Razer Lachesis 4000 dpi Gaming Mouse (Wraith Red)

10 Review to this product

• 

  Victor Wu
  May 21st, 2008 on 5:35 am

  Rating

  This mouse beats all!
  
  From wireless mouses to anything else!
  
  Has the perfect amount of buttons, and soft touch to it.
  
  Can’t get anything better!
• 

  Joe & Rachel
  June 26th, 2008 on 5:38 am

  Rating

  This is the first Razer product I have ever owned. I was upgrading my keyboard from a Saitek Eclipse Keyboard ( PZ30AU ) to a Razer Lycosa Programmable Backlit Gaming Keyboard (review forthcoming), so I decided to go with a matching mouse from Razer before my keyboard came in. I did a lot of research on the various mice from that company, went to a few brick-and-mortar stores to play around with countless mice from Razer and others to see how they felt, and finally decided that the successor to my trusty old Logitech MX518 Gaming Optical Mouse – Metal would be the Razer Lachesis. I chose the Wraith Red version in order to match the black-and-red theme of my setup.

  Most of the reviews you will find sing the praises of the Razer DeathAdder 3G Infrared Gaming Mouse as Razer’s current “king” of gaming mice. When it comes to the Lachesis, however, you’ll generally find a more ambivalent tone. Some reviewers despise the ergonomic properties of the mouse, due to the ambidextrous design. You’ll find many reviews disparaging the erratic pointer movement some have seen with the mouse.

  Before I address these points, I will say that choosing one’s input devices is a very personal decision. People have different size hands, different mouse-holding styles, different sensitivity preferences. Thus, this review must be taken with the old caveat: “Your mileage may vary”.

  First, the ergonomic design. I will say that I spent a day getting used to the shape of the mouse after years using the ergonomically right-handed MX518. If you’re like me and you’ve grown used to the Logitech ergonomics, there is definitely a learning curve. However, once I got used to the new hand position, I find myself more accurate in my movements and yes, more comfortable. I am a so-called “claw-grip” user – I move the mouse with my fingertips rather than my palm. The design of the Lachesis is perfect for this method – the raised “hump” towards the rear of the mouse serves as a palmrest while I move the mouse with my fingertips. This new hybrid grip is, I admit, a new feeling for me – but after I got over the initial strangeness, it just worked. Not until I used this mouse did I realize just how unnatural the MX518 felt in my hand. To put it simply, this mouse fits my hand like a glove.

  As for the second point, the pointer movement issues, I didn’t encounter them at all in Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 and in all the games I played with it. Still, I upgraded the firmware via the Razer site to be safe. Apparently, that firmware fixes much of the pointer movement issues.

  Physically, the mouse just oozes style and quality. The surface of the mouse is a soft rubber that feels like velvet in your hand and yet leaves you with a secure grip. This is a complete difference from the hard plastic surface I was used to with the MX518. The glowing red Razer Logo and scroll wheel look amazing in conjuction with my Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX Ultimate Gamer PC Case (Black) with red LED fans. (Now, if only the Lycosa came in red too… which I hear it will soon! Definitely will go for that when it happens.)

  Personally, I can honestly say this is, by far, the best mouse I have ever used. I can’t explain the exact mechanics of it, but all of a sudden I’m right on target with my clicks, both in the OS and in games. I am a high-sensitivity user. With the MX518, I was at 1600 DPI at all times, and even then I had to turn on some level of acceleration to have a pointer movement rate I felt comfortable with. With the Lachesis, I have it set to the max polling rate and the mouse’s native 4000 DPI. When I first set the mouse to those settings, I found the mouse to be far more sensitive than any mouse I ever had – and that’s with acceleration OFF. I dialed down the mouse sensitivity a few notches (another setting in the rather comprehensive Lachesis Configurator panel) without having to adjust the DPI down, and lo and behold, I am in precision heaven. After only a day, I hardly have to “aim” the pointer… I think about clicking a spot, my hand moves the mouse silently and effortlessly across my Icemat 2nd Edition (Black), and it goes exactly where it needs to go. The feeling is rather like that of moving the pointer telekinetically with my eyes – it just goes to the right spot. It’s hard to put into words how much of a difference this is from any mouse I’ve ever used, but I can say that it’s an amazing sensation.

  Mouselook in games became noticeably smoother. I only now realized just how much difference a mouse can make in the perceived performance of a game. Spinning my POV in The Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Of Angmar, for example, went from almost choppy to nearly butter-smooth. Because of that simple difference, the game just seems to play faster. It’s difficult to quantify – but I never realized the difference a quality mouse could make. I thought the MX518 was quality, and I suppose it is, but the Lachesis just blows it out of the water in smoothness and precision. I can only imagine the benefit a dedicated FPS gamer can get out of this mouse.

  This is, unequivocally, the best mouse I have ever had the pleasure of using. If it broke tomorrow, I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

  Would I recommend it? Well, I’ll say this – if my story fits your situation, I do indeed – wholeheartedly and without reservation. I will say that anyone looking to upgrade their mouse should go to a brick-and-mortar store to get their hands on the myriad of mouse shapes and see what feels best. For me, that was the Lachesis, and I have a feeling it will be for a long, long time.

  I suppose I will close with this statement: I don’t feel like I just upgraded my mouse. I feel like I upgraded my whole computer. The entire EXPERIENCE of using it has changed for the better. For the price of this mouse on Amazon, the bang-for-the-buck doesn’t get much better than that, and I feel that’s one of the highest compliments I can pay to Razer on making such a great device.
• 

  Avarion
  July 25th, 2008 on 8:27 am

  Rating

  The Lachesis is not all hype. It’s very easy to install and use. Control is super-sensitive and the mouse glides easily on regular desk top surface. It’s fairly comfortable to use for both hands. I’m right handed, so my mouse comfort rating is(from least comfortable to most): Razer Copperhead < Razer Lachesis < Logitech G5. The red glowing wheel and logo seems to be suited for those who don’t want to be too distracted by the mouse light. Compared to my Razer Copperheads… the brightness (starting from least to brightest): red < blue < green. Overall, super product. You can’t lose if you buy this mouse.
• 

  Someone with an opinion
  November 15th, 2008 on 1:43 pm

  Rating

  This is my second Razer mouse (the first one is still working perfectly, btw). The Lachesis works well but the software crashes my Vista 32-bit machine so I just uninstalled the software after setting up the mouse. I’d recommend a hard surface to mouse on because I experienced pointer movement on mouse clicks with a Destructor mat (plastic surface, rubber base). This mouse is definitely not as comfortable as the Death Adder. I tried this mouse first and immediately fell in love with the 4000dpi experience so I’m sticking with the Lachesis.
• 

  Atchayot Rattanawan
  January 8th, 2009 on 7:52 am

  Rating

  i have this product for over 3 months. used it for everyday use and extreme gaming(at least 5-6 hours a day)

  Pros: great for a fast cursor gamer adjust able dpi make it convinience i share computer usage with my girlfriend thank to the profile setting she can adjust to her profile and i used mine when playgame.. plus nine programable buttons which is great for gaming i used this mouse playin left 4 dead,call of duty WOW, Crysis Warhead., and i win more

  Cons: the only thing i dont like is it kinda big for people with smaller hand (my girlfriend compalint about it)

  other thought: buy it to match your keyboard and let turn off the light…look so cool
• 

  R. Rivera
  August 30th, 2009 on 11:27 pm

  Rating

  I bought this expecting top of the line and all you could want features, but…

  It’s a solid mouse, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not really that special. You could probably find similarly performing mice for much less. I paid $80 for mine and then found out that I couldn’t even customize the buttons exactly like I wanted to.

  I bought this a long time ago so I forget exactly what the problems I had specifically programming it were, but if I remember it was something along the lines of each profile doesn’t remember it’s own axis and sensitivity/speed settings. What does this mean? Well, whatever you have those set to end up actually applying across ALL profiles, instead of uniquely to each individually, which was definitely not what I wanted. I wanted to be able to have a certain feel for one game and a completely different setup for another but couldn’t do that with this. Also I think the profile creation/saving process was hella awkward and not very intuitive. So again… nice mouse, it certainly looks cool, but not really worth the price.
• 

  UNAMgrad
  November 18th, 2009 on 5:25 am

  Rating

  At first I did not like it becuase it is not a very comfortable mouse. With a bit more use you do end up adjusting to it, and, sometimes, you even find yourself thinking “this is a lot more comfortable than it used to be”. Also with a bit of practice all buttons are easy to press, even the ones on the opposite side of the thumb.
  
  The macro capabilites of this one are pretty good but kinda lacking when comparing it to the ones of razer keyboards.
• 

  Adam J. Kieler
  December 23rd, 2009 on 12:25 pm

  Rating

  Great mouse, some come with hiccups like the moving pointer. My first one had that problem and the firmware update fixes it. I had it when it first came out. The side buttons are harder to press than one usually likes. you can make them more sensitive, but the guide requires you to open your mouse. I researched all new mice and found this one to be the best especially for the price compared to the others. The only mouse I could think that would be better is the First Razer Diamondback style and the Lachesis precision.
• 

  R. Kao
  April 20th, 2010 on 8:21 pm

  Rating

  Works quite well for me. Relatively lightweight, durable, and precise.

  I finger-grip the mouse with the tip of my thumb and ring finger – the low profile of the mouse makes it almost impossible to palm it. And if you palm your mice, you’re probably just surfing the web and can use something you buy at the druggist down the corner. Long story short, if you finger grip and adjust your grip to the mouse (as every mouse is a wee bit different), you should be quite satisfied with it.

  I’m not quite sure why people are complaining about pointer movement at 4000 dpi. Perhaps they have defective units or defective hands? 4000 dpi is incredibly sensitive, and when you click too hard, you’re going to shove the mouse around, even a millimeter.
• 

  Juan Vargas
  May 26th, 2010 on 8:54 am

  Rating

  I purchased the Lachesis because I wanted an upgrade frome my Logitech mouse. The things that made me pick this mouse was the high dpi, the cool looking colours and the extra buttons. I play, mostly, Team Fortress 2 and World of Warcraft and being able to get a fast mouse and extra buttons for keybinding was very attractive.

  So far the mouse delivered on every single feature but with one thing to drag it below a 5 star. The buttons are hard to press. Maybe I am used to my old mouse which had a very soft side button set that needed a small tap to work. The buttons on the Lachesis require a bit of an effort to work. On one hand you get less accidental pressings and on the other hand you might fail to press when you want to so its a good thing on one side and a bad thing on the other. Deppending on your play style, this might be meaningless or a really really big deal. In the long run I will get used to it.

  The price… I got it on a discount here on amazon so I can’t really say it wasn’t worth the money. Maybe it’s not worth 80 dollars but if you get the chance to pick it up for less then do so.