Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
At first glance, the ROCCAT Burst Pro looks like any other mouse despite being an ultralight one. Similar to the Kain 120 AIMO, which I reviewed last year, this has a mostly traditional design. The whole body is made out of a black plastic shell with a smooth finish. The sides are given a slightly textured surface in order to provide some contrast and, consequently, something to grip onto. I do like how it feels and it is effective in this regard, but I think ROCCAT could have improved the top texture to make the mouse a bit easier to hold onto. Otherwise, the smooth non-textured top will also show off oily fingerprints. I never recommend eating while playing video games and, unfortunately, the Burst Pro does not hide the evidence if you do. The rest of the shell is pretty standard in color, although the back half is translucent to allow lighting through. A subtle ROCCAT logo and "Burst" name can be found printed on the back side of the mouse.
This is a wired mouse and ROCCAT has employed a new cable that they are dubbing PhantomFlex. This is a braided cable that measures 1.8m in length and terminates in a silver USB Type-A plug. ROCCAT has said this cable is both flexible and pliable to the point where you would not even notice the presence of the cable. In my testing, I will admit this cable is much better than their previous braided cables, including the Kain 120 AIMO I recently looked at. That said, I still think we have seen better weave-like cables, as this cable still holds its shape in the bends. I will say the cable is super light and thus should not easily catch onto objects. The end of the cable has a ferrite bead to suppress electrical noise.
As for the measurements, the ROCCAT Burst Pro measures 120mm in length, 58mm in width, and 38.7mm in height. This peak height is situated slightly more to the back with a smooth slope from the primary buttons to the peak and a more notable slope near the back. As for the width, the Burst Pro has a slightly tapered front with a wider back-end to fit more fully in your palm. As for the weight, the Burst Pro measures 68g in mass. This weight is balanced in the middle, lining up with the sensor location underneath. While the shape and sloping of the mouse is ambidextrous, the ROCCAT Burst Pro is still intended for right-handed use based on the button placement. Otherwise, build quality is excellent as it feels good in the hands and shows no signs of flex or rattle in day-to-day use. Furthermore, the absence of any holes on the top layer should prevent liquids and solids from going into the mouse. You might be wondering how ROCCAT was able to shave off so much weight, and this is because there are internal cutouts reduce the shell weight without compromising on structural integrity. You will not see these holes unless you turn on the internal lights, which will shine through to reveal the many honeycomb holes near the surface of the Burst Pro. Other internal components like the printed circuit board have also been thinned out to reduce weight wherever possible.
From the left perspective of the ROCCAT Burst Pro, you can see all of the buttons you have access to when holding the mouse. The primary buttons on the top are separate from the rest of the shell to reduce the resistance you might feel if the buttons were part of the rest of the body. Underneath, we have ROCCAT Titan Optical switches with an endurance rating of one hundred million actuations. Compared to the typical Omron switches we usually see, I found the ROCCAT Burst Pro primary buttons to feel lighter and sound quieter. This is not something that is bad, but rather something to get used to. I will say the primary buttons still do feel satisfying to click.
In between the primary left and right buttons, we have a notched scroll wheel with a rubber tire around it to grip onto. Translucent sides on the wheel allow the second lighting region of the mouse shine through. Under the scroll wheel, we have a square DPI button that feels quite different from the rest of the buttons. The travel is similar but a bit more resistant than the primary switches, which is probably to prevent accidental presses. On the left side, we have two secondary buttons mapped to Forward and Back by default. Even though these are not optical switches, they feel pretty good with decent travel and click response. I found these were well-sized and placed enough away to avoid accidental presses, though this will vary from person to person.
Flipping the ROCCAT Burst Pro to the undercarriage, you will see the large mouse feet and the sensor in between. The feet are made up of PTFE, which is commonly known as Teflon. These provide a smooth glide and travel. Just to note, the mice come with blue protective plastic on the bottom to protect this surface during transport. You should remove this protective layer when you start using the mouse. In the middle of the base is the ROCCAT Owl-Eye optical sensor, which is based on the PixArt PMW3389. This is probably similar to the sensor found in the Kain 120 AIMO, as both offer up to 16000 DPI sensitivity. Otherwise, the PMW3389 is one of the top-of-the-line PixArt sensors out there and can be found on many gaming-focused mice. The base PMW3389 tracks at high speeds of 400 IPS with acceleration up to 50g, although it is not enabled by default. Polling rate is set to a minimum 1ms, or a maximum frequency of 1000Hz, and a maximum resolution of the aforementioned 16000 DPI. The sensor is firmly attached to the mouse, so there is no sensor rattle found here.
The Burst Pro uses the latest version of ROCCAT Swarm, which can be found on ROCCAT's website at press time. It is a 157MB download, but it is used to work with all of the recent ROCCAT peripherals. After installing the corresponding hardware module, you will be prompted to update the firmware. This setup process is quite seamless and easy to work through. In addition, ROCCAT does seem to constantly maintain their Swarm application, as it has received multiple updates within the month of testing it.
After selecting the ROCCAT peripheral for configuration at the top, there are four tabs for changing options on the Burst Pro. This includes Settings, Button Assignment, Illumination, and Advanced Settings. Under Settings, you can adjust specific things like various movement, scrolling, and clicking speeds. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the mouse. As I have mentioned previously, the Burst Pro supports up from 50 to 16000 DPI in increments of 50 dots per inch. Button Assignment is where you can set the functions to the different buttons, including changing even the primary buttons, though ROCCAT does make sure you at least have something assigned to the primary functions before you can reassign the main two buttons. These include macros, standard functions, media controls, and ROCCAT functions like Easy-Shift[+], which lets you add more functions via combining key presses.
Illumination is where you can control the two illuminated areas on the Burst Pro, which are on the scroll wheel and at the back of the mouse. These have standard lighting patterns like fully lit, breathing patterns, and rainbow wave, as well as AIMO, which changes based on the applications you use. Finally, Advanced Settings is where you can adjust other settings including polling rate, angle snapping, lift-off distance, and lighting timeout. I appreciate the timeout here because I have set it to turn off after a certain time period of inactivity. There are two more tabs underneath on every screen for managing profiles and macros. This also has macros and actions for a library of games and include many different esports titles like League of Legends, Overwatch, and CS:GO, as well as applications like Photoshop. You can also record your own macros here.
All in all, the ROCCAT Swarm is an intuitive piece of software, although it does seem like they have not updated the user interface in a while. It does work functionally, but it is also feeling a bit outdated visually.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
