Roccat Kiro: the latest addition to the family

Ergonomics

The discovery of the Kiro is a good surprise. Upon unpacking, we discover the ingenious system of removable sidewalls which allows the installation of optional buttons that can be operated with the thumb. Thanks to a system of spikes and magnets that hold the interchangeable surfaces in place, you can choose to install two buttons on the right, on the left, on both sides or even nowhere.

As the Kiro's hull is entirely symmetrical, left-handers can use it in the same way as right-handers. An appreciable characteristic, too often put aside by the manufacturers.

The attachment system is well thought out, in particular thanks to the magnet which makes it possible to guide and maintain the surfaces in the right place, without having to manipulate mechanisms which could become fragile over time. Only downside, the buttons already provided with the mouse are, conversely, quite weak and of a quality much lower than that of the whole device. It is common that they get blocked during repeated clicks and we note that the rebound of the switches is insufficient, giving the unpleasant feeling of a soft press. On our model, the upper button on the left side gave big signs of fatigue from the first hours of use. Roccat specifies however that it is possible to design and print his own buttons, as for the Nyth.

Once the sidewalls are installed according to the desired configuration, we can more closely observe the design of the Kiro. Rather small (120 x 67 x 38 mm per 100 g, cable included), it approaches the Kova, while being shorter and more domed. The Kiro will have a hard time finding its place in a very big hand. The others will be able to pilot it comfortably, however favoring the claw-grip and finger-tip over the palm-grip.

The Kiro has the same soft-touch coating on the back of its shell as that of the Nyth and Kova, in black this time, very soft to the touch, but also very messy. The removable sides are made of grainy black plastic. There are no elastomer side grips to strengthen the grip, during movements that require lifting the mouse, for example. Fortunately, its low weight and reduced width allow sufficient grip.

Turning the device over, you can see two large Teflon pads which guarantee a very fluid glide. Even after several hours, we did not notice any clashes on the carpet.

Apart from the removable buttons and the two main switches, there is on the top of the shell the wheel and a command to navigate between the sensor sensitivity levels (dpi / ppi). The wheel is of a design similar to that of the removable buttons: in shiny plastic covered with dirty elastomer, it has the advantage of being rather silent. The precision of the scrolling is correct, but the sticky feel can be destabilizing. It is however not disengageable nor actuable on the sides, thus not allowing horizontal scrolling.

Finally, the Kiro has a discreet RGB function, since only the Roccat logo lights up. As usual, you can choose from a palette of 16.8 million colors, but the animations are reduced to blinking or a "breathing effect".

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Precision

The Kiro has the least sensitive sensor in its siblings, since it has a Pro-Optic R2 with an accuracy of 2,000 dpi, which can virtually reach 4,000 dpi thanks to an overdrive system provided by a 32-bit Turbo Core V2 chip. We are far from the 12,000 dpi of the Nyth or even the 7,000 of the Kova, although this configuration is currently sufficient (on a Full HD or even Ultra HD screen) for a majority of installations and games.

The mouse communicates with the computer at a frequency of 1000 Hz, which can be lowered to 500, 250 or 125 Hz. There is also a response time of only a millisecond as well as a capacity of potential acceleration to 20G.

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Conclusion

The Kiro presents a very interesting concept of removable sidewalls and a satisfactory overall grip. We can only salute Roccat's efforts to offer customizable mice and, above all, suitable for right-handed and left-handed players. Unfortunately she suffers from small design flaws and especially from the comparison with her big sisters. It should also be noted that the Kova, also ambidextrous although not modular, far surpasses it at all levels, while the price difference of € 10 between the two models does not justify such a difference in quality.

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