The one-upmanship between Razer and Logitech continues, each of them announcing their latest contenders for the title of best gaming mouse.
First off the blocks was the Logitech G9, boasting a 3,200dpi sensor, and then almost straight after we hear the announcement of the next uber-mouse, the Razer Lachesis, which has a 4,000dpi sensor.
Razer Lachesis – check out prices at Amazon 
or Amazon 
Do we really need such a high level of sensitivity in our chosen weapon? Probably not, but it makes for good attention-grabbing headlines so I’m sure we’ll be getting even higher dpi before long. Both mice have on-the-fly adjustability, so if you’re finding things a bit too twitchy you can always scale down the settings during gameplay.
Logitech G9 – check out prices at Amazon or Amazon
If it’s buttons you want then the Razer Lachesis has 9, with 5 custom profiles that can be switched at will. The Logitech G9 has 7 buttons in total, plus two buttons for altering the dpi.
The G9 offers greater customisation with 2 interchangeable shells, one for those who grip with the palm of the hand, and one for those with a fingertip hold. The adjustable weight system is carried forward from the G5, with the weight cartridge slotting into the back of the mouse. And another nice touch is that you can customise the colour of the LED display on the top of the mouse.
The two mice are priced quite highly. Logitech are asking $99 or £69.99 for the G9 in their online store, while Razer are asking $79.99. At current £/$ exchange rates that is roughly £40, but don’t forget to apply the Rip-Off Britain price conversion. I would say you can expect a price of about £60 on the UK high street to undercut the G9.
So which will be the best gaming mouse? On paper I would say it has to be the better-specced Logitech G9, but personal taste will be a big factor in which you choose. My initial reaction to the G9 was slight disbelief that they could make a mouse so ugly, but I am warming to it.
The Razer Lachesis is a classic design that will work for both left and right-handed users, unlike the G9’s right-handed form, and makes do without the gimmickry of custom LEDs, shells and weights.
For the time being I’m sticking with my Razer Deathadder, but if I happened to have £70 burning a hole in my pocket I think it would have to go on the Logitech G9 over the Razer Lachesis.
Lachesis has widespread tracking issues I personally plan to return mine for a G9 soon as they hit stores.
It was a similar case with the early versions of the Deathadder. I’d expect Razer to sort out the problems quite quickly, but this sort of thing is hardly going to improve their image in the gaming market.
Has anyone else had problems with either of these mice?
Lachesis actually has a very mild problem that is totally preventable if you follow the recommended gamers’ mouse settings. I won’t go into detail why this should be done but rather just list them (I have Win XP SP2 and don’t know if it looks same in Vista)):
1. in (Control Panel) Windows Mouse properties kill (disable, uncheck) the “pointer precision”
2. while there, slide the “select a pointer speed” to 6 (the sixth dot from the left)
3. go to the Razer site and download the file called “Lachesis156+ClickAccuracyToolBETA.zip and that will give you a new v.1.56 beta firmware for the mouse — as of now, you’ll find the link to this beta firmware in their FAQ rather than in their drivers download section (I think the link is listed in the first topic from the top in the Lachesis FAQ).
Otherwise, nice review! I’d give the advantage to Lachesis over G9 since it’s at least technologically a better mouse featuring 2 lasers that independently track the X and Y, plus you can set it to basically 25 different DPI (5 in each of the five profiles in 125 DPI increments). Lachesis, as a laser mouse, is pretty much an attempt (and I’d say rather successful) to approach the tracking quality of the battle tested optical sensor. I’d expect that once the new firmware is released Lachesis will probably be the best “cross” (low and high sens) mouse available.
Thanks for the info, Natasha, it should help solve the early problems.
Hopefully Razer will be quick to release the new firmware, it would be a shame to see such an excellent mouse get a bad name from a bit of dodgy programming.
I have both and IMO Lachesis is a better mouse of the two. I just followed what the poster above said about preventing the cursor jump issue and voila works great. G9 is a great mouse too, maybe just too gimmicky for my taste.
G9 is by far ALOT better than lachesis, the buttons and comfort are alot better not to mention tracking is hugeley better, sorry but those settings natasha mentioned do not make one bit difference
Razer looks 1000 better. G9 is so ugly :s
Last time i checked…its not about looks, its about performance and feel.
@Drew – quite right. If Quasimodo was the fastest runner in the world, you’d be daft to kick him out of your team just because he looked a bit funny! In the same way, don’t dismiss the G9 just because of its slightly ungainly shape.
For those who still doubt betwen lachesis and G9, I’ll say that Razer stull doesn’t published a corrected firmware for the hundreds of bugs for Lachesis. The actual version (at 2008-2-23) is 1.64 and this firmware works worse than version 1.00 Go to the Razer Blueprints forums and see.
I’ve returned mine and changed for a G9. You can think G9 is prettier or uglier, but the only truth is that G9 is simply better than Lachesis. Taste, accuracy, weight…
Lachesis does a lot of bugs with tracking; blocks the Y axis; makes the cursor jump; is unable to use with any kind of mousepads; does double click when pressing the scroll button…
Don’t think anymore, Lachesis is not an option, if you felt in love with the shape and color, take a Razer DeathAdder, is optical but works fine. Lachesis is a pretty shit.
This might be a bit late to be of help, but due to the orientation of the Lachesis laser sensor it performs poorly at high sensitivities on soft mouse pads…. The softer the pad, the worse the click error.
Basically at the moment the only thing you can do is use it on a hard surface type mouse pad to completely eliminate this click problem… Basically the laser is so sensitive that when you push down the mouse to make a click the fabric moves and the mouse detects this and there is a noticable jerk in the cursor…
@JKS, Razer have won themselves no fans at all with their shoddy firmware releases. It’s been a similar story with the Deathadder, although mine is still working fine on the original version of the firmware. Razer need to spend a lot more time testing their firmware before releasing, or they’re going to really damage the brand name and lose more customers to Logitech.
@sugar, thanks for the info. Perhaps this goes to show that 4000dpi really is too sensitive!
I got rid of my mousemat and used the desk surface and it sorted out my Razer Lachesis glitch.
SteveG
I just got the Razer Lachesis a few days ago and was previously using the G9… now usually it takes a while to get used to a new mouse but with the Lachesis… I immediately knew it was the best mouse on the market… it is so easy to customize to how you want it and because the sensors are so good it reacts so good its like you are moving the cursor with your brain rather than using a mouse. The Lachesis is just a way better mouse than the G9… its more comfortable, it is the same shape right and left handed, it looks better, the sensors are better, its cheaper, it has more buttons, and even though you don’t need that much DPI… the DPI is better. If you are trying to find a good mouse this one is it… I should add that it is a wide but short mouse and it is very light which in my case makes it better… it also just fits perfect to your hand no matter how you hold it (finger tips or palm or both).
I tried the Razer Lachesis because one of my mates got a good deal on one. Piece of garbage. We both ended up returning them and buying Logitech G9x’s. We love them, bit more pricey but worth it for quality product. Razer psh embarrassing, probably made in some slum in mumbai.
ahah, the G9 is SO UGLY that i’m not even thinking of buying it ! Look like it was assembled with some piece of garbage in China 😀
Anyway, the bug on the lachesis has been corrected a long time ago ! more buttons, more dpi, for right hand AND left hand, looking MUCH MORE better…
it’s a no match 😉