Razer Viper V3 Pro review – esports excellence

Razer is focusing on ultra-competitive gamers with its Viper V3 Professional, a gaming mouse that, for all it does effectively, struggles to place sufficient clear floor between it and the V3 Hyperspeed, which is sort of $100 cheaper. That’s to not say the Viper V3 Professional isn’t an unimaginable mouse, as a result of it completely is, however on this event, I’d recommend that Razer could have been higher off releasing it earlier than the V3 Hyperspeed.

That being stated, the Razer Viper V3 Professional remains to be on stability the perfect gaming mouse for esports on the subject of uncooked efficiency. Unbelievably mild and designed round making motion on any floor really feel like your hand is floating round your desk, players who’re severe about enhancing their response time and gaming at 8KHz polling will discover a lot to justify the premium price ticket.

Specs

Options

The Razer Viper V3 Professional is an esports gaming mouse with connectivity by way of Razer Hyperspeed Wi-fi or USB-C wired connections. We’ve seen fairly a number of wi-fi mice embrace each 2.4GHz wi-fi and Bluetooth just lately – together with within the Viper V3 Hyperspeed – however the latter will not be current right here, which is a disgrace for people who like to make use of one mouse for a number of units, although it’s not an enormous issue for a devoted esports mouse.

Extra of a difficulty is that Razer doesn’t provide this mouse with out its 8KHz Hyperpolling dongle. This might be purchased as an non-obligatory additional on some earlier Razer mice – for $30 – however right here is included by default, including to this mouse’s excessive value. For anybody who may need already purchased this dongle, it will’ve been good to have the choice to purchase this mouse with out it, particularly because the 8KHz polling kills battery life and isn’t all the time a characteristic that can be utilized on some methods.

Even with the Hyperpolling dongle being the one possibility, you’ll be able to select to run the mouse at decrease polling charges. It’s going to run at 1KHz, 2KHz, 4KHz, or 8KHz when utilizing the wi-fi dongle, and 125Hz, 500Hz, and 1KHz when wired. Sure, regardless of, Razer providing 8KHz polling over a wired connection on some mice – such because the DeathAdder V3 – it doesn’t provide it right here.

There isn’t any RGB on the mouse, which is a standard characteristic of recent esports-focused mice. It helps protect battery life, decrease weight, and matches in with the concept no severe participant is taking a look at their mouse whereas gaming.

Razer packs its 35K Focus Professional optical sensor and new gen-3 optical switches into the Viper V3 Professional. The headline DPI quantity is after all slightly meaningless and mouse sensors have by and enormous been flawless in real-world use for years now, however Razer’s newest ought to in idea be among the best. In the meantime, these switches ought to guarantee there’s zero latency from the debounce delay usually wanted in non-optical switches they usually’re additionally rated for an extended 90 million click on life.

The 100% PTFE toes are a lot bigger than on lots of Razer’s earlier mice. You won’t discover an instantly smoother glide in comparison with smaller toes however these ought to put on a lot slower and are much less more likely to dig into softer mouse mats and a few folks discover the bigger pads really feel extra secure than a number of smaller pads. Included within the field is a few grip tape which may be added to the physique of the mouse, ought to the matte really feel not be enough for you.

Design

One side of its gaming mice that Razer typically has no points with is styling. The corporate simply has a knack for making effortlessly clear designs, and the Viper V3 Professional is not any completely different. Nevertheless, the place the corporate has beforehand added RGB and rubber grip pads, as an example, right here Razer has stripped again every part that isn’t thought-about completely needed or match for function.

This consists of an accessible DPI swap. These are ceaselessly positioned just under the scroll wheel, however in esports mice, they’ll extra generally be discovered on the underside of the mouse, as is the case right here. I personally want to have it in attain as I like to modify between two sensitivity profiles relying on the weapon I’m utilizing in video games like Warzone and Counter-Strike 2. I’ve to concede, nevertheless, that the final consensus is that the positioning of this button may probably be an interference and result in unintended activations, due to this fact it has been moved to share house with the ability button.

Elsewhere, there’s a no-thrills method to the Viper V3 Professional that must be admired as a result of it leads to a really tender and pure really feel in my hand, aided by the soft-touch coating given to the mouse (that we will solely hope doesn’t put on away fairly rapidly like so many such coatings). In collaboration with the 54g weight, the V3 Professional floats round each tender and onerous surfaces with no effort.

Two options of the Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed which have carried over into the V3 Professional are the shifted rear hump and pronounced ridges on the left and proper click on buttons. The hump works to make sure your grip by no means creeps ahead and makes the mouse really feel front-heavy whereas the button ridges massively cut back the danger of slips and misclicks in clutch moments.

You continue to get the usual two aspect buttons included on the left-hand aspect of the mouse, however given the symmetrical design, it will have been good for Razer to convey again the extra aspect buttons it had on the Viper Final. There may be an argument that this may occasionally create some awkward grips or an uncommon really feel, however we didn’t discover this to be the case with the outdated design, and different mice reminiscent of the unique Logitech G Professional Wi-fi and Corsair M75 Wi-fi nailed this design by making the buttons detachable in the event that they’re not getting used.

Efficiency

The Razer Viper V3 Professional is technically unequalled on the subject of efficiency. That is right down to the mixture of the gen-2 Focus Professional 35K optical sensor, gen-3 optical mouse switches, and 8KHz polling. No different mice available on the market mix fairly such a set of latency-reducing, high-speed monitoring options. In apply, the true world impression of that is extraordinarily onerous to tell apart however each little helps.

Monitoring the Viper V3 round my show was buttery clean, however everyone knows that’s not what issues when speaking about gaming mice. So, I put the Viper V3 Professional by its paces in Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant to see the way it holds up.

I’ve began to lean in the direction of lighter mice when taking part in these round-based aggressive shooters because it leads to much less hand pressure and fatigue over the course of a number of video games being performed. The Viper V3 Professional’s extremely mild body was good for lengthy classes and I by no means discovered myself needing to flex and modify my hand between rounds or matches as a result of the consolation degree is just elite.

On the subject of the excessive polling price that’s such a promoting level of this mouse, having performed video games at 1KHz, 4KHz, and 8KHz, I may really feel a slight uplift within the smoothness of response at 4KHz however the distinction was onerous to tell apart transferring as much as 8KHz.

Unusually sufficient, it was in moments the place I’m maybe idly aiming or making the slightest changes to my view by the AWP scope that the Viper V3 professional’s excessive polling price got here by most. It’s so responsive that it virtually feels prefer it’s able to predict my subsequent transfer, leaping into motion earlier than I really feel like I’ve began to reply.

Talking of AWP play, sniping in each CS and Valorant was as simple as it could actually ever be because of the distinctive sensor and its excessive acceleration ranking. Few trendy gaming mice precisely battle on this entrance with sensors typically being so good however irrespective of how rapidly you flick and swipe, the Viver V3 Professional isn’t going to undergo from whiplash and depart you with inaccurate monitoring.

Finally, having a mouse just like the Viper V3 Professional removes any potential peripheral barrier to your intention being pixel-perfect. Once more, it’s one thing that’s true of some rivals, however these top-tier mice being so mild and succesful actually does make them a pleasure to make use of and one thing to get enthusiastic about.

A single on-board reminiscence profile will allow you to save your settings and take them with you wherever you play, and the customization choices in Razer Synapse are pretty expansive with the choice to cycle between as much as 5 DPI profiles, energy saving settings, sensible monitoring/carry monitoring distance, and enter reassignments for all buttons besides the left click on.

Battery life

One space the place the Viper V3 Professional will battle to maintain up is its battery life. I waxed lyrical about how the V3 Hyperspeed adopted the usage of an AA battery and didn’t really feel any worse off for it, however right here the addition of a chargeable battery permits for the extremely light-weight closing design.

The trade-off is that the max battery life at 1KHz is 95 hours, which isn’t so unhealthy – it’s on par with different rechargeable wi-fi gaming mice – however this drops fairly severely down to only 17 hours at 8KHz. The dearth of Bluetooth additionally means you miss out on the power to get a fair longer life for these instances you is perhaps utilizing the mouse whereas touring.

Nevertheless, you’ll be able to entry battery saving settings in Razer Synapse to ensure you can protect your battery every time the Viper V3 Professional isn’t getting used. Plus, the cost time is speedy, with a full battery obtainable in lower than an hour.

Conclusion

I really like the Razer Viper V3 Professional and every part it stands for with its stripped-back, light-weight design and efficiency that’s turned as much as 11, serving to you keep aggressive in your favourite esports video games.

No matter my adoration for the Viper V3 Professional, its $159.99 value is difficult to swallow. Whereas it sits on par with different premium, feature-laden gaming mice just like the Logitech G 502 X Plus and SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wi-fi, it’s nonetheless on the intense finish of the worth scale. Particularly, there’s an actual case for opting as an alternative for the Viper V3 Hyperspeed, with or with out the Hyperspeed dongle, although it’s a good bit heavier mouse when you’ve added in an AA battery.

I believe it is going to come right down to the extent you play your video games at. When you’re superb at video games like CS2, Valorant, League of Legends, and DOTA 2, then the Viper V3 Professional is well worth the outlay. It may possibly’t be ignored that it is a skilled bit of drugs, fine-tuned for the very best ranges of play. However should you take pleasure in a much more informal and fewer aggressive atmosphere, I like to recommend trying elsewhere on your subsequent gaming mouse.

Options

Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed

If value is a degree of rivalry, the little brother of the V3 Professional is greater than enough on the subject of gaming efficiency and in addition improves on the battery life because of the usage of an AA battery as talked about above. This does add a substantial 28g to the general weight although.

The V3 Hyperspeed additionally isn’t 8KHz appropriate with out the Hyperspeed Wi-fi Dongle, which is able to bump the worth up significantly should you’re chasing the very best polling charges potential.

Corsair M75 Wi-fi

The Corsair M75 Wi-fi can’t get anyplace close to the lofty 8KHz polling price of the Viper V3 Professional, however it does have a shocking battery life, RGB lighting, and a extra accessible and true symmetrical design constructed with lefties in thoughts.