Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro review – floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee
Razer's latest esports-focused mouse is here, with the DeathAdder V4 Pro rocking some innovative features that make it a truly outstanding option for pros and high-level players.
At first glance, the DeathAdder V4 Pro looks pretty similar to its predecessor, but on the inside, Razer has changed, improved, and refined almost every feature that matters when it comes to premium gaming mice. Before we get into exactly what's changed, let's talk about the price, because the DeathAdder V4 Pro is priced at £169.99 / $169.99 / AU$259 (rough conversion), which puts it £10 / $10 more than the DeathAdder V3 Pro (with the HyperPolling wireless dongle) and one of it's main competitors, the Logitech Pro X Superlight 2 DEX.
Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro design and features
Despite retaining the same, familiar ergonomic shape, there's a good reason for that; Razer claims that over 20 million DeathAdder mice have been sold worldwide, so it's clearly a winning formula. The mouse feels sensational in a palm/claw grip, particularly for someone like me with average-sized hands. The switches, side buttons, and optical wheel are all within millimetres of your fingers, able to be reached easily in clutch moments.
The mouse's weight (or lack thereof) also plays a big role in comfort and ergonomics. Razer somehow managed to shrink the DeathAdder V4 Pro to just 56g (57g in white), which is 10% lighter than its predecessor and 4g lighter than the Logitech Pro X Superlight 2 DEX, despite being the same shape. It also has up to 72% stiffer sidewalls for structural integrity.
It's built with 90% recycled materials and bio-based polyamide fiber too, derived from plants and castor oil – all renewable sources – which is a really nice, thoughtful feature. Talking of nice features, Razer claims that its new HyperSpeed Wireless Gen-2 technology is a major leap forward in wireless mouse technology, with more power efficiency and, more importantly, 37% lower latency than the previous generation, with an average of just 0.291ms latency.
It's a similar story with Razer's Gen-2 HyperPolling technology, which is claimed to lead to faster, more accurate inputs, which are quite important for competitive gaming. Mouse sensitivity, or DPI, is also important, and thankfully, the DeathAdder V4 Pro boasts a whopping 45k optical sensor, the highest specification on the market, which Razer claims delivers 99.8% resolution accuracy. Wowzers.
But enough of the technology inside; how about the bits you actually interact with? Well, you're in luck, because the mouse's switches and scroll wheel have been heavily updated too. Razer's new optical switches have a 100 million click lifecycle, 10 million more than the previous generation, with a lighter actuation force and a significantly more tactile feedback (more on that later!). The 24-step scroll wheel, which is normally the thing that goes wrong first when it comes to mice, is now optical too, a first for esports-focused mice, which is claimed to have over triple the lifecycle and higher precision when scrolling.
Even the dongle is different. Gone is the rectangle design, replaced by a hemisphere, dome-like shape, with a 30% higher profile antenna for more reliable signal transmission. There are also three lights on the dongle itself, which show connection status, battery life and polling rate at a glance, and it saves you digging around in Razer Synapse!
Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro performance
So, with all these swanky, esports-level features, how does the mouse perform? First, let's address about the elephant in the gaming room because, as you might have already guessed by now, I am not an esports-level gamer, and never will be, so if you're expecting very specific, technical analysis about its performance, including the latency and sensitivity, that's not something I'll be able to offer.
It's like asking me, as an average sim racer, to review a Formula One car. I don't have the talent to push the technology anywhere near the limit of its capabilities. But I am a gamer (an average one at that) and I can certainly give you that perspective.
There are bound to be people who aren't esports-level gamers who buy this mouse, so for those of you, here it is. It feels incredible.
The weight of this thing is pretty ridiculous, roughly 10 sheets of A4 paper, and the sheer lack of weight means you need at least a few games of Warzone (or insert another FPS game here) to recalibrate your brain. The lightness of this thing means that, not only can you flick and aim incredibly quickly to focus on enemies, but it also helps in situations when you need fine motor control too, giving you the tools to be as accurate as possible.
The mouse switches feel and sound superb, too. Not only are they precise and reliable, they are also substantially louder than any gaming mouse I've ever used before, so much so that when I've been using the mouse for normal work duties (sacrilege, I know), the sound often gets picked up in video calls, phone calls or when I'm recording pieces to camera. If you like loud, clicky keyboards, you're going to love this mouse, but if you're not a fan of noisy peripherals, you might want to try it out first before committing to buy it.
Onto the scroll wheel, and honestly, I wasn't that keen on it at first. It gives more of a 'thunk', low-pitched style of feedback, very different from the clicky feedback I'm used to with non-optical scroll wheels. It also feels a bit looser than standard scroll wheels when you're actually using it, too, which might sound a bit strange, but there's no denying its performance. It's the best scroll wheel I've used in terms of pure functionality, in terms of accuracy, and I've successfully got used to the feedback now after using it daily, but there's definitely an adjustment period to go through.
Obviously, the longevity of the scroll wheel can only be tested after years of constant use, but from my experience using it, I really don't want to go back to a non-optical scroll wheel.
One of my favourite features of the DeathAdder V4 Pro is the ability to slightly rotate the mouse, using software, to get the straightest possible horizontal movement.
Razer provides a tool within the Synapse application to test how much rotation you put into your mouse when you're using it, and it'd urge everyone to try this tool, because while in my head the mouse is perfectly straight, the tool told me that I hold the mouse with a -4.6 degree angle. Then, I can go into the app, set the rotation at -4.6 degrees, and voilà, my lines are now straight as an arrow. How cool is that?!
Last but not least, the battery life is pretty epic, too. Razer claims a 150-hour battery life on a 1000 Hz polling rate, which is 55 hours (55 hours!) more than the Logitech Pro X Superlight 2 DEX. In my testing, I don't doubt these claims at all, as I've been using this mouse nonstop for well over a week, and I've not even had to think about charging it yet, and it's still on 49%.
Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro final verdict
The Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro is the lightest, fastest and most technically complete gaming mouse I've ever used. It's super comfortable, for both mundane office tasks and intense gaming sessions, giving you the tools to be the best gamer you can possibly be.
It won't make you an esports-level gamer, but it certainly won't hurt your performance, even if you're average like me. This is squarely aimed at esports-level players, or people who think they are!
It's among the pricier options out there, including being pricier than its main competition, but considering its market-leading specs, features, battery life and performance, if you want the best gaming mouse, there's really only one option, as long as you can deal with the loud mouse clicks!
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