Reviewing The Razer Deathadder Chroma

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Reviewing the Razer Deathadder Chroma

It’s interesting how synergistic a gaming rig can be. There’s no one part that’s any less important than any of the others. If one piece of equipment suffers from being an inferior product, then your entire gaming situation takes a drastic dip.

Athletes have cleats, gear, and uniforms. Ballerinas have tights, slippers, and costumes. Everything that takes some degree of skill and effort have their own set of products that are vital to their performance. For gamers, it’s a high-quality gaming rig. Nothing is more important than a great mouse.

What is the Razer Deathadder Chroma and How Does It Work?

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There are some gaming mouses that claim to be the best mouse in all of gaming, or even the entire world. The Razer Deathadder Chroma happens to be one of those that happens to make that claim. Now, Razer does have some precedent toward making this bold claim, considering their reputation. Whatever your opinion on the brand may be, they’ve managed to build a pretty well-established name for their product.

The Deathadder is advertised as the end all, be all of high-end gaming mice. Coming from Razer, who are known for creating multiple lines of various electronics specifically designed for professional gaming, then a claim like that is worth considering.

Essentially, it’s designed to be the most considerate, accurate, comfortable, and high-quality mouse that you can find on the market. It does everything that a mouse does, but at a level that professional gamers can testify for.

What Makes the Razer Deathadder Chroma Unique?

Well, jeez, where to start? If there’s one thing I have to hand to it, it’s not lacking in features.

1. External Skeleton

Let’s start with the superficial qualities. A problem that a lot of would-be gaming mouses run into is over-designing their products. Chances are you know what I’m talking about: lots of sharp corners, fractal plating, an overabundance of LED lights, and a, frankly, confusing structure. They get to the point where it’s hard to tell how you’re even supposed to hold them.

There’s a certain arrogance that gaming equipment manufacturers fall into, and there’s an audience that feeds into it. The arrogance is that an overly-intricate design can compensate for a product’s shortcomings. You can go crazy with a design however you like and charge 80 bucks for it, it won’t change the fact the mouse is cheap.

The point is, Razer isn’t falling for that arrogance pitfall. You don’t need an insane, unique design to play to your audience’s preferences. The Razer Deathadder Chroma is a sleek, classic, ergonomically designed mouse perfectly designed to fit in the hand. That is, perfect for the right-sized hand. It’s a large mouse, so if you have large hands then there’s no issue.

Plus, it has some nice, rubber-grip sides, so it won’t slip out of your hands easily. It’s just a straightforward, reliable design for a good mouse that doesn’t even risk having a downside.

2. Chroma

Razer has somewhat of a signature when it comes to their Chroma products. Just about everything they make has it, and I have no issue with it. I love a nice bit of customization with my mouse, and being able to change what color you mouse has is a bonus in my opinion.

Being able to change the lighting effects themselves is just icing on the cake. You can cycle through the spectrum, pulse with a color of choice like your mouse were breathing, or just keep it simple with one, static color. Razer takes a lot of pride with their color customization, and you’ll probably appreciate that they do.

3. Optical Sensor

The Razer Deathadder Chroma sports an optical sensor with a DPI range up to 10000. With such a wide range, you’re able to tweak and adjust the range to something that fits your gameplay style. Not only can it be as fast as you need it to be, with a cursor movement that can reach up to 300 inches per second with 50g of acceleration.

4. Synapse

There is an interesting feature you might be interesting in: the Deathadder’s Synapse configurator. For instance, if you want, you can keep track of your stats and heatmap while using your mouse. If you’re a professional, or just want to up your game, you can reflect on a record of your gameplay. It provides plenty of opportunity for analysis, and you can even share your stats to social media.

There are several features Synapse offers. The Deathadder’s lift-off tracking helps mitigate a jittering cursor from throwing your aim off. Once you calibrate your mouse to a surface, you can customize how it reads that surface and how you wield your mouse to the point where jittering is a non-plus.

You can calibrate your mouse to a specific surface, recording its every property into your mouse’s memory. If you happen to frequently play on a surface that isn’t perfectly flat, or slightly damaged, then your mouse will be able to adapt to those features.

Since the Razer Deathadder Chroma is connected to the cloud, you have unlimited profiles to keep. Depending on what game you’re playing, surface you’re using, or button layout you’re trying, you won’t need to worry about chewing up memory.

Pricing for the Razer Deathadder Chroma

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So, the Deathadder has a pretty good rep going for it. But my question is: is it affordable? If I were looking for a new addition to my rig, I’d be inclined to drop a few dollars on it, but it still needs to be within reason. You want the best bang for your buck, don’t you?

The Razer Deathadder line does come in a lot of variations. You can choose from the Refurbished Deathadder, the Classic, the Essential, and of course the Chroma.

The Chroma variation comes in at a fairly reasonable $70, though Amazon may have various deals that can cut that price down. $70 strikes me as a reasonable deal, especially considering I’m looking at getting a reliable mouse.

I do, however, suggest going for a refurbished Chroma instead of the regular variation. They’re in limited supply, so if you don’t get one then that’s unfortunate, but they’re still a fantastic deal. A refurbished version is the exact same as a fresh factory Chroma, but instead of $70 it’s only $55. That’s a pretty appealing price cut for the same product.

What’s Public Perception of the Razer Deathadder Chroma?

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Reading an in-depth review that digs into the qualities of a product is great for helping inform you, but what you should really look into what people are saying. On forums, in customer reviews, wherever an opinion is offered on a product is worth lending an ear to. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising, and it’ll generally give you a lot better idea of what you’re getting into.

However, if you’re looking for a tl;dr summation what people are saying about the Razer Deathadder Chroma, I can help with that. The long and short of it is that… people really like it. The Razer forums themselves reflect a highly regarded product, but maybe that place is a bit biased. Let’s expand our sample.

The problem with any product is that they’re prone to very opinionated reactions from people. For instance, some people feel that the Deathadder is a bit fragile, while others denounce that just as quickly. People do seem to be under the impression that Razer, while being a decent product, overcharging for its equipment, sort of like Apple.

However, even after digging criticism slung its way, it seems like the Deathadder remains an incredibly popular mouse among the gamerbase. It’s been described as comfortable, accurate, and a quality product. The people know best, I suppose.

If there’s one thing I’d say may be most accurate, people seem to have longevity issues with it. After some time, the scroll wheel stops working, your computer may stop registering it, or the buttons go faulty.

It feels like these experiences are pretty far in the minority as far as issues go, but that doesn’t change the fact that they may come up. Razer does offer a warranty, though, so if you experience these issues within a year then you should be able to get it replaced.

How It Compares to the Competition

Talking about the Razer Deathadder Chroma on its home turf is pretty safe to get a nice review out of, but I’m more interested in seeing how it measures up to the competition. That’s what you want to know, I imagine, especially if something similar is better and cheaper.

Razer v. Logitech

Logitech is an often compared-to market competitor when it comes to producing quality gaming accessories.

My favorite gaming mouse from their selection is the G502 HERO. It may be intended for different purposes than the Deathadder is, but they’re definitely in the same category. If there’s one thing I take a little bit of issue with when it comes to the Deathadder, it’s that it doesn’t have a whole lot in customization.

The HERO, by comparison, knocks the Deathadder out of the park when it comes to customizing it to your preferences. Not only does it have a much higher DPI range, up to 16000, you can alter its weight, lights, eleven buttons, and even has a nice little lip to rest your thumb on. Its aesthetics are subjective, so there’s no real point in comparing those.

Though those are the main differences between the mouses, they still hold a lot of similarities. High quality design, appealing aesthetics, highly accurate optical sensor, the list goes on. If anything I would say the Deathadder may have the upper hand in terms of firmware and technical quality, though not by much.

Razer v. Corsair

Corsair has made a pretty good name for itself when it comes to quality, especially with their keyboards. Their mouse selection is healthy, with plenty of variety as well, but the one that stood out to me was the Corsair Glaive.

The Corsair contains a fairly classic design, not all too dissimilar to the Razer Deathadder Chroma, but has a lot more customization. I mean, you’re able to change out the grips on the side, I think that’s really cool. It has a DPI range up to 16000, handily better than the Deathadder, but other than that they’re fairly similar products.

They share an ergonomic shape, responsive and optimized optical sensors, and high-quality design. While they both save profiles for button layouts and light configuration, the Razer beats out the Corsair by connecting to the cloud.

I said before that aesthetics are a subjective art. However, I personally prefer the sleek, compact appearance of the Deathadder in comparison to the Corsair. Overall, it’s a strong comparison with the Deathadder, in terms of performance and price, but the Deathadder may prove to beat it out in terms of technical performance. I wager it’d be a close call, though.

What We Think of the Razer Deathadder Chroma

In my honest opinion, the Razer Deathadder Chroma strikes me as a fantastic choice for a high-quality gaming mouse. It’s crisp, clean, sleek, and appealing in its every aspect.

I will say, however, I wish it were a little bit more customizable. Lights are great, but compared to competing mice that offer a much larger provision for adapting your mouse to your style, it falls a bit short. If there were a few more buttons to configure, I imagine you’d get a lot more out of that cloud memory storage.

But it looks comfortable. It looks really comfortable, like it’s perfectly fitted to fit your hand. I can safely say that I’d recommend this product, if for nothing less than its variety of features compacted into a minimalistic body, comfortable design, and general quality.

Deals to Consider on the Razer Deathadder Chroma

I mentioned before that you might want to consider purchasing a refurbished Razer Deathadder Chroma, and I stand by that. Plus, while it may feel nice buying it through their website, Amazon is almost certainly going to have one for a reduced price.

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