Razer Viper V2 Pro review – the best ultra-light wireless gaming mouse

Our Verdict

An excellent ultra-lightweight wireless gaming mouse boasting class-leading performance and battery life that even puts some of its wired competition to shame, providing you can stomach its premium price tag

The Razer Viper V2 Pro could be the best wireless gaming mouse for many gamers out there, particularly those who predominantly play FPS games like CS:GO, Valorant, and Warzone. This clicker is crazy light at 58g while also offering class-leading specs and battery life to boot, but its high price tag and sparse feature set may push some to consider cheaper, more versatile alternatives.

We’ve spent the past month or so putting the black version of the Razer Viper V2 Pro through the wringer, but it is also available in an admittedly very attractive white colour scheme too.

Design

The Razer Viper V2 Pro is designed with esports gamers and professionals in mind, aiming to create an ultra-lightweight wireless gaming mouse that retains as much of the Viper Ultimate’s best features as possible. The company has largely been successful in achieving this, but there are a few changes that you should be aware of that make the Viper V2 Pro somewhat lesser than its predecessor.

Let’s start with the positives, as there’s a lot to love about the Viper V2 Pro. Even after using it for over a hundred hours, I still can’t believe how light it feels in my hand. I’ve used similarly lightweight clickers in the past, such as the HyperX Pulsefire Haste, so this rodent’s 58g weight isn’t that impressive to me on its own. What does impress me, however, is that this featherweight fighter is built from solid plastic pieces with nary a honeycomb cutout in sight, not forgetting the fact it has a rechargeable battery sat inside it too.

How did Razer do this? Much as I’d like to say it was magic or some kind of deal with an otherworldly figure, the company has been very transparent about what it’s changed from the original design of the Viper. As you might expect, a lighter battery and materials shave some weight, but other adjustments such as the relocation of the DPI switch to the underside of the mouse also contribute. The built-in grips are gone too, with Razer opting to include grip tape inside the box instead, which I honestly wish all manufacturers would do now.

That said, I think Razer may have got a bit too carried away in giving the right side buttons the chop. Sure, keeping them would have pushed the weight up by 2g, but 61g is still much lighter than basically every other wireless gaming mouse and unfortunately leaves the Viper V2 Pro unsuitable for left-handed gamers. Be that as it may, I understand the goal here was performance over versatility, and this change inarguably helps to achieve that.

Something that you may find inconvenient if you plan to travel with the Viper V2 Pro is the lack of a storage slot for its 2.4GHz USB dongle. This doesn’t affect me much in my day-to-day use, but I felt this was worth mentioning as it was present on the Viper Ultimate.

Aside from that, there’s little else to fault here. One thing I will mention, though, is that those with larger hands may struggle to comfortably grip the Razer Viper V2 Pro as it’s on the smaller side. This wasn’t too much of an issue for me, but I did find myself consciously switching my grip style more often to maintain a comfortable hold than I do on my daily driver, the Corsair Sabre RGB Pro Wireless.

Features

It may not be immediately obvious looking at the Viper V2 Pro, but it packs top-of-the-line specs underneath its unassuming chassis. Seriously, the Razer Focus Pro 30K Optical sensor packs a serious punch with maximum speed and acceleration reaching 750IPS and 70G, respectively. It also has a DPI ceiling of 30,000, for anyone wild enough to venture past my typical range of 400 – 1,600. I’ll go into more detail as to how this translates into real-world usage later on, but for now I’ll say this is without a doubt one of the most reliable and responsive rodents I’ve ever used.

Gone is the old micro USB port from its predecessor, with charging duties now falling to the included USB Type-C cable. In my testing, I found that Razer’s claimed 80 hours of battery life were pretty accurate, meaning I only have to recharge the Viper V2 Pro maybe once a week. The mouse can also be used in wired mode while it’s on charge, so I was never left waiting around for it to come back to life. Just don’t expect to slot this clicker into the same dock you’ll often find bundled with the Viper Ultimate, with compatibility likely being cut for the sake of shaving a few extra grams of weight.

However, as with some design niceties of the Viper Ultimate, not every feature made it over to the Viper V2 Pro either. Those hoping to complete their RGB PC gaming setup with the Viper V2 Pro, think again. In a move that may shock anyone who hasn’t seen the recently launched Barracuda Pro gaming headset, this is the latest product from Razer to not feature any customisable lighting zones whatsoever. Truthfully, I generally find RGB on any gaming mouse to be largely pointless as your hand more often than not ends up covering it, and I’ll happily trade it for a 2.7g decrease in weight instead.

Just because RGB is out the window doesn’t mean that there’s no reason not to connect the to use Razer Synapse software with the Viper V2 Pro. From the application, you can control things like how quickly the mouse enters low power and sleep modes to help prolong battery life. There are also mouse mat surface calibration tools, but I wouldn’t trouble yourself with them unless you’re experiencing issues. Not forgetting the usual assortment of DPI and polling rate adjustments and button customisation of course.

Speaking of, the Viper V2 Pro has five programmable buttons to the Viper Ultimate’s eight. So, if you’re the kind of person that buys the best gaming keyboard and mouse combo with the intention of going absolutely ham with macros, you might want to look elsewhere.

Performance

At $150 USD / £150 GBP, the Viper V2 Pro is the most expensive gaming mouse I’ve ever used, and so going into this review, my expectations were appropriately high. Thankfully, I’ve yet to encounter a single issue during my time with it. Furthermore, I’m certainly not left wanting in terms of performance regardless of what genre of game I’m playing with this wonderfully performant rodent at my side.

Whether I’m dropping frags in competitive FPS games like Call of Duty: Warzone and PUBG: Battlegrounds or fending off against hordes of bloodthirsty AI mobs in Doom Eternal and Left 4 Dead 2, I never feel like the Viper V2 Pro is holding me back. Its Razer Optical Gen 3 switches are wonderfully responsive and satisfyingly clicky to the ear without being too obnoxious. They should last a long, long time too as they’re rated for up to 90 million clicks.

The 100% PTFE feet on the base of the Viper V2 Pro strike a seamless balance between gripping to and sliding across my mouse mat, which makes performing flick shots and quick turns a breeze. This is, of course, also partly due to the quality of the Focus Pro 30K Optical sensor and its ability to handle up to 70G of acceleration and 750IPS, so there’s no blaming the tech for any missed shots here.

If you’ve made it this far into the review and are still somewhat sheepish about cutting the cord for fear of connection quality issues, fear not. The Viper V2 Pro communicates with its 2.4GHz wireless dongle flawlessly, to the point that you’d think you were wired up anyway. Put it this way, if esports professionals like Valorant’s Marved swear by it over wired alternatives, Razer must be doing something right with its HyperSpeed Wireless tech.

I’ve focused a lot on my experience with Viper V2 Pro while playing first-person shooters, as I feel that’s where it shines best, given its weight and shape. However, I can still happily slip into a game of League of Legends or anything else I fancy playing with a mouse without a second thought.

Verdict

The Razer Viper V2 Pro is an excellent wireless gaming mouse that perfectly caters to anyone looking for a clicker laser-focused on delivering class-leading performance. Its sensor and switches are extremely performant, never letting me down during my time with it. However, the thing that continues to impress me every time I pick it up is just how light it is, compounded by its long-lasting internal battery.

That said, the Viper V2 Pro isn’t a no-brainer upgrade from its predecessor, with the Razer Viper Ultimate perhaps better for some folks out there looking for a more robust feature set for a lower price. $150 USD / £150 is expensive for any gaming tech, but this rodent largely justifies its somewhat steep barrier to entry.