![[FnG]magnolia](/styles/overclockers/avatars/9.png){kind=avatar}
Caporegime
- Joined
- 29 Aug 2007
- Posts
- 28,765
- Location
- Auckland
I've spent the last couple of weeks trawling through gaming mice reviews as I was getting the itch for a new mouse. Coming from a wired Logitech G502 Proteus - so pre-Lightspeed etc - I wanted something that would be a genuine step up; this wasn't an exercise in buying new toys for the sake of it.
The G502 is a great mouse for most people. It has won a ton of awards, is frequently in the 'best gaming mouse' top 10's, has sold by the bucketload, and is relatively affordable. It is also, depending on your view, heavy and clunky, with several buttons difficult to use accurately on a consistent basis. The cable, even braided, can drag and the G Hub software, while a step up from the monstrosity that was LGS, is still a bit lacking.
So, after more research than I care to admit to, I landed on the Basilisk Ultimate, one of the newer mice from Razer, which is - spoiler alert - quite simply brilliant. For reference, my hand size is Large, measuring 19.5 x 11.5, I play a mixture of genres, and I use a palm or claw/palm hybrid depending on mouse. Some observations:
The other mouse I had a long look at is the Basilisk's stablemate, the Viper Ultimate. A lighter, ambidextrous mouse, with a focus on FPS use, it gets rave reviews as well. It's for a smaller hand and doesn't have the flexibility of genre that the Basilisk does, but if FPS is your sole/main thing then this seems to be an even better mouse from the reviews out there.
Anyway, I hope some of that is useful for anyone considering the Basilisk and/or a move from a G502. It's an expensive mouse but it's also a brilliant performer and is one of the better pieces of hardware I've bought in a while.
mags.
The G502 is a great mouse for most people. It has won a ton of awards, is frequently in the 'best gaming mouse' top 10's, has sold by the bucketload, and is relatively affordable. It is also, depending on your view, heavy and clunky, with several buttons difficult to use accurately on a consistent basis. The cable, even braided, can drag and the G Hub software, while a step up from the monstrosity that was LGS, is still a bit lacking.
So, after more research than I care to admit to, I landed on the Basilisk Ultimate, one of the newer mice from Razer, which is - spoiler alert - quite simply brilliant. For reference, my hand size is Large, measuring 19.5 x 11.5, I play a mixture of genres, and I use a palm or claw/palm hybrid depending on mouse. Some observations:
- The Basilisk is noticeably lighter in the hand and in use. Although the weights are 114g (G502) vs 107g (Basilisk), the lack of cable on the Basilisk genuinely does make for a much better experience. I'm pretty cynical about marketing guff but this is a real difference between the two.
- The Basilisk allows me the palm grip I prefer whereas I adopted a palm/claw grip with the 502. I don't know if this is muscle memory from the awkward button placement on the G502, or to help overcome that additional weight, but the Basilisk feels much better to use. The over-used 'feels like an extension of your arm' is probably apt here.
- The Basilisk feels better for accuracy but I think this is a function of the above two points. It does have newer internals than the G502 and from a technical point of view it's much more advanced but I'm not sure how much of that lends itself to the feeling of having more control versus the ease of physical movement the mouse has.
- The Basilisk has an awkward clutch button which defaults to a much lower DPI. All reviewers seem to agree that it is difficult to reach without changing your grip. Hopefully some custom pieces will make their way to market to extend the button for easier use. It's not unusable but it is difficult to use without making an active choice to reach it.
- Mouse clicks on the Basilisk feel fantastic. The feedback is perfect and the scroll wheel - which you can tighten to your preference - is a joy. I don't miss the infinite scroll of the G502 although, to be fair, I never used it.
- The Basilisk costs stupid money. it is an expensive mouse and there's no way of getting around that fact. However, if you asked me if it was worth it I wouldn't hesitate in saying yes.
- I'm not interested in RGB lighting but the Basilisk does look nice if you like that sort of thing.
- The Synapse software seems fine. Games seem to recognise the L & R horizontal scroll wheel buttons in-game which isn't the case with the G502. [edit, for clarity: games do not recognize the G502 L & R scroll button when trying to assign new keys in certain games, it has to be done via G Hub. This is not the case with the Basilisk where you can press the L or R scroll button in the key configuration settings within the game and it will recognize it].
- The charging doc is useful and is easy to place the mouse on. The RGB lighting isn't controllable on this (again, if you care about lights) but the cable is long enough to place wherever you like on your desk.
- The responsiveness of the wireless mouse compared to the wired G502 is identical in real world applications. If blindfolded, I'd have no idea the Basilisk is wireless.
The other mouse I had a long look at is the Basilisk's stablemate, the Viper Ultimate. A lighter, ambidextrous mouse, with a focus on FPS use, it gets rave reviews as well. It's for a smaller hand and doesn't have the flexibility of genre that the Basilisk does, but if FPS is your sole/main thing then this seems to be an even better mouse from the reviews out there.
Anyway, I hope some of that is useful for anyone considering the Basilisk and/or a move from a G502. It's an expensive mouse but it's also a brilliant performer and is one of the better pieces of hardware I've bought in a while.
mags.
