Thoughts on the Razer Cobra Pro

As I alluded to in my previous article, I had been making a lot of considerations for mice. I love the shape and feel of the Glorious Model O- wireless but was annoyed by how quickly it becomes dirty and grungy looking even though I’m rather fastidious when it comes to handwashing. I have a very particular mouse shape that I prefer, and want it to be a smaller mouse, which makes the options for mice much more limited than if I were willing to go compromise for a medium sized mouse. But ultimately, I want a small mouse because I have small hands and that makes using the mouse more comfortable for long-term use. I simply don’t want to compromise and end up with hand cramping to have more options.

Firstly, what do I mean by small hands? My total right hand length, from tip of middle finger to the base of my palm, is just under 17cm. From the base knuckle to the base of my palm is 10cm and my palm width is 8.5cm. That’s smaller than most adult hands, but in line for adult women on average. Gaming mice are, unfortunately, built to fit better with men’s hands more often than women, or even adolescent hand sizes. For instance, one of my favourite mice I’ve ever used was the 2001 Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse (model X08-12616). It is slightly wider at the grip and much taller than newer mice, and exceedingly heavy at roughly 225g with the two AA batteries, but the shape was great at the time. A few years later I ended up with a Logitech G7, much lighter at 133g but still heavier than most modern gaming mice. It would be considered a fairly standard medium sized mouse at 72mm wide, 43.7mm tall, and 130mm long. That said, the width is a bit misleading because that includes the lip that the thumb rests on. It had the basic shape down that I found so comfortable.

Numerous other mice came and went in the 20 odd years since that Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse. I almost always gravitated to smaller mice because they simply made sense for my hand size. More recently, I have used Glorious’ Model O and O- in wired form and O- in wireless. I also used the Razer Viper wired and Razer Viper Ultimate. Now that wireless mice are so much lighter, performant, and more featureful than even 5 years ago, I really didn’t want to go back to a wired mouse, despite the great value presented by the Viper Mini and its replacement the Cobra. And, yes, the trend of mice becoming ever lighter certainly bucks the trend of the mid-2000s where mice were coming with weights (such as the Logitech G5 which was the wired variant of the G7, which I also had because the G7 was far too finnicky for me in the long term). They were pushing back up to over 150g, double or even triple the weight of most modern lightweight mice.

And, that has come at a cost, at least initially. The early models of ultralight mice came with that honeycomb type of shell. When every gram counts, perforating the shell of the mouse can indeed shave a couple grams off the total. More importantly, it made it easy to market as a new and novel solution to cutting weight on the mice. It potentially comes at the cost of structural rigidity, though that’s typically rather miniscule given how compact mice are. But, in the long term, they simply become more easily soiled even if you’re a bit obsessed with handwashing. It does make them more at risk to damage, what with the exposed circuit board inside, but that’s more an issue if you’re prone to spills and even a solid shell is hardly guarantee of protection for that.

I’ve loved my Model O- aside from how quickly it soils. It looks nice, when clean, and feels wonderful in my hand. The buttons feel snappy and clean, the wheel is smooth and tactile, the mouse has been great. The software, while basic, is fine for configuring the mouse. I don’t even mind that the plastic has smoothed, most prominently on the left button, the area under my thumb, and right around the scroll wheel on the right button. That’s simply the nature of ABS plastic, the same kind of plastic that shines with typing on keyboard keycaps. But I don’t like how quickly the mouse fills with pet hair and other detritus. And while the holes aren’t sharp or necessarily unpleasant on my skin, a solid shell does ultimately feel nicer in comparison.

The other mouse I regularly was using was the larger, but still comfortable, Razer Viper ultimate. It’s more on the medium size of mice, albeit at the lower end of medium. It has a similar, familiar shape with a slight hourglass figure, larger at the ends and slightly narrower to the middle. I’m one of those people who enjoys the rubber sides as I like the additional grippy feel it gives the mouse in hand. But those couple millimetres of extra width make my resting position with my ring finger ever so slightly out of place that it feels like my finger is at an odd position right on the edge of the right button rather than resting on the side of the mouse along with my pinkie finger. It’s funny how such tiny tolerances change how things fit in my hand, but it really is an issue of mere millimetres which is why dimensions of mice are so important to find that ideal feel for you.

Another mouse that I do use, though typically not with gaming, is a Logitech G305. It’s by far the heaviest of the four mice. It’s also the cheapest but also features a shape that’s somewhat of an inverse of the other three. It’s widest in the middle, with the ends tapering and becoming narrower. It’s comfortable for day-to-day use but it is noticeably heavier than any of my other mice, partly because it utilises a single AA battery which itself makes up 23 grams of the total weight of the mouse, or nearly a quarter of it. It’s a nice mouse but I wouldn’t consider it lightweight by today’s standards by any means and it feels heavy in my hand compared to the other three.

So, just what are the dimensions of the mice I’m comparing? The Glorious Model O- wireless is the lightest at 65 grams, with dimensions of 63mm width, 35mm height, and 120mm of length. The Razer Viper Ultimate is 74 grams with dimensions of 66mm width, 38mm height, and 127mm length. The new Cobra Pro is, interestingly, the heaviest at 77g (2g can be saved by removing the plastic placeholder puck in the bottom to bring it to 75g). Importantly, for me, the dimensions are 62.5mm width, 38.1mm height, and 119.6mm long. The Logitech G305 that I regularly use with my MacBook Pro is in a similar class I think it’s important to mention as well. It’s a very different shape but is also a small, but dense, mouse at 99 grams and 62.2mm width, 38.2mm height, and 116.6mm long. 

Let’s get into the construction of the Cobra Pro then. It has a solid, plastic shell that is mostly lightly textured aside from some piano black glossy accents. Those go up the sides on the edge between the top shell and sides then below and between the left and right buttons and scroll wheel. The sides are textured, grippy rubber. Interestingly, the texturing for the rubber is stronger than on my Viper and Viper Ultimate. I think it’s on the edge of being too strongly textured but it’s not uncomfortable in my hand. The two side buttons, which are on the left side of the mouse, are the same gently textured plastic used for most of the mouse and they protrude roughly a millimetre from the side, making them easy to find and click with my thumb. The scroll wheel has a centre band of textured rubber which sits with RGB channels on the wheel to its sides. There are two, much smaller, buttons behind the scroll wheel which are in the glossy black area and are themselves glossy black. By default they are set to change mouse sensitivity up and down and they’re also snappy and clicky like the side buttons.

Continuing on, there is the telltale Razer logo on the base of the mouse where your palm goes. It’s ever so slightly recessed and you may not even feel the change in texture. The logo is very cleanly produced, showing even the details of the snakes’ forked tongues. Running around the base of the mouse aside from the front edge is large diffused RGB ring. In a well-lit room, it’s subtle and not particularly noticeable. In a darkened room, however, the lighting spills out on my desk mat and dances with the animation. In my case I have been using the Fire preset for years as I love the look of the yellows, oranges, and reds and how they dance subtly and smoothly.

Going underneath the mouse, it has two large PTFE feet with one at the front and the other at the rear of the mouse. There is a small D shaped ring around the sensor in the centre of the mouse. Beside the sensor on the right is a toggle between off, 2.4GHz mode, and Bluetooth mode. To the left of the sensor is a small button to toggle between user profiles which you create in the Synapse software. Finally, below the sensor in the base of the mouse is a large round puck that can be removed. It covers the recess where you can put the 2.4GHz wireless dongle. It’s also where you can put a Qi charging puck to wirelessly charge the mouse. The puck by itself is $19.99 and you can use it with Qi chargers. There’s also a kit for a wireless base and puck. That base is magnetic and will hold the mouse while offering yet another source for pretty RGB customisation as a ring around it. The other benefit of that kit is that it includes a built in 4KHz transceiver which by itself would be $29.99. I don’t have any of those accessories, but they are there if you really feel the urge to pay even more for what is already a pricy mouse.

The included cable is 6 feet long, cleanly braided, and is USB A-to-C. That cable doubles as charging cable and fits into the recessed USB-C port on the mouse. In wired mode the cable is noticeable but does well to not spend too much time getting in the way. It’s fine if I need to charge whilst using the mouse. Included is a small rhomboid housing for plugging the wireless dongle to sit it on your desk. It’s small, and very light, with a large rubber pad on the base to keep it in place. It’s the same textured plastic as most of the mouse and has glossy black accents on the front and rear edges along with a subtle embossed Razer text logo on the top. The dongle itself is typical of Razer’s dongles, small and matching black. It also has the mouse’s name listed on its top edge as well, “2.4 Cobra Pro” and that has always been an aspect I’ve appreciated with Razer’s accessories is that they label their dongles. If you’re one to have multiple devices that use similar, if not visually identical dongles, being able to see what dongle is for what device without creating your own labelling system is great.

Speaking of that dongle, it is compatible with acting as a transceiver for multiple devices. It can pair with other mice, keyboards, and even some of Razer’s headsets so you can use one port for multiple devices. If you plan on using multiple mice, or the mouse with a keyboard or headset, it’s a nice feature to help streamline connections. I appreciate that feature is becoming more common with wireless devices, but it also means you must stay with a specific manufacturer for it to work as you can’t, say, link your Logitech or Corsair 2.4GHz wireless keyboard with your Razer dongle. Ultimately, they are all proprietary systems and won’t operate together on the same dongle.

Continuing with proprietary standards, the Synapse software. While you don’t necessarily need that software to use the mouse, it does offer far more features when you do use it. It’s where you would do the multi-device pairing for instance. It’s also where you can reprogram the buttons, create and modify profiles, and tweak the aesthetic settings like the RGB lighting. It’s also where you’ll see the battery level for the mouse. You can also enable and disable games and applications from controlling the mouse RGB. For instance, Opera GX and Baldur’s Gate III both work with that feature. There are numerous other games and applications that are also compatible with Razer Chroma, and they can be managed in Synapse. Synapse is still more bloated than I’d prefer but I find that’s the case with most other peripheral manufacturers unless they go the complete opposite direction and are so devoid of features, they feel worthless. A surprisingly nice middle ground is with the Glorious Core software that I use with my Model O- wireless. It is frankly lithe compared to Synapse and is perfectly capable of managing the mouse and its settings.  That said, as large as Synapse is, it still responds quickly to opening it and changing settings. That I have to create a Razer account to sign in to use it is just ridiculous though. We shouldn’t need to create accounts to manage our hardware and that is a growing issue that goes beyond Razer but needs to be said regardless.

So then, to the mouse itself. It feels exactly how I hoped a Viper Mini Ultimate might feel. The shape is right, the size is right, and the features are certainly also there. The one area that it really does fumble is the weight. At 77 grams it is indeed a bit of a chonk, as they say. Compared to the similarly sized Model O- wireless it is 12 grams heavier, or 10 grams if you leave off the puck. That doesn’t seem like much but that’s the weight of a AAA battery (about 11.5g). That makes the Cobra Pro a very dense feeling mouse. I don’t think it feels bad to use, but it is very tangible. Compared to the Viper Ultimate, which is 74 grams, it makes that mouse feel lighter because it is larger and less dense. It’s honestly quite frustrating as it’s a very specific shape, that happens to feel great in my hand, but that is very uncommon to the mouse market. There are potential choices in the growing space of Chinese budget mice but I’m leery of those for lack of support, build quality issues, and less features. They’re there, but I’ve had times where I’ve purchased off-brand accessories only to find myself spending more in finding one that mostly works than had I bought the name brand product in the first place.

As a mouse then, in games I find it does its job with aplomb. It’s rather well-balanced in my hand front-to-back and it’s still plenty light enough to quickly move where I need it to move given I’m hardly an esports champion. In particular, I found it delightful to use in Risk of Rain 2 and with Left 4 Dead 2. I have it set to 1600 DPI, hardly anywhere near the 30000 DPI that it maxes out with. I find that resolution works fine for me in both desktop and games. The sensor is Razer’s latest optical sensor, and it uses their third generation optical mouse switches as well. I find both are more than capable of anything I would throw at them as, again, I’m nowhere near the peak of competitive gamers. And if you are looking for a competitive, small, lightweight mouse you’d likely be looking elsewhere anyway to get those extra grams shaved off and to nix the superfluous features like rubber sides and RGB.

Where does that leave the Cobra Pro though? It’s packed to the gills with features and they’re well-implemented as well. It looks great and feels wonderful in my hand. It’s technically ambidextrous but with the lack of right-side buttons it really isn’t truly ambidextrous like the Viper Ultimate was. That seems a bit odd but nothing particularly out of the ordinary for mice. It’s just a shame that mice that are symmetrical in every other way end up lacking the right side-buttons for those who use them. With a mouse that is clearly not targeting the lightest weight I could have seen them add them on but here we are.

Using it in games I find it can give more than I have in skill. I’ve never been the best at shooters and the ceiling for its limits is far higher than the ceiling on my limits. I’m not likely to improve my efficacy in games but I’m certainly not going to be hampered by it either. I think even for competitive gamers it will have more than enough performance to give to make it a good choice for those who have been wanting a Viper Mini wireless but who are completely disinterested in the nearly $300 Viper Mini Signature Edition. And I think that’s part of what makes it bittersweet. People were hoping for a more performance-focused Viper Mini to be made wireless. A mouse that retains the small size and weight of the Viper Mini but gains being wireless. Instead, what we got is a shrunken Viper Ultimate that somehow weighs ever so slightly more than it did. It’s bizarre and given that the Viper Mini is no more it is clear that Razer feels the Cobra line is how they are going to move forward with what used to be the Viper Mini line.

If you were hoping, like I was hoping, that the Viper Mini would eventually be pushed out with a wireless option in the same vein as the Viper Ultimate this is that mouse. It’s heavier than I would’ve liked but it’s not egregiously heavy. It does feel like a technical upgrade over the Viper Ultimate while shrinking in size to the size I wanted. And like all products it does have compromises involved. And I also can’t help but feel that Razer intentionally kept the weight up to not encroach upon the sales or perceived value of the mouse that is their flagship, the Viper Mini Signature Edition. Had the Cobra Pro been much lighter I could easily see people ignore the Viper Mini SE when the price gulf between them is as large as it is. And that’s always a shame to see happen with any product. You can see the direction the designers and engineers wanted to go but can see that they were hamstrung by more corporate movement in the background that insisted they make it almost as good as they could but to make it somewhat worse to not affect the sales of another similar, but much more expensive, product.

Maybe there will be a small, ultralight mouse from another manufacturer. There is clearly an audience for it and for many people they opt for various products as a compromise. Perhaps they choose the Model O- wireless, giving up the solid shell but gaining a fantastic shape and feel. Maybe they go for the Cobra, with an older sensor and wire but much lighter weight and a fraction of the price. Maybe they go completely different and go for the Logitech G Pro X Superlight. There are options out there, but they are all different and all have shortcomings. For now, I’m going to continue using the Cobra Pro and keep putting it through its paces as I game and simply use my computer day to day. Because, ultimately, it is a really good mouse. It’s not for everyone, and has some unfortunate downfalls, but I think overall it is one of the best mice out in its size and similar shape.