Snakes on a Mouse: Copperhead Review
Hardware Reviewer Jeremy Star takes a look at the Razer Copperhead mouse, the last part of Razer's "Holy Trinity of MMORPG" gaming.
And we're back. Well Chuck, that certainly was some last review.
“Yes it was, Jeremy. Say, what have we got this week?”
Well, Chuck, we have another offering from Razer. This week we'll be reviewing the Copperhead laser mouse.
“Wait, did you say the Razer Copperhead mouse? Hasn't that been out for quite a while, Jeremy?”
Yes, yes it has, Chuck.
“Er..so, they updated it, or something?”
Not exactly, Chuck. In fact, there's nothing new at all going on with the Razer Copperhead. The company sent it in for a review as part of its “Holy Trinity of MMORPG gaming” - the Razer Tarantula, the Razer eXactMat, and the Razer Copperhead.
“Oh, well that's great Jeremy. With that being said; Leeeeeeeeet's get ready to ruuu..”
Chuck. Chuck! Stop, this isn't a boxing match.
“Oh, right. Sorry, got a bit carried away there.”
On with the show.
The Hardware – No, it's not a phone.
The Razer Copperhead is a wired, laser mouse that uses a gold plated USB interface. Of course, this is Razer we're talking about. I wouldn't hold your breath for anything different in any of their upcoming mice. They know as well as the next manufacturer that in the gaming world, wireless is equivalent to junk, and when you have a good thing going, why mess with it?
The Copperhead features a 2000 DPI laser, 7 programmable buttons, a 16-bit data channel, zero-acoustic Ultraslick Teflon feet, and an Always On laser system.
The Technology – Frickin' laser beams!
;)
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.
Appearance – Copper? I prefer Bronze.
The Copperhead is fairly similar in appearance to a host of other Razer mice. It shares the same elongated, low-riding shape that the Diamondback and the Krait use, and it has the lit mouse wheel and rubberized tracks of the Krait. The light comes in three varieties: Blue, red and green, also a trait shared by the Diamondback. And, like the Tarantula keyboard, it has a pulsing Razer symbol. All in all, it's a pretty attractive mouse, although the green variety that they sent us for review is rather bright in a dark room.
Performance – If I'm anxious, it's not about the performance...
Like most Razer mice, the default settings on the Copperhead drivers are very hard to control. Also, like the other Razer mice, once you turn the sensitivity down a few notches, it performs admirably. I actually had to turn the Copperhead's sensitivity down a couple more notches than the other Razer mice due to the higher DPI.
I test moused my way through several sessions of Tabula Rasa, 2 Moons, Everquest II, and – of course – World of Warcraft. The mouse moves smoothly, action is translated very well, and it is very accurate. All in all, exactly what you would expect from a high-end gaming laser mouse.
I did, however, have issues with the side buttons. Not with the function, but with the placement. I will go in to details in...
Conclusion – Copperhead or copper tub?
With so many “gaming” mice on the market today, it's sometimes hard to make some of them stand out. There are only so many features that people really use, and then you're just adding things on to say that you have them, so you can stand out.
Razer did kind of the opposite with the Copperhead. It's a good mouse, with features that every gamer can put to good use, but it doesn't have anything that really makes it stand out, and it has some comfort issues.
What I think of it:
;)
Using the Copperhead was like using a lot of Razer's other mice. As I said before, it is very similar to the Diamondback and the Krait. Needless to say, I liked it for the most part, as I have liked most of Razer's other mice.
Except the side buttons.
Now, don't get me wrong. They work. I like that there are two on each side. I like that I can actually set a button to do the on-the-fly sensitivity changes and still have the two buttons on the left side work as game buttons. That's nice.
What I don't like is that the side buttons are under a rubberized strip that juts out from the side of the mouse. Instead of lying flat against the side of the mouse, as is the case with other Razer mice, it resembles sort of a dull sword edge. Not only is resting your thumb on it uncomfortable, but it also makes it hard to click the buttons under it. I had to sort of make my thumb in to a claw to dig under the strip and click the side buttons. Perhaps if the sides of the mouse didn't slope so sharply in towards the center under the strip, or if the strip wasn't edged, it may have been easier to use all those side buttons. It's a very strange design choice, and one that I think ultimately makes this mouse more of a pain, rather than a pleasure.
Who I think can benefit the most:
Perhaps my hands being somewhat large increase my irritation with the side buttons, so people with smaller hands may find this useful. Again, all gamers – casual or hardcore, raid-until-I-have-to-change-my-Depends types – can benefit from a good, high DPI mouse. The Copperhead is also completely ambidextrous, so the lefties aren't left out in… left field.
So, if you happen to have an old mouse, and you have a limited choice of new mice, the Copperhead is a fine buy. Otherwise, you might be better off with another high end gaming mouse.
Final Thoughts:
The Copperhead is a decent laser mouse for gaming, but I feel the strange placement of the side buttons and the uncomfortable side strips keep it from being good. Which is too bad, because it looks very cool.
I give the Razer Copperhead 5 Slytherin cheers out of 10.
| Pros | Cons |
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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.
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).
I have _no_ idea how I got by as long as I did on that 9.99 special I had ROFL...