Razer Orochi V2 review: Great little ultralight wireless mouse for laptop gamers

It's easy enough to find a great ultralightweight gaming mouse, but if you want to go wireless it gets a little trickier. Things get more complicated if you want it small for travel, to have long battery life and stay under $100. Razer manages to hit all those and then some with its $70 Orochi V2 (£70, AU$115). 

The little mouse is targeted at laptop gamers and its overall shape, tapered at the front and rear, lets it slip easily into a backpack pocket. It's also the most low-profile gaming mouse the company's ever made. Despite that, though, the body has a high comfortable curve to it because Razer lowered the front of the mouse. There's also a thumb groove for better grip and Razer raised the side buttons to give your thumb more room and make the buttons easier to press. 

I regularly switch back and forth between a fingertip and palm grip while gaming (and working, too, for that matter). The Orochi V2 is small for my hand but still comfortable. What helps, along with Razer's design, are the second-gen mechanical switches that make it possible to get clean, responsive clicks no matter your finger position. It also helps that the body is really lightweight. The scroll wheel has defined stops to it as well.

The entire top of the mouse comes off. It hooks into place and is held on with magnets, but just barely. It didn't pop off while I was gaming but I'm not a terribly aggressive gamer. Under the hood, you'll find slots for a single AA or AAA battery. This lets you choose between battery life or weight. 

Although Razer says the mouse weighs less than 60 grams, that's without a battery. With a AA, though, it weighs 72 grams and a AAA battery brings it down to 65 grams. That's lighter than less expensive competing mice like the Corsair Katar Pro Wireless and Logitech G305 that also use AA batteries. The Logitech G Pro X Superlight is lighter at 60 grams with a built-in rechargeable battery but sells for $150. 

The Orochi V2 has both Bluetooth and Razer's HyperSpeed Wireless (its 2.4GHz adapter stores in the body). A single AA lithium battery gets you up to 950 hours of use on Bluetooth and 425 hours with the HyperSpeed Wireless. A switch on the bottom lets you jump between the two so you can connect to two devices. The wireless adapter also supports multiple devices so you can connect Razer Naga Pro and Deathadder Pro mice and the Black Widow Pro V3 keyboard simultaneously to the Orochi's adapter.

Razer used 100% PTFE (also known as polytetrafluoroethylene or Teflon) feet that let this thing glide effortlessly across your desk. I tested it with one of the company's new thin polycarbonate Sphex v3 mouse mats and it just flies, even if you put a lot of downward force on it. PTFE also surrounds the 18,000 DPI 5G optical sensor. A button to the rear of the scroll wheel is set up for on-the-fly sensitivity changes (400, 800, 1,600, 3,200 and 6,400 DPI). You can reassign any of the mouse's six buttons using Razer Synapse 3 software.

The body's shell has a slight texture to it, giving it a little grip when your fingers get sweaty. If you need something more, Razer now has sweat-absorbant universal grip tape. It's precut into four shapes so you can squeeze them into different areas on the mouse. 

The Orochi V2 is available in a white edition available from multiple retailers and a black version available only from Walmart. If you really want one that stands out, though, you can choose from over 100 different designs available through Razer Customs. Those special designs do drive the cost up to $90, however. 

Razer really did check off a lot of boxes with the Orochi V2. It's lightweight and compact for travel. I found it comfortable despite the size. I really like the switch feel and how I get the same response in the middle of the left and right mouse buttons that I get all the way at the front. Plus, the dual wireless makes this a good pick for work and play.