Page 4 - Conclusion
If "best" in my dictionary for a good mouse is a comfortable shape, high performance sensor, wireless, and a reasonable number of well-placed buttons, the ROCCAT Leadr certainly checks a lot of these boxes on paper. But did it be the best and make the cut as my new daily driver? Seeing that it sits on my desk next to me right now, it did. Let me start off with the shape. The shape of the ROCCAT Leadr is great for a palm or claw-type grip with people of average sized hands. The Owl-Eye sensor is excellent; being a variant of the renowned PixArt PMW3360, we did not expect anything less. Its tested battery life corresponds to its 20-hour rating, which is excellent for its class. If that is not enough, you can simply plug in a cable and use it as a wired mouse; either way, it outlasts the SteelSeries Sensei Wireless by a good amount. Throw in some dual-zone RGB lighting, and we have a very solid package. However, the devil is in the details. Although the ROCCAT Leadr has a lot of well-placed buttons that are not easily accidentally pressed during use, grabbing the mouse initially could accidentally actuate a couple of them. Having higher quality side switches is also a reasonable expectation for a flagship product. The charging stand is a pleasure to use, although it should be reduced in size. Living with the mouse every day further shows a few places for refinement. Firstly, the standby timeout cannot be configured. I like to set my mouse to turn off automatically after 15 minutes of inactivity; unfortunately, the Leadr idles for much longer than that, and you cannot change that. Secondly, it is not possible to charge the device when your PC is off, even if you have an always-on USB port. On that note, the mouse does not turn off automatically when your PC turns off either. Thirdly, the charging LEDs do not stop blinking when the Leadr is fully charged, so it is not possible to tell when charging is complete. Do these refinement issues take away my enjoyment of ROCCAT's flagship wireless mouse? Sort of, but they are not deal breakers in my opinion. For about $140 at press time, the Leadr's performance matches its price tag, but additional firmware and/or software fixes can perfect the details to make it truly the best. Or in ROCCAT's term, wireless royalty.
ROCCAT provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH:Renewal Award | APH Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks; but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 7.5/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
The ROCCAT Leadr is a class-leading gaming mouse that is comfortable to use and has the performance to match its price tag.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
