By: Ronald Chow (Guest Editor)
August 16, 2024
After a long hiatus from my love-hate relationship with running, I finally started it up again. The weather turned warm, the flowers bloomed, and the roads became clear. I whipped out my trusty, well-worn Asics Gel-Cumulus 20s and put in the first miles in over a year. Perhaps it was due to the compounding effects of age of both the shoe and me, but the shoes felt heavy, my joints felt worse for wear, and my body felt every step. Briefly after the run, I looked for a new pair of runners to replace my now antiquated ones. In my research, I discovered there were maximalist, traditional, and minimalist running shoes. Some shoes were heavier, but had more foam to cushion the shock upon impact. Others had less, but stiffer foam that helped with rebound, response, and lightness. Despite being inclined to go back to my trusted Asics brand, I decided to branch out and give Adidas a try. After a few days of anticipation, my new pair of Adizero SLs arrived. These were somewhat more minimalist runners, and out of the box, these shoes felt surprisingly light compared to my previous runners. They indeed were “Super Light”, as the name suggests. Likewise, the gaming mouse scene has been chasing after minimalism and lightness. This brings us to our subject of the day which is the Turtle Beach Burst II Air. Out of the box, the Burst II Air gave me the same sense of surprise, tipping the scales at a mere 47g. It is the lightest mouse I have used thus far, but at what cost? Let us dive in for a deeper look to see what sacrifices were made to accomplish this, and whether it is worth putting your hard-earned cash on the table for this wireless, high performance, ultra-lightweight mouse.
Our review unit of the Turtle Beach Burst II Air came from Turtle Beach’s fulfillment center in Elwood, Illinois. It arrived at our office in Calgary, AB, Canada in a cardboard shipping box via FedEx. There were some bruises on the corners of the shipping box, but by using a bit of crumpled Kraft paper inside as a buffer, the retail box came out in pristine condition.
The Turtle Beach Burst Air II comes in an attractive dark purple packaging, prominently featuring the mouse on the front. The Turtle Beach logo and brand is up at the top with the product’s name on the bottom left all in white text. There is a feather icon beside the mouse and text indicating it to be 47g and ultra-lightweight. The top of the box has a thick black ribbon strip for hanging on store shelves and a slogan saying, “Built to win”. More icons and text on the left of the box indicate wireless and Bluetooth connectivity, 100M keypress Titan optical switches, and up to 120 hours of battery life. The back of the box has a diagram with physical features pointed out such as the 26K Owl-Eye sensor and DPI switch button. The bottom of the box has product information, including package contents, technical specifications, system requirements, as well as various certifications.
Here are the following specifications of the mouse as listed on the Turtle Beach website:
General
USB Report Rate: 1000 Hz
NVIDIA Reflex Support
On-board memory
Software: Swarm II
1.8m flexible cable, USB-C to USB-A
Sensor
Owl-Eye™ 26K optical sensor
Adjustable lift-off distance
50g acceleration
IPS Tracking Speed: 650 (16.5m/s)
Minimum DPI: 50
Maximum DPI: 26,000
Switches
TITAN Switch Optical
100 million click life cycle
Connectivity
2.4GHz Wireless
Bluetooth®
USB-A Wired
Dimensions
39.2mm x 67.3mm x 122.2 mm
1.55 x2.65 x4.81 in.
Weight: 47g
Compatibility
Windows® 10 and above (software support)
USB 2.0 (or higher)
Internet connection (for driver software)
What's in the Box
Turtle Beach® Burst II Air
Wireless USB-A Transmitter
PhantomFlex™ USB-C to USB-A Charging Cable
USB-A to USB-C Transmitter Adapter
Extra Skates & Grip Tape
Quick Start Guide
Inside the box, we find an effort to reduce plastic packaging. There is a piece of foam in the cover to hold the mouse in place on a molded cardboard tray. There is the welcome inclusion of grip tape, large-sized mouse feet, USB Type-A wireless transmitter, USB Type-A to Type-C transmitter adapter, and a flexible USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable. Although the mouse is usable out of the box with no additional software, Turtle Beach Swarm II can be downloaded to further customize and fully utilize the mouse features.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
