Razer DeathAdder Laser Mouse

Why you shouldn't walk into any LANs -- or valleys -- without your adder of death.

Razer has finally upped the ante in the ever-competitive gaming mouse market with its new DeathAdder gaming rodent.

The DeathAdder features Razer’s new 3rd Generation 1800dpi laser with 1000Hz polling rate. You also get the usual left and right mouse buttons and scroll wheel, as well as two thumb buttons, all of which are programmable. There are also Teflon feet on the underside of the mouse to help with those smooth moves.

Razer’s self-titled ‘3rd Generation Infrared Sensor’ basically provides two major benefits over the mouses of previous generations. With the new laser, the DeathAdder is able track at 60 inches per second, compared with the Logitech G5, which tracks at 45 inches per second. This basically means that you’ll get greater compatibility across various surfaces.

And if you’re one of those people that don’t have enough room for one of those gigantic oversized mouse mats and use the ‘lift and slide’ technique to move the mouse, with the new laser, you can lift the mouse as low as 2.1mm, depending on surface, and still be able to move the cursor.

Of note is the excellent ergonomic design that Razer has chosen that features a smooth rubbery palm rest and strategically placed thumb buttons. The left and right mouse buttons are also contoured so that your index and middle fingers fit comfortably on the buttons, ready to click like you’ve never clicked before.

Unlike their previous gaming mice, with lights all over place, Razer has taken a more subdued approach with the DeathAdder, with the only lights being on the blue scroll wheel and the trademark pulsating blue Razer logo.

As previously mentioned, the driver software allows button configuration, as well as five profiles that allow five different dpi/polling rate setups, with dpi options of 450, 900 and 1800 dpi and polling rate options of 125, 500 and 1000Hz. A button on the underside of the mouse allows you to change profiles on-the-fly, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Unfortunately for the lefties out there, you’ll have to adapt or stick with Razer’s ambidextrous models. For the rest of us, the Razer DeathAdder proves that there are more to great gaming mouses than just big dpi values.