Build Quality

Overall build quality is very solid. There is no rattle when shaking the mouse. When applying lateral pressure, no creaking of the shell can be observed. Lastly, with the "Zero Debounce" function disabled (default), no accidental clicks occur when slamming the mouse down. With said function enabled, however, so-called "slam clicks" do occur. This is intended behavior and therefore entirely in line with expectations. For further details on said function, please refer to the Click Latency section on the next page.

Buttons

Main buttons on the Kain 100 are excellent. Pre-travel is very low and post-travel is moderate, which results in a firm and satisfying click feel. ROCCAT completely revised the button construction for the Kain series, and it shows. The pressure point is even across the entire button, and the clicks have a rather unique crispiness to them. Additionally, despite the buttons being separated from the shell, there is no button wiggle whatsoever. Button stiffness is light. Omron D2FC-F-K (50M) (China) switches are used, but there's absolutely no way for me to get to them (see the disassembly section below), so no picture, unfortunately.


The side buttons are very good. Pre-travel is very low and post-travel low, resulting in a snappy click response. The pressure point is even across the entire button, and the click feel is satisfying, but not perfectly firm. Button size and placement is good as actuation is possible rather easily by rolling one's thumb over these. TTC switches (red plunger) are used here.

At the top of the mouse is a single button for cycling through the set CPI levels. Its click feel is very good as well. Another TTC switch (white plunger) is used for this one.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is very good. ROCCAT is known for their stellar scroll wheels, and this one is no exception. The individual steps are very well defined, resulting in great tactility. Neither scrolling up or down produces any unwanted noise. For my liking, the scrolling is a bit too stiff, however, which can get tiring after a while. The encoder is a TTC one. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires medium force for actuation. A TTC switch (red plunger) is used for this one. Unfortunately, it's yet again borderline impossible to expose this part for a picture.

Coating

The Kain 100 has a matte UV coating on the top and some sort of finely textured plastic (no grips) on the sides. In both cases, it's very grippy and doesn't attract fingerprints, dirt, or the likes too much. It's easy to clean, and there are no signs of wear left after doing so. The surface on the sides in particular provides excellent grip without picking up too much dirt. All in all, an excellent coating.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Disassembling the Kain 100 is both easy and difficult. Removing the two big feet along with the screws underneath is the easy part. Some caution ought to be applied when popping the main and bottom shell apart to avoid damaging the ribbon cable connecting the two. If you intend to disassemble the mouse any further, however, things get complicated fast. While the main PCB merely holds the sensor, MCU, and wheel click switch, everything else sits on a second PCB screwed into the top shell, along with several smaller PCBs holding the buttons. Getting these out without breaking something is nearly impossible. The PCBs are all fairly thin, so some thought has been put into keeping the mouse light. I'm unable to identify the MCU.


Since the overall construction is quite unique and novel for a gaming mouse, going into more detail is in order here. The standard design for a computer mouse has the button switches sit on a PCB, in contact with a stem belonging to the button part of the top shell. The scroll wheel encoder along with its switch typically sit on a PCB, too, and the top shell has a gap where the scroll wheel is located. The Kain series has an entirely different approach. Both the main switches and the scroll wheel have their own housing, with the main button switches sitting at the exact same angle as the buttons themselves. A spring mechanism is connected to the button housings, which ensures the click tension stays consistently high. All of these separate parts are then connected to the top-shell PCB, which is in turn connected to the main PCB. It's a highly refined design with an amount of engineering seldom seen elsewhere.

As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws.