Razer DeathAdder Essential Gaming Mouse: 6400 DPI Optical Sensor – 5 Programmable Buttons – Mechanical Switches – Rubber…

Arguably the most iconic gaming mouse, likely due to Razer’s relentless marketing.I have tried and had issues with many mice, I have had issues with Deathadders as well, even returning a Deathadder purchased recently due to the shell being defective (right click had a huge amount of travel to the switch instead of sitting on it as it is supposed to). Razer does not have the best quality control and when you purchase a Razer product, you have to anticipate that you might need to return it for another copy should it have a defect.Out of 4 Deathadder mice that I have had, only one has been completely unusable, and that was an Elite ordered from Amazon, after a phone call to Amazon’s outstanding customer support, I had an advanced replacement sent and dropped the defective mouse off to be shipped back at no cost to myself. That was the mouse with the poorly fitting shell that had a ridiculous amount of pre-travel. The replacement is what I would consider to be a good deathadder, and Razer has a 2 year warranty should that change.This review does not look very positive thus far, but here’s the catch- despite reports of questionable QC on Razer’s part, the Deathadder is very difficult to beat, the Synapse software and lack of onboard memory is disappointing, but this mouse sits at my desk plugged into a very non-mobile desktop. I am not an e-Sports player. Synapse is loaded on my boot drive- an SSD, and it loads up with my DPI and button mapping when my computer starts, and then I forget it’s installed.I am very particular with gaming mice, having owned a G900, G Pro, Zowie EC series, G403, Corsair Glaive, G303- and will most likely continue to buy the gaming mice that are released that look appealing. But I am convinced a Deathadder will always be a top choice, and I believe future renditions of the Deathadder will continue to improve. The mouse is comfortable, uses Omron switches, a top quality sensor, looks nice sitting on your desk, and will hopefully always be available. Many companies have had successful and well-liked mice only to discontinue them, but Razer has been making the Deathadder for over a decade. If every Deathadder had perfect QC and there wasn’t a risk of getting a crappy one, I would rate it 5 stars, I took 1 star away for QC issues, and 1 for the lack of onboard memory.If I could take the place of Razer’s CEO for the next Deathadder generation, I would focus on making the QC a bit better, incorporating on-board memory for traveling or tournament players, and instead of an up and down dpi button using two buttons which takes more space, I would use a single dpi cycle button that doesn’t get in the way, as the G403 does. I also feel that the rubber side grips are a waste of money, they are comfortable, but a rougher textured plastic on the sides would be an improvement that would last longer for players who have a deathgrip on their mice. I am hopeful that Razer will move in a positive direction with the Deathadder mouse, as it’s nice to have a comfortable option in the gaming mouse market.

I had an older version of this mouse before it started having problems with its buttons and replaced it with this newer version. It’s a great mouse and a good upgrade!Right away, I should note that you shouldn’t get too fooled/confused by the “8 programmable buttons” tagline–it’s counting every single button on the mouse, including the standard left and right click and buttons to adjust settings on the bottom of the mouse that you would never use during normal gameplay or computer use. The only two “extra” buttons on this mouse for gamebinding are the two on the left side you can click with your thumb. The other buttons are: left and right click, the mouse wheel, two buttons underneath the mouse wheel to adjust the DPI of the mouse, and a button on the bottom of the mouse to switch between profiles. So if you’re wanting more buttons to use during gameplay–like, say, having an entire MMO hotbar on your mouse–this isn’t the right one. It’s useful if you just want to have a couple of buttons that are easily accessed though! I like using my mouse buttons for stuff like push-to-talk and melee attacks in FPS games.As for the changes compared to the previous version of the Deathadder mouse, they’re small but for my use they’re good QOL changes. The biggest improvement is the spot underneath the side buttons where you’re meant to rest your thumb–in the previous version this was a glued-on rubber pad that game off after a year or so or use. In the V2 mouse, it’s now a textured part of the rest of the material of the mouse–the only way it’s coming off is if the entire mouse case comes off! I could see the texturing being warn a bit, but that’s certainly better than my thumb being gummed up by glue after the pad fell off!The other main change that I’ve noticed is that I think this mouse is slightly smaller than the previous version. This is great for me, since I’m a woman with small palms and long, thin fingers–I often have problems using gaming mice and controllers comfortably. That being said, I’m not sure if this would be as comfortable for users with larger hands–if you’re worried, I’d suggest seeing if you can get measurements for a mouse you find comfortable and then comparing it to the size of this mouse.I believe the profile and DPI buttons are also new features, although honestly I haven’t messed with that much since I’m not experienced with those settings and I haven’t needed it for my own gameplaying. It does seem like a good feature and the buttons seem like they’re good quality and I’ve never accidentally pressed them during gameplay, which is great. Probably want to check other reviews if you need more information there.Looks-wise, this is simple, but pretty looking mouse. The light on the logo and mouse wheel is really colorful but not bright enough to be distracting when the lights are off in the room. It’s pretty easy to use Razer’s software to change the color to your tastes, or you can leave it on a default setting where it cycles through various colors in a rainbow order. I know there’s also a feature that game devs can use to have the mouse colors be manipulated by the game itself, but I’ve only ever played one game where I know for sure this was implemented–Overwatch changes the color of the mouse based on the character you’re playing as. I don’t think it’s been used by many other games, and honestly I don’t find myself looking at my mouse that much while playing anyway–it’s probably a feature that’s more fun on keyboards.Overall, I think this is a really great mouse! I recommend it for people that game on their PC or otherwise use their computer enough to want something that has a few more features and/or is a bit more sturdy than a cheaper mouse. If you’re a huge tech nerd or want more button options, it might be a better idea to save up for a more expensive mouse. But I think at this price point this mouse has a lot of comfort and control.

The mouse itself gets 3 stars. Ergonomics are pretty good, but I find myself sometimes accidentally tapping the thumb buttons or the adjustment buttons under the mouse wheel. The mouse wheel developed a squeak after a month or two. The LEDs are obnoxious, unless you turn them down or off. Which you can do, but that brings us to the software.You must install the Razer apps in order to configure the mouse. You must register to Razer’s site and log on via the app. Sometimes, the app forgets your login for some reason (I assume after an update), and you have to log in again. But the updates are the real problem. There are many, many software updates. When there’s a new update, every time you log in to your computer, even after waking it of sleep, the big neon green Razer Central screen jumps out at you to tell you that there are app updates. “Fine”, you think, “I’ll just disable auto updates”‘. There’s even an option to do so in the settings. The problem? It. Doesn’t. Work. It will keep on pestering you every single time they release some update, which happens every week or two. And what’s worse, every update requires a reboot. If you don’t reboot? It will keep pestering you. Disable the Razer services? The big Razer logo on the mouse will glow a bright, neon green. I’ve seen discussions on the forums about what firewall ports to disable in order to prevent Razer’s apps from phoning home, but that’s really way more trouble than I’m willing to go through for a mouse.Simply the worst experience with software I can remember in a very long time. The mouse itself is okay, but just not worth the hassle. I’m looking for something better – and NOT by Razer.

This reviewer needs to start off by stating that he is not a gamer and, obviously, did not purchase this mouse for gaming purposes. The reviewer spends an enormous amount of time in front of computer and was looking for a well built, ergonomic (especially for long periods of sitting in front and using the computer) and long-lasting durable mouse. In addition, the reviewer does quite a bit of photo and video editing so was looking for a relatively sensitive mouse, especially in terms of DPI sensitivity settings and flexibility of setting button functions. Lastly, this review was built based on roughly some 5 hrs of using this mouse.Let’s start off with the mouse’s positives first. The mouse is quite ergonomic at least for someone with standard size male hand. Many women and children would probably find it too large. Secondly, the mouse is relatively well built. It is not made of metal but plastic however (then again what computer peripheral even has metal nowadays). The build quality is very good. The rubber on the sides seems firmly attached. The buttons are very responsive and respond to even the slightest of touch (assuming you have set it to this sensitivity level). The mouse is a very good weight, not too heavy or too light (again, at least for this reviewer). The software suite that comes with the mouse is incredibly flexible, from DPI sensitivity (which can be set to levels of sensitivity levels that are beyond the overwhelming majority of mice out there) to even picking the light colors on the mouse and how they change (or, depending on preference, do not).The above are the positives. It does have a few negatives. With respect to design, the one bad aspect involves the position of the DPI sensitivity switches. They are set immediately underneath the mouse scroll wheel where they can be accidently hit quite easily. These should have been placed in a far less obtrusive location. Let’s be realistic, how often does one need to adjust DPI sensitivity?The second problem with the mouse is the fact that, to get its full benefits, the user needs to download Razer’s mouse software suite and this requires giving that company full access to quite a bit of information. Many reviewers have, justifiably, complained about this problem. It is, after all, bad enough that Google and Microsoft follow users around everywhere. No need for others too either. Especially for something like mouse usage. Additionally, this is another potential security danger. Definitely a problem, as much as Razor would like users to think otherwise.In short, for its pretty expensive price, this is great mouse (but not perfect) assuming one can live with the aforementioned problems.

Beautiful mouse. I love the colors. I upgraded from the regular Death Adder (2 button) and it feels great. It’s light. The grip pad is noticeably different (in a good way) and the middle mouse buttons are easy to use and find intuitively. This scroll wheel compared to the previous Death Adder has a much more noticeable grip pad and puts an end to over scrolling, while still being able to maintain control.The middle buttons (6&7) are used for quickly altering your DPI sensitivity out of the gate, but you can keybind to them in a ‘hacky’ way, just not directly through in-game settings as an actual mouse button, like buttons 4&5. Kind of a bummer, but that is absolutely user error (my fault) that I didn’t read thoroughly about the product before I bought. Even so, I like the changes and scroll action difference enough to keep it and not send it back.—FYI, keybind workaround, all you have to do to make them keybind is simply go to the Synapse app and click on the button and change it from a sensativity button to a keyboard function, then type in whatever keyboard button you want. Naturally, it’s best to use keys you normally don’t use for games, for example, I used (Backquote (`) for button 6 and Number pad period (.) for number 7) and all is well with the world.