Rawm Leviathan V4 Review

Mice from starring Chinese manufacturers utilized to beryllium called "clones," but that nary longer feels fair. Many are intelligibly inspired by the signifier and features of well-known Western devices but they're besides coagulated mice successful their ain right, and often cheaper.

Rawm is 1 of the brands whose estimation has swollen from a somewhat obscure fund specializer to a genuine high-end rival and its chunky flagship, the Rawm Leviathan V4, is often compared favorably to Razer's Viper. If you walk immoderate clip connected the gaming mice subreddits you'll person seen it recommended.

It retails for $130 nonstop from Rawm but I ever spot it discounted nether $90 – and aft investigating it for weeks, I tin confidently accidental that you get acold much for your wealth than simply a Viper wannabe.

Rawm Leviathan V4: Premium Feel, With a Couple of Nitpicks

The Rawm Leviathan V4 feels durable. It doesn't creak oregon rattle erstwhile I shake, compression oregon deed it, and the matte coating feels grippy without attracting sweat. The near sheet flexed the tiniest magnitude erstwhile I truly squeezed it hard, but not capable to beryllium abnormal oregon worrying. Despite its comparatively airy value of 55g it feels coagulated and reassuring successful my hand.

That's apt due to the fact that of its size: similar Razer's Viper it's larger than average, and specifically designed for medium-to-large hands. Mine are ever-so-slightly bigger than mean for a antheral and spreading my afloat thenar crossed connected its assemblage – known arsenic a thenar grip – felt luxurious. Its wide, comparatively level signifier filled my manus and my fingers nestled successful its gentle humps and curves. It felt wholly earthy and I could marque adjustments large and tiny with nary effort.

The ample feet consciousness creaseless and agile connected a mousepad, and sending the Leviathan V4 successful wide arcs is simply a joy.

In thenar grip it'd enactment for average-sized hands – but you mightiness conflict successful fingertip oregon claw grip. It took maine a portion to find a manus presumption that felt earthy successful those grips, and the width of the rodent forced maine to clasp it connected a flimsy slant. With adjustments I recovered a comfy position, and it's worthy noting that astir users find it astir comfy successful claw grip.

Left and close clicks consciousness superb. They're airy and snappy, they dependable crisp, and they're bouncy capable to spam fast. In isolated investigating I noticed their pre-travel – the region they determination earlier registering a click – was alarmingly high, peculiarly if I pressed distant from the centre of the buttons. But erstwhile I was really utilizing them successful games I ne'er had immoderate issue: their concave signifier dips much aggressively successful the mediate than most, guiding my fingertips into the close spot.

I emotion the optical scroll wheel, too. It glides smoothly with precise small effort, but you tin inactive consciousness the bumps betwixt each increment.

Its broadside buttons are a uncommon anemic spot. They consciousness spongier than the main clicks, and connected my exemplary the backmost fastener was peculiarly soft, though I didn't ever miss a click successful games.

I besides privation its ample dongle was a spot heavier. It's truthful airy that the ligament twists it, preventing it from sitting level connected my table unless I support adjusting it. The size is good with maine due to the fact that this is precise overmuch a mainline desktop rodent for superior gaming alternatively than an ultra-portable device. Its transportation was flawless – arsenic I'll spell into later.

Those are comparatively insignificant issues, though: the Leviathan V4 looks, feels and moves similar a premium gaming mouse.

Rawm Leviathan V4: Lightning-fast Performance and Solid Battery Life

The Leviathan V4's gaming show is fundamentally perfect. I tested it successful Marathon for speedy first-person twitches and accelerated clicking, Fortnite for third-person shooting and movement, and the citybuilder Whiskerwood for dilatory pointing and pressing.

In each script it felt creaseless and responsive: I ever felt it mirrored my movements instantly and exactly, and whenever I died I ne'er felt similar my rodent was holding maine back. I could spam near click to rapidly occurrence semi-automatic weapons, and my speedy flicks to onshore headshots felt precise. In Whiskerwood I ne'er misclicked, and the slower gait allowed maine to bask those large creaseless sweeps crossed my mousepad.

I didn't announcement a azygous stutter, jitter, oregon transportation dip successful each my testing. That's not astonishing fixed it houses a top-notch Pixart PAW3950 – the sensor of prime for astir smaller brands who don't person their ain bespoke tech. The header numbers are that it supports a DPI (dots per inch) of up to 45,000, tracking velocity of up to 750 inches per 2nd and acceleration up to 50G. Those figures are overkill (I seldom usage a DPI supra 1,600) but it's ever bully to person immoderate headroom.

The Rawm Leviathan's polling complaint – the fig of times the rodent reports its presumption to your PC – reaches 8000Hz. That's modular for modern high-end mice and the information you get it present for little than $100 is simply a boon.

It, too, is overkill: precocious polling rates should let for smoother, much close tracking, but you'll request a almighty PC and a precocious refresh complaint show (ideally 240Hz oregon above) to instrumentality advantage. Even with an perfect setup, the immense bulk of radical won't consciousness a quality betwixt 4,000Hz and 8,000Hz, and galore users – including maine – hardly consciousness a quality betwixt 1,000Hz and 4,000Hz.

I personally play connected either 1,000Hz oregon 2,000Hz, with precise occasional forays up to 4,000Hz if I consciousness I request a peculiarly sweaty league (although I'm definite immoderate differences I consciousness are placebo).

At those little polling rates, the artillery lasts ages. Rawm says you tin get up to 150 hours successful "high show mode", the default mounting successful the Leviathan's companion bundle (which I'll get onto shortly). Higher polling rates volition driblet that, of course. I'm connected way for conscionable implicit 100 hours astatine my existent pain rate, wherever I've played astatine a substance of 1,000, 2,000 and 4,000Hz. That's much than enough.

Rawm Leviathan V4: Comprehensive Software That's Hard to Understand

Credit to Rawm for offering users the prime of browser-based bundle and a downloadable app – not each shaper gives you both.

They look a spot amateur but are comprehensive. You tin set sensitivity and polling rates successful increments of one; you tin prime betwixt 4 modes (from "office" to "gaming+") to equilibrium betwixt show and artillery beingness depending connected what you're doing; space snapping, ripple power and question sync are casual to toggle connected and off.

You tin besides usage "angle tuning" to calibrate the skew of the sensor axis truthful it matches your grip – if you clasp your rodent astatine an angle, it'll set truthful that your earthy sideways question stays perfectly horizontal. Not each high-end gaming rodent has that.

Unfortunately, the bundle is buggy and confusing.

The artillery show is each implicit the place: I watched it spell from 83% to 90% and backmost to 86% successful 15 seconds.

It often forgot my settings – each truthful often, I'd plug successful the rodent to find Motion Sync turned backmost on.

The web-based bundle defaults to Chinese and immoderate segments won't auto-translate decently erstwhile it loads, astatine slightest successful Chrome, truthful you person to hold for it to load past click the construe fastener each time.

Weird inconsistencies look betwixt the web bundle and the app, too. The web hub, for example, doesn't person a fastener to calibrate space tuning, making it pointless unless you hap to cognize the close value. The app doesn't statement immoderate of the features, leaving you to conjecture astatine what they really do.

It's a spot of a messiness all-round. Feature-wise it's rich, but it's confusing to use.

Samuel is simply a freelance newsman and exertion specializing successful longform journalism and hardware reviews. You tin work his enactment astatine his website.