Razer DeathAdder V2 Gaming Mouse Review

Razer’s peripherals are built around the DeathAdder, a basic, right-handed, wired game mouse with a unique top shell. (In 2019, the company said it had sold 10 million units.) Since the DeathAdder Elite came out in 2016, the only big update to the series has been a smaller Essential model last year. The $69.99 DeathAdder V2 brings the old reliable up to date by adding some of the new technology that Razer has been putting out recently, such as the super-powerful Focus+ optical sensor, infrared optical switches, and a button on the bottom of the mouse for switching profiles. These changes make the V2 as good as any other popular game mouse, but they don’t add a killer new feature that makes it stand out.

Razer DeathAdder V2 Gaming Mouse

PROS

• Form that fits well.
• The sensor is very strong.
• Optical buttons from Razer.

CONS

• Costs a lot for a simple wired mouse.
• Large for a mouse that plays sports.

Design and Features

The Razer DeathAdder has always had a reason for being. It’s the kind of mouse you buy when you don’t need a lot of extra hand buttons or expensive features. It’s a simple mouse for simple games, like first-person shooters. It has a simple, moulded shape and buttons on both sides.

Still, it’s made for people who play with their right hand.  Like the versions that came before it, the V2 is more about speed than style, so the design is simple and easy to use and doesn’t try to change much. If you’ve seen or used any other form of the DeathAdder, you know what to expect here. Its bigger size is best for palm and claw grips, and as soon as I put it in my hand, it felt right at home.

Even though it looks like other mouse versions, the DeathAdder V2 is the best. The V2 has a lot of big changes, but the one that stands out the most is how much lighter it is. We’re not quite ultralight, generally 70 grammes or less. Still, we’re getting close at 82 grammes, 23 grammes lighter than the DeathAdder Elite. The DeathAdder V2 hits this sweet spot, which makes it a great choice for gamers who want a light mouse but aren’t sure if they want to go as light as possible.

The new optical mouse switches are probably the other thing you’ll notice right away. The clicking sounds like magic. I used to think Logitech had the best mouse buttons, but now I think Razer is the winner. They feel good to touch and are stiff enough to stop accidental clicks. Razer has rated them 70 million clicks each because they don’t have any actual contacts, making them much more durable.

Performance

Since the Razer DeathAdder V2 is a performance mouse, I used it in some of my favourite performance games to see how well it worked. I love first-person shooters, so I jumped into a match of Apex Legends as soon as I could. The DeathAdder immediately felt comfortable in my hand because of its size and shape, so I could learn Wraith quickly.

Playing Apex with the DeathAdder showed how smooth it is for high-pressure games. Switching to full PTFE feet was smart, making the mouse run like a dream. I’ve used it on hard mouse mats, smooth mouse mats, and a plain desk, and it still moves better than any of my other mice with regular feet. This can make it harder to control, so when I switched to hard surfaces, I had to lower the DPI a little.

Over the last two weeks, I also played many other games like Overwatch, Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and PUBG. The DeathAdder V2 did everything I asked, like whipping quickly to catch enemies coming up behind me. When tracking enemies with my sniper gun, the new switches felt great and kept me from shooting by accident. When I switched games and started playing World of Warcraft, that was the only time I felt like the mouse didn’t work well. The DeathAdder doesn’t work well for games that require many keybinds because of how its buttons are set up.

Features

Be prepared to be inundated with prompts to install the Razer Synapse suite as soon as you plug in the mouse if this is your first time using a Razer product. Razer has no qualms about forcing all its software on users when they fire up a piece of its gear. Or, to suggest that its software users sign up for a Razer ID.

Synapse is harmless except from the obnoxious prompt to install a plethora of Razer software upon connecting in the DeathAdder V2 and the subtle push to create a Razer ID. Anyone interested in tweaking their experience can do so. In contrast, others can simply select the proper DPI level and forget about the programme altogether.

That makes sense, in my opinion.  The DeathAdder V2 may be adjusted to your liking with the help of Razer Synapse. Except for the left mouse button, nearly all its buttons are fully programmable. When it comes to the right mouse button, it’s all about the “$” sign. In other words, it’s capable of doing so. You need the scroll click to start your game, right? Done. It only takes a couple of mouse clicks. There are also the standard configuration options, such as a sensitivity slider with five positions that may be accessed via the buttons under the scroll wheel. This is made possible by the Razer Focus+ optical sensor, which allows you to set a value between 100 and 20,000 for each level, in 50-step increments. Higher polling rates of 125, 500, and 1,000 Hz are also available.

The RGB lighting of the DeathAdder V2 may also be adjusted using Synapse. Audio Metre, Breathing, Reactive, Spectrum Cycling, and Static are the software’s five preconfigured effects. The mouse’s flashing lights may be adjusted in brightness and timing via Synapse. They can be synchronized with those of other Razer Chroma-enabled devices.