Razer DeathAdder Chroma

Razer DeathAdder Chroma

The original Razer DeathAdder, with its asymmetrical ergonomic shape and speedy response, is probably one of PC gamers' best-loved gaming mice.

The new DeathAdder Chroma comes with an improved 10,000-dots-per-inch (dpi) optical sensor and the option of 16.8 million customisable lighting colours.

The Chroma is made of textured hard plastic and has nice rubber grips on its sides. It has five programmable buttons; the usual left and right click buttons, a rubberised scroll wheel that doubles as a third button, and two buttons on the left side. It also has a 2.1m-long tangle-resistant braided fibre cable with a gold-plated USB connector.

It is designed to accommodate both claw-grip and palm-grip PC gamers.

The curve at the rear end of the mouse supports a claw gamer's wrist. Yet the mouse has an overall asymmetrical bulge which forms a natural rest for a palm-grip gamer.

As a palm-grip gamer myself, I love that the Chroma is comfortable to use even after a few hours.

It is by far the most comfortable gaming mouse I have ever used. Its only downside is that it caters only to right-handers.

The Chroma's upgraded optical sensor has a top speed of 200 inches per second.

You can adjust the sensitivity settings with Razer Synapse 2.0 cloud-based software. To me, 10,000 dots per inch (dpi) is overkill.

I find myself using 2,400 dpi most of the time. Mouse movement is fast and accurate at this setting.

A dpi higher than that is too much for me, even when I am playing first-person shooters. But some gamers do crave the extra sensitivity and speed.

There are two lighted areas on this mouse - the Razer logo and the scroll wheel. You can use the Synapse software to change the colour of the lights.

You can set each area to cycle through a set of colours, or set it to one colour that either pulsates or remains steady. If you have other Razer Chroma devices, such as the BlackWidow Chroma keyboard or the Kraken 7.1 chroma headphones, you can sync their colours or colour rhythms.

While such colour changes are fun, I do not see how they will help your gaming performance - other than by impressing your mates.

The Razer DeathAdder Chroma is a superb back-to-basics gaming mouse. It has a comfortable ergonomic design, reasonable price tag, speedy movement and adds more colour to your games.

trevtan@sph.com.sg

TECH SPECS

Price: $99.90

Buttons: 5

Sensitivity: 100 to 10,000 dots per inch

Response time: 1 millisecond

Maximum speed: 200 inches per second

Weight: 158g

RATING

Design 4/5

Performance 4/5

Value for money 5/5

Overall 4/5


This article was first published on Jan 21, 2015.
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