’d say it’s best with claw and comfortable with palm as well. You can fingertip this mouse but I just think there’s better shapes out there for that.
I know people say it’s very similar to the XM1 and I agree that it is to some extent. It’s wider in the middle and has a higher hump so it might be more comfortable to rest your palm on. Designed for claw grip, it feels easy to handle. I still think the XM1 shape is better for performance personally because of the more aggressive curves, while this has sides that are quite flat. Overall the shape of it didn’t hinder my performance in-game at all.
In terms of how I played, I felt quite in control with this mouse. It’s a great mouse for holding angles and sniping in-game although I feel like I wasn’t as snappy with it as with my top performing mice. This may be partly due to the slower feet. I also needed some time with it to adjust to the click timing considering the switches are duller, less tacticle and require a bit more force to click than I’m used to. Overall I played better than average with this mouse but its not in my top performing mice for claw grip.
Conclusions
The Roccat Burst provides good build quality and checks a lot of boxes at a price that is fair in today’s market. It’s got everything you need on paper for a great mouse in 2020 and the shape is very shape for a lot of people. It grew on me with more use but a few glaring issues keep it from reaching the top of the pile right now.
Pros
Comfortable shape for all grip styles
Very sturdy and consistent feeling mouse given the light weight
Top of the line sensor provides consistent aim potential
Cons
PTFE feet are slow out the box and x/y movement feels different
The optical switches feel dull and aren’t satisfying to click
Rating
8/10
Bottom Line
If you like the look of this mouse and don’t mind optical switches this could be a good option. If you like crispy feeling clicks and fast skates, stay away from the Roccat Burst for now.
Where to Buy