Razer Basilisk FPS Gaming Mouse Review

Christmas has come and gon, I have played many new games on my PC and Nintendo Switch, had a few goes to win and Play mega millions from UK, hoping to win the lottery, no joy yet though, got plent of new gaming peripherals, and as always, after every Christmas I like to take look at my new gear and give you the viewers my thoughts on these nice new products, so first up is the new Razer Basilisk tooted to be the;

THE WORLD’S MOST ADVANCED FPS GAMING MOUSE

Fast. Accurate. Deadly. Take your FPS skills to the next level with the Razer Basilisk. Boasting the most advanced optical sensor in the world and armed with features such as a dial for customizing scroll wheel resistance and a removable DPI clutch, the Razer Basilisk is the ultimate FPS mouse.

Its also tooting some great specs;

• Razer 5G optical sensor with true 16,000 DPI
• Up to 450 inches per second (IPS) / 50 G acceleration
• Razer™ Mechanical Mouse Switches
• Eight independently programmable Hyperesponse buttons
• Gaming-grade tactile scroll wheel with customizable resistance
• Ergonomic right-handed design with enhanced rubber side grips
• Razer Chroma™ lighting with true 16.8 million customizable color options
• 1000 Hz Ultrapolling
• Razer Synapse 3 (Beta) enabled
• Approximate size: 124 mm / 4.88 in (Length) X 75 mm / 2.94 in (Width) X 43 mm / 1.69 in (Height)
• Approximate weight 107 g / 0.24 lbs (Excluding cable)

But there is one thing that stands out and I have not seen before a removable DPI Clutch with different size clutches, which Razer stat;

To give you absolute control on the fly, the Razer Basilisk comes equipped with a removable DPI clutch which, when held down, allows you to temporarily change sensitivity for ultra-fast turns and unparalleled aiming precision.

So, do you want to buy one? or just looking? So before we do, shall we have a look at this product while it is being sold on the shop floor.

The front showcases the mouse from a top-down view, with the Razer logo on the top right-hand corner and in the left-hand corner is a sticker that states;

ALL NEW – ERGONOMIC FORM FACTOR OPTIMIZED FOR FPS GAMING

The name of the mouse is on the bottom left and Razer’s Chroma Lighting noted on the right-hand side. New to Razer? not sure what Chroma Lighting is?, its Razers RGB Lighting software running all their latest peripherals and controlled by Razer Synapse, there software application which allows you to use RGB lighting effects. Or take it up a notch with the Razer Chroma SDK and tap into advanced effects to create in-game lighting alerts and actions for total gaming immersion.

Moving to the Back

‘THE WORLD MOST ADVANCED FPS GAMING MOUSE’

That is what is said right at the top of the box followed by some tech specs;

• True 16,000 DPI 5G Optical Sensor – For Industry-leading FPS Precision
• Customizable Scroll Wheel Resistance – For Personalized Sensitivity
• Removable DPI Clutch – For Temporary Sensitivity Adjustment

Unboxing is sorted of nice, pull the lid up, pull the black ribbon handle to reveal the innards, then its a case of removing the mouse from its internal cardboard protection. Can not wait to see the mouse? well you can view the mouse from the front through its plastic clear housing.

So the mouse is now unboxed and ready for gaming, but before we delve into that let us pull out the tape measure and give it a once-over. The grip width is around 6cm / 60mm, length is 12cm / 120mm and height is 4cm / 40mm. I then chucked it on the scale with a little cable added, it came in at around 109g, with the biggest clutch, using the smallest clutch it weighed 107g. When picking the mouse up, and checking its weight distribution its seems to be more towards the front of the mouse about 1cm / 10mm above the sensor.

When testing the mouse for grip comfort, I loved Palm grip, it felt wonderful, this is most likely thanks to the side thumb rest. Keeping to that side of the mouse we have two customisable mouse buttons and the Clutch.

The Clutch can control your DPI on the fly, or with Razer Synapse 3 you can customise it to do other actions if you so wish. There are also three different size clutches to choose from, based on your personal preference, I prefer the largest, just feels so good.

Let us look at style, there are rubberised grips on both sides of the mouse with grooves to add more comfort and grip while gaming, when turning the mouse over, there are a total of four rubber feet, three large ones and one around the 5G Sensor. There are other features under the mouse, a profile button, that allows you to assign a profile to the mouse, and a resistance wheel, that puts tension on the mouse scroll wheel to make it feel tighter or loser, depending on your preference.

This is what Razer say about the new scroll wheel feature

Keeping with the buttons lets check out what each button sounds like with our nifty video below

All the buttons are great to depress, as always the mouse wheel requires more actuation force than any other mouse button. The mouse buttons just above the wheel, are in perfectly placed to stop accidental clicks, but due to this, you will need to move your finger/s far back to use them. The side buttons and DPI Clutch are super easy to use and require little to no actuation to depress.

Now comes to using the mouse in-game, with DOOM, yes, this game is awesome, and I can not stand playing games like CS:GO or Quake, they just don’t float my boat, though I did get a chance to jump into this weekends Battalion 1944 beta event, well the press access which was before all the gamers managed to join 6 pm (GMT) on Friday 19th through to 3 am (GMT) on Saturday 20th. This mouse performed FANTASTIC, I was totally unable to get it to spin out, regardless of how fast I tried, it did not underperform in any way. Chucking on Sniper Elite 4, I was able to test how precise the mouse worked with high precision, and I am happy to say, it works like a charm, no jumps or jitters.

Even after playing a few FPS games, not just the ones I mentioned before, I am unable to understand the reason for a DPI clutch, Until I passed it over to a friend that loves to play CS: GO and Quake, and he LOVED it, he said it gave him better accuracy when needed during intense firefights, as sometimes its better to have a lower DPI that a higher DPI. He seems to know his shit, I myself still don’t get it.

Moving to Razer’s Software, Synapse 3 which is still in beta, comes all the software, for this nice new mouse, you might be looking to purchase. First comes to customization

This page allows you to control and assign keys to your mouse, create and assign a macro and a whole lot more.

The next page gives us control of the mouse’s performance levels

First, you can set 5 stages of DPI up to 16000 DPI, which is more than enough for anything. I can not go above 3500 most of the time, for this mouse I was using it’s preset settings 4500DPI. You can also set the mouses polling rate.

If you are wondering what DPI and Polling rate means

Polling rate is measured in Hz. If a mouse has a 125 Hz polling rate, it reports its position to the computer 125 times every second—or every 8 milliseconds. A 500 Hz rate means that the mouse is reporting its position to the computer every 2 milliseconds – Howtogeek

Dots per inch (DPI) is a measurement of how sensitive a mouse is. The higher a mouse’s DPI, the farther the cursor on your screen will move when you move the mouse. A mouse with a higher DPI setting detects and reacts to smaller movements – us.battle.net

This is the fun section Lighting

Brightness, control of when the mouse lighting goes on and off, basic lighting effects which include;

• Breathing
• Reactive
• Spectrum Lighting
• Static

Then you have Advanced Effects which we create and assign via the Chroma Studio.

Final screen is mouse calibration

Nothing much to talk about here, you just get your mouse to work better with the mouse mat you are using. I recommend using any mouse you purchase with a mouse mat cut from the same cloth, for me its the Razer Firefly.

So we come to the final results, what do I think of this mouse? well for this one I am going to take on board my mates feeling towards this mouse since he will be using it more than me. ‘It is simply a mouse that ups the game when it comes to precision in FPS shooters’. It’s also a mouse that can be used as any other gaming mouse, you can fully customize it, every mouse button and make the mouse yours. The mouse is fantastic to use and feels great under the thumb, thanks to the way it’s been designed.

Thanks to Synapse and Razers Cloud Service nothing is ever lost, every profile is available for every mouse you ever purchase. Do I personally think this mouse is great, No!, Do I think this mouse is worth the price Yes! Do I think FPS Fans should automatically Buy one No! but if you are an FPS fan and want a new mouse you might want to grab this little Basilisk, you might just like it.