Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
As noted in the name of the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition, this mouse does not follow the standard red and black coloring that we are accustomed to with Patriot. Instead, we have a fully black finish. This is not an ambidextrous mouse, as it is biased towards right-handed users in both button placement and shape. The top is mostly matte in finish with a rubberized coating. It is somewhat similar in feeling to the Fnatic Gear Flick G1's finish, but it does not feel as smoothed out. The surface is relatively resistant to fingerprints. The plastic build is generally good, with zero creaks or odd noises to speak of. Otherwise, the glossy area houses a Viper logo, which only shows up when plugged in. Otherwise, the mouse has a side grip on the left side, while the right side has an extra bulge where you can rest your fingers. Compared to the last Viper mouse we looked at, the V560, I like the sleeker black finish. It really makes for a nice gamer look without being too ostentatious. In addition, you can see quite a few more buttons have been added. At the top, we have a fully black braided USB 2.0 cable with a ferrite choke on the cable. This cable is relatively flexible and measures approximately 180cm in length. The end of the cable terminates with a gold-plated USB plug.
When we take out our measuring tape, the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition measures in at 133mm in length, 80mm in width, and 44mm in height. It should be noted all of these numbers are at their maximum points. As alluded to in my introduction, this mouse is larger than my daily mouse, the ROCCAT Kone Pure Owl-Eye. I would classify this as a medium to large mouse based on the dimensions. The apex of the hump on the mouse is slightly more towards the back end, with a gradual slope down. For my own hands, I have enough space to rest my thumb on the left side, and both my ring and pinky fingers on the right side without my fingers touching the mousepad. Of course, this is still quite a bit larger than what I am used to and I would recommend trying out the mouse before buying it. When it comes to the scales, Patriot says the Viper V570 has a net weight of 159.2g. However, this includes the cable, and the weight of the mouse alone is actually closer to 105g. Even still, most users want a mouse in the 80 to 100 grams range, especially for FPS games, but it comes down to preference. If you wanted even more weight, you can add an additional 34.2 grams. This can be done by removing the middle area and placing the weights in the slots. Patriot has provided seven weights of 5.7g each, but there are only a maximum of six slots to put the weights in. Even without the weights in, the balance of weight is more towards the back of the mouse, which can cause for some instability.
At the left view, you can see all of the buttons and some of the lights on the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition. In fact, it has more buttons than Santa has reindeer! At the front, you have the standard left and right buttons with a scroll wheel in the middle. Underneath the two main buttons are Omron switches rated at ten million actuations. They feel pretty good to press, with the same satisfying click and sound expected from Omron. I did find these buttons a bit heavier to press, despite the fact these buttons are separated from the rest of the body. The scroll wheel is a notched wheel, but there is a bit of wobble action on the scroll. I also found I could sometimes get stuck scrolling with it, which is disappointing to see. Underneath the scroll wheel we have two rectangular buttons. Rather than making them a DPI up and down button, the top button is always a profile switch, while the bottom one is by default a DPI loop button. On the primary left click button, you can see there are four LEDs used to help users identify the current DPI and profile they are in. The profile is indicated by the color of these lights, while the DPI is indicated by the number of rectangles that are illuminated. On the left side, you can see there are a whole host of buttons, with seven at the top and one more in the middle of the thumb rest. By default, the first two buttons are default to Forward and Back, and the thumb button is default to a sniper DPI button. This lowers the DPI to a set setting, which you can alter in the software later. The rest of the buttons are not configured, but can be done using Patriot's utility.
Similar to the Viper V560 we reviewed before, the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition features five circular ceramic feet. Instead of the standard polytetrafluoroethylene, which can often scratch and not feel as smooth over long periods, ceramic feet are much more durable and are also quite a lot smoother. This change took some time to get used to, as I will explain on the next page. As for the sensor, this is the Avago ADNS-9800. I actually have not used a laser sensor since I looked at the G.Skill Ripjaws MX780 RGB. With this sensor, we have a hardware maximum sensitivity of 8200 DPI. These sensitivities can be adjusted for both the X and Y-axis independently. Polling rates of 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, and 1000Hz are offered. There is a maximum 30g of acceleration supported by the sensor. Otherwise, the sensor exhibits zero rattling, which means it is firmly attached to the body.
From Patriot's website, you can download the Viper V570 software. The installer itself takes up about 12MB. This may sound really small, but I should note this is specific to the V570 mouse itself and other Patriot devices will require a different program. Using the software was overall a good experience, as the layout was intuitive, but I did find some quirks along the way.
When you first open the Viper V570 utility, you will be greeted with this buttons page, where you can program up to eleven of the total thirteen buttons. You can also see there are five profiles here, which means a maximum of five different button configurations. Each profile has a color, which you can change if you so desire. The second tab labelled Sensor is where you can change your four saved DPI settings to the mouse. A range of 50 to 12000 DPI is given here, with increments of 50 DPI. In Macro Editor, you can create and edit macros, saving a combination of keystrokes and mouse actions together. Finally, under Settings is where you can change the polling rate, as well as enabling or disabling angle snapping, OSD of your current settings, and mouse acceleration. It also provides you information about the utility and firmware. Finally, the color palette opens up a smaller window to adjust lighting effects.
The first quirk I noticed occurred when I was configuring the lighting colors. After saving a custom setting, it often forgot my configured colors after a few minutes. It would then turn off all of the lights or revert all the colors to the set profile color. This was quite frustrating and happened regardless if the software was running or not. The second quirk I noticed was the lag that often happened when changing any setting. I think this is because settings are automatically saved the mouse immediately following any change. I think an "Apply" button would have solved this issue, as it means the mouse is not constantly updated with each small change. Finally, I wish Patriot would include a way to update both the utility and the firmware in the Settings tab, since it is not clear if you are on the latest versions of software or firmware.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
