Razer Viper Mini Gaming Mouse

Razer Viper Mini Gaming Mouse Review

For a price tag that low, the Razer Viper Mini Wired Gaming Mouse has a lot to offer. This is a wired gaming mouse that supports DPI switching and has a more advanced user interface than your average wireless gaming mouse.

Compatible with Xbox One and Windows PCs, the Razer Viper Mini Wired Gaming Mouse is a fully-featured USB gaming mouse that’s great for first-person shooters, MMOs, RTS games, and a wide variety of other PC games. At under Rs 4000/- (about US$30, £23, AU$39), it’s a great option for those who don’t want to spend a lot of money on a wireless gaming mouse but still need the advanced gaming mouse.

Table of Contents

Specifications of Razer Viper Mini

Design of Razer Viper Mini

The Viper Mini might be half the size of its bigger brothers, but, at 61g, it weighs as much. You can feel it when you hold it, but not by holding it – the weight is well distributed and, if you have to grip something too hard, you can rest your palm on the sensor.

Controls of Razer Viper Mini

In common with the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller, the Viper Mini has a d-pad and two buttons, making this a direct competitor to the Razer DeathAdder Elite and Hyperflux Illuminate. It’s controlled via three side switches and a simple two-position DPI toggle switch, but the DPI (Dots Per Inch) button is the only place you’ll find a more traditional joystick.

The mouse’s outer surface is covered in matte black plastic and features a hollow rubber structure. This is almost certainly the mechanical switch in question, as there’s no gloss finish at all, and the mouse is devoid of any other buttons.

The rubberized material can become tiring on the palms of your hands if you use it too much – we found that after a few hours it can make things very uncomfortable. You’ll also find two soft button caps in the lower left of the palm rest, although they’re too soft to provide much feedback and you have to rest your hand over them to turn them on.

Setup of Razer Viper Mini

Setting up the Viper Mini is a delightfully simple process. The two side switches and DPI toggle switch on the right-hand side of the mouse have no magnets, so they are just pressed down and pressed to click in, which takes only a few seconds. The side switches are soft, making them a breeze to adjust and move around; all you have to do is turn the switch towards whichever side of the mouse you want to be on, and press the right-side one until it clicks in.

Just beneath the side switches are a small section of rubber that has a button that’s easy to press, and then it’s just a case of selecting your DPI and adjusting the sensitivity accordingly.

The only other button on the mouse is an up/down scroll wheel. You can scroll up and down with ease, but this doesn’t give you the same clicky-clack as a click wheel on an optical mouse, and there are also some issues with inaccurate scrolling that makes using it a little less than ideal.

Having all these buttons might initially seem a little cluttered, but it’s easy to navigate them and get to your most-used commands very quickly.

Performance of Razer Viper Mini

As with most other mini USB gaming mice, the Viper Mini is designed for wired operation, but you do have the option to connect the dongle to a desktop USB port and connect to a desktop mouse, or alternatively use Bluetooth on Windows 10.

Once connected, the mouse only has a fraction of a second of lag when switching from Bluetooth to USB, although this is something you get with almost any wireless mouse. The left and right side switches work well, and you can manipulate the mouse in either direction with ease, and there’s no discernible difference in quality between the USB and Bluetooth versions of the mouse.

Where the miniature design of the Viper Mini truly comes into its own is when you consider that it’s also capable of running for five hours on a single charge, even with heavy usage.

For those who require more from a wireless mouse, and want to be able to take the best possible care of it, you can invest in the Sennheiser Hyperflux Illuminate, which features a unique USB dongle that can run up to 20 hours on a single charge, or up to 40 hours of continuous wireless operation.

On the other hand, the Corsair Scimitar Pro RGB and the SteelSeries Momentum Mesh are wireless mice that can run for 10 hours between charges, which is a bit on the slow side for any mouse.

That said, the Scimitar Pro RGB costs nearly twice as much as the Viper Mini, and you get a much-faster optical sensor in the box that, according to Corsair, is capable of speeds of up to 12,000 DPI.

Verdict

The slim design of the Viper Mini is an absolute joy to use, and the fantastic sensitivity for its size is definitely one of the highlights, along with the five-hour battery life that means you can comfortably use it throughout the day without having to worry about charging it, even if you’re playing for hours at a time.

If you’re an Xbox fan or are planning on using the mouse with an Xbox One or Xbox One S, then you’ll be pleased to know that it comes bundled with an impressive three-year warranty.

However, as with all mice, it’s the quality of the build that really matters, and the Corsair One Pro Stealth RGB is our recommended wireless gaming mouse for high-end performance.

Chances are if you’re buying this for someone, they already have an Xbox One or Xbox One S. If you’re looking to recommend it to someone, or at least hint at it as an option, then the Corsair M65 Pro RGB is a great alternative that delivers similar performance, for about half the price of the Viper Mini.

Although, there’s one key difference with the M65 Pro RGB; it doesn’t have a gorgeous build that’s almost as sleek and smooth as the Viper Mini.