Roccat Kone Pure Ultra review

Lightweight and well-crafted

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Roccat Kone Pure Ultra
(Image: © Future)

TechRadar Verdict

An excellent, if fairly basic, mouse from Roccat that trades some fancy gaming features for a super-light design, but doesn’t skimp on the internal hardware to maintain high performance in a variety of scenarios.

Pros

  • +

    Ultra-light design

  • +

    Durable exterior

  • +

    Buttons feels great

Cons

  • -

    A bit light on features

  • -

    Cable feels cheap

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The Roccat Kone Pure Ultra might not have the adjustable weighting or seven hundred programmable buttons that come as part of the ‘gaming mouse’ experience, but it doesn’t need any of that. 

There’s something to be admired in a product that is fundamentally simple, but done perfectly. As Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practised one kick 10,000 times”. For Roccat, this mouse is that one kick.

There’s very little not to like about the Kone Pure Ultra; the initial appearance is a simple one, which would be deceptive of the Pure Ultra’s quality if it weren’t for the price tag - this Kone costs $69.99 (£59.99, around AU$100) right now. 

That might sound expensive for a product that could easily be mistaken for a ten-dollar supermarket mouse (were it not for the RGB lighting), but the Pure Ultra proves itself to be worth the cash.

Roccat Kone Pure Ultra

Don't be fooled by its simple design – this is still a fine gaming mouse (Image credit: Future)

That deceptive appearance manifests as a plain black wired mouse, with the usual left and right buttons, scroll wheel and two additional buttons on the left-hand side above the thumb rest, along with two buttons for real-time sensitivity tweaks to the rear of the scroll wheel. All six buttons feel satisfying to click, and any latency was virtually undetectable.

Scrolling is a pleasant experience too; while the scroll rate is fixed - no free-spinning scroll wheel mode here - it feels sturdy, as does the rest of the construction. Considering that this mouse weighs just 66g, it’s still perfectly durable.

Buttons aside, the broader user experience is great. The two rubberized base pads glide smoothly over most surfaces, and the 16000 DPI optical sensor has a customizable lift-off distance that can be adjusted down below 1mm (depending on your mousepad). Overall mouse sensitivity is fantastic.

Roccat Kone Pure Ultra

There's not a huge amount of buttons here (Image credit: Future)

An extremely low weight and lift-off distance makes this a mouse ideal for specific purposes. Decreased lift-off distance is perfect for camera control in games, particularly for gamers who prefer lower sensitivities. It also provides a smoother experience in 3D design software, although the Kone Pure Ultra is very clearly marketed as a gaming mouse.

Of course, that means RGB lighting, because god forbid any piece of gaming hardware isn’t adorned with gaudy LEDs. Thankfully, the Pure Ultra keeps it relatively subtle, with a glowing Roccat logo that can be customised in the manufacturers Swarm software, which also allows the tweaking of other settings such as scroll speed, polling rate and button assignment. The lighting is quite bright, but remains concealed under the palm during normal use so as to avoid distraction.

Roccat Kone Pure Ultra

Of course, it comes with RGB lighting (Image credit: Future)

The seventy-dollar price tag may be a bit daunting, but most parts of this mouse feel worth the price. The only exception is the rubber-coated cable, which is a bit inflexible and feels somewhat cheap. It isn’t a deal breaker, we just wish it was woven or simply higher-quality - the point where it meets the USB connector in particular feels like it might be in danger of breaking after extended use.

The Roccat Kone Pure Ultra is a great mouse for the casual gamer, or the FPS fan who enjoys a clean, clutter-free experience. If you’re a fan of mouse hotkeys in your games, though, the Pure Ultra doesn’t quite have the amount of customization that we’ve come to expect from gaming mice. That doesn’t make it a bad product; there are simply more complex options available.

Roccat Kone Pure Ultra

It performs well for the price (Image credit: Future)

Buy it if…

You love lightweight
At just sixty-six grams, the Kone Pure Ultra is as lightweight as mouses come without sacrificing design integrity. Using it is somewhat freeing, although if you’re used to a more weighty mouse, there may be a small adjustment period.

You want to keep it simple
Gaming mice seem to have more and more buttons on them these days. This reviewer owns a mouse with twelve additional buttons, but if you prefer a more stripped-back mouse experience, the Kone Pure Ultra has you covered.

You have a fancy cloth mousepad
The Kone Pure Ultra’s super-low lift-off distance settings demand the use of certain cloth mousepads. If you’ve already splashed out on one of those to reduce your lift-off distance, the Pure Ultra can probably do even better than your current mouse.

Don’t buy it if…

You like mouse hotkeys
Two additional buttons beyond the normal mouse model might sound like a lot to some people, but that’s not necessarily the case for gamers. If you prefer keeping your fingers glued to the WASD and controlling your games from your mouse, the Kone Pure Ultra lacks the buttons for it.

You want weight control
Adjustable mouse weighting has been popularized more recently by gaming-oriented mouse brands, allowing gamers to fine-tune the handling of their mouse. The Kone Pure Ultra doesn’t have any of that; what you see is what you get.

You’re on a budget
Seventy dollars is a perfectly reasonable asking price for this mouse, but it isn’t cheap. If you’re after a budget gaming mouse with a similar button layout, there are definitely better places to look. 

Christian Guyton
Christian Guyton
Editor, Computing

Christian is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing Editor. He came to us from Maximum PC magazine, where he fell in love with computer hardware and building PCs. He was a regular fixture amongst our freelance review team before making the jump to TechRadar, and can usually be found drooling over the latest high-end graphics card or gaming laptop before looking at his bank account balance and crying.

Christian is a keen campaigner for LGBTQ+ rights and the owner of a charming rescue dog named Lucy, having adopted her after he beat cancer in 2021. She keeps him fit and healthy through a combination of face-licking and long walks, and only occasionally barks at him to demand treats when he’s trying to work from home.