Razer Diamondback 2015

The Razer Diamondback has a storied history with the company. It was a great ambidextrous mouse and one that many gamers loved. Razer’s bringing back the classic mouse with an updated laser and, of course, color.

For the design, the Razer Diamondback is pretty much the same as before. It’s a claw grip mouse that both left handed and right handed gamers can use. Two large top buttons on top with two side buttons on either side along with a clickable wheel comprise the inputs on the Diamondback.

It’s got a matte finish and underneath each of the side buttons are a rubberized area that the thumb can rest on comfortably. On the back is the famous Razer logo that we’re all familiar with. A long braided cable lets you attach the mouse to your computer via USB.

On the bottom, the Diamondback features the great 16K DPI sensor found in the Razer Mamba. This sensor is incredibly smooth and accurate and it’s exclusive to Razer products for about another year. Lift distance is at a paltry 0.1mm for those that like to lift their mouse a lot when playing. The software will let you adjust the sensitivity of the sensor by one, so you can really setup the mouse exactly how fast you want it to be. It’s a solid sensor that works well in both slow and high speeds and everything in between.

Two small pads and one large pad on the bottom keep your mouse gliding smooth across your desk or mousepad. I found the pads to be effective and never felt that they hindered or slowed down any movement.

Color has been added to the Diamondback and there are three areas that the mouse lights up. First is the Razer logo itself. Second, both sides of the mouse wheel lights up, which look really cool. Finally, a continuous line of light goes from one side to the other making it one of the sharper looking color additions to the Razer line. I’m not one to really find lighting to be that impressive, but the line on the Diamondback does catch my eye. You can, of course, adjust how the lighting reacts in the software and sync it up to any other Razer product that you have with lighting.

I ran through my usual gamut of games with the mouse starting off with long sessions of Diablo III playing as both a Witch Doctor and a Monk as well as some FPS games like Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Left 4 Dead 2. All the games I played exhibited accurate tracking with the Diamondback. As with the Mamba the performance is top notch and allowed for smooth and precise mouse movements. In web browsing and working in VIsual Studio, the Diamondback also held up well in normal work day tasks.  

It’s a classic design and one that performs well and it’s great for left handed gamers. As with my review of the original oh so long ago, the design does make one of the buttons hard to access and even the back button on my pinky was a little difficult to press during some intense situations. But, that’s expected with a design that’s going to fit gamers using either hand.

The Razer Diamondback retails for $90 and for those who loved the original, the update should also suit their needs as well. The lighting system, is indeed, well done and nice to look at. The laser is very fast and highly customizable giving you great performance. There’s nothing too fancy with the design and it might be a little on the expensive side for a mouse with a few buttons and features, but it does do a great job in gaming as well as work related activities.