Roccat Gaming Gear Trio Review

Now that the Kone and Hiro are situated on my desk, the time has come to set up the Apuri and get the Kone leashed into the bungee tail.  The Apuri comes in the same soft black plastic finish as the Kone with a dark grey Roccat logo discreetly placed in the center of the base.  The sharp angles of the Apuri's triangular mount and tail do contrast a bit with the other Roccat items that went for rounded edges and soft angles.  This does give the Apuri a menacing look with the bungee tail hooking over the top of the base like a scorpion tail.

Typically a mouse bungee serves a limited purpose, to keep your mouse cord from dragging and catching on your mat and desk edges, and catch it from a fall should it get nudged off the desk, and to provide some tactile cues that you're reaching the end of your gaming pad.  The Apuri however, is part of Roccat's new SDMS or Smart Desk Management System.  Not only just a bungee, the Apuri is also a actively powered USB 2.0 hub with four ports.  The Apuri is actively powered with a provided AC adapter cord, and a micro USB cord.  The Apuri can be passively powered by just the USB cord alone, but you'll find yourself quickly exceeding its limitations if you try to plug in multiple devices into the hub.

But wait, there's more!  Not only are there four USB 2.0 ports on the Apuri, they're also illuminated!  The Apuri's base also houses blue LED's which illuminate when either actively or passively powered.  There are three windows across the top, the Roccat logo on the base, and all four USB ports are illuminated when powered, giving the Apuri some nice under lighting and embellishments.

With all the great things that the Apuri does, I can't help but think the Apuri is trying to wear too many hats at once.  Turning one USB 2.0 port into four ports on my PC is always great, and providing that in an actively powered hub that I can situate anywhere on my desk for easy access to those ports - brilliant idea.  However, the Apuri is also a mouse bungee and this is the area where I feel that the Apuri could have been beefed up a little more... literally.  The Apuri relies on gravity and friction to keep it grounded to the desk, but it's lightweight, and the tripod design does not lend itself a lot of surface area touching the desk. 

The Apuri rests on three small one-inch circular pads for its base, which only gives it a little under 2.5 square inches of actual contact area (slightly smaller than your average Post-it note) with the desk.  When you couple that with the Apuri's weight of 4.3 oz you can see why I had difficulties keeping it sitting solidly where I needed it.  However, if the Kone is any indication of Roccat's approach of listening to consumer demands, revision and invention, I can't wait to see what future generations of the Apuri will have in store for us.