There are a lot of different options these days when it comes to selecting a mouse.
For some people, it doesn’t really matter. They might buy a cool novelty mouse, like a friend of mine has one shaped like a VW Beetle. He uses it at his workshop, so it suits him.
Someone who plays games like World of Warcraft might go for a mouse with more buttons, giving them more accessible binds for spells, while someone who likes Counter Strike will value precision and comfort above all else. Some might be happy with any old mouse, some prefer wireless while others swear by their wired counterparts. Some people still use PS2 mice (not a Sony PlayStation 2, one that plugs into that round port at the back of your PC)
Razer has been making mice for a while, since around 1999 when they created the Boomslang 1000/2000 (pictured to the left) which was one of the first mice specifically marketed at gamers. So, they should know a thing or 2 about mice, amirite?
The Viper Mini is, as of writing, the newest wired mouse available from Razer. It is a little smaller and lighter than the Viper proper, and considerably smaller and lighter than the Deathadder I own already. It’s not quite as light as the Cooler Master I reviewed before, but if you want a light mouse, it’s right up there in terms of being really light with the bonus of not having that godawful honeycomb design like Glorious and Cooler Master use.
As for the software, it annoys me a little that the device is not compatible with Razer Synapse 2. It only works in Synapse 3, which is still in Beta, meaning I have to have 2 programs to configure my peripherals because my 1st gen Kraken headset is not supported by Synapse 3. Not too much of an issue, but still, it’s pretty annoying. Razer, plz fix.
Next up, I’ll talk about the build quality.. It feels sturdy, in fact, I would say it feels a lot more solid than the Deathadder, with a more distinct click thanks to the buttons being seperate to the rest of the mouse. The cable is a little shorter than I’d like, but decent, and again, is light but not to the level of the Cooler Master from before.
In terms of performance, it has what I feel is a pretty standard button layout – 2 thumb buttons, 1 behind the scroll wheel, and the 2 normal ones. Nothing fancy. As usual, I remapped the top button to use as a keybind rather than a DPI toggle, but that’s my preference.
The sensor is a PWM 3359. This is where things get a little iffy – a friend reported that the 3359 sensor wasn’t as accurate or reliable as the 3389 found in the Deathadder, but I found it to be just fine (initially) and didn’t notice a difference at the settings I use.* Using the mouse a little more, I’ve discovered that it doesn’t track liftoff quite as well, resulting in the cursor moving as you put the mouse down. Maybe not an issue depending on the games you play, but it can be quite problematic in some games.
The mouse is comfortable, and definitely feels smaller than most mouses. It’s narrow, short shape is best suited to either someone with small hands or someone who uses a fingertip grip I think. My hands arent very big, but not tiny either, I think the slightly bigger regular Viper may fit my hand a little better but I’ll have to verify that when I get my hands on one.
I think the only real difference is that the DPI caps at 8500 compared to the Deathadder’s 16000, and it will perform just as well up to that cap. I won’t say that to my friend, who is convinced that the sensor isn’t as good. So, YMMV, he is quite a serious gamer so he might be right.
Overall, I quite like the Viper Mini, and I don’t think it’s too badly priced. I think I prefer it to the Cooler Master, which has the better sensor but I really don’t notice much of a difference.*
I would recommend this to you if you have smallish hands, and want a light mouse. Not recommended for people with palm grips and/or big hands, or if you like setting your mouse to ridiculously high sensitivities.
Next time, I’ll try get my hands on the OG Viper, and compare it to it’s baby brother over here.
*edit 26/05: I posted this article a little prematurely, and after a bit more testing I found that this sensor is in fact rubbish. The bad liftoff tracking makes this mouse completely unreliable, so if you pick up your mouse a lot avoid it at all costs and rather go for the similarly priced Cooler Master. Won’t be a problem if you use a high sensitivity or rely less on pinpoint accuracy.
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