Turtle Beach Burst II Air wireless gaming mouse review — Blue-collar burst

Something that goes unnoticed a lot of times in PC gaming is a good mouse. I think plenty of people find great ones, but if you’re like me you get stuck with whatever specific one you use and that’s it. There are a lot of smaller companies replicating quality gaming mice as well, so it’s easy to find a cheap one that will do what you need it to. Occasionally, a mouse comes along that not only feels good, but performs at an exceptionally high level. Today, that gaming mouse is the Turtle Beach Burst II Air. I also checked out the Vulcan II TKL Pro gaming keyboard, which goes great with this mouse. You can check out the review here.

There’s not much in the box, but let’s go over what is. Inside you’ll find the Burst II Air mouse, a USB dongle, a USB-A to C adapter for said dongle, the PhantomFlex USB-C charging cable, and some additional skates and grip tape alongside the paperwork. I appreciate the USB dongle being USB-A, because even my new computer build only has one USB-C port. The ability to use the adapter to move the dongle closer or give you the ability to run it via a USB-C to USB-C cable is also nice, so if you have the connections, you can use them. Similar to the Vulcan II TKL Pro, the Burst II Air comes with a really nice braided cable that’s loose enough to move around if you’re needing to use it wired.

The Burst II Air isn’t a looker and, if we’re being honest, is somewhat basic in appearance. The design is clean, but it’s not showy. As I’ve found though, when your hand covers the mouse, what’s the point in a lot of RGB you can’t see? Speaking of, there is none on or in the Burst II Air, with a single LED indicator light right below the scroll wheel. Overall, everything is more or less exactly what you’d expect, with two triggers (both of which are longer than a lot of mouse triggers I’ve seen), a DPI button, and two additional buttons on the left side along with the aforementioned scroll wheel.

Even if it isn’t a showpiece, holding the Burst II Air in hand is extremely comfortable. The mouse has a rounded shape, akin to a regular computer mouse, but something about the choice in plastic feels soft to the touch. This, along with the ergonomics of the Burst II Air effortlessly fitting into your palm make your sessions pleasant. Not every mouse passes the grip test, but the Burst II Air does easily.

Something else impressive is the weight, coming in at only 47 grams. I’ve generally used honeycomb shell mice given the lightweight nature of them, but this one with a normal shell weighs even less than the lightest one I’ve used (the Pwnage Stormbreaker is 51 grams, although it’s magnesium metal). This combined with some great skates have allowed the Burst II Air to glide across my mousepad, moving smoothly as I’ve navigated games, applications, and the Internet.

As I mentioned with the Vulcan II TKL Pro keyboard, gaming with a mouse and keyboard isn’t my strong suit, but I can do it when necessary. I can also recognize when either are doing the job correctly, and I’m glad to say the Burst II Air does as well as its keyboard friend. The Burst II Air sports an Owl-Eye optical sensor, which is capable of 26,000 DPI. I personally don’t go higher than 3200, so I don’t know who that’s for, but more power to you… literally.

Every movement I made as I played Halo was precise; I’m sure I’d become a fiend with the Burst II Air if I wasn’t so attached to my controller. The button presses also have a different sort of clickiness to them that I really like, it’s precise without being too clicky. This tactile feel is due to the Titan optical switch, and it’s fantastic. At any rate, the satisfaction of flicking the mouse when you have the S7 Halo Sniper Rifle in hand and clicking it to the devastating effect of a headshot never gets old, and this mouse has the tools to do it again and again.

Battery life is yet another arrow in the Burst II Air’s quiver. It may be a heat-seeking missile, because I’ve been using the heck out of it since receipt and still have 75% of the battery available. Turtle Beach advertises up to 120 hours of battery life, and I firmly believe that after my time with the Burst II Air. If you need a gaming mouse you don’t have to constantly charge, this fits the bill.

When you’re like me, you tend to need a mouse that can follow you around. I already mentioned the benefit of the dongle having an adapter which allows you to plug up using both USB-A or C ports, and even better, the Burst II Air supports Bluetooth. Given most of your devices are going to have some sort of USB port or Bluetooth, you can truly play your way. And yes, you can use the Burst II Air wired if you need to, perfect if you somehow use up all of those 120 hours of charge.

I can’t wrap up without mentioning the Swarm II software you’ll be using to update and customize your mouse. There’s not a ton going on here given a mouse is more limited in its use, but adjusting macros, choosing up to five DPI profiles, polling rate; that’s all here. Digging deeper will find a few extra settings I haven’t used before, like debounce time and angle snapping. It’s cool to see plenty of ways to get the most out of your gaming mouse, and with ever updating software, we might see more in the future from Swarm II for the Burst II Air.

You can get your Turtle Beach Burst II Air via this handy link!

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