Roccat Kone & TaitoIntroductionThe Roccat Kone, launched in June 09, is a 10 button right-handed gaming mouse designed from the bottom up to be ergonomic. It's unique shape makes it extremely comfortable for both the 'palm' and 'claw' grip, it accomplishes this with it's shortened left mouse button and precisely angled slope to the right which are the product of years of ergonomic studies. The Kone is also one of the most advanced mice on the market, with features such as the 3200DPI Pro-aim gaming sensor, Tracking Control Unit (TCU) and integrated 72MHz Turbocore.
Note: This Kone I am reviewing is the 2nd revision, which fixes the original Kone's issue of the scroll-wheel breaking. This revision allows the scroll-wheel to cope with much more stress and weight.
The Roccat Taito mouse pad makes great company for the Roccat Kone. With it's heat-treated nano-pattern increasing it's tracking accuracy, and it's very large surface area while retaining a very low thickness, the mouse pad combines the latest technology with the highest level of comfort.
Now, the Kone is a 'Gaming mouse', but don't let that put you off. These two products together are highly-useful for design-work and other environments that require a very accurate mouse. You can set up profiles for different applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Office, and using assign profile-specific macro's to the customizable buttons. Often saving yourself time with a simple click.
Features
Roccat Kone:
- 3,200 DPI Pro-aim gaming sensor.
for maximum precision - Tracking Control Unit.
for increased tracking performance and reduced Pick-Up-Flight syndrome - Integrated Turbocore.
for enhanced processing power - 128k onboard Memory.
for up to 5 Game Profiles - stored directly on the mouse - Customizable light system.
showing the full spectrum of colours - 4 easy to clip in weights.
for individual weight adjustment - 10 mouse buttons.
8 of them customizable + 4-way wheel - Ergonomic hybrid shape.
with optimum grip + comfort - 16-bit architecture.
for accelerated data transfer - Mouse feet.
ultra-quiet and low-friction
Roccat Taito:
- Heat-treated nano pattern
for silence and comfort right in the heat of the gaming action - Improved axis flow
exact x-y balance, precise mouse movements and control - Comfortable gaming size
400 x 320mm with a thickness of 3.45mm - Rubberized backing
provides heavy grip and security - Long life material
ruggedized for high strain
Tracking Control Unit (TCU):
With an infinite array of mouse pads to choose from, with all of them different. A mouse can struggle to track efficiently on these surfaces, given there different characteristics. The Kone solves this problem with the Tracking Control Unit; the TCU analyses the surface reflectivity, colour and texture and adjusts the Kone's laser to provide the best tracking for that surface. Thus increasing precision and reducing pick-up-flight.
3,200DPI Pro-aim Gaming sensor:
The Pro-aim Gaming Sensor is a 6.4 megapixel sensor capable of capturing 7080 framers per second, without missing a beat up to an acceleration of 20G. With a 1ms response time, 1000Hz polling rate and adjustable resolution up to 3,200DPI, this sensor definitely gives you complete accuracy with no delay.
Tech specs- True 3200dpi laser sensor
- TCU - Tracking Control Unit
- 1ms response time; 1000Hz polling rate
- 16-bit data channel; 7080p=fos; 6.4megapixel, 20G acceleration
- 72MHz TurboCore processor unit
- 128kB memory, update-/flashable
- 1.65m/s(65 inch per second)
- Extended USB cable, cable diameter: 3mm
Driver InfoShould you need to change anything about the Kone, from it's sensitivity to it's polling rate. The driver allows you to do so in a very easy-to-use GUI. You can change the mouses LED colours, the Sensor settings (from DPI to individual X and Y axis sensitivity), program 8 of the 10 buttons, managing Macro's... The list goes on.
Not only is the extensive feature list and tech specs impressive, but it's customizability... Using the Kone Driver, you can change pretty much any aspect of the mouse, what the 8 programmable buttons do, how sensitive you want the mouse to be, what resolution do you want it to track at, change the LED colours, edit X and Y specific sensitivity, calibrate the TCU, enable and adjust the mouse acceleration... The list goes on.
ExperienceBefore I got the Kone, I was using a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 5000. The first time I plugged the Kone in I noticed an improvement in tracking, the Kone never skipped pixels or became inaccurate at low speeds. After configuring the Kone to my liking I hit up Team Fortress 2 and got straight down to business! The Kone always registered my click as soon as I pushed down, giving me the headshots I furiously never got with my old mouse. The Kone was always precise with my movement, giving me a huge improvement in following and fragging running enemies.
Before I got the Taito, I always had to wipe-down my mouse pad, I always had to readjust it to keep comfortable and I had to use two mousepads stacked on each other - just for them to be comfortable to use. With the Taito I have had to do none of those things, the mouse glides smoothly over it, it's huge size gives me no limit as to how far I have to move and it's always glued down to my glass desk rather than slipping around.
Both the Kone and Taito have hugely saved time, improved my in-game skill and out-game tracking, and never given me any issues.
ConclusionThe Roccat Kone and Taito are both fantastic pieces of kit. Should you ever need a mouse and mouse pad that tracks amazingly well, has a large array of programmable buttons and has many profiles, the Kone and Taito are for you. I highly recommend this mouse for anybody into gaming, or doing any professional design.
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Rob