From software to hardware to design, the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air is a marvelous achievement and evolution in gaming mice.
When you have a bad mouse for gaming you know it. Maybe it’s not comfortable, maybe its grip isn’t good enough, or maybe it is so uncomfortable that you simply don’t want to have anything to do with it. I’ve had the latter before (looking at you, iMac from the late 90s), and it’s just the worst. Whatever the case might be, getting the right mouse for gaming is like finding the right pen for writing. You just know it’s the right one once you start using it. And boy did I find the right one.
This is the case with the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air. While the mouse might entice you with its gorgeous glow, the software, design, and functionality make it more than just a pretty PC accessory.
Let’s get right into it.
Design and Functionality
I spent the better part of 20 years being a Mac fan. I’ve seen all their designs and they have certainly evolved over the years with their mice. As mentioned above, the round mouse on the G3 iMac was probably my least favorite of the bunch. It was a puck. Eww. While they have gotten better in recent years, their design is always lacking…like a proper place to hook up a charging cable. *palm to face* *large sigh* Also, why would they need a gaming mouse? Lol…no games.
The PC side of the tracks has done a bit better but hasn’t really strayed away from its typical mouse curvature. I’ve seen the weighted Logitech gaming mice come and go while being fascinated with the more recent ROCCAT mice entering the market. The only cool variation of the bunch that I have been amused by, and sort of proud of is the collapsible Microsoft mouse, which is more a fidget cube for me than an actual mouse (it’s not comfortable, but it’s cool), as it slams so well on any meeting table.
We have mice that have no purpose (Apple), and mice that are afraid to try new things (PC). Where does a mouse manufacturer go from here? Well, you build a mouse with great design and functionality. And here we are, as I’m staring at the latest ROCCAT design with the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air wondering why it fascinates me. It could be that the mouse is as light as a feather when you move it, or maybe its mesmerizing glow captures my fancy and makes me feel special. Or it could be that the good folks at ROCCAT put together a mouse that has all the bells and whistles with the design including a comfortable and smooth moving reaction across almost any surface (not glass — *sad face*). It has a lot of things going for it.
For starters, it is one of the more comfortable mice that I have used on the PC/Mac. It reacts well, its movement speed is adjustable to about any type of gamer (I’m slow and steady), and it feels like a design that was thoroughly thought out. Sometimes engineers design tech for them, but the engineers and designers at ROCCAT designed this mouse for the gamer. It almost feels too light and simple to be a gaming mouse, as nothing about its design is overcomplicated. It’s just easy to use and adjust.
The design also features…wait for this…a charging cable (USB-C) that sits in the front of the mouse. Should you use up the insane 100-hour battery life of a fully charged ROCCAT Burst Pro Air, then you can have a wired mouse that is usable while it charges. Write that down, Apple. The placement of the USB-C input is slickly designed so it looks like a wired mouse while it is charging. It’s clever.
On the literal flip side of the mouse, features two different ways to use it. If you’re attached to dongles, like you’re living it up in the 90s and early 2000s, then you have a dongle/USB (2.4GHz) solution that you can use. The dongle is stored underneath the mouse and doesn’t get in the way of the mouse movement if you choose to go another route.
The other route you can go is Bluetooth (5.2 dual). You can flip from the on position to Bluetooth or to the dongle/USB position. It’s just a flip of a small switch underneath the mouse. The difference between the accuracy of each is milliseconds, though important for gamers, and offers whatever choice you choose to make with the connection. I really didn’t see the benefit of this until one of my kids crept into my room at night and took this mouse out of my bag, then promptly misplaced the dongle. We found it, but in that brief 6–7-hour period of looking for it, it was nice to see the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air had a BT option as a Plan B. I really don’t like dongles for this reason.
Anyway, the design options and the smooth movement of the mouse (19K DPI optical sensor) make this a good gaming experience. It’s also nice that the scroll wheel in the middle feels solid/rubbery and not cheap. The DPI button is located above that wheel and is also easily accessible when you want to speed up or slow down your mouse icon. The design is just as smooth as the mouse.
The design and functionality are top-notch.
Software
While the mouse and design functionality is great and all, I think I have spent more time with the software backend customizing the mouse to my liking. It’s so easy to do that it’s also easy to fall into that rabbit hole and forget you probably need to use the mouse.
The ROCCAT Swarm software, which takes care of a bunch of different ROCCAT devices, lays out the adjustable functionality of the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air. This includes changing different ways the color moves, its intensity, and how it reacts through the mouse. For example, you can have a heartbeat light, a breathing light, a battery indicator (zzzz), a wavy default choice, a fully lit mouse, or a blinking mouse illumination. You can also just have a stagnant mouse that doesn’t do any of that and just stays lit. You can customize the colors and just go with the regular themes that are preset. When you have an entire paragraph dedicated to color, you know that’s just scratching the surface, but also insanely awesome.
The ROCCAT Burst Pro Air contains 8 programmable buttons on it. The buttons can be assigned instructions for specific games. The game schemes are built into the software, so your options for what you want to be assigned are specific to the game itself. Not much effort honestly, and that’s just gorgeous. What about if you’re not a gamer? Well…first, get your priorities straight. What are you thinking? Why are you even on this site? Sheesh. Second, the mouse has specific tools you can assign the buttons for programs like Photoshop. Having shortcuts on the mouse that don’t require shaping your hand like a turkey claw to press several buttons at once on the keyboard is an absolute Godsend.
If that wasn’t enough, the mouse allows you to adjust its sleep time (default is 15 minutes) and the debounce time (amongst other odds and ends). To cap it all off, the software also allows you to store up to five profiles. The ROCCAT Burst Pro Air stores profiles. This is the most gamer option I’ve ever seen, but also a nice one that allows the mouse to quickly go to a specific set of options quickly.
The software complements the design and functionality of the mouse. Both work together with each other. It’s a perfectly designed PC accessory.
Let’s wrap this up.
Conclusion
From software to hardware to design, the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air is a marvelous achievement and evolution in gaming mice.
