What’s Going On With The Razer Viper Mini?

Razer turned their budget champ into a premium cash grab

Photo taken by the author.

UPDATE: Well, it turns out they did indeed release a “new” wireless Viper Mini, but it has a different name and design, and it’s much heavier. Yay?

Original story follows.

The Razer Viper Mini is one of Razer’s most popular gaming mice, particularly for those looking to maximize their value/performance ratio, and also those with smaller-to-average-sized hands. It’s never been a massive mainstream success, but you can’t dip your toe into any online mouse community or tech review space without seeing dozens of recommendations for it.

I reviewed it years ago, and while I didn’t totally love it, I still understood why it was so loved by others. It has grown on me somewhat in the years since its release, and at its standard forty dollar price it’s hard to do better. Its sleek design, light weight, solid glide feel, and awesome optical switches overcome the very small issues I have with its sensor.

For years, I’ve watched folks in the mouse fan spaces online clamor for a wireless version of this mouse. Indeed, it seemed like an easy win for Razer — so much so that I wrote an entire piece explaining why. They already produce a whole series of budget wireless mice and the Viper Mini would be a perfect theoretical addition. Some of the other models they make in that space are great values (Orochi V2) and some of them…not as much (Basilisk V3 X). Still, why wouldn’t Razer produce a more expensive wireless version of this fan-favorite gaming mouse?

Well, they went and did it — but not at all in the way I expected. Rather than launch a $70ish dollar wireless version of their $40 dollar mouse, they went all-in on capitalizing Razer fanboys and fangirls and decided to make a $280 dollar premium version instead. It’s called the Viper Mini Signature Edition and I won’t be linking to the product page here because I think the price is disgusting. It has a magnesium frame with some of the largest holes ever in a mainstream mouse, along with one of the highest gaming mouse prices I’ve seen out of a popular big tech company.

It has essentially the same internals as their $150ish dollar products — or indeed, as their new budget…