Razer Abyssus V2 gaming mouse review / Overclockers.ua

Razer has a tradition of refreshing its range of peripherals every two years, and this time the update touched on the rather popular budget (by Razer standards, of course) Abyssus series. The 2014 model was replaced by the V2 version, which, although it retained the family features of its predecessor, nevertheless received a number of significant changes. Let’s take a closer look at the new Razer Abyssus V2.

Specifications

Delivery and equipment

The packaging of the mouse looks simple and elegant. The sides are completely green, the front and back of the box are black. In front there is a top view image of the product, and the main advantages are indicated on the back, among which the manufacturer mentioned a symmetrical shape, a new sensor and a resolution switch. Inside the mouse is protected from dust by a transparent plastic form.

The package includes an instruction manual, two stickers with the Razer logo and an inlay with congratulations from the president of the company.

Appearance and design

The appearance and shape of the Razer Abyssus V2 is almost the same as the 2014 version. The top panel is still made of pleasant to the touch rough plastic, the sides of the main keys are figuratively raised, which creates a kind of tactile warning that someone has placed their finger too close to the edge. The only innovation that was not there before is the resolution change button located just behind the scroll wheel. It is pressed clearly, with a slightly muffled click. The main buttons are quieter than average, with a well-chosen pressing force – not too tight, and not too soft. The backlash of the panels is minimal, the free play is practically not felt.

On the left side of the manipulator, as before, there are no side buttons. But then a large rubber insert appeared, which replaced the textured plastic. This change did not affect the overall tenacity of the surface, but the tactile sensations became definitely better.

In front of the manipulator, everything remained as it was. An anti-kink signal cable is installed in the center, and decorative perforated panels are preserved on the sides. The scroll wheel turns down quite quietly, but crackles when you turn it up quickly. Fixation positions are hardly distinguishable. The pressure is tight and muffled. The wheel itself does not dangle, but it can be slightly bent to the sides with your finger, which creates a feeling of backlash.

The USB signal cable is 1.8 meters long and has no braid. It is thin and quite soft. It is able to maintain a given shape, but straightens out over time. The connector is long, the contact pads are based on green plastic.

The right side of the mouse has the same rubber pad as the left side. In general, they look and feel similar.

The stern of the manipulator has not changed, it is the same rounded one, with a logo at the top.

The base of the mouse received only two visually noticeable differences from the 2014 model. The sensor has clearly changed here, and a protective Teflon ring in the form of a rounded rectangle has appeared around it. One large leg at the back and two small ones at the front remained the same as before. They are made of slippery, but rather thin Teflon. There are no holes to facilitate dismantling.

The shape of the Razer Abyssus V2 is symmetrical and versatile. It is well balanced in weight and will suit any type of grip, both right and left handed.

The lighting zones on the mouse are the Razer logo and the scroll wheel. They can be adjusted in color and brightness separately. There are three colors to choose from – green, blue and cyan. They look beautiful and do not blind your eyes in the dark.

Since Razer does not specify the models of sensors used, we were wondering what the inside of the device looks like. The mouse is disassembled quite easily – you just need to peel off the back leg (or make a hole) and unscrew one screw located under it exactly in the center. Under the top cover, a bright example of Chinese engineering was immediately discovered – a metal washer that weighs the structure by about 12 grams, if you count together with the screw. A very simple way to choose the necessary weight and balance its distribution along the axes of symmetry of the case.

In place of the main switches, there are mechanisms from Omron D2FC-F-7N (20M) designed for 20 million activations. This can be considered an improvement, because earlier such mice were equipped with switches for only 5 million clicks. The sensor is covered with an adhesive cloth pad.

The role of the optical sensor here is performed by Pixart PMW 3329DB-TWMU, which (according to unconfirmed rumors) is a proprietary modification of the AM010 series for the needs of Razer.

Proprietary software

The Razer Abyssus V2 uses the Razer Synapse 2.0 universal multilingual driver, which requires a constant Internet connection to save all settings in the cloud (it also has an offline mode). In the program settings window, you can check for updates, read the product manual, or select the interface language. In addition, it is possible to send a review about the product or follow the official web pages of the company in social networks.

The mouse customization screen allows you to remap commands on the four buttons and two directions of the scroll wheel. There are standard mouse or keyboard commands, Windows application functions and macros to choose from. All settings can be saved to individual profiles, the activation of which is tied, if necessary, to the launch of certain programs.

In the “efficiency” settings, the sensor resolution is adjusted from 100 to 5000 dpi in 100 dpi increments. You can set up five separate sensitivity levels, which will switch on the fly automatically, or with a special button. Positive acceleration of the cursor is set in the range from 0 to 10 units. There are three polling rates to choose from – 125, 500 or 1000 Hz.

The backlight setting allows you to select the color, brightness, and light effect for the logo and scroll wheel in combination or separately. Of the effects, you can use a static glow, the “breathing” mode, or turn off the backlight completely. The color can be set to green, blue or cyan. The brightness of the glow varies step by step, ranging from 33 to 100%.

Calibration allows you to adjust the height of the sensor separation from the surface for a specific type of rug. This can be done by selecting a Razer branded mousepad from a list of presets, or manually setting the tear-off height. I note that these changes do not have a tangible effect on the behavior of the mouse sensor.

The entire range of gaming surfaces from Razer is available to choose from. However, I did not find the possibility of automatic calibration for mats from other manufacturers.

The macro editor is simple. Here keyboard and mouse clicks are registered in random order with or without time delays. All macros are saved with individual names.

The statistics module, when activated, collects quantitative data about the use of the mouse. Data is accumulated separately for all gaming applications and devices.

The locations of the most frequent keystrokes will be presented as a heatmap on the screen.

The most frequent cursor movement paths can also be visually tracked on the screen.

Ergonomics and testing

The Razer Abyssus V2 has been tested on the new Razer Sphex V2 Mini ultra-thin mousepad. That is why it is worth talking about it. The surface is packed in a beautiful envelope, which allows you to feel it through a special slot.

The kit includes the mat itself with a futuristic pattern on its surface and two stickers with the Razer logo.

The main unique difference between Sphex and other gaming surfaces is that it has an adhesive base that can be used repeatedly and which fixes it tightly to the surface. True, the manufacturer does not indicate exactly how many dismantlings it can withstand. To remove the surface, you need to pull it by a special rag strap in the lower right corner. In the transport position, the adhesive side is covered with a removable film. There are no traces of glue on the surface of the table.

The dimensions of the rug are 270×215 mm, with a total thickness of only 0.5 mm. The surface is made of polycarbonate and is very slippery. Teflon legs ride along it with a significant margin of inertia, that is, you can stop the manipulator only with muscle effort, by itself it will slow down only at the edge. The manufacturer claims that this type of coating and pattern is perfect for any optical and laser sensors.

The Razer Abyssus V2 in its shape and dimensions fits perfectly into the hand of any size and is universal in terms of the types of grip used. The overall weight of the mouse is small, only 80 grams, and it is well distributed along the axes of symmetry. The coating is pleasant to the touch, almost does not get dirty and evaporates moisture quite well. The rubber sidewalls sit tenaciously in the hand, but due to the fine texture, they tend to get dirty quickly. The main keys are responsive, with well-chosen resistance. The scroll wheel is of average quality, without clear tactile positions, it slightly crackles, it is pressed hard. It did not cause me any special complaints in using it. The resolution change key is pressed comfortably, because it was immediately reassigned to the “back” command. The legs of the mouse are thin with a low coefficient of adhesion. They glide well on rag surfaces and simply fly over plastic. The backlight is well done and looks beautiful.

The Pixart PMW 3329 sensor left me with a slightly mixed impression. The strangest feature I noticed during testing is that it goes into low power mode after about five minutes of inactivity. This behavior is more typical for wireless sensors. Of course, this does not cause much irritation, but nevertheless, you can at least give the opportunity to configure the shutdown through the driver. The second point is LOD. It seems that the separation height is fixed here. At least, any changes in the driver did not affect the mouse in any way, and it steadily stopped reading the surface only when it reached 2.6 mm. This is a very average figure, and in intensive games, the twitching of the cursor during permutations will be noticeable. Now for the positive. It is difficult to break the cursor, it stably withstands speeds up to 3.3 m / s, and this is already the limit of the capabilities of a casual player. Of the parasitic effects here, only smoothing of the trajectory can be noted, but the good news is that it is at least stable. Perhaps it is caused by the variable frame rate inherent in this series of sensors. But acceleration is practically not felt. Trajectory tracking accuracy sags as resolution increases, so I wouldn’t recommend going over 2000 dpi if full stability is required. On the other hand, at low resolutions, in the range of 100-1000 dpi, this sensor shows itself on the positive side.

Results

So, if we compare the Razer Abyssus V2 and Abyssus 2014 mice, we will see extremely positive changes, including: a new sensor; more durable main button switches for 20 million activations; rubber sidewalls instead of plastic ones; additional key for changing resolution; updated three-color backlight; new soft cable. Well-chosen weight and shape and good slippery feet remained unchanged.

Not without problems, of course. In particular, the new sensor, like the old one, has a rather large lift-off height, which is not adjustable in the driver (although it should be). In addition, this sensor goes to sleep after a few minutes of inactivity, and the cursor freezes for a moment before moving.

As a result, we have two news – good and bad. On the positive side, the Razer Abyssus V2 is showing tangible progress over its previous versions. However, its cost is noticeably overestimated, as for a basic manipulator, against the background of solutions from its closest competitors. We hope that the company will pay attention to this fact and make this mouse more affordable, and therefore more attractive to fans of the Razer brand.