Photos and Features

If you have never tried out a Deathadder in the past you are missing out. While the shape isn’t for everyone, it does touch on the shape of the old Microsoft mice. That shape is so popular that companies like Zowie have based their entire line on it, SteelSeries had the Sensei with a similar shape, and many other companies have had similar designs. It is a medium height, tilted slightly to the right, and ergonomic enough to fit your hand without adding flares between fingers and other features you see on ergonomically shaped mice. The Elite also has the same flat black finish that most Deathadders have had, in fact, most would have a hard time telling the Elite apart from the original Deathadder.

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The side profile view of the Deathadder Elite really helps give you an idea of its shape. The arched back peaks at the ball of your hand (just below your fingers) and then gently angles to the back of the mouse. This helps it look like a big mouse while feeling smaller in hand. It is designed to fit a wide range of hand sizes. The triggers then flare out to help center your fingers.

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The back profile shows us that its highest point is on the left side and there is a slight angle across the top of the mouse. This is because this is a right-handed mouse only, an ambidextrous mouse would have a more symmetrical shape here.

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On the left side of the mouse, we have two fat buttons. The side buttons being a little larger helps with the different hand sizes. I love that Razer hasn’t tried to pack more buttons on the mouse at all, two is all I use and I like to keep things simple. Below the buttons, there is now a rubber grip in the same shape as the mouse. This helps a lot for picking the mouse up for people like me who don’t use a huge mouse area but prefer to flick and pickup. The rubber grip is simple and has just enough texture to help with grip without it being noticeable. I honestly wouldn’t know there was a grip there if I hadn’t taken this picture.

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Then around to the front of the mouse, we can see the angle again. This is also a great view of the dips in both triggers they naturally guide your fingers to the centers of each trigger. The front of the mouse has a short rubber protector for the cable and there isn’t a detachable cord or anything though I would love to see if on the Deathadder.

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Here we have a better view of all of the buttons. So we have the two side buttons and the two triggers that I have already mentioned. Then we also have the scroll wheel. It has a rubber grip up the middle with small raised bumps in groups of three all around the wheel along with transparent rings on each side of it for lighting. The wheel has a down click to it but no side click action. Then behind the scroll wheel, there are two more buttons tucked up under your palm when holding the mouse. These buttons can be programmed to anything but they default to DPI adjustment buttons. These are all the same as past Deathadders, but what is different is the move to new switches under all of those buttons. Razer is working with Omron for a specially optimized switch that they say should give faster response times and have a durability of up to 50 million clicks. I get a little worried when you hear things like custom switches, but at least Razer is working with a reputable company for these.

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The top down view of the Deathadder Elite gives another great view to show off the traditional Deathadder shape. If you ignore the flare on the triggers you can even see that Intellimouse shape a little from the top. On the palm area of the mouse, the Elite has an RGB backlit Razer logo. My first Deathadders (I had a few) all had this same logo but with blue backlighting, that was back before Razer went with the green backlighting and later their Chroma RGB lighting.

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On the bottom, the Elite has Teflon gliders all along the front under the triggers and at the back of the mouse. There is also a ring glider around the sensor as well. This is a big improvement over past Deathadders that just had small gliders on the front rather than the large one here. The rest of the bottom is covered in a sticker with the standard certification logos, branding, and the model information of the mouse. There is also a barcode for your serial number with the number under it should you need to do an RMA in the future. For the sensor, Razer likes to keep things really hidden so they only talk about the sensor being a 16,000 DPI optical sensor. Obviously, no one needs that much DPI but thanks to a few people who have dug into their Elite we know they used a PMW 3389 sensor. This is a modified version of the 3360 that is popular.

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For the cord, the Deathadder Elite has a seven-foot long cord, so it is a little longer than the average mouse cord. It is sleeved in a tight weave and it has a gold plated USB connection at the end. Razer added a rubber cord wrap to the cord from the last time I took a look at one and given the extra length that is a good thing. Too much cord can be an issue, so being able to wrap it up and keep it to your length is a good thing, plus it helps for taking it to events.

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