Razer Lachesis
Quick Facts
- 4,000 maximum dpi
- 1,000Hz maximum polling (adjustable)
- 60-100 inches per second
- MSRP: $79.99
Razer has made waves in the gaming mouse market since it debuted with the original Boomslang gaming mouse in the late 1990s and solidified its standing with the exceptional Diamondback mouse in 2004. The last few years have seen other new releases, including a team-up with Microsoft to create the Microsoft Habu. (All of Razer's designs are named after venemous snakes, including the Habu and the Lachesis.) Razer's most recent mouse is the Razer Lachesis, which boasts one of the highest dpi settings ever found on a gaming mouse. At 4,000dpi, it offers a great amount of precision and speed, but it's arguably a bit of overkill, unless you have a huge monitor or want to spin your character around in a 360-degree circle with a tiny movement of your mouse. You can, of course, adjust the dpi to whatever you like, but only in relatively large 125dpi intervals.
Features/Ergonomics
The Lachesis is the only mouse in this roundup that is ambidextrous, which means that both left-handed and right-handed gamers will be able to use it. One of the benefits of this approach is that the mouse is exceptionally wide at the top, where your fingers rest, making it a very comfortable mouse for everyday use on your desktop, especially if you like to rest your entire palm on your mouse; fingertip mousers might find it a bit less comfortable. Another bonus is the addition of two extra side buttons on the right side of the mouse. While right-handed mousers will likely stick to pressing the two left-side buttons, it's not impossible to bind lesser-used functions to the right-side buttons and press them with your pinky.
Unfortunately, the ambidextrous design does introduce one problem with the side buttons on the Lachesis. The side buttons require a bit of pressure to register a click; they're not as sensitive as the side buttons on the Logitech G9 or the SteelSeries Ikari. That's fine in the case of the rear side button, but the forward side button on the Lachesis is fit into a curve on the side of the mouse and is very difficult to quickly press unless you either press the mouse down with your fingers, which often results in errant button presses, or hold the mouse in place with your pinky. A more sensitive button would have eliminated this problem, but as it is, it's pretty difficult to use the front side button in high-intensity FPS games.
Software
The software for the Lachesis uses the standard Razer control panel, which is somewhat awkwardly laid out and a bit more difficult to use than the control panels for the other mice in this roundup. One of the main sticking points in the software is its inability to shift the dpi in increments of less than 125, which may put off gamers who require very fine adjustments in control. Another instance of possible overkill is that the Lachesis has five different dpi settings that you can switch between. If you're playing an FPS, it's unlikely that you'll need more than two different dpi settings, or perhaps three, so you probably won't find much use for five different dpi settings. It doesn't appear possible to eliminate any of these dpi settings, so even if you need only two, you still have to use all five, which may lead to some confusion if you accidentally click past your desired setting. There also isn't an on-mouse dpi display (the dpi switches don't glow like those on some of the other mice), so if you're in-game and accidentally click the dpi shifting button or click past the setting you want, you'll have to blindly click it back and forth and gauge your response in-game until you get back to where you were previously.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Ambidextrous design lets left-handed gamers get in on the action
- Wide body makes the mouse comfortable to use for long periods of time
- Highest dpi setting available if you like your mouse to be extra sensitive
Cons
- Too many on-the-fly dpi settings, and lack of on-mouse dpi display has the potential to cause confusion
- Side mouse buttons can be difficult to quickly press
2008 Gaming Mouse Roundup
GameSpot takes a look at the latest crop of high-end gaming mice.
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