Roccat Burst Pro Air

The Roccat Burst Pro Air is a great wireless gaming mouse that limits the number of buttons and customisation options, but with no loss to performance. It has an steep price, but understandably so. If you consider too many buttons a headache and need a mouse that’s ergonomically designed and aesthetically pleasing, then this is a great option worth considering.

Introduction

The Roccat Burst Pro Air is a stylish, lightweight wireless gaming mouse perfect for beginner, intermediate or expert gamers. It boasts a long battery life, gorgeous RGB lighting and great software to support it.

Excelling at performance, customisability, and battery life, the Burst Pro Air is a leading option for those who want a simple wireless mouse that covers all the basics.

However, it’s very expensive, with its sister model (the Burst Core) costing a quarter of the price. So, is it worth the extra expense? Here are my thoughts.

Design

• Lightweight at just 81g
• Stylish and symmetrical design
• Bionic honeycomb-style shell

I’m a sucker for RGB lighting. Normally I’m easily pleased in that area, but the design of the Roccat Burst Pro Air has raised my standards. The way the lighting illuminates the honeycomb bionic shell is stunning.

As if that wasn’t enough, the charming accents on its side grips (embossed honeycomb design) add extra dimension and style to its aesthetics. They’re not just for show, as they do provide some grip.

There are 6 programmable buttons: two side buttons, a DPI button, the scroll wheel (infused with even more RGB lighting) and the usual left and right clickers.

The detachable braided “PhantomFlex” USB-C charging cable is a good length (1.8m) and of good quality. On the Pro Air’s base is a space to store the USB-C dongle, as well as a wireless switch that can flick between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz connections.

The Burst Pro Air is ergonomically designed. It’s lightweight thanks to a honeycomb structure beneath its translucent shell, and didn’t cause me to have to twist and flex my wrists from feeling the strain.

It fitted snugly around my palm regardless of how I gripped it. Due to its symmetrical design, the Burst Pro Air will fit all grip styles, but may be better suited for small to medium hands. Unfortunately, it isn’t designed for left-handers.

Performance and software

• Programmable macros
• Onboard memory for up to 5 profiles
• 19,000 DPI Owl-Eye sensor

The Roccat Burst Pro Air is a wireless gaming mouse with the option to connect via Bluetooth or the bundled USB-C dongle. Roccat claims it lasts for up to 100 hours on one charge. This seems to hold up, since I only charged it once in a week’s worth of use, and it took a mere ten minutes to fully charge.

Its Roccat Owl-Eye optical sensor (based on PixArt’s PAW3370) is responsive and provides smooth and accurate movements. It has a max DPI of 19,000 and a 400 IPS tracking speed. It tracked well on my mouse mat, as well as wood.

I don’t always use my mouse mat (I know, sacrilege!) and I find that mice with poor-quality feet are a nightmare to move around, especially when I’m playing fast-paced games like Warframe. But the Burst Pro Air worked a dream – it has heat-treated PTFE feet which provide a nicer glide than the usual PTFE skates.

While I mostly leave my macro settings to my keyboard, I did set some profiles on the Burst Pro Air to see how well it functioned and whether it had a positive or negative effect on my gameplay. I used up all 5 profiles it offers on Valheim, Warframe, Bloodhunt, Age of Empires 3 DE, and League of Legends.

I was able to see more of the Burst Pro Air’s DPI capabilities when I played Bloodhunt and Warframe (although it didn’t save me from losing a few games). While I can’t say I could see its full 19k glory, I will say that the mouse tracked perfectly, and was able to keep up with my rapid movements and attacks.

Valheim and Age of Empires 3 DE are, obviously, less about the DPI performance. I found it useful with AOE3, because of the millions (mild exaggeration) of actions the game lets you bind. I bound my barracks and market to the side buttons, which was simple to do using Roccat’s Swarm software, but found using the bindings weakened my grip on the mouse.

For switches, the Burst Pro Air uses the Titan Switch Opticals, which Roccat claims last 100 million clicks. I’m a few million clicks away from proving that assertion, but having experienced Roccat’s switches in the Burst Core, Kone XP, and now the Burst Pro Air, I can confirm they may well be better than any switch out right now. They offer what I like in switches, a satisfying click and a snappy feel.

The DPI button cycles through five default values, 400, 800, 1200, 1800 and 3200, but you can adjust each up to the overkill max DPI of 19,000 using Roccat’s Windows-only Swarm software.

In addition to customising the DPI, Roccat’s Swarm Software lets you program macros, and rebind buttons. There is onboard memory with up to five profiles.

In terms of RGB lighting, you can choose between 6 effects and change the colour. All of these settings can be grouped into profiles: AIMO intelligent lighting, wave, breathing, blinking, heartbeat and fully lit.

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