This review is all to say that the Burst II Air is an incredible mouse. I remain mystified about how something so dang weightless can feel so well in-hand. What it lacks in physical customization it more than makes up for in weightlessness and an ergonomically pleasing gaming mouse experience. The over 40 hours of battery life I squeezed out of it might be lower than its competitors, but it feels far better and weighs far less. This gaming mouse cannot, and should not, be overlooked.
Over the past few years, I’ve used Logitech’s G502 HERO as my gaming mouse of choice. It had some heft, it had the appropriate amount of extra buttons, it had a simple LED (which I never bothered to adjust), and an excellent 25k DPI sensor. I’ve gone through two units because of how I’ve become so attached to its ergonomic design and how I could add some weight to it. Yes, dear reader, I’ve opted to make my mice heavier out of personal preference. I kept thinking that the lighter the mouse, the less accurate.
Turtle Beach’s Burst II Air has changed my mind about light mice. In fact, I still cannot believe that the thing exists. Holding it in hand is surreal because my eyes recognize that a gaming mouse is in my hand, but my hand cannot comprehend that I’m holding such a lightweight gaming mouse. I keep thinking that something is missing in the dang thing, like a USB dongle or a cord or something that would make the mouse feel more whole.
But alas, it’s not missing anything. It just works.
Clocking in at 47g, the Burst II Air is the lightest mouse I have ever owned, let alone used. It’s a symmetrical mouse that can be used by any kind of player, right- or left-handed, all the while featuring common buttons you would expect from a gaming mouse: side buttons and a DPI switcher. It features two wireless modes (Bluetooth and 2.4GHz) along with a wired mode for those who don’t want to bother with battery life (more on that in a moment). It also has a 26k DPI Owl-Eye sensor with up to 650 IPS tracking speed, perfect for minute movements and FPS games.
Using the Burst II Air is very weird because of its weightlessness. It’s so light that I managed to blow it across my desk (for science, of course!) while sturdy to the point of lacking “give” when I firmly grip it. Moving it across my desk was an effortless affair in part because of its skates, but the weightlessness helped, too. My initial concerns of it being too light to use quickly dissolved when I tested it in FPS and twin-stick shooters.
The Burst II Air comes with grip tape and a spare pair of hybrid skates that make its four skates into two. The grip tape was easy to install just by aligning the stickers with the sides of the mouse with little issue. I made a mistake on the right click button and easily reapplied the tape without it losing its stickiness. I recommend applying the grip tape as its rubberized crosshatches give the mouse a great texture when in hand. My hands are known to get sweaty, so the grip tape helped quite a bit.
Part of what makes a gaming mouse satisfying is how its clicks sound and feel. I personally love it when the clicks are audibly satisfying while having a light amount of tension so that each input feels meaningful. The Burst II Air’s Titan Optical switches have enough debounce to offer precision and a nice clicky sound. There’s just enough give when clicking the buttons that prevents me from accidentally double clicking. No complaints, folks, it feels great to use (especially in shooters).
Part of the reason why the Burst II Air felt so great in hand is because of its symmetrical ergonomic design, lacking divots and weird shapes for the sake of standing out. Instead, the base of the mouse fit perfectly within the palm of my hand. The side buttons are also perfectly aligned with my thumb, leading me to believe that thought was put into designing this mouse to feel as smooth and comfortable as possible. It feels weird to type out that a mouse feels comfortable, but the Burst II Air hits that sweet spot by naturally conforming to my palm.
The Burst II Air’s battery can last up to 120 hours on a single charge. I’ll type that again: The Burst II Air’s battery can last up to 120 hours on a single charge. This is unheard of from a Bluetooth gaming mouse. The minor caveat is that the 120 hour battery life is for the Bluetooth mode, whereas the 2.4Ghz mode (that most players will use) will last around 40 hours, which is still quite a long time for a mouse. Regardless, in my testing, I was able to get just over 40 hours before needing to plug it in again. Compared to some of its competitors (namely the Glorious Model O 2 Wireless), its 2.4GHz battery life is smaller than expected, but it still ends up lasting an incredibly long time for how light it is. Sure, charging a device is a pain in the tuckus, but I’ll take charging the mouse when I’m not using it (like making/eating lunch or taking a shower) over having something heavier.
Turtle Beach’s Swarm II suite enables additional features in the mouse, such as setting profiles, adjusting the polling rate, calibration, angle snapping, and motion sync. It also has a DPI calibration option that selected an appropriate DPI (between 400 and 3200) setting for me based on my accuracy and responsiveness. I have used a 1600 DPI for the past several years. For the purposes of science, I set it to 800 and then went through the calibration method, only to have it recommend 1600 after the fact. I’m impressed with how accurate its recommendations were.
When narrowing down the Burst II Air’s notable features, its mystifyingly airy weight and astoundingly long battery life are notable standouts. But against other gaming mice at similar price points, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify a lightweight gaming mouse for $100, especially because it lacks other physical features that other gaming mice come with by default. For instance, the lack of additional control and RGB lights might be dealbreakers for players with their eye on a colorful workstation and/or a need for mice buttons for specific games. This sounds nitpicky, but aesthetic appeal and longstanding button layouts matter for many players, myself included.
I still recommend the Burst II Air, however. It’s become my daily driver to the point where I blatantly refuse to use anything else. Weightlessness aside, it’s constructed quite well. Its optical switches are rated for 100 million clicks and have an excellent feel when clicking. I’m far from concerned about the mouse giving out after a year and losing its battery capacity and/or its buttons’ tension. I don’t have any complaints about the Burst II Air, really, other than that I wish it had a greater degree of customization in the form of LEDs and a smooth scrolling wheel.
This review is all to say that the Burst II Air is an incredible mouse. I remain mystified about how something so dang weightless can feel so well in-hand. What it lacks in physical customization it more than makes up for in weightlessness and an ergonomically pleasing gaming mouse experience. The over 40 hours of battery life I squeezed out of it might be lower than its competitors, but it feels far better and weighs far less. This gaming mouse cannot, and should not, be overlooked.
