It's hard to find a mouse today that doesn’t boost features you’re not sure you care about. Unless you’re running in the top echelons of an esports league or have the most hardcore office manager ever, most gaming mouses feel reliable and effective. Or at least that’s what I thought until I got my hands on the Kone Pro Air.
When you first pick up the Kone Pro Air, you’ll be understandably confused. Coming it at just 75gs, it feels like there might be nothing inside the plastic casing. But after setting up the wireless dongle (or plugging it in with the included charger), the mouse buttons light up, and the mouse works exactly as you expect. The installation process is simple and easy, with a USB dongle or Bluetooth connectivity to choose from, as well as the wire.
The ROCCAT Swarm program allows an almost worrying amount of customization for the mouse as well, so you can make sure it feels exactly as you want, from the sensitivity of the movement to the mouse wheel speed to the illumination of the buttons themselves. All of this is handled with simple enough scroll bars that allow for easy adjustment and experimentation.
None of that can change the weight of the Kone Pro Air, though. It is something that, unless you’re already familiar with featherweight products, can take some getting used to, and for a while, I was truly nervous that the next stressful squeeze would crack the shell. But that isn’t the case at all. Instead, this mouse is about as robust and sturdy as you could want from a piece of hardware, capable of withstanding any level of play. The lighter weight quickly becomes an advantage, now allowing you to move the mouse with a fraction of the force of other models, which gets you gliding much quicker.
And the glide is fantastic. Once you’ve remembered to remove the safety plastic, the button of the mouse is incredibly smooth, allowing for dynamic movement and without any noticeable friction on the mat. There is even a depression in the mouse to store the dongle if not in use (bringing up the weight a fraction) which perfectly keeps it from interfering with glide.
You might think that with such a little mouse and smooth finish, the Kone Pro Air would be imprecise and floaty, but it's exactly the opposite. Once you’ve got a handle on the lightweight feel, the default sensitivity allows for a great deal of lightning-fast control. Obviously, some of this is entirely down to a player's own skill, but the Kone Pro Air feels offers a chance to really capitalize on your natural accuracy. Do you know how you don’t really aim your hands or fingers when picking something up? You just sort of think about what you grab, and your hand knows where and how to do it. This mouse gives at least the illusion of that.
Because of its glide and weight, you don’t have to account for anything else when positioning the mouse, so you can more effectively simply decide where you want to point, and the mouse will do the rest. I tested it on everything from Valorant to Fall Guys and found I had incredible control of my aim and direction with the Kone Pro Air.
This is surprisingly true in both the wireless and wired mode. The wire which charges the mouse and can be used to plug it into the computer is lightweight and flexible, never pulling or dragging on your movements. The wireless mode suffers from no latency or lag that you can possibly sense. It's telling that you can forget whether it's wired or wireless mode because the experience feels so similar. And the battery life is remarkable. You can use the Kone Pro Air most intensively for several days before you need to start worrying about the charge, but because the wire is so unobtrusive and easy to plug in, you can charge midgame without any issue.
The actual ergonomic design of the mouse is fantastic too. There is a slight depression on the left side to comfortably rest your thumb, while the asymmetrical shape of the handgrip allows it to slot in your hand without any discomfort or stress. The left and right-click buttons can be pressed from about halfway down the mouse for smaller hands, and it requires no extra force to press them down. In fact, the mouse buttons have the perfect amount of resistance so that you’ll never press them accidentally, and you’ll never not press them when you want to.
However, the side button is in a slightly awkward position, resting on the top of the edge of the left side. Their placement isn’t an issue in terms of height. Instead, the issue is their reach. With my comfortably average-sized hands, mouse button three is only just in reach, to the point where I could just as easily press mouse button four while reaching up. But with practice, this can be negated and overcome.
Overall, the Kone Pro Air is a fantastic mouse. Its sturdy yet incredibly light frame makes it perfect for precision and movement without sacrificing the features and lights you would want from your gaming hardware.
Review unit provided by the manufacturer.
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