Hardware Reviewer Jeremy Star takes a look at the Razer Copperhead mouse, the last part of Razer's "Holy Trinity of MMORPG" gaming.

The Copperhead uses a 2000 DPI laser system to track movement. Laser mice are supposed to be much more accurate, due to the ability to detect minuscule changes in wavelength and translate those changes to movement, but in reality, optical mice are catching up fast. (Well, gaming optical mice, anyway.)

 For a slightly more detailed explanation of DPI, and why you want a high one, check out my Razer Krait review.

Aside from having a high DPI, the Copperhead follows suit with Razer's other mice by using the “Always On” technology. This basically means the mouse doesn't ever enter a power saving mode, so it's always ready to translate your wrist flicking in to a deadly, but beautiful Night Elf/ Michael Jackson dance routine. It also shares the 16-bit data path, 1ms response time, and 32 Kb of Razer Synapse memory that other Razer mice use. All that means the mouse translates your frantic movement almost as soon as it happens, and it can port your saved mouse configurations to another PC, so you can bring your mouse with you wherever you go without reprogramming it.

Read the whole article here.

I have a Copperhead and I absolutely love it. I don't think the mouse buttons on the left side of the mouse are difficult to reach, and its really nice to be able to autorun that easily in WoW. I actually prefer that the right side buttons are slightly harder to get to, as I don't change the DPI often, if ever. You were also right about the brightness, I have the red color and it is incredibly bright, but it just makes me even happier to own one when the room is dark and my Copperhead prominently glows. The only mouse I will replace my copperhead with will be another Razer mouse (most likely the upcoming Lachesis).

I bought a Copperhead when it first came, and at first I loved it (ignoring the slightly uncomfortable grip) - but now after a while, it's started to fail on me every now and then. It just shuts down for a few seconds, which apparently is a pretty common problem after a long-time use.

I'll probably buy a Logitech next time.

I had a Copperhead that I really liked, but had to mothball it when I loaded Vista. The mouse would not operate at system boot up, and was told by Razor support that they had no plans to provide Vista compatible drivers for the model I had.

There are Vista compatible drivers for the Razer Copperhead located at: http://www.razersupport.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=78&nav=0,8

 This review was done on Vista, and I had no issues with the mouse and compatibility.

I'm having a bit of trouble with my copperhead...

I installed the software that came with the mouse, installed perfectly. Actually using the program is giving me some trouble. Whenever I change a setting, it says "No mouse detectable." The only way I can change my DPI is by pressing the little button on the bottom.

Also, I don't know if it really is changing or not, but it seems that randomly my DPI settings will alter. Like, I'm playing a game, kill something, and realize that the mouse is moving a bit slower than it was a minute ago.

If anyone knows how to fix these problem, it sure would be cool.

Originally posted by PunkMonk

I'm having a bit of trouble with my copperhead...

I installed the software that came with the mouse, installed perfectly. Actually using the program is giving me some trouble. Whenever I change a setting, it says "No mouse detectable." The only way I can change my DPI is by pressing the little button on the bottom.

Also, I don't know if it really is changing or not, but it seems that randomly my DPI settings will alter. Like, I'm playing a game, kill something, and realize that the mouse is moving a bit slower than it was a minute ago.

 

If anyone knows how to fix these problem, it sure would be cool.

I'm sure this is obvious but in case it isn't; have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers? ( be sure to reboot after uninstalling) Also the mouse has to be plugged in during installation.

use the latest drivers from their website and if you're really couragious you might want to try updating the firmware (v6.20 atm)

Keep in mind that the Copperhead uses a decent amount of power so make sure you connect it to an USB hub that outputs at least 200 mA

One other thing the 1000 hz polling rate is CPU intensive so using it at system boot might not be such a great idea. I've found that some (onboard) USB hubs have problems with older firmware versions causing the driver to sometimes not detect the mouse even though it is connected v6.19 fixed that problem for me

ps if you want to run the Copperhead under Vista I'd recomment using at least firmware v6.19

Thank you for the url to the Vista compatible drivers. Wish these were available before I purchased my Logitech MX518 mouse.

I have used a copperhead and did not like, but I had borrowed for the purpose of testing it so good thing in a way. I have since used various razers and tbh wasn't overly fond of any. I had used mx518's previously (2 to be exact and worked them to death), I then commited the holyest of holy sins and went cordless with an mx1000.

I now have a deathadder, why I went with razer I have no idea after testing and detesting, maybe I was possesed or hypnotised by the humming glowy snake thing, who knows. It took a lot of getting used to, especially given that I had used and loved the mx1000 which was similar to shifting a pregnant hippo around a mouse mat, and these things practically meld into your hand they're so light. For the first few weeks each time I went to make quick moves I practically through the thing across the room.

I now am at peace with my razer, BUT and its a BIG BUT, I will say the drivers are shat. Despite the far superior dpi and range of settings of the razer it is certainly not always better practically. For all of the mx's I used (especially the 1000) the responsive nature was so far superior.

What I mean is a mouse is supposed to respond to the g's you react with, so if I accelerate the mouse fast it should move the cursor/cross-hair faster. When I move slowly it should be pixel accurate and smooth as {insert object of desire here, so long as you don't have a sandpaper fetish}'s ass. This means, with my old 1000 I can move from left to right of the screen with a fast flick of the wrist moving the mouse a mere inch. Or slowly, and go from one end of the desk to the other and only get half way across the screen. No matter how I set up the razer I simply can not get the same response, and none of them have ever come close to the smoothness of the mx1000, literally 1 pixel at a time but smooooooth.

In fact writing this and readin it back I can't understand why I continue with the razer, I think I'll switch back righ....... blue hummy glow snake gooood mmmmmmm.

Make a review of a G5, now thats a sweet mouse

Yeah...did that already.

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/1229

My bad

I've had my copperhead for more than  a year now , the damn thing sure does last. I agree, the side buttons are a little difficult to access, I just use them for unimportant functions i.e. Press to Speak, Auto-Run.  I find the rubber siding very comfortable on my ring finger and thumb. And who can't love the pulsating glow... =O

That's just my opinion =p,

-The Fish

For some reason, I actually like the jutting-out rubber edges. They provide you with more leverage when you have your thumb resting on two side buttons. Also, the only difficulty with the side buttons I've had has been with the ones on the right side (which were designed for left handed users).

Originally posted by vaizard

Make a review of a G5, now thats a sweet mouse

I have _no_ idea how I got by as long as I did on that 9.99 special I had ROFL...