The Razer Viper V4 Pro has jogged my memory that few issues can beat nice construct high quality in a mouse

Over the previous yr, I’ve discovered myself falling head over heels for a few totally different aggressive gaming mice for vastly totally different causes. But Razer’s newest launch, the Viper V4 Pro, has introduced me again to earth and jogged my memory that few issues can beat good old school construct high quality.

I’m not going to apologise for getting enthusiastic about issues I really like—angle of gratitude, they are saying—and there have been some unbelievable enhancements within the gaming mouse market over the past yr. But there’s additionally a necessity to absorb the larger image generally, and the entire image is best with the Viper V4 Pro than with any of the opposite mice I’ve been impressed by over the past yr.

The first one to actually catch my eye was the Corsair Sabre V2 Pro. I caught a glimpse of it at Gamescom final yr, and never lengthy after that, I received my palms on it for some prolonged testing. The key promoting level is its genuinely ultralight weight, because it one way or the other manages to maintain itself to a low 36 g whereas sustaining a stable shell.

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That low weight—lighter than just about another mouse I’ve seen, setting apart a handful of area of interest picks from lesser-known manufacturers—I discover to be a real boon to aggressive gaming. It lets your hand fly throughout your pad and alter your purpose with ease.

But then I had my consideration yanked away from attaining my featherweight endgame by the Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike. After spending a couple of days learning about how the Superstrike was made at Logitech’s Swiss HQ, I then got a ton of hands-on time with it.

The basic pitch is that its analogue switches (a world’s first for gaming mice) allow you to set your actuation level to exactly where you like. Which means you can set it to trigger with the lightest touch, helping reduce the time between starting to click and actually having your click register and hearing your gunshot ring out.

Right away with the Superstrike, I knew this improvement wasn’t gimmicky, provided you fit the niche of gamers who will stand to benefit from reduced click latency. Essentially, anyone who plays a tactical shooter like CS2 or Valorant, or plays games that require a high number of clicks per minute (CPM). After tons of time in CS2 with the Superstrike, I definitely see the benefit, even if it’s only a small one compared to, say, improving your aim or reaction time.

So the Superstrike’s haptic clicks had overtaken the Sabre V2 Pro’s low weight, in my mind. The former weighs about 60 g, which is far from the 36 g of the latter, but I still came to prefer the Superstrike for gaming in Counter-Strike.

But then came the Viper V4 Pro from on high. This mouse has neither the ultralight weight of the Sabre V2 Pro nor the revolutionary rapid clicks of the Superstrike, but it has still stolen my heart more than either of the former two.

In fact, there’s little revolutionary about it at all. Sure, it has a new kind of sensor capture and USB polling synchronisation called FrameSync, but that ultimately just helps grant a teeny tiny bit of improved click latency and a fair amount of battery life—great stuff, but not quite as eye-catching as 36 g or analogue clicks.

What the Viper V4 Pro instead represents is not upheaval but perfection, and here I mean for that word ‘perfection’ to be a verb. It doesn’t try to shed absolutely as much weight as possible, nor does it attempt to revolutionise clicking technology. Instead, it tries to keep things as light and as performant as possible while perfecting its overall build.

The long and short of it is that there is no part of the Viper V4 Pro that doesn’t feel crafted with the goal of perfection in mind. The only thing I’m not too keen on is the sound of the left and right clicks. But that’s just what you get with even the best optical switches, which are better for longevity and less prone to problems such as double-click issues.

From its sturdy shell to its smooth skates, tactile optical clicks and scroll wheel, clicky side buttons, and a relatively light weight of 49–50 g, there really is nothing to complain about. The sensor is also the absolute latest and greatest, but that’s just a nice addition, really, to what feels like a mouse that’s had the utmost attention paid to every element of its design and build. That’s something teardowns seem to attest to, as effectively.

From its sturdy shell to its easy skates, tactile optical clicks and scroll wheel, clicky aspect buttons, and a comparatively gentle weight of 49–50 g, there actually is nothing to complain about

The last sprinkling of sugar into the Viper’s saucepan comes within the type of its software program, which lets you alter all its settings in-browser by way of Synapse Web. This is not precisely a bragging level for Razer, provided that many different mouse corporations (even Corsair) have began doing the identical, however for the reason that native Synapse software program may be very bloated and consumes a variety of reminiscence, net software program is sweet to see for the Viper V4 Pro. Again, all angles lined.

None of that is to say there is no place for ultralight mice or haptic-inductive clicks. In reality, I’m nonetheless very a lot debating which of the three I favor for gaming in CS2, as a result of my precise in-game stats do not appear noticeably affected by whichever I select—my talent, or lack thereof, is way more related.

You could make a stable argument for any, however the Viper V4 Pro has jogged my memory {that a} stand-out spec or revolutionary expertise is not essential to get your title within the hat.

Of course, there’s additionally the truth that mouse form trumps the entire above concerns. You can have an amazingly constructed mouse with revolutionary expertise, nevertheless it will not be value something for aggressive FPS gaming if it is constructed like a joystick.

Thankfully, all three mouse shapes mentioned listed below are inoffensive, symmetrical ones that ought to swimsuit loads of hand sizes and grips. Smaller palms that palm grip may wish to miss all three, although, and perhaps go for one thing like a Razer Cobra HyperSpeed or one thing related as a substitute.

Given that I do get on with the Viper’s form, it is now the usual in opposition to which I’m going to measure all different gaming mice. If one other mouse even comes near this factor’s construct high quality, that is worthy of a nod of approval in my books.