Razer Lachesis Gaming Mouse Review

Makers of gaming mice need to work hard to stand above the crowd of competitors and worm their way into the hearts of PC gamers, for whom competitive edge and equipment have an inextricable relationship, and a bad mouse can mean the difference between glory and second place. Manufacturer Razer understands these rules of the game very well; they've built their considerable reputation on building products that will help gamers win. Today, in the third installment of our series of gaming mice reviews, we'll be seeing how well the Lachesis, Razer's newest gaming mouse offering, stacks up to the competition.

Sleek, sexy feel that accommodates both lefties and righties
Multitude of buttons with numerous programming options
Satiny surface and glowing LED logo
4,000 maximum DPI sensor
Programmable on-board profiles

Macro editor difficult to use
Macros didn't always work properly
No visual feedback for DPI changes
Doesn't include standard 800 DPI option
Side buttons don't react to a light touch

The Razer Lachesis is the sexiest mouse I've ever seen, bar none. From its sleekly contoured shape to the seamless primary buttons, from light-trapping material coating the Lachesis' upper surface to the white or blue LED backlit scroll button and the slowly strobing white or blue LED that lights up a Razer logo etched into the unit's palm rest, the mouse's appearance lives up to the terror invoked by its snake namesake and makes Razer's slogan - "the bringer of silent death" - seem much more appropriate.

Overhead view of the Razer Lachesis. The logo on the palm rest of the mouse lights up every few seconds.

The Lachesis doesn't feel half bad, either; the light-trapping coating on the surface has a satiny feel that maintains just enough traction to prevent slippage by sweaty palms without making movement difficult, while a big rubber-coated scroll wheel with shallow finger indentations for better gripping and two primary buttons molded to fit even the beefiest of fingers underscore the Razer Lachesis' usefulness as a peripheral. In addition, lefty users will appreciate the mouse's ambidextrous design. Mouse height favors those with smaller hands, but I found my palm and wrist quickly adjusted from the G9's sharp angles to acquire mastery of the Lachesis without the wrist problems I associate with low-profile mice.

A corner view of the Lachesis, showing the size of the primary buttons.

In addition to the scroll wheel - which doubles as a middle button - and the two primary buttons, the Razer Lachesis comes with six programmable buttons: two on the top of the mouse below the scroll wheel, and two on each side, aligned horizontally in a curve that starts at about the end of your thumb. The Lachesis glides on three permanent Teflon feet that - unlike the G9 - kept the bottom of the mouse scratch free after a week of continuous contact with my well-used (and rough surfaced) desktop, protecting the Lachesis' 4000 DPI 3G laser sensor from damage. A clearly labeled profile button mounted on the bottom lets you switch between one of five editable profiles.

The Razer Lachesis also comes with an ice blue LED option.

The Lachesis' ambidextrous design includes horizontally-aligned buttons on both sides.

Config Software
Razer Lachesis Config is the mouse's Windows taskbar mounted control software. If you've used other Razer products, Lachesis Config will be familiar; it uses the same module-based arrangement, where expanding menus that pop out from the main window provide advanced options. In this case, the main window handles some pretty advanced features in of itself: button assignments, sensor DPI selections, polling rate, and secondary options like displaying the name of the profile on the screen when it activates and enabling or disabling the mouse's snake logo. The button assignments section is particularly impressive, particularly when compared with competing products: every single button, including the default DPI buttons and the up and down scroll of the scroll wheel, is programmable with the same lengthy list of options, macros, or keystrokes. The sheer number of options makes up for the Razer Lachesis' lack of side to side scrolling that's become one of my favorite buttons on Logitech mice, and should offer up enough programming choices to even satisfy button-hungry games like Battlefield 2142.

The profile selection section of Lachesis Config.

Unfortunately, the rest of Razer Lachesis Config isn't quite as fulfilling. The program's macro system is a bit of a disaster: entering a sequence in the macro box is easy enough, but the program doesn't recognize mouse clicks, only keyboard strokes. There's only one delay option (50 ms), so forget trying to set up any sort of advanced timing features, and if you need to make a change you'll need to retype the sequence, because the macro system doesn't have an editor.

The advanced key selection/macro programming section of Lachesis Config.

Then there's a DPI Switcher, which has three issues: first, even though the mouse's sensitivity changes when you press the DPI change buttons, the switcher's visual feedback doesn't update. It's already a little difficult to figure out what DPI level you're using with this mouse, but that bug means you're a little lost in the dark unless you select a DPI level from the Switcher's option bar. Second, the option bar requires you to have five DPI selections for every profile, limiting customization and requiring you to make extra clicks when you're dialing up for the right sensitivity mid combat. Third, the scale of the individual levels includes odd values like 875 and 750 DPI, but not the industry standard 800 DPI. You will definitely want higher or lower values when you're gaming, but when you're used to use your mouse at 800 DPI for every day tasks, switching to a different default value is a bit on an unpleasant shock.

The sensitivity settings section of Lachesis Config.

Finally, there's the profile editing and selection. Though Razer made profile switching an easy task through the Lachesis' buttons, the configuration software isn't quite so simple; as far as I can tell, you can only change profiles or select a new profile to edit with the mouse, and not by clicking on the profile names. The editor includes an auto-switching option that enables a profile when you launch an application, but unlike Logitech's software, you can't associate more than one application with a profile. On the positive side, the Razer Lachesis has enough onboard memory to store five profiles for portability to any machine, and Lachesis Config lets you save and load both banks of profiles and individual configurations so you can mix and match options before heading off to your next competition.