Razer’s DeathAdder V3 Pro is a modern refresh of an old classic

Razer released its newest mouse, a revamp of the popular DeathAdder, on August 11th. I’ve had the opportunity to try the DeathAdder V3 Pro for a few days and, so far, I’m impressed.

First, lets take a look at what’s new with the DeathAdder V3 Pro, then dive into my experience with the mouse. Razer says the DeathAdder V3 Pro sports its ‘HyperPolling’ technology and a “new, ultra-lightweight ergonomic design” to boost gaming performance.

Make no mistake, the DeathAdder V3 Pro is very much a gaming mouse, although the keen-eyed among you might notice it’s lacking that classic gamer RGB glow. Yes, surprisingly, there’s not a single gaudy LED on the DeathAdder (the only LED is a functional one: the status indicator). While some may be disappointed in the lack of RGB, I appreciated the more toned-down aesthetic. I primarily work from home, but it’s nice to know that if I used this in an office, it’d likely fly under the radar as a normal wireless mouse.

The mouse also now comes in black and white (weighing 63g and 64g, respectively) and clocks in at about 25 percent lighter than previous DeathAdders. It also boasts a battery life of up to 90 hours, and comes with what Razer calls a ‘Speedflex’ charging cable (it’s actually just a USB-A to USB-C cable with a light, flexible material that works great when connected to the mouse). That means you can easily use the DeathAdder V3 Pro wirelessly or wired, or just plug it in when you need a charge without having to stop your game session.

Other improvements include a ‘Focus Pro 30K Optical Sensor’ and wider compatibility with different desk surfaces – Razer says the sensor will track on clear glass at least 2mm thick. The sensor also boasts AI functions like Smart Tracking, Motion Sync, and Asymmetric Cut-off. The mouse uses Razer’s Optical Mouse Switches Gen-3 for “absolutely zero unintended double-clicking and no debounce delay” and are rated for 90 million clicks.

Additionally, the DeathAdder V3 Pro supports a polling rate of 1,000Hz at 1ms intervals, although those seeking extra performance can expand this to 1,000Hz at 0.25ms intervals (4x increase) with Razer’s HyperPolling Wireless Dongle. It’s worth noting that dongle is a separate purchase, and I didn’t have an opportunity to test it.

Gaming, unplugged

I’ve long relied on wired peripherals for my desktop because I found there were too many drawbacks with wireless alternatives. My position on that has steadily changed, and thanks to the DeathAdder V3 Pro, now only my keyboard is wired (mostly because I love my current mechanical keyboard and have little desire to swap it for a wireless alternative until I need to).

However, my issues with wireless mice were a little different than other peripherals. For example, I avoided wireless headphones for a long time due to audio delays and other weird issues, but after testing Razer’s Kaira Pro headset, I found a wireless option that didn’t have noticeable delays or latency, sounded great, and was comfortable to use.

With mice, I’ve never had an issue with wireless performance. My problem was weight, with past wireless mice I’ve tried feeling heavier than wired options. Until I started testing the DeathAdder V3 Pro, I was daily driving the Cooler Master MM720, which clocked in at a light 49g. Prior to that, I used the wired Glorious Model D at 68g.

While the DeathAdder is heavier than the MM720, I found it was comfortable enough to use and I was willing to take a little extra weight for the bonus of wireless. As an aside, I did enjoy using Razer’s 60g wireless Orochi V2 mouse, but the ergonomics made it a no-go for long-term use and it’s become my go-to on-the-go mouse instead.

My only other real concern was battery life and having to stop using my mouse to charge it. That’s not a concern with the DeathAdder – I’ve been using it for over a week and I’m only at 54 percent battery after fully charging it when I first took it out of the box. And when the time comes that I do need to charge it, I can just plug in the cable and keep using it.

Speaking of cables…

The DeathAdder V3 Pro comes with an interesting couple of dongles that I wanted to take a minute to highlight, in part because I’m dumb and didn’t use it properly.

The DeathAdder comes with a charging cable, a USB-A wireless dongle, and a weird little trapezoidal prism with a USB-C input and a USB-A input. What I came to learn about a day later, after more troubleshooting than I’d like to admit, is that you’re supposed to plug the charging cable into your computer, then use the trapezoidal prism to connect the USB-A dongle to the USB-C cable.

Setting up the cable and dongle that way provides two benefits. First, you can place the wireless dongle basically wherever you want (within reach of the cable, of course). The second benefit is that if you need to charge the DeathAdder, you’ve already got the cable plugged in, just pop the trapezoidal prism off the end and plug the cable into the mouse instead.

Being as smart as I am, I set aside the trapezoid, plugged the USB-A dongle into my computer and used the cable with a power brick to charge the mouse. Once it was powered up, I set up the wireless connection with my PC. However, over the next day I kept running into weird signal issues where it seemed the DeathAdder would briefly lose connection to the wireless dongle for a second or so, resulting in my on-screen cursor not moving with my mouse.

I spent a lot of time troubleshooting the issue and have no idea what caused it. After properly setting up the cable, trapezoid, and dongle, the issue went away. But even if I go back to using the wireless dongle connected directly to my PC, it still doesn’t have the signal issue. I cannot recreate it for the life of me, which leads me to think it was entirely a fluke that it happened in the first place.

Beyond that one minor, brief issue, I haven’t had any issues with the DeathAdder V3 Pro. Frankly, I chose to include the issue primarily to highlight the proper cable setup since, had I not encountered the problem, I likely would have missed the benefits of it.

Anyway, if you’re in the market for a new, comfortable wireless mouse with high performance and no flashy RGB, the DeathAdder V3 Pro is for you. It does cost a pretty penny at $189.99 in Canada (plus another $39.99 if you want the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle, which I don’t really think most people need).

You can learn more about the DeathAdder V3 Pro and/or buy it on Razer’s website.