Razer Cobra Pro review

Best Prices Today: Razer Cobra Pro

$129.99

The Razer Cobra Pro is a compact, pro-grade gaming mouse that’s perfectly suited for all the major grip types. It also boasts a top-line, exceptionally smooth Razer Focus Pro 30,000 DPI optical sensor that proves a force to be reckoned with in the right player’s hand.

While the Cobra Pro’s stablemate, the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro, is near 16 grams lighter than the Cobra Pro, the Cobra Pro is undoubtedly the more versatile of the two offerings, adding 11 dazzling RGB lighting zones and dual wireless connectivity to its feature set. What’s more, with both dedicated DPI up and down buttons the Cobra Pro is the eminently better option for gamers who like to change their DPI settings on the fly.

How much does the Razer Cobra Pro cost?

The Cobra Pro is one of the more affordable pro grade gaming mice. Right now, the base model (our review unit) ships for $129.99 on Razer’s website, which is $20 cheaper than the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro. It currently costs $40 more than the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless, a rival that also features 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth connectivity and RGB. However, comparing the two, you could argue the addition of a higher resolution sensor, DPI down and up buttons, and an extra 10 RGB lighting zones in the Cobra Pro makes it the better value for money option.

Razer also ships the Cobra Pro bundled with accessories. For example, you can buy the Cobra Pro with an upgraded 4000 Hz hyper polling dongle for $144.99 on Razer’s website. You can also buy the Razer Cobra Pro bundled with a Razer Mouse Dock Pro (a wireless dock for charging) for $169.99, or alternatively with a wireless charging puck for $139.99.

Razer Cobra Pro: Design and build

Narrow, low profile gaming mice aren’t trending right now, so the Razer Cobra Pro is really something different. Measuring just 4.71 x 2.46 x 1.50 inches, it’s quite a lot thinner than the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro (5.0 x 2.7 x 1.7 inches), Logitech G Pro X Superlight (4.9 x 2.5 x 1.6 inches), and the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless (4.9 x 2.6 x 1.5 inches).

That makes it a compact mouse that’s best suited to medium or small hands. Its low height also means it doesn’t stick up against your palm as some mice tend to do; you get a little extra room to breathe. Suffice to say, this is really a mouse you can switch your playstyle with on a whim — switching from claw grip, to fingertip, to palm, or any combination, feeling easy thanks to the extra space beneath your hand. That’s the upside to the Razer Cobra’s design.

The downside is large hands are going to feel a little cramped on the Razer Cobra Pro’s modest body, especially at the main clicks where they’re likely to experience some overhang. Of course, if you’re a claw gripper, that’s not really going to apply to you as much, so the Cobra is especially suited to you.

Comparing the mouse’s weight to a vanguard of ultra-light gaming mice and at 77 grams, it’s at least 16 grams heavier than two of our most recently reviewed mice, the Logitech G Pro X Superlight and the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro.

That’s no drama, though – 16 grams difference certainly doesn’t feel like much, nor did it affect the mouse’s speed or performance in my playtesting. In fact, if you’re not playing esports, it’s unlikely you will notice. Still, the extra weight does make the Cobra Pro a little unconventional for a mid-2023 pro-grade release.

The button configuration is also a little unconventional, but in a good way. Instead of the six-button FPS configuration you commonly see, you get 7 buttons all up, if you count the DPI up and down switches behind the mouse wheel. I’ll discuss how the benefits of that played out in the performance section, but needless to say the extra down switch button was most appreciated, and not something you always see.

An excellent dollop of RGB is another factor that really separates the Cobra Pro from the rest of the pack. While it seems like gaming mice manufacturers sould be clambering over each other to include more RGB, so far in 2023 we’ve scarcely seen much at all. But the Cobra Pro’s 19 programmable RGB lighting zones really make playing in the dark a whole lot more memorable.

The Cobra Pro is also exceptionally well made. It features tactile grips on both its left and right flanks and a firm matte black plastic in the centre front and back. The Cobra Pro’s mouse wheel is small but secure without the slightest hint of any wobble.

Razer should also be complemented for the accessories you get. In the box you get a USB dongle adapter and a USB-A to USB-C Speedflex cable. The cable feels strong and flexible, and both the ends have caps to keep them safe. The tiny 2.4GHz wi-fi dongle is unobtrusive and unlikely to get in the way of your mouse strokes.

Razer Cobra Pro gaming performance

About half of Razer’s gaming mice — the top-line ones — have sensors rated at 30, 000 DPI resolution, so the Cobra Pro sits up there with Razer’s finest. Of course, a 30,000 DPI sensor does sound like overkill for most competitive gaming, and it absolutely is.

I mean, you can quite easily get by using a lowly 8,000 DPI sensor, even in the quickest FPS matches, and still top the scoreboard. What’s the point, then, of having such an amazing sensor like the Cobra Pro’s? Well, as any competitive gamer knows, DPI isn’t everything.

For example, as well as its sublime resolution and insane tracking speed of 750 inches per second, the Cobra Pro’s Razer Focus Pro 30K sensor lets you adjust your liftoff distance to one of 26 granular levels — that’s 23 more than mice that have Razer’s previously best sensor technology, the Focus+ Optical Sensor. The Razer Focus Pro 30K also bestows surface compatibility benefits too, like seamless operation on glass tabletops 4mm thick. These benefits really do make the Cobra Pro a more attractive proposition over 8K, 12K, or even 26K rival sensors, in my view.

Launching a game of Insurgency to trial it proved the sensor could track motion superbly. Although you’d be hard pressed to see a difference in speed and movement between the Cobra Pro and say a 26K sensor from a rival mouse, to me the Cobra Pro’s movement just seemed to be eminently smoother and more accurate — and that held true against the majority of mice in my collection.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The buttons also felt lightning fast and satisfyingly loud. Razer has loaded them with Razer Gen 3 Optical Switches, which are rated for 90 million clicks.

It seems odd to say too, but the Cobra Pro’s added weight was also a boon to my performance. Certainly, it made swiping from left to right feel quicker than mice that weigh just 60 grams. And while it’s true that the redraw wasn’t quite as fast, I still felt the extra weight gave me a better sense of when to stop on targets.

That said, this mouse is ideal for right-to-left sniping or spraying in FPS games. Indeed, if you know of a particular map where you’ll have a lot of right-to-left action –- a secret spot beneath the bushes on the far right of your field of play, or something — you may want to unleash the Cobra from its cage just for that.

But if I could choose my favorite thing about Razer’s Cobra Pro it would be the DPI up and down buttons. I don’t have a great deal of time to really investigate character classes in FPS games and calibrate the best settings for all of them, so I mostly tend to flip between two favorites. In Insurgency, for example, that’s the Sniper and Rifleman. After all, the saying goes “A jack of all trades is a master of none.”

That said, being able to switch between my 800 DPI setting for sniping and 1600 DPI setting for the rifle in a split second with the DPI switcher really saved my bacon on more than one occasion. If you’re a switcher like me, you’ll undoubtedly dig this feature too.

Razer Synapse software

A mouse that offers features like 26 granular levels of asymmetrical lift off and resolution up to 30, 000 DPI really needs a well-supported software app, and thankfully Razer’s Synapse app is just that.

As well as making programming in commands a straightforward affair, Synapse lets you do so much more. Some of the things that I got up to in Synapse included assigning extra functions to my mouse buttons to make a total of 10 with Razer Hyper Shift, as well as changing the polling rate and switching on Smart Dimming of the RGB to conserve battery power when the mouse is in Wireless Mode. By the way, the battery life is quite decent. It’s rated for up to 100 hours in Wi-Fi Mode or 170 hours in Bluetooth Mode.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

One big benefit with the Razer Cobra Pro is you get 5 onboard memory profiles. Once programmed in Synapse, changing profiles in your games is as simple as pressing the Cobra Pro’s profile switch on its underside, so if you enjoy using macros, you’re in luck.

I only assigned functions to 3 of my Cobra Pro’s 5 on-board profiles but it was nice to know I had 2 more to compile, when the next must-have game is too good for me to resist buying.

Should you buy the Razer Cobra Pro?

The Razer Cobra Pro is an excellent all-rounder gaming mouse with a top-line sensor that takes no prisoners in the fast competitive games. It also looks incredibly stylish, with an exceptional amount of dazzling RBG, so that you can enjoy endless light shows. Plus, since you get both DPI down as well as up clicks, this mouse lets you change DPI settings in an instant, allowing you get the drop on competitors when the action gets furious.

This article originally appeared on PC World.