ERGONOMIC! RAZER DEATHADDER V2 UNBOX & REVIEW

When you saw the Razer DeathAdder v2 at the beginning, you may think that it is another refresh or upgraded of Razer DeathAdder, and the packaging is quite simple and shabby. However, this modle is the only mouse that Razer has not changed in appearance since it was designed and released in 2006 in 14 years. The humanised design that Razer has always paid attention to also made the world’s first left-handed Gaming Mouse — the Razer DeathAdder Left-Hand Edition in 2010.

Today, in 2020, The new Razer DeathAdder v2 has been released for some time. Razer has successfully reduced the weight of this classic mouse to 82g, and upgraded the sensor to Pixart’s flagship PAW3399 that been implemented already in their other flagship wireless mouse Viper Ultimate and Basilisk Ultimate.

After more than a month of testing in our workshop, what exactly does this Razer DeathAdder v2 bring us?

Let dig it in!

Package Appearance
The outside packaging

New mouse features is printed on the side of the packaging

Everything inside the box

Product Analysis

In terms of design, there is not much change compared with the elite version of the previous generation. The decoration of the wheel area uses a cover plate similar to the piano-painted material. The matte surface feels more granular and also has anti-oil and anti-fingerprint design

The side panel has a half bottom area of dot-matrix design

The Razer DeathAdder V2 is a little bit higher than the Razer Viper Ultimate

Compared with the previous model, the wire of this V2 version has upgraded to the ultra-soft SpeedFlex cable. In the process of playing games, it is more conducive to rapid movement and reduces the friction. The cable length is about 2.1 meters.

The mouse 4-sides looking

The bottom footpad has the similar design as the Razer Viper, but the material has been upgraded to “PTFE” Teflon.
The default CPI switch button of this mouse is designed at the bottom. A total of 5 profiles can be set from 400, 800, 1600, 2400 and 3200

The weight of the mouse is 113g with cable, the weight of mouse itself is only 82g

Software Analysis
New Razer products are now managed by Razer Synapse 3
Razer Synapse 3 Dashboard

Razer DeathAdder V2 buttons customise panel
Because the mouse has an asymmetrical design, it is easily mapped and fully customisable, the ‘Hypershift’ function also enables the ‘Shift’ function on the mouse to enable more combination keys

Razer DeathAdder V2 Performance control panel
The CPI of this mouse can be asynchronously customised for XY axes, up to 20000 cpi and Polling Rate up to 1000 Hz

Razer DeathAdder V2 Chroma settings

Razer DeathAdder V2 Mouse mat surface calibration
This mouse supports the Razer Asymmetric Cut-off technology, this function allows user to setup the different Lift-off distance separately, then avoid the mouse corsour suddenly stop when user lifting their mouse frequently

Macro setting

Profile binding with games

Performance Test
The Teflon footpad provides an ultra smooth feeling. Only 82g light-weighted and ergonomic design will help player to achieve a super-fast response and received an extremely comfortable grip.

We have tested the mouse on the most popular mouse pads: Fine coated pad, aluminium, soft silicone pad, fine fabric cloths thin/thick pad and coarse fabric cloths thin pad.

The tests are based on the mouse’s start, Smoothness, Brake, and Transparency.

Fine coated pad
Start: Medium feeling on both Static friction and dynamic friction
Smoothness: Extremely smooth
Brake: Easy to brake and good positioning accuracy
Transparency: Very good contact, no heightened sense of passage that results in misalignment on the Z-axis

Aluminum pad
Start: Very low felling on both Static friction and dynamic friction
Smoothness: Extremely smooth, but the maintenance is relatively difficult. The Teflon feet skates will be frayed quickly by the aluminium surface
Brake: Easy to brake and good positioning accuracy
Transparency: Very good contact, no heightened sense of passage that results in misalignment on the Z-axis

Soft silicone pad
Start: This textured pad makes the higher static and dynamic friction feeling
Smoothness: Very smooth
Brake: Easy to brake and relatively accurate positioning
Transparency: a relatively thin thickness of the cushion, the material is quite solid and the permeability is good

Fine fabric cloths thin pad
Start: Low static friction and very high dynamic friction
Smoothness: Extremely smooth
Brake: Easy to brake, positioning is accurate, the resistance is light. Muscle memory is easier to form and more friendly for novices
Transparency: A thin pad with soft material and good permeability

Fine fabric cloths thick pad
Start: Low static friction and very high dynamic friction
Smoothness: Extremely smooth
Brake: Easy to brake, positioning is accurate, the resistance is light. Muscle memory is easier to form and more friendly for novices
Transparency: A thick pad with soft material and good permeability

Coarse fabric cloths thin pad
Start: Medium static friction, low dynamic friction
Smoothness: Extremely smooth
Brake: Easy to brake and relatively accurate positioning
Transparency: A thin pad with soft material and good permeability

Because of the similar manufacture process and the use of the same sensor and foot pad, the sliding feel of DeathAdder V2 is very similar compared to Viper Ultimate.

The optical engine, PAW3399 improves the highest CPI on the basis of the old PMW3389. Now the highest CPI can reach to 20,000, even this number is not suitable for all user, it is indeed a symbol of the sensor’s hard power, because it means the higher tracking accuracy. A higher maximum movement speed can provide a better tracking experience in games that require rapid mouse movements.

Disassembling Analysis
The Backplate has 3 screws that hidden under the mouse feet’s

The Top case

The mouse bottom case & inside

Microswitch
The two main buttons are using the Razer Optical Mouse Switch which has a superfast 0.2 milliseconds response. Since the electrical signal can be transmitted without mechanical contact, the Razer optical mouse micro switch is difficult to wear under heavy usage. As a result, this microswitch has a durability of up to 70 million clicks, which has a 40% better than the most durable microswitches in the market.

The side button board
The four black-dots microswitches used by the side buttons are from Changfeng, the model is ‘MS11.257B.P5B60A’, 5 million button life and 60 ± 15 gf

The roller encoder comes from Kailh’s EN97 series (CEN979012R31), 30 ± 10 gf.cm, 300,000 lifespan

The mainboard for this mouse

The bottom side of the main board

The roller

The sensor is PAW3399 from PixArt, which has 20000 cpi, 650 IPS and 50 G acceleration speed

The controller chip is LPC51U68 from NXP

The RGB LED chip

Usability Analysis
To test the line correction, frame loss, and the smoothness, we are using the mousetest from Areson

This mouse doesn’t have the line correction function

The Frame loss control and the smoothness control are also quite good

Enotus Mouse Test

Finally, we are using the powerful MouseTester v1.5
By using its powerful plot function, we are tested several mouse performances

xCounts vs Time
While the average line is smoother, which means it’s more liner on the mouse track movement; while the points of the counts are much closer to the line, which means the jitter of the engine is lower. As the graph shows, the result of this performance is quite good in different CPIs

1800 cpi is under a normal use level, jitter is not large and relatively stable

800 cpi, jitter is a bit low

1600 cpi, jitter still low

2400 cpi, jitter still low

3200 cpi, jitter still low

6400 cpi, jitter still low

12800 cpi, jitter still low

16000 cpi, jitter is still under control

20000 cpi, jitter is surprisingly under control

X vs Y
This function is to detect mouse frame loss, As the graph shows, the result of this performance is quite good

xyVelocity vs Time
The unit of velocity is m/s. This test is mainly to look at the acceleration of the mouse. As the graph shows, the point of Razer Viper is better for curve fitting, that means the jumped-like rapid acceleration rarely appears, The line of fit is coherent and also has a dense distribution

If there is a good device that allows the mouse to move at a constant speed, in this case, the speed line is a straight line, if the engine has acceleration, it will fluctuate, so this is the most ideal test method. The result of this performance is quite good

Summary
The Razer DeathAdder V2, as an upgraded version of previous model, maintains the original ergonomic design, and has been modified and upgraded in more subtle ways to match the grip. It has integrated the flagship PAW3399 optical sensor and the new Razer optical micro switch to ensure the accuracy of the trigger, the use of Speedflex cable has the overall light-weight design. It also support the Razer Synapse 3 driver to enabled the RGB lighting effects. The technology decentralisation of Razer’s flagship product makes the DeathAdder V2 a flagship mouse configuration but only the price of a mid-range product.

If you are an previous DeathAdder user, there is no need to explain more. If you have large or medium-sized hands who is still hesitating in various products, the Razer DeathAdder V2 may a good choice.

In terms of price, it’s AU$139 and a great value for money.

EPIC PC RATE SCORE: 91.5/100