Today we’re looking at the big brother of the Viper Mini, the Razer Viper. With the release of this mouse, Razer established a strong presence in the lightweight mouse market. The Viper only weighs 69 grams, which is pretty astounding considering its a medium-sized mouse and doesn’t have the hexagonal shell design. I’ve been really impressed with the Viper Mini, so felt compelled to try the Razer Viper.
Looking at the measurements (126.73 x 66.2 x 37.81mm), we can see the Viper is a medium sized mouse. In comparison with the Viper Mini, it has a bigger length and grip width, which is very noticeable when holding it. It definitely feels more like a medium mouse than a small mouse. Interestingly, the Viper’s height is slightly less than the Mini. The Viper has a middle hump and is a low profile mouse. This shape is going to work great for fingertip and claw, but as always any grip style is possible depending on your preference. Recommended hand size here is medium. At 18 x 9cm using a fingertip grip, this mouse immediately felt too big for me, and I had to adjust to more of a palm-fingertip hybrid. I felt like I couldn’t manipulate this mouse as easily with only my hand and fingertips, and had to use more wrist movement.
The Viper has an ambidextrous design with thumb buttons on both sides, so it’s lefty friendly. The shape and placement is good, and I experienced very few accidental clicks. This is actually something that bothered me on the previous ambidextrous mouse I used, the Zowie ZA13, so kudos to Razer here. The front button is of a reach, but I think that’s largely due to my smaller hand size. The sides have gentle curves for increased comfort, and Razer opted for the rubber sides on the Viper. Personally, I’m not a big fan of this as I used the Mamba TE in the past, and after a few years the sides came loose. With that being said, I quite like the feel of these rubbery sides, and hopefully the durability will be there too. Like the Viper Mini, the Viper has an excellent ergonomic shape, and feels extremely comfortable. In my opinion, this is one of the best shapes out there for fingertip and claw, and for smaller hands a palm grip is definitely also viable. The shape is quite similar to the Zowie FA and Glorious Model O.
The build quality of the Viper is excellent, and I think this is a big win for Razer over competitors like CoolerMaster and Glorious who use the honeycomb design. No creaking and minimal frame bend, no actuation of side buttons when squeezing the frame. This mouse has a premium feel. There is a tiny bit of scroll wheel rattle and some side play on the primary buttons, but I’m really just nitpicking here. Neither of these things will have a practical impact on use. On the bottom we have two big mouse feet. I actually like the bigger feet on the Viper mice. The glide was very smooth on my Ducky Bon Voyage mouse pad. Sensor placement is good, and we have the DPI button and an LED indicator. I usually use the DPI button as Play/Pause for music, so was kind of sad to see it on the bottom.
The Viper has a gorgeous design, with a matte finish and glossy accents. We have the RGB Razer logo on the back. I really like the grainy matte texture of this mouse. It’s very grippy and feels pleasant on the skin.
The clicks are very good, with minimal pre and post travel. Another thing I like about the Viper mice over honeycomb mice is the sound. The clicks sound a bit richer and not so hollow and sharp. The scroll wheel is a bit different from the Viper Mini, with more noticeable individual steps, so it doesn’t feel quite as smooth. Personally I like the duller feel of the steps on the Mini, but that’s just me.
The gaming performance was exceptional, and the mouse worked great for CSGO and Apex. As I mentioned earlier, the Viper is a bit too big for me, so as expected I wasn’t able to beat my Viper Mini high scores on Kovaak Aim Trainer. I came surprisingly close though, and the Viper performed especially well on the Kovaak precision tests, probably down to it being bigger and bit more stable in the hand. A big difference can be observed in the flicking test, with the Viper Mini comfortably ahead. On CSGO my aim felt very good, but I definitely missed the increased mobility I get with the Viper Mini. The swiping and flicking speed of the Viper Mini was definitely noticeable when switching to it during gameplay. This all comes down to the size of the mouse, and I am in no way trying to be negative here. If I had bigger hands the positions would be reversed.
Razer Synapse gives you everything you need. We have 8 programmable buttons, and you can pretty much set these to anything. I especially enjoyed the extra two side buttons, as I could use these for multimedia control. Under the performance tab you can adjust the DPI from 100 to 16000 in increments of 100. You can also save up to 5 DPI levels on the on-board memory. As always there is extensive RGB controls. We have some quick effects and you can create your own with Chroma Studio. Be sure to calibrate the mouse and adjust the LOD distance, as it makes a big difference.
The bottom line is that this is a top quality mouse with impressive specs. If the shape and size is right for you, and you don’t mind the price, this is definitely a good pick.
headtr1p 