Razer Deathadder 3500 Gaming Mouse V2 Review

I wondered this for years. I know there are loads of different peripherals out there and reading a review which states the specs doesn't really help too much. After deciding they were probably no good, I carried on with my old standard microsoft mouse. I always lost my games online and couldn't work out why. No matter how much I practiced, I'd still get totally dominated. One day I had a revelation. It's all the fault of my mouse!

After this I started researching, desperate to get my hands on the key to victory. After much research, I settled for a Razer Deathadder. A proper gaming mouse, used by professional gamers.

I started up my first game. Starcraft 2 was the game of choice. I marvelled at the accuracy of the new mouse. Now, instead of the cursor going past the unit I was trying to click until I eventually managed to capture it, I could just put the mouse on top of it straightaway. Instead of clicking multiple times, the click is so soft on this that a thought is that is needed and you've selected the unit. I whooped with joy, this was the key, this was what I'd been seeking.

Of course, the mouse made no difference to my skill. I got my army crushed and I still lose practically every game I play. But at least now I can't blame the tools I use, it's purely me as a crap player, rather than the mouse.

Before getting the Deathadder I didn't realise just how cumbersome and inaccurate a normal mouse is. The ideal is that whatever you're controlling on screen just does whatever you command, without delay and without any thought. With a standard mouse, then there is a barrier in the way, you don't realise at the time til you use a proper gaming mouse. I have tried a couple of friends systems since getting this mouse, who still use standard mice and the difference between them and using one of these is astounding. I find games practically unplayable on anything else nowadays.

The Razer sits nicely in your hand, I have medium size man hands, they're not shovels, but they're not doll hands either. It is a perfect fit. It has a slightly soft feel to the top so it feels a lot better than the hard plastic of a normal mouse.

It is an infra red mouse, so you'll need a dark surface to use it properly. I bought a Razer Goliathus Control mouse mat, which it works on really well. I tried it just on the desk, but it didn't feel as good. They're a bit more money, but my thoughts were that if I've got the mouse, I might as well go the whole hog and get the mat as well.

Apart from the accuracy of this mouse there are a couple of other things that the Deathadder does. One of these extras is that it has a blue light that slowly pulses with the Razer logo and the scroll wheel glows blue too. It can be turned off, but is on by default. It looks pretty good although to be honest it wouldn't bother me whether it was on or off.

The great thing about this mouse though, apart from it's accuracy, is that the buttons are very sensitive. You barely move your finger and you've clicked. When I first bought it, I was clicking by accident as I sometimes just thought about clicking and had done it, because the buttons are so easy to click. This is a small pain when you first get it and aren't used to it, but after you get used to it, it's not a problem and just lessens reaction time in game.

Supposedly the Deathadder has a faster response time than standard mice. I can't honestly see that this would make any difference in game though as the difference between 1 millisecond the Deathadder boasts and 8 milliseconds on a standard mouse is nothing. If someone can see and shoot me in 8 milliseconds, good luck to them, they're probably a terminator. But there you go, if you're a terminator then you won't have to worry about your mouse holding you back if you use one of these.

It also has a more precise sensor than a lot of mice out there at 3500 dpi. Precision is what you need when playing and the more precisely you can select or shoot whatever you're looking at, the better. I have found it a lot easier to aim at things in games, but when I'm working it's also lots easier to edit photos and work on DTP software now as well as I can be a lot more precise when manipulating small parts of images.

Another problem I used to have with my old mice which I never really realised was a problem until I eradicated it, was that sometimes the cursor would not move to the perfect place, so I had to lift up the mouse and move again. With the Razer Deathadder, this never happens now. It never sticks or wanders, which really helps in game.

This is something that all of the cheaper mice did sometimes, I just never really realised until I got a Deathadder and then the struggles that you have normally, aren't there any more. That's the best thing about this mouse really, tech specs aside, it is comfortable, very smooth to use and works properly, translating your movements into action on screen. I can't imagine anything better at doing this other than a direct plug into your head, so until that becomes available, I'll stick with this. My friend tried mine and bought one straightaway.

I've tried not to go into the technical side of this mouse too much for this review, it's more of an owners review rather than a list of specs marvelling at the fact that it has a Gold Plated USB connector. Which it does if you care about that sort of thing. I also haven't gone into the programmable macros, this mouse does offer you the option to program various things in with the supplied software, so you can click one of the buttons and have your in game character make a cup of tea or whatever, but I haven't done that. I just plugged it in in the place of my previous mouse and started using it.

If you're in doubt, yes, a gaming mouse is definitely worth the money and the Razer Deathadder is an awesome piece of kit. I wouldn't go back!

If you have any comments, please leave them below. Thanks for reading!