The Razer Diamondback gaming mouse debuted in 2004 and took the gaming world by storm. Its ambidextrous design allowed both left and right-handed gamers to share in having a high performance mouse with the first ever optical sensor. While Razer would eventually move on to other, newer mouse designs, gamers who owned the mouse have never forgotten it. Apparently, neither did Razer, as they recently released a brand-new version of the venerable mouse, the Razer Diamondback Chroma.
The original Diamondback shipped with a then-revolutionary 1,600 DPI optical sensor. The new Diamondback Chroma contains a 16,000 DPI 5G laser sensor within its ambidextrous form factor. Also new with the Diamondback Chroma is the Chroma lighting system which Razer is planning to install in the majority of its new peripherals going forward. What the Chroma system offers is a lighting system capable of displaying 16.8 million color combinations. Additionally, the system is able to interconnect with other Chroma-enabled Razer peripherals.
In terms of performance, the Razer Diamondback Chroma’s laser sensor is incredible, and I consistently made use of the on-the-fly DPI adjustment capabilities depending on my gaming needs at the time. I even left my left-handed friend try it out (he had an original Diamondback) and he also found it to be as comfortable as he remembered.
I recently got an advanced copy of Bethesda’s Fallout 4 (which is out now, of course) and loved using the Diamondback Chroma while exploring the post-nuclear wasteland. The Diamondback Chroma is comfortable enough for just about any type of mouse-user, whether you use the “claw” style, “palm” style, or a combination of the two. Razer did an excellent job on crafting a universally-liked peripheral. Now, are there better right-handed mice out there? I would say yes – actually I dig Razer’s Mamba gaming mouse a bit more for my personal level of comfort. However, there are no better ambidextrous gaming mice on the market today – bar none.
Of course, the Razer Diamondback Chroma is fully Synapse control suite compliant, and Razer did a great job getting the dashboard setup for users to tweak the function of their mouse buttons or even the lighting design of the Chroma system. Overall, the new Razer Diamondback Chroma is a terrific update to an amazing gaming mouse. Whether you are right or left-handed, you will not be disappointed in its new incarnation. Razer has managed to keep all the good things inherent in the mouse while upgrading it smartly. The Razer Diamondback Chroma is available now for $89.99 at the official Razer website. For $10 dollars more, there is going to be a Collector’s Edition of the mouse on the Razer website, which will come in some special packaging to mark the revival of the mouse.
[easyreview title=”Razer Diamondback Chroma Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″ ]
