When the first Razer Basilisk came out, I was immediately attracted to how the design looked. I went to the store, tried it, and fell in love with how it felt in my hand at first. The next thing you know, the Basilisk V2 is out and I got a chance to review it. So here’s The AXO’s honest review of the Razer Basilisk V2 wired gaming mouse.
Games Tested:
- Borderlands 3
- Monster Hunter
- Devil May Cry 5
- Stardew Valley
Design
I absolutely love how the Razer Basilisk V2 looks. It’s cool, it’s edgy, it just screams gaming mouse. The black green design, and with 2-zone Razer Chroma RGB lights that you could customise however you want. I have a soft spot for RGB things, don’t judge.
I appreciate how the Razer Basilisk V2 has a dial on the bottom that lets you adjust the scroll wheel’s resistance. Click it once, you could change from having a smooth scroll wheel, to one with a tactile feel. On the left side of the mouse, there’s also a thumb rest which is definitely a bonus. The Razer SpeedFlex cable also doesn’t drag on the mousepad, so it feels smoother when I play games. SpeedFlex cable working with the 100% PTFE used for the mouse feet just makes the mouse movement even smoother. Note that PTFE is the same material used to coat non-stick pans.
Not to mention, the Razer Hypershift key is extremely useful for when I’m browsing the Internet and working on my laptop. It adds another set of commands to click on, similar to the G-Shift button on the Logitech G600 mouse. Combining that with the 11 programmable buttons, you’re getting a total of 22 keys on one single mouse.
Comfort
Remember how I said I liked the Razer Basilisk V2’s design? That’s until I actually start using it on the daily for gaming. I’ve tried with several different games, and it isn’t as comfortable when you’ve spent some time with it. I do like the fact that it has a matte surface so it reduces the discomfort of profuse palm sweating on the mouse.
However, the entire shape of the mouse doesn’t fit my palm grip as it’s a little too straight. The side buttons are rather thin, and a little far from the thumb rest. So, my thumb would feel sore when I’m playing games that depend heavily on using the side keys. If only Razer made the side keys thicker, or protruding a little further out, then it would’ve been much better.
As for the weight of the mouse, I think the 92g heft suits me just fine. It’s more on the lighter side, and I could easily move the mouse effortlessly. Of course, this is also supported with the PTFE mouse feet and Razer’s SpeedFlex cable.
Performance
I find that the Razer Basilisk V2’s optical mouse switch really does help with the overall performance and user experience. The buttons feel nice and each click feels satisfying. The Razer Focus+ Optical Sensor also never lets me done, as the tracking is always on point. Even though the mouse could go up to a maximum of 20,000 DPI, in my use case, I was hovering at the 400 to 6,000 DPI range.
That being said, the sensitivity of the up and down buttons are quite soft, making it hard to distinguish if I accidentally clicked on it. Cause sometimes, I’d realise that the DPI suddenly changes and it could be because I misclicked on the buttons. However, if you’re the kind of person who can just stick to one DPI, you can just turn off the up and down button to remedy this issue.
Software – Razer Synapse 3
The Razer Basilisk V2 does indeed work with Razer Synapse 3. just like any other Razer gaming equipment would. This is where I was able to map out what I want each button to do, and set the Hypershift keys’ new commands to my preferred setup. Setting the commands are pretty easy, and I actually moved most of my keyboard actions over to the Basilisk via the Hypershift key. These keys include:
- Refresh
- Home
- Print Screen
- Quick password input
- Quick email input
- Previous / Next / Play / Pause
- Volume Up / Down
- And more…
Casual gamers might not bat an eye when it comes to the key setup or Hypershift, but I can definitely see how it would benefit hardcore gamers who want specific keys and actions to be on their mouse.
I also like that the Basilisk V2 has so many colour lighting capabilities. There are a lot of preset patterns to choose from, so I don’t have to create them myself. But, if you’re the adventurous type and want the mouse to really go with your setup theme, you can even fully customise it yourself.
The Razer Synapse 3 software does look intimidating at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll be able to tweak your Razer Basilisk V2’s key and lighting settings like a pro.
Conclusion
Overall, I really like how the Razer Basilisk V2 looks. It has a beautiful design that I can really appreciate. However, comfort is still an essential part when it comes to gaming, especially those who game for long hours at a time. For the price of RM339, I also hoped that the Razer Basilisk V2 would come with a set of spare mouse feet should the existing ones ever wear out.
There are certain things that I wished Razer would tweak to make it more comfortable. Hopefully, we’ll get to see those changes in the third iteration of the Razer Basilisk series.
Gallery
