Turtle Beach has long been a brand associated with gaming. From its first gaming headset in 2005 to its latest entry, the Burst II Air Wireless Gaming Mouse, Turtle Beach has always strived to innovate in the peripheral market. With this latest gaming Mouse, it is once again aiming to set a new standard for the ultra-light-weight mouse category.
The Turtle Beach Burst II Air Wireless Gaming Mouse is a wireless gaming mouse built for accuracy, ergonomics, and speed. Featuring three modes of connectivity, a 40-hour battery, and TITAN Optical switches, the Burst II Air offers an impressive lineup of hardware and features. With both black and white options available, the Burst II Air provides a clean, sleek-looking gaming mouse.
With such a promising list of features while also being one of the lightest mice on the market one wonders if anything needed to be trimmed down to make it all come together. After some intense testing, it's time to find out. Grab that coffee, kick back, and check out our review of the Burst II Air from the good folks over at Turtle Beach.
Specifications
- Current Price: $99.99 (Amazon)
- USB Report Rate: 1000 Hz
- Software Support: Yes - Swarm II
- Profile Memory: Onboard
- SENSOR
- Sensor: Owl-Eye 26K optical
- Acceleration: 50g
- IPS Tracking Speed: 650 (16.5m/s)
- Min DPI: 50
- Max DPI: 26,000
- SWITCHES
- Switch Type: TITAN Optical
- Life Span: 100 Million Clicks
- CONNECTIVITY
- Connectivity: USB-A Wired, 2.4GHz Wireless, Bluetooth
- Weight: 47g
Streamlined and Sleek
The Burst II Air offers a fairly streamlined design. Opting to cut extras like RGB, the Burst II Air instead opts for a very functional design. The six-button mouse provides all the needed functionality to support most genres without any extra bulk. As a result, the overall look is minimalistic and sleek.
A single light rests on the mouse's top center indicating which DPI profile you currently have selected. On the note of DPI, Turtle Beach has opted to move the DPI profile switch from the traditional location above the scroll wheel to the lower left side of the mouse. The advantage here is never accidentally hitting the DPI button and changing modes by mistake.
Of course one of the most impressive features of the new Burst design is the weight. Coming in at a mere 47g, it is the lightest ultra-light mouse I’ve tested. At this weight, it is surprisingly durable. This can be accredited to the symmetrical design and solid outer shell. As for how my hand rests on the mouse, as someone with larger hands, it's still quite comfortable. The design allows my palm plenty of room to rest while still having good finger-to-button placement. While I’ve been using a slightly narrower mouse as my daily driver up to this point, the Burst II Air was easy to adapt to.
Examining the underside of the Burst II Air, Turtle Beach was able to further reduce the overall weight by hollowing out sections of the front portion of the mouse. Additionally, there is a third cut-out designed to house the USB Type-A dongle when not in use making the Burst exceptionally easy to pack up and take with you for travel. You’ll also find the mode switch located here allowing for quick connection switching.
As for the mouse skates, Turtle Beach has opted to include two different options for gamers to choose from. The stock skates offer four small PTFE skates common to higher-end gaming mice as well as two larger PTFE skates if desired. PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) is a heat-resistant plastic known for its reduced friction generation. When applied to mouse skates the result is a smoother, more responsive motion.
Rounding out the design is a high-quality, braided USB Type-C to Type-A charging capable and adapter for the USB Type-A dongle. As for extras, along with the extra mouse skates, Turtle Beach has thrown in matt black grip tape. While grip tape might not be for everyone it is custom cut to fit the Burst II Air perfectly and is a nice addition for those wanting it.
Precision and Performance
While the Burst II Air feels great in hand, it's the performance that stands out. Featuring an Owl-Eye optical sensor, a standard for both Turtle Beach and ROCCAT gaming mice, the mouse is impressively accurate and responsive. Rated for up to 26K DPI there is lots of room to fine-tune the speed and response of the Burst II Air. On that note of responsiveness, the Burst is rated for 650 IPS which translates to 54 feet/second. In real-world terms that means that the mouse can accurately register and translate impressively quick swipes of the mouse.
In fact, in testing the Burst II Air is incredibly responsive. FPS testing, in particular, really showed what the Burst II Air is capable of. It never missed a motion however small and easily handled my frantic swiping as I attempted to play through DOOM Eternal on Nightmare difficulty. For the record, while I was terrible, the Burst performed admirably.
For those wanting to further fine-tune their Burst, thanks to the SWARM II software both the DPI profiles as well as lift-off distance can be adjusted with ease. Other settings can also be adjusted easily. Poll rating, for example, can be set from 125 up to 1000 while debouncing and angle snapping can be tweaked to allow players to customize the experience to their specific gaming preference.
Another feature that feels great on the Burst II Air is the inclusion of TITAN optical switches. These allow for the aforementioned debounce adjusting as well as provide incredibly quick actuation. During game testing, the mouse clicks feel quite tactile and responsive while offering a satisfying clicking sound. Turtle Beach also designed the right and left mouse buttons with what is referred to as a tensioning system. This system is designed to provide a more consistent and responsive click experience. This coupled with the optical switches should mean an exceptionally long life cycle of the TITAN optical switches.
The Burst II Air also includes three modes of use; USB cable, Wifi 2.4GHz via dongle and Bluetooth. All three work exceptionally well with an option to have a dual connection setup. Thanks to the aforementioned toggle switch on the underside of the mouse, gamers can swap between 2.4GHz with lower latency for gaming and Bluetooth for productivity. This essentially prolongs battery life between charges. In practice, it works exceptionally well.
On the note of battery, the Burst II Air comes with a rechargeable battery rated for 40 hours on 2.4GHz and 120 hours on Bluetooth. Having tested the mouse solely in 2.4GHz mode I confirmed that the Burst was able to hit right around that 40-hour mark without any issues. If you are someone who prefers a cable connection, the included cable is built using Turtle Beach’s Phantomflex cabling which is impressively lightweight and provides a smooth gliding experience. It is one of the better cables I’ve worked with and when used while gaming isn’t noticeable and doesn’t seem to impact the gaming experience in any detrimental way.
Final Thoughts
The Turtle Beach Burst II Air is an exceptional mouse that offers a premium gaming experience at a reasonable price. With an excellent optical sensor and switches, precision response, solid form factor and ultra-lightweight design the Burst II Air is an impressive mouse. Turtle Beach has created a wireless gaming mouse they should be proud of. Priced at $99.99, the Burst Air II is a contender for the best ultralight Gaming Mouse on the market.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes. Products purchased through our affiliate links result in a small commission that supports the site. Authors are not compensated based upon clicks or commissions.
