Roccat Burst Pro Air review: "Glides like a professional ice skater"

The Roccat Burst Pro Air is yet another reminder that the brand knows how to make some great-looking peripherals that perform very well. Unboxing the Roccat Burst Pro Air will have you wanting an all-white PC setup (or black as that's the mouse's other colorway) and when the vibrant RGB lights send a honeycomb pattern across the entire top of the mouse, you may struggle to not audibly react in awe.

This thing looks damn good, and it performs well enough to contend with the best gaming mouse or best wireless gaming mouse. While hardcore players may dislike its weight considering it's called the Burst Pro Air, my tiny hands and fake nails had no problem using this mouse while working and gaming. At $100 / £90, this isn't the cheapest wireless mouse you can buy, but it's certainly worth it if that's within your budget. 

Design

The Roccat Burst Pro Air has a semi-translucent center shell that lets the honeycomb RGB lighting really pop - in many situations, RGB lighting on a gaming mouse can be pointless as your hand covers it, but not here. There are four RGB zones on the mouse, and they are lovely and bright as they shift between colors. 

There are two switches under the mouse that let you toggle between Bluetooth or 2.4ghz wireless use (the latter of which uses a dongle that can store inside the mouse), and another button to link them. There's also Roccat's signature Phantom Flex cable for when you need to charge the mouse, and heat-treated PTFE feet on the bottom for a little extra fluidity in your movements.

Features

The Roccat Burst Pro Air boasts Titan switches, which I previously thought were only available in gaming keyboards. Titan switches are Roccat's name for TTC opticals, a switch that uses light induction to trigger the press. Optical switches are faster than mechanical switches, so it's great to have this built into a mouse - you always want to be able to click on heads faster than your enemies can.

The Burst Pro Air uses Roccat’s Owl-Eye sensor and has a maximum DPI of 19,000 and 400 IPS. It has 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connectivity, a detachable Phantom Flex cable with rapid charging via USB-C, pre-tuned PTFE feet, and 100 hours of battery life. The mouse is also water and dust resistant thanks to its shell and has a symmetrical build. It's also NVIDIA Reflex compatible, which can dramatically reduce latency via game and GPU optimizations.

Performance

The Burst Pro Air glides like a professional ice skater across my mouse pad. The heat-treated PTFE feet on the bottom of the mouse make it feel like it's been broken in for months - this sucker glides so easily across my mouse pad, that it can be somewhat forgiven for its 2.8oz weight. I'm still learning how to be a good M&K player, but I do notice that the Roccat Burst Pro Air's sensor seems sluggish until I up the mouse sensitivity. During regular work hours, I easily navigate between windows and edit images. When jumping into the Overwatch 2 beta, I adjust the DPI a smidge to make up for the game's speed, and the mouse feels fantastic. 

Roccat claims the Burst Pro Air has 100 hours of battery life, and while I haven't exactly hit that amount of playtime yet, it hasn't needed a charge in the week or so since I've been using it. And when your Burst Pro Air dies, the Phantom Flex cable is fantastic and flexible, so a few hours of charging won't be a drag to your playing experience.

I use a palm grip and have relatively small hands (and long nails), and the Burst Pro Air feels great. It may be tough for smaller-handed people to use this with a claw or fingertip grip, but anyone with medium-sized hands and up can use this gaming mouse with ease. The Roccat Burst Pro Air feels great during lengthy work and play sessions, and the optical switches still have a great mechanical feel when clicked. The Phantom Flex cable that comes with the Roccat Burst Pro Air is one of the most flexible mouse cables I've ever used (thanks in large part to the fancy paracord braiding) so much so that I don't mind using the mouse when it's plugged in. 

Overall - should you buy the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air?

The Roccat Burst Pro Air isn't the cheapest gaming mouse you'll find - at just under $100 it's $40 more than the excellent Razer Viper 8KHz Ultralight, which has a much higher maximum DPI. And if you're looking for a mouse with macro buttons and more customisation, then this may not be the pointer for you.

But if you're like me and are a fledgling M&K player who loves to be competitive, this is a great mouse for you. It also looks a helluva lot better than other gaming mice, especially with those gorgeous RBG lights. 

How I tested the ROCCAT Burst Pro Air mouse

Not only did I use this mouse every day for work, but I also played at least 10 hours of Overwatch 2 beta with the Roccat Burst Pro Air. I also used it to play a few hours of The Sims 4 and found it helped me deftly build rooms, place furniture, and toggle between my six messy Sims. I put the Roccat Burst Pro Air through its paces, and it performed. 

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