Roccat Burst Core Review: How Good Can a $20 Mouse Be?

As I removed the Roccat Burst Core from its box, 1 of its feet fell off.

Budget gaming mice can, and often will, interruption yet – but not usually this quickly. I stuck the ft backmost on, pressed it into spot for 30 seconds, and hoped for the champion portion expecting the worst from this $20/£15 mouse.

After a fewer weeks of dense use, is it arsenic atrocious arsenic my archetypal content suggested?

Design and Shape

Foot fiasco speech the Roccat Burst Core has, I'm pleased to say, remained successful 1 piece.

It's really gone beyond that: it's impressively coagulated and feels much costly than it is. The ammunition feels reassuringly sturdy successful my manus and doesn't crook oregon creak erstwhile I compression it. I tugged, flicked and pushed astatine each crevice, and forced the main rodent buttons upwards – everything ever returned to its rightful place. It's besides worthy saying that mice feet are to immoderate grade designed to travel disconnected truthful that you tin swap them (although, clearly, they should ne'er autumn off!).

But it can't wholly fell its cheapness. If I pat the bottommost of the mouse, oregon definite spots connected its sides, I perceive an echoey rattle, presumably from the scroll wheel. Compared to the champion gaming mice, the near and close clicks necessitate much unit to depress, making them consciousness stiff – and erstwhile you do click them, they deficiency the crispness I'm utilized to.

The 2 broadside buttons consciousness mushy and hollow, the cardinal DPI fastener is wobbly, and the stiff rubber cablegram is permanently kinked. No substance however overmuch I twisted and adjusted it, it defaulted to an abrupt near crook retired of the apical of the mouse, resting connected the rodent mat.

It besides looks cheap: it's the gaping indents astatine the bottommost of the main rodent buttons and the dark, chunky mediate section, varnished successful a faux brushed metal.

But I can't sound it excessively hard for immoderate of these faults. Almost everything is imperfect, but it's each bully enough, particularly astatine this price. Those near and close clicks, portion not luxurious, are the aforesaid low-latency optical switches utilized successful the much costly Roccat Burst Pro, and should past a agelong clip – meanwhile, the scroll instrumentality is smoother and tighter than immoderate I've utilized connected mid-range mice, and it adjacent has RGB lighting.

What truly stands retired is its value and shape. At 68g it's acold lighter than the champion fund mouse, the Steelseries Rival 3 Gen 2, and it's peculiarly nimble for a sub-$50 mouse: it glides rapidly astir my mousepad with precise small force, though the banal feet are a small scratchier than different mice I've tested.

I bask the simple, symmetrical shape. Its wider basal won't suit precise tiny hands, but everyone other should beryllium fine. My hands are ever-so-slightly larger than average, and I enjoyed utilizing it successful fingertip and claw grips arsenic good arsenic thenar grip, wherever the hump filled my hand. It's wide capable to springiness my scale and pinky fingers determination to beryllium astatine each times, and I utilized it for agelong sessions of 4 hours and much without ever feeling uncomfortable. While it's not pleasant to click, it is pleasant to hold.

Performance and Gaming

The Roccat Burst Core's PixArt PMW3331 sensor is simply a downgrade from the Roccat Burst Pro and has a meagre maximum DPI of 8,500 DPI. But that fig doesn't truly mean much: what matters is however it feels portion you're gaming. I tested it successful Arc Raiders, Fortnite, Hades 2, Norco, and Dishonored 2 – I wanted to spot however it dealt with some hectic firefights and casual pointing and clicking.

It performed admirably. I felt similar it was tracking my movements precisely, with nary noticeable hitching, delays, oregon overshooting. Cursor question felt creaseless and snappy, and my flick shots landed wherever I wanted them to. I enjoyed utilizing it nary substance what crippled I was playing and, whenever I died successful Arc Raiders – often, sadly – it ne'er felt similar the rodent was the reason.

Its maximum polling complaint of 1,000Hz – the fig of times per 2nd the rodent reports its presumption to your PC – is acold little than the 8,000Hz allowed by galore high-end mice. But arsenic you ascent past 1,000Hz, you get diminishing returns successful smoothness and responsiveness and unless you're utilized to precocious polling rates, this volition beryllium perfectly fine. Remember: immoderate FPS pros inactive play astatine 1,000Hz.

Its low-latency near and close rodent clicks besides ne'er failed, and I could spam them consistently erstwhile I was firing semi-automatic weapons.

The 2.4mm lift-off region – the tallness supra a aboveground wherever the rodent stops registering question – is comparatively precocious and you can't set it successful the Roccat Swarm software. If you're utilized to little LODs past it'll instrumentality an accommodation but again, it's good for astir people. I play astatine debased sensitivities truthful I'm perpetually picking up my rodent astatine the borderline of my mousepad and moving it backmost to the middle, and I had nary problems.

The Roccat Burst Core confirms what we already know: the terms of a rodent isn't proportionate to its performance. If you walk 5 times this magnitude you will, technically, get a much precise sensor that tin way faster movements. But it won't consciousness 5 times arsenic good. Paying $20 for thing this coagulated makes a batch of consciousness if you're connected a budget.

Software

Roccat's newest software, Swarm II, isn't compatible with the five-years-old Burst Core, and the archetypal Swarm bundle is truthful old-school that you can't adjacent download it from Roccat's website. Or not easily, anyway: Roccat's download leafage is breached truthful I went to a third-party tract to nab it.

It looks amusingly retro, the substance size is acold excessively small, and its options are dispersed crossed excessively galore tabs – but it handles the basics well. Adjusting sensitivity and polling complaint is simple, arsenic is changing the scroll instrumentality velocity and double-click timing.

The scroll-wheel RGB is governed by an "intelligent lighting system" that I recovered unfathomable. A nexus that promises to explicate the strategy is breached and erstwhile I tried to power to 1 of the simpler options – a blinking light, a breathing one, a heartbeat – thing happened. It's bully that RGB lighting is determination for radical who privation it, but don't expect it to really enactment properly.

Samuel is simply a freelance newsman and exertion specializing successful longform journalism and hardware reviews. You tin work his enactment astatine his website.