Razer Naga V3 Professional assessment

Razer’s Naga sequence has at all times been a bit eye-catching. Slapping tens of buttons on a gaming mouse will naturally make it stand out within the appears division, however having owned two Nagas in my lifetime, I can see it solely actually takes a night to get why individuals love ’em.

MMOs are infamous for demanding numerous shortcuts and macros, and it is simply not possible on most keyboards to achieve over to the 9 key each thirty seconds. When contemplating the a whole lot of hours MMOs are inclined to eat up, that is an terrible lot of stretching time. You can also make do with customized controls, however MMO mice supply not solely out-of-the-box usability, however particularly crafted ergonomics.

The Naga V3 Professional follows on fairly routinely from its predecessor with the very same dimensions, however a lighter weight and completely different internals. As such, it is a fairly by-the-numbers improve and can match at house within the palms of a Naga V2 Professional proprietor. However is it actually price $180 simply to get a greater sensor, cleaner clicks, and doubleshot moulded keycaps? The reply for anybody however essentially the most hardcore (and well-off) MMO avid gamers is ‘in all probability not, however it’s fairly neat anyway’.

And nonetheless, I might say it is the nicest MMO mouse I’ve ever used. Because of the addition of a love-it-or-hate-it change sound (I personally fairly dislike the noise), it isn’t the most effective in each single compartment, however taking it for a spin in all method of video games exhibits it is no slouch in even non-MMO use circumstances, and for its value, it is gotta be.

Options

Being similar to the Naga V2 Professional, you doubtless will not be shocked by the V3 Professional’s strong function set. It comes with three faceplates with completely different button layouts: twelve, six, and two. Being magnetic and tremendous straightforward to swap out, the purpose is to flit between button layouts relying in your recreation.

The 12 button format is ideal for Remaining Fantasy 14, making it straightforward to manage all main expertise, plus a couple of additional from the mouse. Elder Scrolls On-line, with its smaller pool of expertise, is greatest fitted for the six button format. Then, for shooters and on a regular basis use, the 2 button setup is king.

Its uncooked specs are tremendous strong, with a max DPI of fifty,000, velocity of 930 IPS, and each an optical sensor and optical switches. It solely comes with 1,000 Hz polling out of the field (although you’ll be able to pay additional, through the Mouse Dock Professional or HyperPolling dongle, for 8,000 Hz), and although 8,000 Hz is pointless for most individuals, I nonetheless would have anticipated the choice at this value level.

Even with out the 12-button faceplate, the V3 Professional is loaded with additional buttons: two DPI switches on the left click on, two beneath the scroll wheel, and one on the right-hand facet. Even with simply the two-button faceplate, you have got 13 completely different buttons to play with total.

The Naga V3 Professional is kitted with another neat options, too, like its Hyperscroll Tilt Wheel Gen 2, which is likely one of the greatest scroll wheels I’ve used. You possibly can scroll it with none nasty notching, or you’ll be able to set good notches for higher precision in Razer’s Synapse software program. I like somewhat little bit of each. Notches, however it’ll spin freely if I’m going HAM. The wheel could be pushed to the left and proper, which is neat for scrolling significantly large webpages, or, in my case, scrolling the timeline in DaVinci Resolve.

It is in all probability no shock to you that the mouse with 23 buttons has a devoted AI button, it being 2026 and all, however I swiftly swapped that out for a special management and by no means regarded again.

Additionally, being 2026, you might be getting the choice to swap between wired and wi-fi (Bluetooth or 2.4 GHz), and the field comes with a USB Sort-A to USB Sort-C connector, which is a strong additional. The dongle, with out the adapter, plugs in through USB Sort-A. You do not get a wi-fi charger or charging dock with the Naga V3 Professional, however the 155 hours of battery life is sufficient that almost all customers would solely have to cost it each month or so.

If that battery life is greater than you had been anticipating, you have got Razer’s FrameSync expertise to thank. As we have defined earlier than, consider it type of like what G-Sync or any variable refresh fee tech does. It synchronises the {hardware} with the polling out of your system, which suggests it solely captures as a lot as is important for low latency. In flip, it turns into extra environment friendly and drains the battery much less. In case you are fearful (and spoilers for the efficiency part), I discovered the sensor to carry out very nicely.

Ergonomics

The Naga V3 Professional is a slightly heavy beast (although lighter than its predecessor), being 112 g at its very lightest. It balances the burden nicely. With a really slight curve within the faceplate, it is easy to select up with my thumb, and a groove for the ring finger on the right-hand facet makes it a really accommodating form for my slightly giant palms. The faceplates are nicely designed too, with the 12-button one curving inwards across the center of the numberpad to present a pure groove to position the thumb. This groove additionally permits me to search out my place with out having to take a look at the mouse.

Importantly, that weight really offers the Naga V3 Professional an excellent sense of consolation. Given you’ll be spending a whole lot of time hitting the left-hand facet together with your thumb, it needs to be regular to keep away from misclicks and poor purpose in the midst of a recreation, and it does it nicely. The mouse ft are loads clean, and all buttons are straightforward to hit.

Thanks doubtless partially to its weight, the V3 Professional is a really sturdy mouse too, and one I wasn’t afraid of breaking if it dropped off my desk. In actual fact, with a small compartment beneath the faceplate for the two.4 GHz receiver, it is a respectable mouse to throw in a backpack and use on the go too.

Although it takes somewhat time to get used to, the 12-button plate is much simpler to make use of than you would possibly in any other case suppose. With it counting up in threes, it is fairly straightforward to recollect which quantity is which if you recognize your occasions tables, and muscle reminiscence began to type for me in a short time.

The six-button and two-button faceplates are somewhat excessive for my liking, being close to the highest of the faceplate, however each have clearly outlined buttons. The six-button format additionally has a curve into the center, which is nice for locating a place on your thumb.

Given the button for the ring finger on the right-hand facet, there is a particular means that you must maintain the Naga V3 Professional to benefit from its form. The claw grip and fingertip grip each really feel a tad awkward, however the palm grip feels excellent to me. The mouse holds the fingers nicely, and is nicely balanced to permit me to simply hit all of its buttons.

Efficiency

One of many greatest variations between the Naga V2 Professional and V3 Professional is within the 50,000 DPI optical sensor, and it performs rather well. It is snappy, clean, correct, and is identical sensor used within the unimaginable Viper V4 Professional. Naturally, the added weight means you don’t get competitive-level velocity from bodily shifting the mouse, however its sensor is top-notch.

One place it does fall considerably beneath the Viper V4 Professional is in its polling fee, with the Naga V3 Professional reaching a max 1,000 Hz polling out of the field. You possibly can pay additional to get 8,000 Hz through the Mouse Dock Professional or HyperPolling dongle, however I might argue it isn’t price the additional value and hit to battery life for that polling fee, particularly when the Naga V3 Professional is already loads costly.

In Remaining Fantasy 14, I discovered the Naga V3 Professional to be a real boon to gameplay, permitting me to hit nearly each key I need with out having to stretch, and with out even customising the mouse. With some good customized controls, I managed to make the mouse much more helpful in-game, with the ring finger button opening the map, and the clicking beneath the scroll wheel opening stock.

Given its weight, I used to be involved it could really feel a tad sluggish in Counter-Strike 2, however I used to be fortunately confirmed flawed. It definitely requires a bit extra effort than a brilliant gentle mouse, however I discovered myself extra correct holding down traces of sight.

The optical switches within the Naga V3 Professional are immense, being each correct and feeling nice beneath the finger. In actual fact, the entire buttons on the mouse carry out rather well, and it is clear how a lot thought has been put into really feel and performance. However my greatest gripe with the Gen 4 optical switches beneath the left and proper click on is that I actually dislike their sound. Each of them have a high-pitched, plastic-sounding ping that’s close to shrill to my ears. At a distance, it is advantageous, although somewhat loud, however clicking away at all of them day for each video games and work has pushed house how a lot I dislike the sound of Razer’s newest change tech.

In actual fact, I had the prospect to fiddle with the Basilisk V3 Professional and its older Gen 3 switches, and I feel the sound is so annoying that I might nearly decide these switches as a substitute.

Aesthetics

It’d appear to be a tricky problem to make a 23-button mouse look good, however really I feel Razer has nailed it with the Naga V3 Professional, very similar to it nailed it with the Naga V2 Professional. There are better-looking, sleeker mice on the market, however none that maintain so many buttons, and visually, I feel it is leagues forward of Corsair’s blocky Scimitar Elite Wi-fi SE (which can also be an MMO mouse).

The facet buttons, plus scroll wheel and base, have RGB lighting in them, which is customisable in Razer’s software program. They do a very good job complementing the black of the remainder of the mouse, and even look respectable when turned off.

Software program

Razer’s software program, like software program from most main {hardware} manufacturers, has at all times been inconsistent for me, however Synapse has labored nearly completely in my time with the mouse. Within the first hour or so, the profile system did fail (with it taking eternally to save lots of a profile), however after a reset, it has not had any issues since.

You need to use it to customize RGB, swap between polling charges and DPI, and most significantly, you’ll be able to swap what all of these buttons do. It is all slightly intuitive and easy-to-use, and my solely different criticism is that the net software program does not but assist the Naga V3 Professional (or most of Razer’s mice, for what it is price).

Because of the breadth of buttons, I lastly discovered a use for profiles. Although I am glad to have them, I not often use a number of profiles on my gaming mouse, however one profile is my on a regular basis profile, one other is for MMOs, and the final is for shooters. For essentially the most half, swapping profiles largely simply modifications what the 12 buttons on the faceplate do, however additionally they change the sensitivity of the scroll wheel’s free scroll perform.

Worth

The primary time I heard the Naga V3 Professional’s value level, I heard myself exhale somewhat too loudly. $180 is a lot cash, and although it’s utilizing the newest Razer sensor, it’s at simply a regular polling fee. And the Viper V4 Professional has the newest sensor and switches, plus it is lots lighter, affords 8,000 Hz polling out of the field. And remains to be $20 cheaper.

Then, if you happen to’re in search of an MMO mouse, Corsair’s Scimitar Elite Wi-fi SE is $40 much less at MSRP, however is commonly lower than half the value of the Naga V3 Professional. Giving it 89% in our assessment, it’s at the moment our decide for the most effective MMO gaming mouse. It does not have a swappable faceplate, however it has chunkier facet buttons which might be designed to work as a mini Stream Deck.

And if you happen to’re keen to go extra finances, the likes of the Naga V2 Hyperspeed is usually beneath half the value of the Naga V3 Professional, and comes with the identical scroll wheel expertise (although final gen), Razer’s 30K optical sensor, and 250 hours of battery life (although it makes use of swappable batteries). You do not get the swappable faceplates and the newest sensor, however for all intents and functions, it is nonetheless a really strong MMO mouse.

So, for a similar value, you may decide up a Naga V3 Professional alongside Corsair’s uber light-weight Sabre V2 Professional, 4 and a half Mchose G3 V2 Execs, or simply beneath 14 months of Remaining Fantasy 14. And that could be a heavy value to abdomen for any gaming mouse, despite the fact that the Naga V3 Professional is genuinely nice.

In case you are somebody who sometimes performs MMOs, I do not suppose the Naga V3 Professional is essentially for you, however if you need the most effective and play Remaining Fantasy 14 prefer it’s your second job, I do not suppose I might be recommending anything. Although I’d in all probability advocate cranking the audio system loud sufficient to drown out the clicks.