Razer DeathAdder Gaming Mouse

[PAGETITLE=Introduction] As gamers, we tend to look for any little advantage that can give us an edge on our opponents. For the talented, this can be the difference between a kill and defeat. For everyone else, myself included, upgrading peripherals in the hopes of becoming a better gamer instantly is basically throwing money at a problem that there isnâ€™t a quick fix for. Over the past 2 years at Techgage, we have taken looks at more mice than we care to admit. Of the mice that have made their way across our cluttered desks, only a few have remained after the review has been posted. In the world of gaming mice, for years only one company has been consistently brought up in discussions. Logitech. Itâ€™s only been recently that a company with passion enough to step up has attempted to rock the boat and reinvent the wheel so to speak. This company is Razer. Dating back to the late 90s, Razer launched their Boomslang gaming mouse upon the collective gaming community so from the start, it was a hit. Since then, Razer has continued to build off that momentum and is now, unquestionable, a heavy hitter in the world of PC gaming hardware. As stated earlier, we have taken looks at many mice in our short 2 year existence and many of those have been from Razer. Starting with the Copperhead, our overall reaction to the mice that Razer has produced has been a mixed bag. The performance of the goods has never been in question. Providing us with high DPI, complete and adjustable software and an overall sturdy build, the quality of the mice has never been the products shortcomings. Our primary complaint has been the shape and feel of the mouse in our hands. The ambidextrous design has never really worked for us when for years, we have used right hand oriented mice. Now this could be that we were just used to the feel of the right handed design but for whatever the reason, we just couldnâ€™t get past the feel of the ambidextrous design. This past January, Rob and I sat down with Robert Krakoff, President and driving force behind Razer at CES. While we were talking, he kept playing around with their soon to be released DeathAdder gaming mouse. What set this apart from the rest of the Razer lineup was that this was design and manufactured for right handed gamers only. With a great deal of their criticism coming from gamers pining for a non-ambidextrous gaming mouse, it had appeared that Razer was listening. At the time, we were excited about the mouse but the overall mood of the meeting was eclipsed by their THX certified Mako 2.1 speakers. Once we returned home from CES and began to get back into the daily rigors that is online journalism and we had forgotten all about the incredible mouse we had seen just a few days earlier. On the bench today, we have the Razer DeathAdder, the same mouse that Robert was so impressed with at CES. Now I know he had a product to showcase, but as impressed he was with the mouse, Rob and I were as well. Will the initial excitement carry over to real world usage? We intend to find out. The Goods The DeathAdder, following the naming scheme of deadly, or at least mostly deadly, animals, comes packaged in what we have come to expect from Razer. A well labeled black box, with the Razer logo and a picture of the DeathAdder itself provide all of the information one might need to make a well educated purchase. The front of the box opens up, revealing the mouse itself. Packaged in a plastic clamshell, we see the all black DeathAdder with itâ€™s blue scroll wheel. Packaged with the DeathAdder is a typical round Razer manual, a driver disk, a certificate of authenticity with a small letter from Robert "Razer Guy" Krakoff and a baseball card type card for the mouse. The DeathAdder The DeathAdder, as stated earlier, is a right handed mouse designed completely outside the realm of all other Razer mice. With a standard 7 foot cable the mouse connects to your PC through a gold plated USB connector. The top of the DeathAdder is covered in a non stick material that not only ensures a good grip on the mouse during use, but also adds to the overall comfort and feel of it as well. Another thing to point out is the buttons themselves. On the mouse, there are 5 programmable buttons. The left and right buttons extend more than half way back on the mouse, giving the overall feel of the buttons one of ease. It takes little effort to depress the buttons and the quick response should help in not only games, but in everyday use as well. On the bottom of the DeathAdder, there are three large Teflon feet to reduce friction and allow the mouse to glide smoothly over virtually any surface. In the center of the mouse is the third generation infrared optical sensor that operates at an adjustable 1800 DPI and operates over a quite ride 16-bit data channel. When connected to the PC, the DeathAdder really comes to life. Unlike other Razer mice, the sides of the mouse do not light up but rather, Razer has chosen to only light the scroll wheel and the Razer logo. When the PC is on, the scroll wheel lets off a pleasant blue glow and the logo pulses at a steady pace. On to testing! [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Testing and Final Thoughts] Now that we know what the DeathAdder is all about, letâ€™s see how it performs in real world scenarios. To test the mouse completely, we used the DeathAdder for two weeks non-stop. This includes not only work, but play when time permitted. In our stable of games, two were chosen. One was Supreme Commander and the other was the tried and true Counter Strike: Source. We feel that these two games cover both quick response "twitch" FPS games as well as long, sweeping motion RTS games as well. Before we get into the actual testing of the mouse, we first need to install the provided software. Software In the bundled manual, we saw the driver disk. The software included on this disk will allow the user to manual adjust the response of their mouse to suit their individual needs. The cool thing about this is that these settings can be saved as profiles and then loaded when the need arises. As we can see, not only can the DPI and polling rate be configured, but the settings can also be saved to one of five available profiles for future use. Also, the user can control the lighting of the logo and the scroll button as well as program each button individually. From here, the advanced settings can be brought out and here is where the settings of the DeathAdder can be fine tuned to the liking of the user. As with most mice, you can adjust the clicking speed. A successful test of this will result in the sound of breaking glass to let you know that your clicking speed is adequate enough. The driver also allows the adjustment of scroll speed and on the fly sensitivity. Testing and Final Thoughts As we covered earlier, to test out the DeathAdder, we chose a pair of popular games that cover two massively popular genres: Supreme Commander and Counter Strike. While RTS games are my personal favorite, I deeply love Counter Strike as well and while I do enjoy it, my love does not imply, in any way shape or form, that I am good at this game. Skill level aside, games like this give a good idea of the overall gaming performance of the mouse. Not only because of the technical engineering of such a device, but also because of the ultimate comfort of it as well. Throughout the gaming, as well as day in and day out work, the experience of working with the DeathAdder was one of comfort and enjoyment. The response of the DeathAdder in fast paced games such as Counter Strike, and slower paced games like Supreme Commander is one of pure enjoyment. Our first Razer product was the Copperhead. The Copperhead was a on the fly DPI adjustable mouse that used a laser instead of the standard infrared eye. All this sounds good but the truth was, it felt like hell in our hands over long periods of time. With the DeathAdder, Razer has addressed this issue. There is honestly only one thing I look for in a mouse. Comfort. Over time, I have come to absolutely love the kidney bean shape of the Logitech series of mice. Whenever I review a mouse, I will use it for a month or so and then put it back up and go back to either my beloved MX518 or the G7 wireless laser mouse. Both are extremely comfortable and easy to use. Now there is a bit of bias there because I have used these mice for a quite a while so there is a familiarity there between me and the mice. With the DeathAdder, I can forget all about this familiarity because the design of the mouse is so complete. While I would love to retain the on the fly DPI buttons, unless you use these on a regular basis, this is something that you most likely wont notice. In gaming and in work, my hand felt right at home on the DeathAdder and add to that, the beautiful glow of the blue scroll wheel and Razer logo, itâ€™s definitely a safe bet for anyone who is in the market for a high quality gaming mouse but also one that can be used for everyday use day in and day out. Taking all this into consideration, the Razer DeathAdder earns a well deserved 9 out of 10 and this editors personal Editorâ€™s Choice award as well. Pros Quality build we have come to expect from Razer. Blue lit scroll where and Razer logo. Comfortable right handed design. Comfortable non slip material. 5 programmable buttons. Deep software tweaks. Cons No dedicated DPI buttons on the mouse. Wired. Discuss in our forums! 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Razer DeathAdder Gaming Mouse

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