Razer Viper gaming mouse review / Overclockers.ua

What manufacturers of gaming peripherals do not come up with to win the hearts of young gamers. For example, in the Glorious Model O mouse, holes were made in the body in order to lighten its weight as much as possible (in the current version, it does not exceed 67 grams). Following them, Cooler Master made the MM710 mouse, similar in concept. Although it all started with the Thermaltake Ventus series, however, they were more worried about palm ventilation … And A4Tech went further and applied a technological novelty in P-series mice – optical switches for the main keys. Do you remember Dream Machines DM1 FPS? Mouse with a very light and soft “air” cable. Well, Razer took a closer look at all this diversity and released the Viper e-sports mouse, which incorporated such advantages as a very light body, perfect cable, excellent sensor and optical switches. And all this in a symmetrical case in the spirit of Sensei. Sounds tempting? That’s what we thought.

Specifications

Contents of delivery

The packaging of the mouse is in the corporate style of Razer, which they have been using for the past few years. The front and back of the box are black, they have the image and name of the mouse on the front, and a listing of its advantages on the back. The rest of the faces are green, except for the one with the image of a cyber-athlete. There is a fabric strap on top for hanging on store shelves. The serial number, system requirements, and product code of the mouse are printed on the base of the box.

The package includes instructions and an appeal from the permanent CEO of the company.

Appearance and design

As mentioned earlier, the body of the manipulator has a classic symmetrical shape with a central backrest. The top panel visually consists of several parts, separated by deliberately underlined glossy inserts. The back of the panel and the main keys are made of matte grippy plastic, highly resistant to fingerprints. Since the LKM and PCM panels are made separate from the rest of the case, there is a slight play in them. But optical mechanisms are used here as switches. Their main advantage is the almost complete absence of a signal delay when pressed, since there are no rubbing metal contacts and there is no need to set a delay for the “rattling” time. The company promises that the response time of the new mechanisms does not exceed 0.2 ms. Unfortunately, we have nothing to verify this. The MTBF resource is declared within 70 million clicks. Tactile switches are not much different from conventional ones. They are quite light in terms of activation force, without free play, when triggered, they emit a short, quiet and distinct click. Another good thing is that there is no resolution button on top – you can often hit it by accident in the heat of online battles. I will say in advance that it was transferred to the base of the mouse.

The left sidewall of the Viper is covered with a fine textured rubber pad that provides a perfect grip on the fingers. There are two side keys in the middle at the top. They are slightly tighter than average in terms of the required activation force, they are pressed with a muffled click.

The mouse scroll wheel is covered with small tactile notches. It rotates quietly, all fixation positions are clearly distinguishable tactilely and are clearly worked out by the mechanism. The wheel has no backlash, it is pressed quite easily. The signal cable enters the housing at the bottom center. There is a decent 18mm kink protection at the entry point.

The USB cable is extremely successful here. One might even say the best of those that I have ever seen on gaming mice. Its marketing name is Razer Speedflex. It is very soft and pliable, despite the braid. The mouse can be completely used without the cable holder. And it will feel like wireless. The length of the wire is 2.15 meters. The USB connector is shortened, with green plastic around the pad. There is also a reusable rubber tie that allows you to adjust the length of the wire to your taste, and a cap to protect the connector from dust.

The right side of the mouse is a mirror image of the left. Here, too, there is a rubber sidewall and two additional keys.

At the stern of the mouse, the illuminated Razer logo in the form of a three-headed snake is traditionally located.

The mouse has a symmetrical shape, and will be equally comfortable to use with both right and left hands. The case is quite large and will not fit the owners of small palms. Those with large or medium hands will be able to implement all the main types of grip here. The weight balance along the axes is excellent. The weight of the manipulator at 69 grams is simply imperceptible in the hand. I note that with a cable, the mouse weighs 99 grams, and it will be convenient to carry it with you.

The base of the mouse has two semi-circular Teflon feet on the front and back. The third oval leg surrounds the sensor in the center. The most modern optics PixArt PAW3390 is used here as a sensor. In the middle of the rear leg is the resolution switch key, and above it is a colored triangular indicator. The indicator can display red, green, blue, cyan and yellow, which by default will correspond to a resolution of 400, 800, 1800, 2400 and 3200 dpi.

The only highlight area of ​​the mouse is the logo on the stern. It is capable of displaying the entire RGB color palette, and can even show almost correct white.

Proprietary software

The Razer Viper uses the Razer Synapse 3 Universal Driver (current version 3.4.901.82102) as software. The driver is installed with the Razer Central user account control program and branded applications. Synapse starts through it. The software is updated both automatically and forcibly.

In the settings, you can select one of a dozen supported interface languages, and configure driver autorun settings. The official product manual is also available from here, as well as the choice of interface color – light or dark.

In addition, you can reset the connected devices to their default values, and reset the start guide to view it again.

The Synapse 3 start screen has a “modular” program layout structure. The new version of the program has the ability to refuse to load extra modules, such as the Chroma visual effects studio or the macro editor. The developer feedback form, warranty form, information about supported devices, a link to the Razer store, and a link to the proprietary Razer Gold & Silver currency system have remained in place. All modules that are not simple links are duplicated in the usual list of menus in the upper left corner of the application window. In the upper right corner there is access to the current user account.

In case of urgent need, the missing modules can always be quickly downloaded and installed in one click through the menu of the same name.

On the Customize Mouse Buttons screen, you can reassign any command to the eight primary keys and two scroll directions. The full list of available commands is indicated on the drop-down tab on the left. In addition, you can assign additional functions to the Hypershift mode, in which, when a certain key is pressed and the mode is activated, the functions of all buttons change to an alternative set of commands. The tab for selecting and linking a profile is located at the top center. At the bottom in the center there is a LMB layout switch for right-handed or left-handed people. The mouse has no built-in memory and relies on the driver for everything.

In the “efficiency” settings, the sensor resolution is adjusted from 100 to 16000 cpi in increments of 50 units. Separate adjustment of the horizontal and vertical axes is also possible. You can set five separate sensitivity levels, or leave only one level (disabling the corresponding slider). There are three polling rates to choose from: 125, 500 or 1000 Hz. There is also a direct link to a standard program for basic Windows mouse settings.

In the basic mouse backlight settings, you can adjust the brightness (between 0 and 100%). There is a slider that allows you to turn off the backlight completely. You can set the time for the backlight to turn off when the screen turns off or when the mouse is idle, from 1 to 15 minutes. In quick effects, you can choose reactive, pulsing, static lighting, cycling colors, or audio-visualization mode, when the mouse winks in time with the sound. Color and effect settings are selected separately, with different options depending on the current mode. Effects can be synchronized for other devices that support Chroma lighting. For more complex settings, you need to check the “advanced effects” checkbox and go to the Chroma Studio editor.

There is also a section for calibrating the height of the separation of the sensor from the surface. The basic default setting does not allow for calibration. But if you select a Razer branded mat from the list (or the Custom option), then there is an option to manually adjust the tear-off height in the range from 1 to 10 units, which corresponds to a range of 1 to 3 mm.

An advanced and convenient macro editor allows you to record all commands from the mouse and keyboard, including the direction of the scroll wheel. You can also enable the registration of the cursor movement trajectory. Delays are recorded as is or at certain preset values. All macros can be renamed, deleted, imported, exported and copied. Here you can directly bind them to the desired key by setting the parameters and playback conditions.

Ergonomics and testing

The Razer Viper was tested on the Razer Goliathus WoT (Speed ​​medium). The symmetrical shape of the mouse body makes it equally convenient to use it with the right or left hand. Due to the weight of 69 grams, the manipulator is practically not felt in the hand, and the streamlined ergonomics with grippy plastic on top and rubber side inserts are very comfortable to use. The balance of weight along the axes of symmetry is excellent. Any type of grip can be used. The only caveat is that the Viper will be too big for people with small palms. The mouse cover is stain resistant and easy to clean.

The main keys equipped with optical switches work well. Subjectively, one cannot say how much faster they are than traditional mechanical contacts, but the sensations are quite pleasant. Clicks are crisp and tactile. There are no complaints about all other buttons either. I was also pleased with the decent performance of the scroll wheel. It does not rattle, does not hang out and works out all the fixation positions well.

Separately, I would like to praise the magnificent cable, the existence of which you almost never remember, it is so light and soft. The legs have an average coefficient of friction, the inertia of the manipulator is low due to the low weight.

For some reason, Razer ditched the built-in memory, and the only thing the mouse can store is the five resolution settings. Everything else works exclusively with the driver. A rather strange decision, as for an esports manipulator. The backlight is implemented “as usual” not bad, but, it seems to me, it would be quite possible to do without it here.

The updated PAW3390 optical sensor is a minor improvement of the PMW3389, which is descended from the PMW3360. It works perfectly in the whole range of resolutions. The cursor positioning accuracy is close to ideal. High maximum speed and acceleration will not give the user the opportunity to cause the cursor to stall, no parasitic moments in use were found. The take-off height can be set to a minimum provided that there is a good playing surface. In short, this is one of the best sensors for competitive gaming. Another interesting feature is that Mouse Test for the first time was unable to measure the level of anti-aliasing on this sensor.

Results

The Razer Viper is a great gaming mouse that takes all the best from the competition. The symmetrical shape of the case, proven over the years, ultra-low weight, perfectly soft cable, newfangled optical switches with minimal response time, the best optical sensor. The device is really sharpened with an eye on those who want to show the best results in competitive computer games. And, in fact, the assortment of the company has not been so simple and successful in terms of the implementation of mice for a long time.

Viper has no critical shortcomings, in my opinion. The only remark is the lack of built-in memory, and the need to install a driver to configure additional functions.

The Razer Viper can be recommended for purchase as one of the best gaming mice in its class, provided that the buyer is satisfied with its considerable cost.