Roccat Kone XP review

Our Verdict

88%

The one mouse to rule them all, the Kone XP is about as close to a perfect balance of extra buttons and general usability as you can get.

Roccat has certainly gone full steam ahead when it comes to RGB lighting recently, with the likes of the Roccat Magma keyboard and Roccat Torch microphone thoroughly out-dazzling the competition. The Roccat Kone XP continues this trend, with the entire top section of the mouse being translucent and lit-up by RGB strips underneath.

It’s a bit much for our tastes – we’re all for some subtle additions but this is not that – but it’s ultimately a personal choice. Far more universally appealing will be the huge amount of utility this multi-buttoned mouse brings to the table.

The Kone XP sports six extra buttons along with a scroll wheel that tilts side to side to trigger two more buttons. The extra buttons consist of a second row of back/forward thumb buttons, a button on a protrusion that sits below the thumb (between the desk and the thumb), a single large button on the top and two buttons off to the side of the left-click button, like on the Logitech G502 Hero.

It is a superbly well thought out selection that almost perfectly balances extra utility with accessibility while minimising accidental presses. The four thumb buttons are sufficiently large and well-spaced to make it easy to accurately press the right one and all of them also are well out the way when not needed, giving you room below to rest your thumb. Likewise, the two extra index finger buttons are well out the way but easy to hit when needed and easy to tell apart.

The same also goes for the lower thumb button, with us generally able to avoid accidentally hitting it while also finding it easy to tap by just slightly rotating the thumb down. Even the tilting scroll wheel buttons we found to be easy to not trigger accidentally. The top button is perhaps the least accessible with it being quite low profile, but you’ve got plenty of other buttons available anyway.

What’s most striking is this mouse’s ability to make all these buttons accessible in a variety of grip styles. Some other many-buttoned mice only really work well with palm grip styles. That said, the space between the upper and lower thumb buttons is only just large enough – if you have fairly thick fingers you might struggle to avoid accidental presses of the lower button.

This mouse doesn’t employ rubber anywhere to aid grip, which slightly hampers its claw and palm grip usage but its shape largely compensates for this. Instead, the only major downside when it comes to easily gripping and flinging this mouse around is its relatively high weight of 104g.

As for overall performance, the Kone XP can’t be faulted, with its excellent sensor offering flawless tracking and its crisp button response nicely balancing being lightweight but not soft. The scroll wheel also has a particularly satisfying resistance to it making for a very accurate feel when using it.

Roccat Kone XP pros and cons

Pros

• Loads of extra buttons
• Brilliantly incorporated extra buttons
• Versatile shape
• Loads of RGB

Cons

• Not all that light
• Rubberised sides would be nice
• Loads of RGB

Roccat Kone XP specs

Roccat Kone XP price

The Kone XP is quite expensive for a non-wireless gaming mouse but its elevated price is justified by it having so many extra buttons and RGB lighting.

Price: Expect to pay $90 USD / £85 GBP

Roccat Kone XP review conclusion

The Roccat Kone XP is a truly fantastic all-rounder of a mouse. It expertly incorporates a multitude of extra buttons without completely compromising potential grip styles and suitability to different types of games. It’s certainly outclassed for fast-paced gaming by fewer-buttoned, lighter mice and technically some MMO mice do have more buttons, but none provide quite such a fine balance. Its this combination that easily makes this our top pick for MMO mice and is why the Kone XP is on our best gaming mouse list.