Roccat Kain 202 AIMO

Wireless wonder

OH, TO BE A FLY ON THE WALL in the meeting room where this mouse was first pitched. What does a mouse do—some disruptive but well-liked marketing wunderkind asks—if not just point and click? What if we just focused really hard on that part? What if—at this point, the marketing guy sweeps his hands around dramatically— we created the perfect click?

This scenario is, of course, fantastical. But the Roccat website claims that the Kain did take two years of brainstorming, redesigns, and rigorous testing, and then goes on to refer to it as “our masterpiece.” Well, Roccat, we’ll be the judge of that.

The Kain 202 AIMO, itself a minor evolution of the Kain 200, is the physical embodiment of this reviewer’s favorite Ron Swanson quote: “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.” The Kain 202 isn’t complicated, and it doesn’t present itself as such. This isn’t a mouse for people who like lots of buttons, flashy RGB lighting, or unbelievably high DPIs. It does one thing perfectly: clicking stuff.

The Roccat Owl-Eye sensor was designed in collaboration with PixArt, so the general sensitivity is great. The DPI clocks in at 16,000, exactly what you’d expect from a high-quality gaming mouse, as is the 1,000Hz polling rate. But the true worth of the Kain 202 isn’t measurable in simple statistics, you see. It’s more of a sensation; using the Kain simply feels good.

The exterior coating is comfortable, with a white matte finish that is dirtresistant and feels comfortable under the palm, even after extended use. There’s no thumb rest, but that’s hardly a huge problem. The surface material is grippy, ensuring that it stays firmly under your hand, even during the sweatiest online matches, and the whole unit feels robust. We didn’t throw ours at a wall in a fit of gamer rage, but we reckon that if we did, the 202 could shrug it off.

Of course, the buttons are what really matter here. Roccat wasn’t messing around when it came up with the “Titan Click” split button design used by the Kain series, where low-tolerance springs and optimized switch positioning make for a clicking function that is responsive and sturdy, rated by the manufacturer for 50 million clicks. The Kain’s firmware also claims to process clicks up to 16ms faster than other gaming mice, and in practice, it feels latency-free— impressive, given its wireless design.

Our favorite part, though, is the scroll wheel. Again, there are no bells and whistles here; no adjustable scroll speed or wheel lock, just a rubber-topped wheel that rotates and clicks with satisfying weight. The same can’t quite be said of the two side-mounted buttons, which are fine, but lack the heft of the other buttons. That’s it, though: This mouse doesn’t have lots of programmable buttons, so if you’re a strategy or MMORPG gamer, you may want to look elsewhere.

Setup is a breeze, simply requiring you to plug in the wireless USB dongle and power the mouse on. Roccat’s Swarm software provides a degree of customization without ever getting in the way; there’s a little rubber DPI tweaking button just behind the scroll wheel, which enables you to swap through up to five adjustable sensitivity levels. You can also adjust the brightness of the RGB-lit logo, although that remains hidden under the palm when in use. The battery life is solid, requiring a charge via USB cable roughly once every 40 hours (depending on usage).

Plugging the Kain in to charge does reveal one potential annoyance: The micro-USB port on the front of the mouse has a shaped plastic surrounding that effectively prevents the use of any thirdparty cable, meaning that if you lose the included cable, you’re in trouble. Roccat doesn’t even seem to sell the cables separately. Also in the box is a small USB adapter, but it doesn’t appear to serve any real purpose unless you have a second identical cable, which again, you can’t buy separately. It’s weird.

It’s only a minor issue, though. The lack of a storage space within the mouse chassis for the USB dongle is more irritating, limiting the portability of the mouse for laptop use (unless you’re willing to risk losing the tiny dongle). But if you just want a high-quality wireless mouse for home use, the Kain 202 AIMO is almost perfect.

Roccat Kain 202 AIMO

KAIN Excellent button response; quick and easy setup; good battery life.

ABEL Relatively feature-light for a gaming mouse; no slot for USB dongle; shaped micro-USB port really sucks.

$100, http://roccat.org