Roccat Leadr Wireless Gaming Mouse Review

A Closer Look

In the box, you’ll find the Leadr mouse, a pairing cable that can be used on the mouse, or to connect the dock. Of course, there’s also the vertical wireless dock that can also be used to charge the mouse.

The cable is nice and durable. It comes with a thick glossy braiding that helps protect the cable, but also looks pretty stylish too.

Old With the Old, in With the New and the Newer

So today is a fun day, as after a few years I’ve worn my trusty Tyon smooth. 14 hours a day usage will do that you know! However, I have my brand new one on the left, thanks for helping me out there Roccat! On the right, we have the new Leadr. You’ll notice they are absolutely identical, and I mean, that’s a great thing as I’m obviously a fan of the Tyon.

Leadr

I mean, Déjà vu is about the bulk of this mouse. It really is identical in terms of design and layout to the Tyon. So, just like the Tyon, it has that fantastic multi-function layout with its extra side buttons that are going to be brilliant for macro configurations.

Down the left side, you’ll find the mouse has a rough texture grip coating for added control. It’s very nice to hold too, with a deep recess that allows you to easily rest your thumb upon the side of the mouse.

So Many Buttons

The side of the mouse has the usual forwards and backwards navigation buttons. However, above that, you’ll find an analogue toggle that can be used in all kinds of cool ways. You can use it as a zoom in/out control, volume control, windows tab interface, Photoshop tool selector. Honestly, there are so many cool things. One unique one is elevation control in flight mode on games like Battlefield.

Below that, there’s a wing with another switch on it. Personally, I set this as an Enter key using macros. It’s amazing how much that speeds up my productivity. However, for gaming, you can set it to Melee or reload, which is really handy too.

MOAR MORE

The thing I love about this mouse is that it doesn’t compromise the classic mouse layout. It has all the basics where you would expect them to be. However, it does expand on it quite a lot. There are four extra front buttons on the outer wings of the LMB and RMB. These can be used for DPI and profile toggles. Personally, I have the right side set to copy and paste functions. I have the others set to run a script in Photoshop, and one set to an undo function that’s handy for writing reviews. Of course, with the software, you can dial these into what ever you desire.

Ergonomic

The mouse sweeps off to one side, meaning your wrist doesn’t have to sit at 90 degrees to the desk. This is much kinder to your wrist during those long gaming sessions and just feels a lot more natural. That does, however, mean that it’s a right hand only mouse, so keep that in mind.

Down the right side, you’ll find another big recess and more of that textured coating. The ergonomics suit my long fingers and rather wide palm really well. However, those with normal sized hands won’t feel overburdened either. Despite being wireless, the mouse isn’t too heavy and clocks in at just 134g, which is impressive given the size and features.

RGB-ISH

Unlike the Tyon, the Leadr ditches the RGB strip around the base of the mouse. This is no doubt in an effort to extend wireless battery life. Instead, if features a chrome metal strip that looks superb. Don’t worry RGB fans, it still has plenty of light up action as you’ll see in a moment, just not as much as the Tyon.

Charging

As you can see, the bottom of the mouse is very different to the Tyon (right). There’s a revised slipmat layout, and a large recess for the docking and charging pins. There’s now a cut-out too, allowing you to mount the cable to use it in wired more. Finally, there’s also a master power switch, as well as a pairing button. That’s not the only change though, as the old 8200 DPI Laser sensor is now a 12000 DPI optical sensor.

Dock

The Leadr charging dock looks bloody fantastic. It’s a little big, I must admit, but as a desktop friendly design, it wins when it comes to style and functionality.

You might remember those two pins on the bottom of the mouse? They clip into these two holes here. The whole thing is sculpted to that the mouse drops on the mouse cleanly every time.

Around the back, there’s a funky looking stand to keep it all in place. There’s also a small pairing button should you need it. We didn’t, everything paired immediately when we plugged it in.

Performance

The moment you plug in the dock, it lights up with this fantastic electric blue on the bottom row. It shows charging level, as well as that superb Roccat logo. Of course, turning on the mouse also fires up the RGB lighting. Where the Tyon had RGB around the edge and not on the logo, the Leadr has the exact opposite. The mouse has a long battery life anyway, promising up to 20 hours. In all honesty, we used it all day and it was on for about 12 hours. The battery still had more than one bar in it after that. Simply put it on the dock, and it’s ready to rock the next morning. That being said, if it did die, just take the cable out of the dock and hook it directly to the mouse. This will both charge it, and allow for usage as a normal wired mouse.

Latency

Wireless technology has come a very long way in the last few years. Because this uses a dedicated wireless dock to pair with, rather than just Bluetooth or some little dongle, we never had any issues with connectivity. I couldn’t even tell the difference gaming with it wired or wireless. If anything, it games better than my Tyon, but that could be the new and improved sensor more than anything else. However, praise where it’s due, it’s as robust wireless as any wired mouse.

Sensor

The new 12000 DPI optical sensor is sensational. It’s a big step up from the already fantastic 8200 DPI laser sensor of the Tyon. Subjectively, optical just feels smoother and more accurate to me, especially now that they can do high DPI now. There are no issues with angle snapping or prediction. I mean, you can turn those features on if you’re completely nuts, but they’re not an issue here as they’re all disabled by default. For working and gaming, the precision is a big win, and the wireless freedom is just the icing on the cake.

Macro Macro Macro

The crazy mouse layout looks over the top, but feels pretty practical. Admittedly, it takes some tinkering to dial in and the Roccat software is a bit clunky… much like every other mouse brand then. However, dial in those macros, set up your gaming profiles, set up your DPI levels. Then, save everything to the mouse and never bother with the software again. It turns your mouse from a mouse into a Swiss Army Mouse. I do a lot of editing work through the day, then a lot of MMO gaming on an evening, and it really is a master all of both.

So there we have it, the same mouse, but not the same mouse. I love my Tyon, but with a better sensor and wireless functions, the Leadr is just a little bit more impressive!