Razer has always provided for all types of gaming, right from the end user to the power user. The latest refresh of the company’s reptilian gaming peripherals has its sights squarely set on the latter category: which, in turn, entails something referred to as hardcore competition play.
We last reviewed the Viper V2 Pro two years ago, and the Viper V3 Pro is an evolution of the prior model, righting all of its wrongs. Unlike its affiliate, the Viper V3 HyperSpeed, the V3 Pro is a wireless gaming mouse that is faster, lighter, and more responsive than the previous V3.
It also comes with Razer’s usual astronomically high price for its premium products. If your sole priority is to hover over other competitors in the popular shooter and be at the very top of the scoreboards, then the Razer Viper V3 Pro will help you do this, and this mouse deserves the Editors’ Choice award for wireless esports mice.
Design: Sharper, Faster Fangs
Unlike other refreshes in Razer’s lineup, the transition from the V2 Pro to the V3 Pro is more than just internal changes; it is also external redecorating. The first noticeable change rendered by Apple is the reduction in the size of the hump at the rear end of the mouse.
Available at the time of this writing, the V2 Pro has a small, cyberpunk-raised back end, differentiating it from the now-obsolete V2. This means that the bump is very distinguishable from the rest of the body in the clickers. However, the Viper V3 Pro removes the shelf to combine it into one single mouse form matching the aesthetics of the Viper V3 HyperSpeed.
The simple, sleek design is something that many serious gamers like, as nonessential extras, such as RGB light, might just cut the mouse’s battery life, and besides the added bulk to the design, it is just not required. With just the Razer logo at one end and a battery indicator at the other, the Viper V3 Pro covers little more
than the basics: It uses two clickers, two buttons on the left side, and a stiff scroll wheel in the middle. It uses Razer’s third-generation optical mouse switches, which the company says will reduce the debounce delay and risk of double-clicking over 90 million clicks.
You will find the Viper V3 Pro, one of the lighter mice weighing just 1.9 ounces. In fact, it is lighter than the V2 Pro, weighing 2.04 ounces, the V3 HyperSpeed at 2.8 ounces, and the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 at 2.1 ounces. It measures 1.5 by 2.5 by 5 inches, slightly larger than the V2 Pro but by such a slim margin that
it’s almost unnoticeable. The mouse is compact and well-rounded; it’s comfortably large for the palm and claw grip and just as comfortable for the fingertip grip, even though players preferring the palm grip won’t have any problem with it.
If we flip the mouse over, we will notice that minimalism is even reflected in the conventionally hidden part of the mouse. On the bottom, you have the sensor, power/DPI switch, and huge 100 percent PTFE foot tips for both ends of the Coulomb.
The size of the large mouse feet, compared with the V2 Pro’s, is successful in providing a high glide bar on different surfaces, including glass and wooden surfaces. On the end of the mouse, there is a USB-C interface.
Yet while the building facade is grand and mighty, we understand that in esports coming years, dear reader seeking Greatness, it is the Inner Circle that reigns supreme. Here, the Viper V3 Pro uses the new Razer Focus Pro 35k optical sensor to take dpi to the next level maxing out at 35,000 dpi.
This number represents a given mouse’s sensitivity on the significance scale; the higher the value, the more sensitive the mouse is. Moreover, it has a maximum tracking speed of 750 Inches per second (ips) and a max acceleration of 70 G.
The sensor has two new improvements, only available on the Viper V3 Pro. The first is called a DPI Sensitivity Matcher, which works for changing new owners and matches old mouse sensitivity so that they do not have to worry about DPI deviations when switching to Viper V3 Pro.
DPI can also be adjusted in one step, which enables gamers, especially, to have more room for tweaking to find the right zones. These two new features can also be viewed using the Razer Synapse software.
New Features, Thanks to a New Sensor
People who have interacted with any Razer peripheral in the last few years must have encountered the firm’s Synapse software—a utility designed to work with almost all Razer products. If you haven’t, there’s no problem, for the new mouse asks you to install Synapse when you connect it or plug it in.
Meanwhile, if you’re a current user, you’ll find all the familiar features: configurations such as button function assignment, DPI adjustment, and every other calibration we know can be changed to your rods.
Among the additional options, we find the DPI Sensitivity Matcher, which, although not intuitive to set up, is fairly simple; it is more retraced than smooth. Put your old and new mouse together, ball them, and move them across your table.
Once that minimum distance has been traveled by the pointer, the Razer sensor will match this to the DPI figure from your old mouse, so if you don’t have the time to fire up the software and get the number yourself, it will help you out.
It is one of these minor ‘conveniences’ that one might label as unnecessary but, in retrospect, can be quite functional; it probably is one of the few interface tricks in Outlook that does not irritate you or make you tear your hair out.
When I took the V3 Pro, placed it beside the Corsair Darkstar on my gaming PC, and started tweaking its settings through the Synapse software, I noticed that the existing mouse had approximately 1,277 dpi. As expected, I verified that my Darkstar’s DPI is 1,200 dpi. It is not precise in the slightest, but it is much closer than I thought it would ever be.
Like the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, Razer bundles a HyperPolling wireless dongle. This high-speed USB microcontroller facilitates wireless operation at 2.4GHz with an extraordinarily high wireless polling rate, which is the rate at which a mouse reports its location to the PC.
Compatible with a USB-C cable, the Viper V3 Pro’s responsiveness is 1,000Hz at the absolute highest. In conjunction with the HyperPolling dongle—a completely unique feature for any wireless mouse—the polling rate is 8,000Hz. For instance, the Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse has a maximum of 4 000 Hz in wireless mode; it can attain 8 000 Hz only in wired mode.
At 8,000 Hz, your device transmits as much as eightfold more data per second than at 1,000 Hz, meaning that it goes from one millisecond to one-eighth of a millisecond. Some might wonder if this is relevant to most gamers; however, behind the scenes for professional gamers, every millisecond shaved off by the delay is a matter of life and death. most
Notably, you cannot go beyond 8,000Hz wired with the V3 Pro, a feature that will prove possible should you use the Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse. All that sweet polling action does take a hit on the battery, though, when the rate is cranked all the way to 1000Hz. At 1000Hz, the battery drain is approximately 95 hours, but should you desire 8000Hz, you can only get 17 hours from the Razer mouse.
Verdict: The Viper Claims Its Prey
However, what is interesting about Razer’s HyperPolling technology is that it is not new, and most of the features were discovered on the Viper V3 Pro. However, as one will need advanced medical help, this begs the question: is it worth the $159 asking price? In short, it makes the case for the esports elite because it stood out as a much better mouse than the Viper V2 Pro.
The differences between the Viper V3 Pro and the V3 HyperSpeed are much smaller. However, optical mouse switches, an upgraded sensor, and a significantly lighter body make the Viper V3 Pro a superior mouse. The only thing we really wanted from Razer was to sell a version without the dongle to reduce the cost so that returning users who want to upgrade don’t have to pay for a HyperPolling dongle again.
Suppose HyperPolling highs and the numbers associated with DPI don’t make much sense to you. In that case, there is a cornucopia of serious gaming mice at more reasonable prices, such as the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2. Those who do not mind a wired connection to attain the maximum polling rate should be content with the Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse.
It still bears repeating that Razer’s latest is actually one of the best, as the Viper V3 Pro delivers. More rapid and nimble than the last one, it takes a more significant market share than its rivals. For people who want mobility to stifle competitors while eliminating the woes of a cord, the Viper V3 Pro will strike when it has to, and for that, it is the Editor’s choice.
