Roccat KONE[+] Detailed Features

Now that we have had a look at the KONE[+] mouse it's time to look at what drives it. In this section we look at the KONE[+] utility to see what level of customization and adjustment we have available.

Roccat does not bundle the software with the device so you must download it from their website. After downloading and installing the software it will automatically flash new Firmware to your device.

Opening the Roccat KONE[+] mouse settings utility can be done in one of two ways, either by clicking on the KONE[+] icon in the windows notification area or by holding EasyShift[+] and pressing the Ξ button. The first screen you will see deals with the sensitivity options, wheel speed, DPI stages and double click speed. Adjusting the various options doesn't require explanation and sliders make changing settings super easy. The contrast of blue on black neatly matches the color theme of the company.

The KONE[+] can have up to five different profiles set to activate when a certain game or application is launched. You can also set one of these profiles as windows profile (by clicking the WP button on any of the five profiles), as soon as you exit any application or game that has a profile assigned to it, the settings utility will automatically switch back to your defined windows profile so you don't need to worry about (or check) which profile is active.

Next is the button assignment tab, pretty much self explanatory I think you'll agree. Settings on the left are the default functions and settings on the right are the functions executed when each button is used in conjunction with the EasyShift[+] key. By default the EasyShift[+] key is assigned to button 5 as seen above, and can only be assigned to buttons 4 or 5 unless you have the Roccat Talk compatible ISKU illuminated gaming keyboard which can also have a key assigned as the EasyShift modifier for the KONE[+].

Creating a macro should be simple but unfortunately it isn't, at the same time it isn't a difficult task it's just more long winded than anything. Fist you must select or create a macro set before you can create a macro, I couldn't figure out how to create a new set so I had to create new macro's in existing sets. From here it is quite simple but the steps up to here were unnecessary in my eyes.

Next up is color control, from here you have a plethora of color choices guaranteed to suit any preference. There are four points of illumination on the KONE[+] mouse and 34 colors to choose from, which by my calculations gives you 1,048,576 different color combinations. There are also quite a few possibilities with light effects when mixed with flow effects (243 altogether). When you start playing with the light effects and mix them with the flow effects the color selection is disregarded and the KONE[+] will cycle through all of the colors available. Better still, you could have the lights stay on or turn them off altogether.

This enhanced image gives you a good idea of the possibilities available. The actual colors are not as intense as shown above and fade towards the middle but still give a very nice effect all the same. The sheer amount of color combinations and effect combinations available mean that the Roccat KONE[+] can be suited to anyone's taste.

Next up are the advanced options and here we have a couple of options unique to Roccat, known as the Tracking and Distance Control Units. These two features really take the KONE[+] to a new level when used in conjunction and give you great control of the mouse. Lift off has long been an issue with some well known brands and Roccat's distance control unit goes a long way to alleviating this problem. Tracking on a wide range of surfaces can also be a big issue for some laser mice and the tracking control unit allows the KONE[+] to adapt the laser sensor to track at its best on nearly any flat surface. It is recommended that the surface should be one uniform color for the most optimal results. the TCU (Tracking Control Unit) setting didn't seem to make much of a difference to me but I am playing on a laminated wood effect surface so I wasn't expecting too much. The DCU (Distance Control Unit) set to extra low really had an impact on cursor movement during mouse lift-off, keeping it very low indeed. I'm not sure who would want cursor movement during lift-off but leaving the setting to default (off) or on normal will see some movement for sure.

You can have a sound (voice) play when you change various options as shown above in the top right corner, this is really helpful when you are in game to get aural feedback rather than visual feedback as the latter will definitely distract you more.

The last tab of the KONE[+] utility allows you to check for driver updates and get online support in one convenient location, this saves you having to trawl through the website in order to find the relevant pages.

There is but one underlying problem though and this fault is either inherent to the software itself or maybe it is the process of flashing the ROM onboard the mouse. When you make any changes you need to apply them, this takes approximately 28 seconds from clicking apply to the changes actually taking place on the mouse. While 28 seconds might not seem like a long time, when you are experimenting with color combinations these 28 seconds each time can soon mount up. Changing settings, buttons or color combinations can become a time consuming and laborious task.

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