This Razer mouse is frustrating, but I couldn’t live without it

After I purchased the Razer Naga V2 Professional, I assumed that I might immediately find it irresistible, and I assumed that I knew what I used to be getting myself into. One month later, I can now say with full conviction that I used to be incorrect on each accounts.

Regardless of being two years previous, many nonetheless rank the Razer Naga V2 Professional among the many best gaming mice, and having examined it myself, I absolutely agree. However make no mistake: It’s undoubtedly a mouse with a studying curve, and I discovered that the laborious manner.

My first rodeo

I notice that I’m fairly late on the Razer Naga prepare. The idea of Razer’s 12-button mouse is nothing new at this level, and varied iterations of the mouse have been round since 2009. I’ve by no means owned one till simply over a month in the past, although.

The Razer Naga is primarily an MMO mouse, and 2009 was a chief yr for such gamers; I, myself, was deep into my World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King section at the moment. I positive may’ve used a Naga, however there was at all times one thing that saved me away from giving it a attempt, such because it being costly (I paid $160 for mine, however the really helpful checklist worth is $180) or the truth that all these buttons made it downright intimidating.

This makes the Razer Naga V2 Professional my first try at utilizing Razer’s MMO mouse. It’s not my first Razer mouse, nevertheless it’s the primary gaming mouse the place I actually felt like I used to be attempting one thing new. Because of this, a whole lot of my impressions of the mouse aren’t strictly associated to the V2 Professional as a lot because the Razer Naga total, however I’ll cowl elements which might be distinctive to this mouse, too.

There’s quite a bit to unpack. Though the Razer Naga V2 Professional is plug-and-play, it’s additionally something however.

Not a love at first sight

I used to be excited to get the Razer Naga V2 Professional, however my preliminary pleasure was short-lived. There have been some issues that I didn’t love from the get-go. The excellent news is that adapting to the mouse helped me get previous most of them.

Earlier than I dive in, let’s go over the fundamental specs.

The Razer Naga V2 Professional is a high-end wireless mouse, and the specs present it. It comes with three hot-swappable facet plates: one with the usual two thumb buttons, one with six, and one with 12. This quantities to as much as 20 programmable buttons, and the V2 Professional provides the HyperScroll Professional scroll wheel, which comes with six presets and a customized mode. You may successfully double the variety of programmable inputs due to Razer’s Hypershift tech, which I’ll go right into a bit later.

The mouse comes with its personal 2.4GHz wi-fi dongle, and when you plug it in, you’re good to go. You want the Razer Synapse software program to set it up, which I’ve already had on account of proudly owning a Razer keyboard; I’m guessing you’d be prompted to obtain it in any other case.

My first ideas as I held the mouse have been that it was actually heavy and that my hand was barely too small. (I knew that it’s not precisely good for small arms and purchased it regardless of that.) Regardless of the burden and the scale, the mouse felt snug for probably the most half, though the sheer variety of buttons beneath my thumb took some effort getting used to. I take advantage of a palm grip and located the mouse to be completely suited to that grip sort, though with greater arms, I feel a claw grip would work simply as nicely.

I’ve to provide it to Razer — the hot-swappable facet plates are extraordinarily simple to swap backwards and forwards. In truth, I’ve had extra issues unplugging the mouse from its charging cable than I’ve had swapping out the 12-button plate for the two-button model. In actual fact, I discovered the charging cable slightly troublesome to unplug.

Regardless of the convenience of use, I had some purchaser’s regret. I didn’t love this mouse at first sight. It was heavier than I anticipated, it was cumbersome, and it rapidly dawned on me that organising the keybinds can be a undertaking as a substitute of a fast five-minute job.

The completely different levels of utilizing a Naga

I really feel like one of many issues that folks don’t point out a lot in evaluations of this mouse (of which I’ve learn loads) is that it doesn’t simply take a very long time to arrange but in addition to study. I wish to contact on that side, as a result of that’s in all probability what’s taken me the longest time to adapt to. Once more, that is extra of a Naga factor than the Razer Naga V2 Professional, however in the event you’re a first-time person, you would possibly run into the identical obstacles that I’ve encountered.

Getting began is straightforward, however solely on paper. I dove proper in with the 12-button model, naively considering I’d be a professional gamer inside an hour. (Spoiler alert: I used to be decidedly not a professional gamer inside an hour.)

With out a whole lot of tweaking in Synapse, these thumb buttons don’t do something, so I got down to bind them to sure keyboard keys, which, in flip, made them usable in video games. Most video games don’t acknowledge these facet panel keys, so this keyboard-to-mouse transition is important.

A course of that I assumed would take me 5 minutes ended up taking the higher a part of an hour as I modified sure binds backwards and forwards. I can’t complain in regards to the precise software program — it’s simple sufficient to navigate. Nobody tells you ways laborious it’s going to be to select the suitable stuff to bind, although.

The facet panel accounts for 12 separate keybinds, and you may double the variety of programmable inputs on the Naga V2 Professional because of Razer’s HyperShift tech. This allows you to assign a secondary operate to every button, and when holding down the HyperShift key, the keybind adjustments accordingly.

I entertained the concept of utilizing HyperShift, however truthfully, I feel I’m too informal a gamer to hassle. The video games I primarily play don’t require a whopping 24 completely different binds on high of the stuff I’m already very used to utilizing on my keyboard. Selecting the correct issues to re-map was a course of. I had a whole lot of binds that I used to be snug with utilizing throughout gameplay, and a whole lot of these I merely didn’t wish to swap out.

As soon as I used to be achieved, the fact test absolutely set in.

A endless course of

This mouse has been out for practically two years now, so I gained’t bore you with the small print which might be out there in practically each evaluate of it. As a substitute, I wish to have a look at the sensible facet of utilizing such a mouse as your day by day driver.

My predominant MMO continues to be World of Warcraft. (Sure, I do know, time to discover a new recreation.) Very similar to most MMOs, WoW offers you completely different spells and due to this fact completely different keybinds for every character. The ties themselves are uniform throughout each character, however as every comes with its personal talents, you must work out a option to streamline these binds and memorize them.

Utilizing the 12-button facet panel actually shook issues up for me. At first, I discovered myself reverting to what I already remembered, that means utilizing the keyboard as a substitute of attempting to make use of the mouse. This was particularly laborious to keep away from throughout intense gameplay, the place utilizing the incorrect means may be lethal.

Even once I pressured myself to stay to the mouse, it took me some time to study the button placement. Luckily, Razer should have put a good bit of thought into every, as a result of when you’ve used the mouse for a few days, the button form turns into distinct sufficient that it will get quite a bit simpler to inform them aside with out wanting.

However that first day or two? Not solely did I not keep in mind which button was assigned to which spell however I additionally needed to cease and assume which button I used to be even urgent.

I ultimately acquired used to the button format, however truthfully, I not often make use of all 12 buttons. I may, however I hardly have to. I can’t think about doubling them with HyperShift — I feel I’d spend most of my time being confused as to what I’m doing versus truly taking part in.

It was an uphill climb, however one month later, I’m feeling the actual good thing about utilizing this mouse. Gameplay turns into extra intuitive; casting spells is a lot faster; you release extra of your keyboard for different issues. I’m undecided if it made me a greater gamer, nevertheless it definitely made gameplay extra pleasurable for me.

The one draw back? Adjusting this mouse to your wants is a endless course of. Certain, I’ve mastered it for one character, however taking part in a special character or a special recreation means beginning yet again and memorizing much more binds. That is true for any recreation, however with the sheer variety of programmable buttons that the Razer Naga V2 Professional affords, it does really feel like a chore in the event you play a whole lot of completely different titles.

The great a part of it’s that even in the event you don’t find yourself utilizing all 12 buttons and persist with the fundamental or the six-button facet panel, the Naga V2 Professional is an outstanding mouse regardless, so that you gained’t be lacking out. I may see it being much less nice for first-person shooters, although, if solely due to the burden.

The perfect (and most irritating) mouse I’ve ever owned

There’s a lot that I really like in regards to the Razer Naga V2 Professional: the sky-high DPI; the wonderful sensor; the seamless wi-fi connectivity; the high-end construct high quality that tells me that it would final me a very long time (which is sort of a feat, as I break mice in report time).

A month later, I additionally love the facet panels. I’ve gotten so used to the 12-button model that I hardly hassle to scale down to 2 because it doesn’t bug me once I work. The six-button panel is the one which’s gotten the least love, just because I’ve gotten used to the utmost format and I feel that introducing any adjustments at this level would solely finish in frustration.

One other factor that put me off at first however is now a favourite is the customizable scroll wheel. Out of the field, utilizing the scroll wheel appears like pulling tooth, however a fast adjustment in Synapse turns it into the smoothest scroll wheel I’ve ever tried. There are such a lot of modes that there’s one thing in there for everybody, and if the presets don’t be just right for you, you’ll be able to at all times create your personal profile. Personally, as I don’t use the scroll wheel a lot throughout gameplay, I haven’t needed to make any tweaks after that preliminary adjustment.

The battery life is one other factor I’ve loved and might applaud this mouse for. Previous to this mouse, I briefly used a battery-powered Logitech, and swapping these AA batteries each week or so was tedious — to not point out costly. The battery on the Naga V2 Professional is great, lasting for days on finish in the event you flip off the RGB lighting. Turning that on makes it deplete quite a bit quicker, although.

Outdoors of these extra Naga-specific issues, that is only a actually strong mouse. It’s fast, dependable, and tremendous customizable.

It’s additionally totally overkill for my wants, and truthfully, I wouldn’t suggest it to non-MMO avid gamers. In the event you don’t often play video games with numerous completely different binds, you don’t want this mouse. Even in the event you do (like I do), it’s nonetheless overkill for many individuals and it has a steep studying curve that by no means actually ends.

With all that mentioned, I’d purchase the Razer Naga V2 Professional once more with none hesitation, and I’d fortunately undergo the tedious means of studying my binds yet again. I’m formally a convert.