Conclusion
There must be a goal that ROCCAT has where they take a product that on first glance isn’t that impressive to keep you expectations low and blow you out of the water with the final result. I did the same thing with the ISKU. I saw that black plastic keyboard and thought to myself, here we go again with another mediocre product and it turned out to be awesome. The same can be said for the Kone[+]. Now, I can’t say my expectations were as low as they were with the ISKU due to the previous knowledge of how amazing the ISKU turned out but the initial sense still remained.
At first glance the Kone[+] is nothing to write home about. It looks just like every other “palm” gaming mouse. Steelseries, Logitech, Razer; they all offer a version of this mouse. The difference is when you plug it in and install the software you’re blown away.
Comfort with the Kone[+] goes beyond your hand. I don’t know how many times in the last few weeks I caught myself just staring at the LED lights on the top of the unit. It’s so bad that sometimes I even stop typing in the middle of a sentence. It makes me feel like I’m 8 years old and I’m finally not afraid of fireworks (SHUTUP, fireworks can be scary!). I’m finally enjoying them and entranced for the first time. Yes, I just compared the LED’s of a mouse to fireworks. Sue me. For awhile now I’ve been using the M60 by Corsair as my primary gaming mouse. The M60 is a claw style mouse and if you’ve ever read any of my other reviews you’ll know that I only used palm mice before the M60. The Kone[+] reminds me why I only used palm style mice in the first place. My hand feels at home on the mouse. The thumb inlay is designed for my thumb. No, really, ROCCAT had me send them a model of my thumb when they designed this mouse. Okay, maybe not. But, Huge-Thumb-Nik feels like they did.
It might sound very adult of me, unlike the rest of this review, but I like when things work together. I like when my smartphone and my TV have special functions because they are both Samsung. Throw a Blu-ray player in the mix and we have this little electronic family. That’s how I feel when I use the ISKU and the Kone[+] together. The Easyshift[+] function adds a new element to the control of the devices. The macro ability is like no other. I can make buttons on my mouse do different things just by holding a button on my keyboard and buttons on my keyboard do different things just by holding buttons on my mouse. It makes me feel like I have so many buttons. Too many buttons. IT’S CRAZY!
ROCCAT’s Kone[+] – Max Customization Gaming Mouse is a really really good mouse. I haven’t switched back to the M60 (I still love you Corsair) and have no intentions to until this one is dead or I find something better (Lt. Rasczak). Okay, typically I never make a point to focus on the quote references I make in reviews but 5+ internet points to anyone who identifies what movie that’s from. I have no problem recommending this mouse to anyone and you can pick this beauty up at my favorite online retailer for $80. If ROCCAT took the Kone[+] and added a braided USB cable I’d feel no qualms in saying that it’s the best gaming mouse on the market. Maybe they could call the upgraded version of the Kone[+] the Kone[+_+] (…it’s a face). Overall ThinkComputers gives the ROCCAT Kone[+] Max Customization Gaming Mouse a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
- Really Comfortable
- Neat LED Lighting
- Exceptional Software
Cons:
- USB Cable is not braided