Roccat Kone EMP: a comfortable and precise optical mouse

Ergonomics

Reserved for right-handers, the Kone EMP is undoubtedly designed to offer a comfortable grip, at least for large hands who will appreciate its generous proportions (135 x 75 x 42 mm) and will gladly put their palm there. Its hollowed out edges also welcome the fingers well, improving grip and comfort, especially as the mouse is mainly made of plastic with a soft touch coating.

On the flip side, this material is also a bit slippery, which can sometimes be disturbing during the most abrupt movements, or when it comes to lifting the mouse to center it, for example. Especially since, without being able to be described as heavy, the Kone EMP is not a model of lightness with its 116 g (without cable), or 16 g more than a Corsair Optical Saber, it also provided with slices in soft and smooth plastic of similar width (80 mm). The Logitech G502, however a little heavier (120 g empty) is more maneuverable, because a little thinner and taking advantage above all of a textured elastomer coating which promotes finger grip.

Nevertheless, the Kone EMP remains fairly agile and glides well that to two large PTFE pads and a good balance of masses. In any case, it is a mouse that is pleasant to use, offering smooth and noisy movements, even on hard surfaces. However, it loses the adjustable mass system of its big sister, the Kone XTD.

The main buttons fall perfectly under the fingers and rest on Omron switches - the classic D2FC-F-7N (versions with the theoretical endurance of 50 million activations) -, ensuring a good quality click.

On the left edge, two other buttons are present, this time associated with TTC Red switches, which are more flexible and produce a more discreet click. These two buttons are nevertheless well separated from the thumb pocket, thus avoiding handling errors. On the other hand, although they are well separated from each other by a small plastic protuberance, their small size and their position make them a little less accessible than those of certain competing mice, for which a simple inclination of the thumb is enough to activate them. But this is of the order of detail, the edge buttons of the Kone EMP being quite satisfactory anyway.

Regarding the wheel, also signed TTC, we appreciate its well-marked notches and the possibility of tilting it laterally (2 more buttons). The click wheel is for its part provided by a TTC Blue switch, relatively close in terms of behavior of the Omron of the main buttons. These are also the same TTC Blue switches found under the two buttons located above the wheel, used to adjust the sensitivity of the sensor on the fly.

These 9 buttons, associated with the scrolling of the wheel forwards or backwards, can each be associated with two functions thanks to the Easy-Shift [+] technology, for a total of 21 functions. The secondary functions assigned can be used at the push of a button - by default the rearmost of the two edge buttons, which is quite practical to have a large number of functions at hand without having to multiply the buttons on the mouse. For example, a click on the Easy-Shift [+] button allows the wheel to adjust the volume rather than ensuring the classic vertical scrolling which is its main function.

Roccat does not forget the now essential RGB backlight on its Kone EMP, broadcast via two light bands that run over the top of the mouse, for varied multicolored effects and configurable in the Roccat Swarm software (see box at the end of the test).

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Precision

Unsurprisingly, as the declination of the famous Pixart PMW3360, the Owl-Eye optical sensor offers impeccable behavior to the Kone EMP. With a maximum capture speed of 6.35 m / s and a maximum acceleration of 50G, the most abrupt movements do not scare him and precision is at the rendezvous thanks to a reproduction of movements according to an optical ratio 1: 1. No miraculous function, however, behind this Roccat marketing designation, but the sensor does exactly what is expected of it.

High-sensitivity gaming enthusiasts will be thrilled, as the sensor can climb up to 12,000 dpi. Remember, however, that at this maximum sensitivity, a movement of less than a centimeter is enough to cover the entire width of an Ultra HD screen (3,840 x 2,160 px). Suffice to say that the precision clearly leaves something to be desired under these conditions. The manufacturer also recommends a setting between 400 and 3000 dpi, indicating that the precision is maximized over this sensitivity range. Pro players will not say the opposite, since they are even content most of the time with a sensitivity between 400 and 1000 dpi depending on their gaming habits.

Surface recognition is also very good, the sensor easily accommodating our satin-finished desk and of course many other matt surfaces. Being an optical sensor, operation on glass or too shiny surfaces is impossible. However, it is always advisable to use a good mouse pad to gain precision and silent operation, while limiting wear on the pads.

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Conclusion

Comfortable, especially for large hands, the Kone EMP by Roccat proves to be pleasant to use, despite the smooth and soft plastic slices which are a little slippery. Very precise and fast thanks to its latest generation Owl-Eye optical sensor, it also takes advantage of its Easy-Shift [+] function, which is rather practical in use and makes it possible to double the functions of its buttons.

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