I have owned a number of gaming mice for both Windows and Mac over the years, mostly from Logitech due to a more positive experience with the brand's hardware and software. Not to say I haven’t given Razer products a chance. At one point or another, I’ve owned the Orochi, Imperator, Mamba, and original DeathAdder, all of which I’ve returned or resold due mostly to shoddy software. Heaven help me, I can’t resist colorful and/or shiny things. So with the preponderance of RGB-backlit mice and keyboards making their way to market, I had to jump on board. Due to the aforementioned good luck with Logitech products, I wanted to get the G303 “Daedalus Apex,” which incidentally sounds like the title of a Tom Clancy novel/video game. My sole computer is a MacBook Pro that dual boots between OS X and Windows 8.1. This is about as far removed from a gaming rig as you can get, but it does what I need. At the time I was interested in the G303, however, Logitech had not updated its Mac OS X gaming software to support it (it is compatible now). Further, upon trying the identical-looking but non-RGB backlit G302, I found its shape to be uncomfortable. Undeterred, and being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to give Razer another opportunity. To my immense surprise, the DeathAdder Chroma has become my new favorite mouse. It’s as comfortable to use as the venerable Logitech MX518 that served me for the better part of a decade. Razer Synapse 2.0 is not as bad as everyone says. While I’m not exactly fond of the online account creation aspect, it’s not been a huge burden. You can put the software into offline mode immediately after installation and use it just like any other mouse driver. I’ve actually found Synapse to be more stable and functional than Logitech’s offering. Whether it was with my MX518 or G602, the Logitech Gaming Software (LGS) exhibited some strange quirks in both OS X and Windows. For example, in OS X, upon waking my computer from sleep, both Logitech mice would occasionally experience odd tracking issues that required me to close and restart the software. On the Windows 8.1 side, around 10-20% of the time I would boot into that OS, LGS would refuse to load all the way. Its task would reside in memory, but the system tray icon would not appear, requiring me to force close the process and re-launch the program. Synapse, on the other hand, launches the first time, every time, regardless of which operating system I’m using. Further, waking the machine from sleep has posed no issues with tracking. There’s one aspect to Razer’s software that is annoying, but it’s mainly due to my dual-OS Mac setup, which puts me as a subset of a subset of the gaming population. OS X and Windows handle tracking, mouse acceleration, and default thumb-button behavior differently. To get around this, I’ve created a separate profile for each operating system. However, if I leave Synapse in its online mode under both operating systems and boot into Windows, the software will, by default, load my Mac profile. The same thing happens when going the other way; booting from Windows to OS X loads the former's profile. This means I have to manually go into the software and select the correct profile. As a workaround, I put the software in offline mode while in Windows (since I’m in OS X the majority of the time), so when I reboot it loads the correct profile. After that, I only put the Windows driver in its online setting if I need to run an update. An easy fix for this issue would be for Razer to implement a checkbox and drop-down menu that says something to the effect of, “Load [profile name] when [Windows/OS X/Synapse] starts.” I’ve sent the company an email with this idea, and if such an option would be useful for you, I would suggest you do the same. There’s an option to email such suggestions on Razer’s support page. The only real significant issue/question mark is reliability. The reports I’ve read here and elsewhere of these mice failing after 6-12 months is disconcerting considering my aforementioned Logitech MX518 held up for almost 10 years. That being said, a comprehensive feature set, functional cross-platform software, comfortable design, and reasonable price all make the Razer DeathAdder Chroma a compelling choice.

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