Sensor and Performance

The Razer DeathAdder V2 Pro is equipped with the Focus+. According to specifications, the Focus+ is capable of up to 20,000 CPI as well as a maximum tracking speed of 650 IPS, which equals 16.51 m/s. "Focus+" is Razer's name for the PAW3399, which has been co-developed by PixArt and Razer. Out of the box, five pre-defined CPI steps are available: 400, 800, 1600, 3200, and 6400 CPI.

All testing was done on the latest firmware. As such, results obtained on earlier firmware versions may differ from those presented hereafter.

CPI Accuracy

"CPI" (short for counts per inch) describes the number of counts registered by the mouse if it is moved exactly an inch. There are several factors (firmware, mounting height of the sensor not meeting specifications, mouse feet thickness, mousing surface, among others) which may contribute to nominal CPI not matching actual CPI. It is impossible to always achieve a perfect match, but ideally, nominal and actual CPI should differ as little as possible. In this test, I'm determining whether this is the case or not. However, please keep in mind that said variance will still differ from unit to unit, so your mileage may vary.


I've restricted my testing to the four most common CPI steps, which are 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. As you can see, deviation is consistently positive and rather low, which is a very good result overall. In order to account for the measured deviation, adjusted steps of 400, 800, 1600, and 3150 CPI have been used for testing.

Motion Delay

"Motion delay" encompasses all kinds of sensor lag. Any further sources of input delay will not be recorded in this test. The main thing I'll be looking for in this test is sensor smoothing, which describes an averaging of motion data across several capture frames in order to reduce jitter at higher CPI values, increasing motion delay along with it. The goal here is to have as little smoothing as possible. As there is no way to accurately measure motion delay absolutely, it can only be done by comparison with a control subject that has been determined to have the lowest possible motion delay. In this case, the control subject is a G403, whose 3366 has no visible smoothing across the entire CPI range. Note that the G403 is moved first and thus receives a slight head start.

Testing is restricted to 2.4 GHz mode as Bluetooth is not suitable for non-casual gaming applications.

Wired testing

First, I'm looking at two xCounts plots, generated at 1600 and 20,000 CPI. To my knowledge, the Focus+ has a fully dynamic framerate, which means these plots are not indicative of any potential smoothing. What we can see, however, is SPI timing jitter being very low. This is due to Motion Sync, which synchronizes SPI communication with USB polling events.


In order to determine motion delay, I'm looking at xSum plots generated at 1600 and 20,000 CPI. The line further to the left denotes the sensor with less motion delay. As you can see, neither show any motion delay differential, which confirms that there is no smoothing across the entire CPI range.

Wireless testing

Tracking is virtually unaffected by the switch to wireless, which is impressive.


I'm again looking at plots generated at 1600 and 20,000 CPI. Keeping the motion delay differential above in mind, I can consistently measure an isolated wireless delay of at least 2 ms, which is surprising given the Viper Ultimate displayed half that delay, which I've verified by re-testing it for this review. I also repeated my testing on the second copy I was given and got the same results. I also found an oddity best described as a "shift": Before said shift, latency is significantly lower, but increases after the shift (see below, around the 20 ms mark). I'm uncertain about what is happening here, nor can I reproduce it consistently.

Speed-related Accuracy Variance (SRAV)

What people typically mean when they talk about "acceleration" is speed-related accuracy variance (or short SRAV). It's not about the mouse having a set amount of inherent positive or negative acceleration, but about the cursor not traveling the same distance if the mouse is moved the same physical distance at different speeds. The easiest way to test this is by comparison with a control subject that is known to have very low SRAV, which in this case is the G403. As you can see from the plot, no displacement between the two cursor paths can be observed, which confirms that SRAV is very low.

Perfect Control Speed

Perfect Control Speed (or PCS for short) is the maximum speed up to which the mouse and its sensor can be moved without the sensor malfunctioning in any way. I've only managed to hit a measly 4.0 m/s (which is within the proclaimed PCS range), at which no sign of the sensor malfunctioning can be observed.

Polling Rate Stability

Considering the DeathAdder V2 Pro is usable as a regular wired mouse as well, I'll be testing polling rate stability for both wired and wireless use.

Wired testing

All available polling rates (125/500/1000 Hz) look nice and stable. Polling stability is unaffected by any of the available RGB lighting effects.

Wireless testing
For wired mice, polling-rate stability merely concerns the wired connection between the mouse (SPI communication) and the USB. For wireless mice, another device that needs to be kept in sync between the first two is added to the mix: the wireless dongle/wireless receiver. I'm unable to measure all stages of the entire end-to-end signal chain individually, so testing polling-rate stability at the endpoint (the USB) has to suffice here.


First, I'm testing whether SPI, wireless, and USB communication are synchronized. Any of these being out of sync would be indicated by at least one 2 ms report, which would be the result of any desynchronization drift accumulated over time. I'm unable to detect any periodic off-period polls that would be indicative of a desynchronization drift.


Second, I'm testing the general polling-rate stability of the individual polling rates in wireless mode. Running the DeathAdder V2 Pro at a lower polling rate can have the benefit of extending battery life. As you can see, all available polling rates perform just fine.

Paint Test

This test is used to indicate any potential issues with angle snapping (non-native straightening of linear motion) and jitter, along with any sensor lens rattle. As you can see, no issues with angle snapping can be observed. No jitter is visible at 1600 CPI or 3200 CPI. 10,000 CPI has some jitter, but is still quite controlled. Jitter is amplified at 20,000 CPI, although considering the lack of smoothing, the absolute level is surprisingly decent. Lastly, there is virtually no sensor lens rattle.

Lift-off Distance

The DeathAdder V2 Pro offers a wider range of possible LOD adjustment than most mice. One can either set LOD to pre-defined levels of 1, 2, or 3 mm or run a manual calibration. When using the 1 mm option, the sensor does not track at a height of 1 DVD (<1.2 mm). When using the 2 mm setting, the sensor does track at a height of 1 DVD, but not at a height of 2 DVDs (1.2<x<2.4 mm, x being LOD height), which doesn't change when using the 3 mm option. Additionally, Asymmetric Cut-off can be enabled, which allows for a higher lift-off distance while keeping the landing distance low. Keep in mind that LOD may vary slightly depending on the mousing surface (pad) it is being used on.

Click Latency

Most computer (and gaming) mice use mechanical switches for the buttons. Mechanical switches need debouncing in order to function as intended, which can add a delay, commonly referred to as click latency. Much like many other recent Razer mice, the DeathAdder V2 Pro is using optical switches for the main buttons. Optical switches do not require any debouncing, hence no delay is added. Unfortunately, this also means I'm unable to conduct my usual click latency testing. Using the less accurate and reliable "bump test," I'm able to measure results that indicate a click latency roughly equal to that of the SteelSeries Ikari, which acts as the baseline (+0.0 ms). Please keep in mind that the measured value is not the absolute click latency.