Razer Viper V2 Pro Review: The New Lightweight Champion, Less Is More!
If you have a good gaming PC, you have to have a good mouse. That’s probably an unwritten rule. Today we take a look at a long awaited wireless gaming mouse, the Razer Viper V2 Pro.
Now for starters, I do have to say that my daily mouse nowadays is the Logitech G303 Shroud and I’ve only really briefly used the Viper 8K in terms of anything that’s from the Viper family of products. So I’m kind of a new user to the Viper series.
But if you’re a long time fan of the Viper, the new Viper V2 Pro is going to look and feel really familiar to you but yet slightly different in more ways than one. The biggest difference here however isn’t anything visual, but rather the weight. Compared to the Viper Ultimate which weighed in at 74 grams, the new Viper V2 Pro weighs in at a mere 58 grams for the black model, or if you have the white model like we have here, it’s an additional gram. Razer says it’s due to the use of the white coating and thus the additional gram, but well it is what it is. Definitely still much lighter compared to the Viper Ultimate for sure.
So you might already notice what’s different with the design and it’s probably more akin to noticing what’s missing. What has Razer done to shave off all those grams? Well, quite a few actually.
For a start, you lose any form of Chroma RGB. So now, instead of a backlit Razer logo, you simply get a stealthy emblazoned black Razer logo. A nice touch in my opinion, and definitely a little cleaner looking. Next, gone are the two side buttons on the right side. So now despite the symmetrical design, it isn’t really a true ambidextrous mouse any longer per se. Moving on, we don’t get rubberised grips on the sides any longer, and instead it’s now just the matte plastic. Though Razer does provide their grip tapes inside the box with every Viper V2 Pro, so if you do prefer the feel, you can simply paste them on. Though of course, this will increase the weight ever so slightly. Move to the bottom and you’ll see a slight redesign of the feet pads and instead of having two separate buttons for power and DPI toggling, it’s now combined into just a single button. And lastly, gone is the charging dock connector, which some of you may be sad about, but I would say is a blessing in disguise.
Which leads me to all the upgrades that the Viper V2 Pro is bringing to the table. The biggest and most welcome change is that the Viper V2 Pro features a Type-C port. This makes a huge difference in my opinion. Now granted, with the Viper Ultimate, you can opt to get it with the charging dock and it’s straight to the point, no hassle, stress free. You wouldn’t even really be bothered that it still uses micro-B on either the dock or the mouse itself. But if you didn’t get it with the dock, or perhaps you simply brought the mouse elsewhere and didn’t bring the cable with you, which had to use Razer’s specific cable per se due to the slotted design of it, you would be out of luck.
Whereas on the Viper V2 Pro, it’s basically a standard Type-C cable and you can basically use any other Type-C cable to charge it or even use it wired if you so desire. You need not need Razer’s specific cable and with Type-C, it’s so much more versatile. Because of this alone, I would say that if you’re deciding between the Logitech G Pro X Superlight or this Razer Viper V2 Pro, there’s simply no comparison, go for this instead. You’ll appreciate it in the long run.
But of course, that’s not all there is.
You’re also getting the newer Razer Gen 3 Optical Switches which are rated up to 90 million clicks and a new Focus Pro 30K Optical Sensor with a maximum DPI of 30K. Now granted, practically no one is going to use that high a DPI, not even 20K which was the highest possible on the previous Viper Ultimate. But it’s still going to be a good sensor nonetheless and in practice, it tracks well on a desk mat with no issues at all. Personally, I’m a high DPI user. I generally use either 9600 DPI or 12800 DPI, so I can appreciate a high DPI capable mouse. But what about you guys? Let me know in the comments down below.
Lastly, you do get better battery life. It can last up to 80 hours of constant motion on a single charge and it’s great. I only had to charge it about twice a month or so. With this, it now has a slight edge over its direct competitor, the G Pro X Superlight but definitely a far cry from the G303 Shroud which has a staggering 145 hours of battery life. I only had to charge that about once a month. But that’s a heavier mouse, so it’s understandable. The Viper V2 Pro is still no slouch.
But ultimately and again, the main factor is the reduced weight. At just 58 or 59 grams, this is really light. You really do feel it once you start using it, especially for gaming. It’s really light to move around, you don't need to use too much muscle per se and in effect, I find that you’ll generally tend to get more accurate with your swipes and locks thanks to that. Over time, it’s also less fatiguing as well. The Gen 3 Optical Switches are also pretty satisfying
Overall I really enjoyed the Viper V2 Pro and I think Razer has nailed down on what is effectively a really competitive product. However, it’s not without its flaws. Compared to the G Pro X Superlight, the Viper V2 Pro does not have any compartment on the mouse to house the wireless dongle. If you’re going to use this at your desk forever, that’s not going to be an issue. But if you’re constantly traveling about, or perhaps you’re an eSports player or fanatic, not having a place to properly store the dongle is a little bit of a letdown. That thing is going to get lost so easily. It makes this not as travel friendly despite the lightweight.
But now we have to talk about price. The Razer Viper V2 Pro retails for 230 Singapore Dollars (229.90 SGD) or 150 US Dollars (149.99 USD). To be fair, it’s priced really competitively. At least when comparing standard retail prices, the Viper V2 Pro is basically 10 bucks cheaper compared to the G Pro X Superlight which has kind of been held as the standard to beat since its launch.
Of course, now that the Viper V2 Pro is out, I would say not to even look at the G Pro X Superlight unless you really prefer the ergonomics of that particular mouse. But even so, it is pricey per say. Honestly I felt that Razer could’ve priced this slightly lower, perhaps at 200 Singapore Dollars or about 135 US Dollars. That price point would’ve made this that much more enticing and for more people to willingly jump ship.
But even so, we can kind of understand. You’re paying more for less here but less is the name of the game. This is a fantastic mouse and while it’s not FinalMouse, it’s really really light and you still get Type-C. If you’re a fan of the Viper series, you’ll definitely like this one and if you’re in the market for a lightweight wireless gaming mouse with Type-C no less, this is the one to get. At least for now.