A GREAT ALTERNATIVE to the G502 Mouse from Logitech - Razer Basilisk Review
Razer... you either love them or hate them it seems. I've personally never used Razer products in the past so this mouse has been my first experience with them and I have to say that I am quite pleased with my purchase. Before we hop into the review, check out this gallery of unboxing images.
Rating
★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)
Pros
Cons
Other Thoughts
TL;DR
Overall, I am glad to say that I feel "at home" with this mouse. All the complaints I have are minor. Kudos to Razer for making a great alternative to the much liked G502 and doing it right with their own unique features. I recommend this mouse to anyone who wants to try a G502 alternative.
Full Review
I've been using the G502 series of mice from Logitech for the greater part of 4 years. Every time I tried a different mouse, I always found myself disappointed and ended up going back to the G502 because of its shape and Logitech's hyper-fast scroll wheel. Everything about the G502 was and is great in my opinion except for one thing… The feel of the scroll wheel. I always felt that it was a little too "loose" for lack of a better word and the scroll steps weren't as defined as other mice. I'm not sure if this has to do with their implementation of the hyper-fast scroll technology on this mouse or the fact that the wheel is made of metal, but it was always the one thing I disliked about the mouse.
Enter the Razer Basilisk. I had decided one day to randomly start searching for alternatives to the G502 and I happened to come across a few threads where people had mentioned the Razer Basilisk as the most comparable 1 to 1 alternative. I did some more reading on the Basilisk and instantly fell in love with the idea of the tension adjustment for the scroll wheel. Everything else about the Basilisk reminded me of the G502 sans the removable weight system and a few buttons that I never used anyway.
After some thinking about the mouse and some searching for deals, I decided to pick up the Basilisk and give it a shot. I got lucky because I was able to pick up the mouse brand new, on eBay for about $30 off the list price of $69.99. I was skeptical about the deal, but I received the mouse exactly as described for $30 less than usual. I can't complain with that!
Now onto reviewing the mouse itself. We will start from the beginning with the unboxing. Razer does a great job with packaging and making the unboxing experience feel pleasant. The materials used are nice and the overall presentation of the product is top-notch. Kudos on that Razer. Once plugged in, you are prompted to install the Razer synapse software which is both a neat and annoying feature as it will keep prompting every time you plug in the mouse until you install the software.
Once Razer Synapse is installed, you are greeted with a straightforward and easy to understand interface. It has a lot of customization available for the mouse such as macros, Hypershift customization, button customization and lighting. Everything is easy to configure, and the profile can be saved directly to the mouse, so you don't have to rely on the software for your customizations to work.
For the mouse itself, it has a nice rubberized grip on both sides with the rest of the body being a smooth plastic. The braided cable is nicely constructed and doesn't catch on the edge of my mouse pad. The overall shape/grip of the mouse is comfortable for my large hands (7.5 inches from bottom of palm to tip of middle finger). I use more of a claw style grip and this mouse works fine with that. The lighting is clean and doesn't have a lot of "spill" from its intended components (the mouse wheel border and the Razer Logo). I wish that there was a built in DPI indicator light like that of the G502 but having the popup with the Razer Synapse software gets the job done.
The mouse buttons have satisfying clicks including the middle click and DPI clutch. Tracking is smooth and doesn't feel like it has any acceleration. I have my mouse currently set to 600 DPI and it feels smooth and tracks well without issue. Now for the two defining features; The DPI clutch and the adjustable scroll wheel tension. I feel that the DPI clutch is well positioned, even though I don't really use it. It's easy enough to reach for me and I like that they included additional lengths for the clutch button. The scroll wheel resistance adjuster works well and I'm glad Razer included it. I have it set to maximum resistance because it provides well defined scroll steps. I do wish that it was a bit more clearly defined as to what resistance level you have it set to, but you can test resistance by simply scrolling the wheel to see what level of resistance you like best.
Overall, I am glad to say that I feel "at home" with this mouse. All the complaints I have are minor. Coming from the G502, it doesn't have as many buttons or the hyper-scrolling feature, but I never used all the buttons on the G502 in the first place and I would much rather have the higher resistance scroll wheel of the Basilisk when it comes to gaming. I paired this mouse up with a Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition Chroma V2 so that both of my peripherals are in the same ecosystem and I have been pleased with my purchases. Kudos to Razer for making a great alternative to the much liked G502 and doing it right with their own unique features. I recommend this mouse to anyone who wants to try a G502 alternative
External Links
Rating
★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)
Pros
- Shape/Design
- Very reminiscent of the G502 from Logitech except a little bit wider which is more comfortable for my large hands
- Pretty clean design with all the essential buttons and no extras
- Scroll Wheel
- Very satisfying feeling and I love the fact that you can adjust the tension of the scroll wheel
- Click feel
- All of the mouse buttons (aside from the scroll wheel) have a satisfying click to them, including the DPI clutch button
- Sensor/Tracking
- The tracking is very smooth and doesn't have any acceleration from what I can tell
- Software
- The software has a lot of features and allows you to highly customize the mouse.
- I will most likely barely scratch the surface of what it can do
- Lighting
- Bright, vibrant, clean and clear customizable RGB lighting
- Weight
- A little bit lighter than the G502 without weights in it but not so light that you feel like you're going to throw your mouse across the room by accident
Cons
- No DPI indicator lighting
- To see your DPI changes, the synapse software must be installed to show a "pop-up" on the screen
- You can of course "feel" the DPI difference when toggle but there is no visual indicator on the mouse itself
- Mouse wheel adjustment dial could be better
- I wish it were more defined for what resistance level the tension has been set to rather than a "smooth" wheel
Other Thoughts
TL;DR
Overall, I am glad to say that I feel "at home" with this mouse. All the complaints I have are minor. Kudos to Razer for making a great alternative to the much liked G502 and doing it right with their own unique features. I recommend this mouse to anyone who wants to try a G502 alternative.
Full Review
I've been using the G502 series of mice from Logitech for the greater part of 4 years. Every time I tried a different mouse, I always found myself disappointed and ended up going back to the G502 because of its shape and Logitech's hyper-fast scroll wheel. Everything about the G502 was and is great in my opinion except for one thing… The feel of the scroll wheel. I always felt that it was a little too "loose" for lack of a better word and the scroll steps weren't as defined as other mice. I'm not sure if this has to do with their implementation of the hyper-fast scroll technology on this mouse or the fact that the wheel is made of metal, but it was always the one thing I disliked about the mouse.
Enter the Razer Basilisk. I had decided one day to randomly start searching for alternatives to the G502 and I happened to come across a few threads where people had mentioned the Razer Basilisk as the most comparable 1 to 1 alternative. I did some more reading on the Basilisk and instantly fell in love with the idea of the tension adjustment for the scroll wheel. Everything else about the Basilisk reminded me of the G502 sans the removable weight system and a few buttons that I never used anyway.
After some thinking about the mouse and some searching for deals, I decided to pick up the Basilisk and give it a shot. I got lucky because I was able to pick up the mouse brand new, on eBay for about $30 off the list price of $69.99. I was skeptical about the deal, but I received the mouse exactly as described for $30 less than usual. I can't complain with that!
Now onto reviewing the mouse itself. We will start from the beginning with the unboxing. Razer does a great job with packaging and making the unboxing experience feel pleasant. The materials used are nice and the overall presentation of the product is top-notch. Kudos on that Razer. Once plugged in, you are prompted to install the Razer synapse software which is both a neat and annoying feature as it will keep prompting every time you plug in the mouse until you install the software.
Once Razer Synapse is installed, you are greeted with a straightforward and easy to understand interface. It has a lot of customization available for the mouse such as macros, Hypershift customization, button customization and lighting. Everything is easy to configure, and the profile can be saved directly to the mouse, so you don't have to rely on the software for your customizations to work.
For the mouse itself, it has a nice rubberized grip on both sides with the rest of the body being a smooth plastic. The braided cable is nicely constructed and doesn't catch on the edge of my mouse pad. The overall shape/grip of the mouse is comfortable for my large hands (7.5 inches from bottom of palm to tip of middle finger). I use more of a claw style grip and this mouse works fine with that. The lighting is clean and doesn't have a lot of "spill" from its intended components (the mouse wheel border and the Razer Logo). I wish that there was a built in DPI indicator light like that of the G502 but having the popup with the Razer Synapse software gets the job done.
The mouse buttons have satisfying clicks including the middle click and DPI clutch. Tracking is smooth and doesn't feel like it has any acceleration. I have my mouse currently set to 600 DPI and it feels smooth and tracks well without issue. Now for the two defining features; The DPI clutch and the adjustable scroll wheel tension. I feel that the DPI clutch is well positioned, even though I don't really use it. It's easy enough to reach for me and I like that they included additional lengths for the clutch button. The scroll wheel resistance adjuster works well and I'm glad Razer included it. I have it set to maximum resistance because it provides well defined scroll steps. I do wish that it was a bit more clearly defined as to what resistance level you have it set to, but you can test resistance by simply scrolling the wheel to see what level of resistance you like best.
Overall, I am glad to say that I feel "at home" with this mouse. All the complaints I have are minor. Coming from the G502, it doesn't have as many buttons or the hyper-scrolling feature, but I never used all the buttons on the G502 in the first place and I would much rather have the higher resistance scroll wheel of the Basilisk when it comes to gaming. I paired this mouse up with a Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition Chroma V2 so that both of my peripherals are in the same ecosystem and I have been pleased with my purchases. Kudos to Razer for making a great alternative to the much liked G502 and doing it right with their own unique features. I recommend this mouse to anyone who wants to try a G502 alternative
External Links
Product Pages
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