Page 3 - Subjective Performance Tests
After plugging the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition in and setting up the software, I drove the mouse through our series of tracking performance tests. This includes normal office usage in the Windows environment as well as gaming. Some graphics work and testing was done with Adobe Photoshop. Games used in this test include Overwatch and League of Legends. This spans several popular genres and allows us to get a feel as to how the mouse responds in different situations. All testing was completed on the SteelSeries QcK Prism's hard surface. Please note these are subjective tests, but we will attempt to make it as objective as possible with our cross reference testing methods.
The right handed shape of the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition lends itself towards a palm or claw grip, especially with its longer body size. I found myself palm gripping the V570 most of the time, as it had enough width to support all of my fingers. However, those with larger hands may say otherwise. I actually really like the side grips on the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition, as it strikes the right balance of grip and holds securely in my hand. I also really liked the shape of the mouse, despite it being a bit too large for me, as I could fully rest my hand on it without any discomfort. Weighting wise, I normally would not like mice this heavy as it is heavier than what I am used to, but I actually found the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition to be unnoticeable in its weight difference. This is mainly because of the ceramic feet underneath the mouse. This extremely smooth glide meant there was very little friction between any surface I used the mouse on, whether hard or soft. As for sensitivity range, I never went above 800 DPI in my gaming tests, though the flexibility to reach 8000 DPI by hardware is great. I really would not recommend anything beyond the hardware limit, as this is achieved through software modifications.
During usage, I found many of the buttons to be out of my reach. This includes the top three and bottom left buttons. These four buttons caused my thumb to stretch uncomfortably out of my resting position, which makes them quite unusable. Even the sniper button was a bit more forward than I would have liked. The audible and tactile feedback on these secondary keys were pretty mediocre, as you could feel the plastic hardness when bottoming out. Thankfully, none of these buttons exhibited any squeaks or abnormal sounds.
The Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition is marketed as a gamer mouse, so it only makes sense to test it in games like Overwatch and League of Legends. Diving into the shooter, the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition definitely took some time to get used to. Not only is the shape and weighting different, but the glide was extremely different from my previous mouse. Despite having more heft than usual, the five ceramic feet allow the Viper V570 to glide across the surface effortlessly. Unfortunately, the sensor had a few things to pick on. First of all, it did not track the best on cloth surfaces, as it sometimes missed in pixel-to-pixel testing. Secondly, there were times during the game where I could get it to spin out. I was not able to notice any acceleration, which is good to see. In games like League of Legends, the tracking was good, but this type of game does not necessarily require a great tracking mouse. Button clicks were responsive for the most part, though I did notice once where the mouse would not register despite pressing the primary left switch. This could have been a one time thing, as I was not able to reproduce it again.
When checking for more of the technical areas, the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition performed well, but there are once again some things to talk about. Firstly, I did some lasso testing in Photoshop to check for tracking and precision while moving about. Secondly, I performed the straight line test to check for mouse prediction and angle snapping. Some cheaper mice will "autocorrect" itself by predicting and drawing a flat line, which hides the intended smaller movements. For the Patriot Viper V570, there was no jitter and the tracking was generally okay. However, throughout the tests, I started to notice the input lag more and more, which made it really frustrating to use. The Avago ADNS-9800 is also known for having acceleration, so I also did a separate test for this. Thankfully, there was either very little or no acceleration noticed when I was using it. At maximum hardware settings, there was no jitter still, but the input lag was even more noticeable, especially when pushing the Viper V570 to the software limits of 12000 DPI.
Overall performance of the Patriot Viper V570 Blackout Edition was acceptable, but the laser sensor does not stand up well in any sort of competitive gaming by today's standards. The overall input lag may not affect daily tasks, but it does become a bit unnatural. The ceramic glide was definitely a neat experience and it took some time to get used to, but these qualms make the V570 hard to recommend in the performance department.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
