In our last gaming
mice showdown, the
Logitech MX518 came on top of both the Razer Diamondback and
Razer Viper. Since then however, new products have been
released by both companies, and we are glad to inform you we
have had several weeks to test them and report back to you.
The contenders: the Logitech G5 and the Razer Copperhead,
both considered the companies’ flagship gaming products,
both corded mice, and both tracking at an impressive
2000dpi. This is a head-to-head showdown to see which
company has the best gaming mouse currently available.
Serious gamers will look for every
possible edge over the competition, and a high-quality mouse
can result in huge benefits. Both of these products were
released in late 2005, and luckily for all of us prices have
already gone down a notch from their original retail price,
making for a more affordable choice even for those casual
gamers still wanting the latest in comfort and precision
when needed.
Razer Copperhead
Razer designs, manufactures and markets
cutting-edge gaming peripherals, and has been for long one
of the leaders in gaming mousing. It has been a long way
since their humble beginnings with the original Boomslang,
and since then professional gaming has taken off, gaining
media attention and making for a more profitable business.
Specs of the Razer Copperhead include (full
specs):
2,000 dpi laser engine, Always-On mode
32KB of onboard memory
Seven independently programmable
buttons
High speed motion detection, over 7080
frames per second
Size: 5.04" length x 2.5" width x
1.54" height
7 foot, lightweight, non-tangle cord
The Copperhead is available in three
different colors: Chaos Green, Anarchy Red and Tempest Blue.
As noted on the specs above, it has seven adjustable
buttons. Along with the standard left, right, and clickable
wheel button, the Copperhead has four side buttons, two on
each side of the mouse. Each button is programmed by
default to switch between four dpi presets on the fly:
400dpi, 800dpi, 1,600dpi, and 2000dpi. Keep in mind that
you can use the Razer software to configure each one of
these buttons to your choosing.
This is currently the only mouse
available that has onboard memory, which is meant to allow
you to save up to five different personal gaming
configurations. As an example, this could allow you to take
the mouse to another computer and have the same button
configuration available immediately, making for a very
convenient feature.
The Always-On feature is certainly worth
a mention. Unlike previous generation mouse where the
laser/optical sensor would power down after not being in use
for several seconds, the Copperhead’s laser is up and
running at full speed at all times, supposedly meant to give
you “instantaneous response” in any situation.
I guess it wouldn’t be fair to call this
a whole new feature when in reality they have removed one
(usually useful with cordless mice to save battery). In the
other hand, this makes more evident to whom the Copperhead
is headed. We never had any problems with our review unit,
and after a few months of release we haven’t heard of a case
of Copperhead mice dying early, so we are guessing longevity
should not be an issue.
The software bundled with the mouse will
allow you to configure a lot of settings to your liking,
that includes adjusting sensitivity, key and button
assignments, dpi resolution, independent x- and y- axis
sensitivity, double-click speed, and mouse acceleration
levels. Once you have your personal configuration, you can
actually save the profile into the mouse internal memory as
explained before.
