I am a huge fan of Razer. This is why it should come as no surprise to anyone that I am posting my little review of the Razer Death Adder. My first introduction to Razer was the Boomslang. It really was not all that comfortable and it was a tad on the big side but, it did what no other mouse at the time could do: Make playing an FPS much better. After the classic Boomslang, I moved on to the Diamondback, which I loved and used up until recently when the nice fellas at Razer sent me a Death Adder to play with. Although the Death Adder is not Razers top of the line mouse, it is affordable and works extremely well. Is it perfect? No, it has a flaw. I will get into that later though.
Death Adder Specs:
* 1800dpi Razer Precision™ 3G infrared sensor
* Ergonomic right-handed design
* 1000Hz Ultrapolling™ / 1ms response
* Five independently programmable Hyperesponse™ buttons
* On-The-Fly Sensitivity™ adjustment
* Always-On™ mode
* Ultra-large non-slip buttons
* 16-bit ultra-wide data path
* 6400 frames per second (5.8 megapixels per second)
* 60-120 inches per second and 15g of acceleration
* Zero-acoustic Ultraslick™ Teflon feet
* Gold-plated USB connector
* Seven-foot, lightweight, non-tangle cord
* Approximate size: 128mm (length) x 70mm (width) x 42.5mm (height)
The Razer website lists the Death Adder at $59.99 but, if you shop around, you can find it for around $40.
As you can see from the picture above, even the box is nice and pretty. It is pretty sturdy for a mouse box and even has a velcro latch to keep it shut.
Inside the box is of course, the mouse, certificate of autheticity, an install guide, and the driver CD.
Installing the Death Adder is a pretty painless afair. Plug it in and then run the driver CD. After everthing is installed, you will notice a nice pop-up screen that will let you tweak the Death Adder to your gaming preference. As you can see below, there are five buttons on the DA and each one can be configured to do anything you would like it to do and they are clearly labled so there is no guess work as to what you are doing. There are also up to five profiles you can save. This could be used for each member of your family or, you could be like me and use each one to suit your needs on different games. The profile pictured is the one I use most. The two side buttons are set to raise and lower the DPI on the fly, which is just wonderful if you play a lot of FPS games like I do. There are three different DPI settings, as you can see, and as you may know, the highest DPI setting is the fastest. For the most part, this is the setting I use, however, in a game such as Battlefield 1942 where I snipe, being able to instantly lower the DPI gives me much greater accuracy sans the speed.
The picture below shows the advance settings tab and the sensitivity tabs which can also be assigned to a button if you so choose.
The Death Adder has three teflon feet so it will glide almost effortlessly over any surface. I use the Razer Destrutor mousepad and it works like a charm, but it glides just as well on any other mousepad. As for the testing, I have played serveral different games with it. The first one being Battlefield: Heroes. Although the Diamondback did a really good job, the Death Adder out preformed it. The level of glide the DA offered was immeadiatly apparent. Although it is worth noting that the Diamondback was a few years old and had some wear and tear. As BF: Heroes is a pretty fast paced game, I kept the DPI at the highest setting for walking around purposes and flying. As most BF veterans know, when flying in a Battlefield game, the faster the mouse responds, the better your flying will be and with the Death Adder it was. Barrel rolls, loopty loops, and diving then flying back up seemed a little easier than it had been previously. The best part though, is the changing of the DPI on the fly. Because BF: Heroes is such a fast paced game as compared to the others in the series, being able to change the DPI from fast to slow is just great. Let's say I just jumped out of the airplane and landed in a grassy knol. I raise my sniper rifle and bring up the scope, I hit the number four button to bring the DPI down to the lowest setting and I can snipe a person in the finger and then change it back to high DPI setting and go. The only bad thing was when clicking the left mouse button repeatedly, the DA didn't respond to all the clicks like I thought it should. This is a problem when playing at a fast a furious rate.
Next up: Battlefield 2. The Death Adder did a great job. Flying was easier, especially the choppers, and the ability to switch DPI settings on the fly, again, made sniping a bit more accurate. The biggest difference I noticed playing BF 2 was when using the Special Ops character. As is does not scope out as far as the sniper rifle, changing the DPI to the mid setting gives you a mix of speed and accuracy. I still had the little niggle with the left mouse button when trying to repeatedly fire. Although, it didn't skip a bunch, even one misfire can get you killed.
I also played Diablo II with the Death Adder. Mainly because Diablo II is basically a mouse controlled game. I really didn't notice a major improvement. I did however, keep changing the DPI settings. I do not reccomend this when you are fighting a lot of people as sometimes you just can't get the mouse pointer where you need it fast enough on the slowest setting.
As I am not really a hardware guru, testing and all the technical stuff is not really my forte. I just love games and therefore, my thoughts on the Death Adder come from a gamers perspective and as such, I try to write about what I think PC gamers care about. So, what is my overall thoughts on the Death Adder? I really love it! The Death Adder is really comfortable and glides across almost any surface effortlessly. Being able to program the buttons and the ability to have five profiles is great. After playing PC games with the Death Adder for over three weeks, I have to say that it has significantly improved my gameplay. Not just because of the DPI or the on the fly options, but because it genuily does improve gameplay. Don't get me wrong here though, if you suck at FPS games, the Death Adder is not a magic wand that will make you frag fifty people a game. It will however, give you an advantage when playing alone or online simply because of the options and how precise you can be. The only bad thing about it is that when you click the left mouse button at a fast rate, it may not respond as well as you might like. The Death Adder is a great gaming mouse at a good price and if you can get your hands on one, I doubt you will let it go anytime soon! That is of course, unless you get one of Razers newer mice at which point you will retire the Death Adder to the gaming trophy room or give it to your wife!
Overall, I give the Death Adder 9 out 10
Pros:
Precise
Glides real nice
Easily programmed
Ability to change DPI and other things on the fly
Tis pretty and it matches my puter, monitor, keyboard, and mousepad!
Cons:
The left mouse button has some issues on occasion