Patriot Viper V570 Full RGB Laser Gaming Mouse Review

Up Close and Personal

This is the Patriot Viper V570 Full RGB Laser Gaming Mouse, let’s start from the USB connection and work our way up the cable to the mouse.

Here we have the gold-plated USB connection, we can see both sides, nothing major but it is a detail I need to mention.

Coming up from the connection, we have a black and red, very nicely braided cable.  The braid does help in the wire kinking and tangling, though of course it does not 100% stop it from happening.  That’s with any braided cable, not just this one.

Coming up a little more, we find the ferrite bead or choke.  Like with most powered devices, the choke helps reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio-frequency interference (RFI).  This keeps the “noise” the mouse signals create quiet stopping them from interfering with other devices or other devices from interfering with them.

At the end of the cable, we find the mouse.  The 2 white rectangles are 1 of the 7 lighting zones.  I say one because even though there are 2 lights there, they are both controlled as a single source by the Viper software.  I will get into that a little later in the review.  Here we also find the left and right mouse buttons, the standard buttons which are backed by OMRON micro switches.

The OMRON micro switches help to increase the longevity of those 2 buttons as well as aid in the performance of them.  I am sure we have all had mice that after a period of time, the left/right or both of those just didn’t come back after a click, this helps to prevent that.  These 2 buttons are 2 of 13 buttons on this mouse.

We can also see the beginning of the scroll wheel.

Along the left side of the mouse, we can find the rubberized siding.  You can see rectangular (it seems there is a rectangular theme here) groves that help keep your thumb from slipping, I find my thumb rests there mostly.  Right ahead of where our thumb would rest, you find the sniper button.

The sniper button, while not original is a nice idea.  By default, this drops down the DPI to an X/Y axis of 400, you can of course increase or decrease this value and even change the function of this button on the Viper software.  This is the 6^th of 13 buttons.

As a sniper button, this helps you in games where you have to be incredibly precise, while pressed slowing down the mouse movement to close to a pixel’s pace so that you can be as exact as you need to be.  I have used it a few times, but I feel like it might be a little far forward, though I don’t have huge hands, so it might be better for those of you with larger hands.

Just in front of the sniper button are those groves again, I guess they are there for aesthetics because there is no reason for them.

Just above the sniper button are these gems, the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, 10^th and 11^th of 13 buttons, we are almost there.  I think these buttons are perfectly sized and spaced to be effective.  They are not just flat buttons, they kind of start off at a base and pyramid up.

Some extra lighting shows you what I mean.  This provides you with good axis to these buttons with your thumb to help not fat fingering a button by mistake, you hit what you want to hit here.

Now we get to the 13^th and 14^th buttons.  This to the left of the main 2 buttons.  By default, these are the Forward and Backward buttons.  Most are used to have these buttons as thumb buttons, so I found them a bit awkward at first here, but they work, they work well here.

They are right there, but not in the way.  It’s easy to click on these when you want them and not by mistake either.  I like them here.

Just to give you a better idea of how far off to the side they are.

Pulling back a bit to get a wider view of the mouse, aside from the spots of lighting you see, there a little bit of a hidden feature.  The Viper logo is not just a logo, it’s a bit of a theme here, there’s a secret behind that slickly slithered piece stemming from the right mouse button.

Removing that piece, you can see 6 little holes, but what are they for?

That’s where the “Gaming Weight Box” comes into play.

These weights slip into each of those holes to weigh down the mouse, allowing for even high precision or just more comfort.  Let me show you how they work.

A nice little addition to this mouse, they are individually pretty heavy, for little pieces of course.

Once the 6 are in, you hide them, just by placing the cover over as I showed you in the video.  The Gaming Weight Box included with the V570 does bring 7 weights but only 6 fit in this mouse as I mention in the video.  They include the 7^th just in case you lose one, I think that is awesome.  Whereas other companies would have included the exact amount of weights and either not had replacements or sold you replacements at a pretty high price, Patriot just gives it to you.

So, we have gone over in detail on the physical aspects of the top of the mouse, there is a little more on the bottom.

The bottom we can see has 5 pads which are a little out of the ordinary.  Most of these pads are made out of a certain type of foam or plastic, but these are made out of ceramic.  When you put this mouse on a smooth surface, you can see why the ceramic is so great, it really helps the mouse glide a little easier.  It also has a little wave effect which serves no purpose but I thought I’d mention it.

The sticker, shows the Viper logo as well as the power specifications, model number and certifications.  One of the certifications worth mentioning is the RoHS certification.  The acronym RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances and restricts the use of specific hazardous materials found in many electrical and electronic products.  The certification allows this mouse to be sold in the European Union that has strict policies which is great.  We can also see the cut out for the laser, don’t look directly into the light.

Here we have gone over the physical aspects of the mouse, but there is still more to this mouse.  On the next page, we will go over the Patriot Viper Mouse software and its features.