Razer Naga X Review

Razer Naga X specs

Alternatives

If you want a wireless MMO/MOBA gaming mouse: The Razer Naga V2 Pro has the same ergonomic form factor, but is wireless. It’s also much more expensive. But you get more functionality and performance by jumping up in price. The Naga V2 Pro has a higher DPI sensor and newer generation switches that are more durable and includes several swappable side plates to augment the number of buttons.

If you want a grippier mouse: The Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite is fantastic and goes toe-to-toe with the Naga X in many areas. The Corsair model similarly packs in a 12-button array on the side. But the Scimitar RGB Elite has more gripping power, including its overall shape, coating, and rubberized texture on the right finger ledge.

If you want a more versatile scroll wheel: The Logitech G604’s scroll wheel can free-scroll with the press of a button. The G604 also includes L/R tilt scroll functionality. It doesn’t have as many side buttons – there are six – but it does add two buttons on the left click button that default to cycling through your custom profiles. The G604 is wireless, not wired.

Performance

Weight

The Razer Naga X’s 85-gram weight doesn’t tip the scales nor does the weight put it among the lightest gaming mice, which can weigh as little as under 60 grams. That said, 85 grams is exceptionally lightweight among the best MMO and MOBA gaming mice, more commonly weighing upwards of 100 grams, such as the popular Razer Naga V2 Pro.

Sensor

The best Razer gaming mice have Razer-branded sensors that perform well, which is the case here. The Razer Naga X includes the company’s 5G 18,000 DPI optical sensor, which is precise and well-tuned. Razer’s newer mice include higher DPI sensors, such as the Razer Naga V2 Pro. But it’s worth noting that 18,000 is still a high DPI and most gamers won’t notice any precision differences around this DPI range and higher. Nicely, you can adjust the Razer Naga X’s sensitivity from 100 to 18,000 in 100 increments.

This sensor is also fast and can accurately track up to 450 inches per second. But since this sensor is older and hit the market in 2016, it doesn’t offer some of Razer’s newest sensor technologies, such as Asymmetric Cut-off. Arguably, this feature isn’t useful for most gamers, except enthusiasts who like to continually tweak their settings.

Polling rate

The Razer Naga X has a max polling rate of 1000 Hz, which is common among the best gaming mice. The polling rate can be adjusted to 100, 500, or 1000 Hz. The high polling rate unlocks some great performance features for the Razer Naga X, including great click latency, which is important in fast-paced titles.

1000 Hz isn’t the highest polling rate Razer offers. In fact, the namesake Razer Viper 8K Hz has a max 8000 Hz polling rate. But casual gamers aren’t going to notice the fractions of a millisecond performance edge, especially if not playing on the best gaming monitors with high refresh rates.

Switches performance and sound

Razer has included its gen-2 optical switches in the Razer Naga X. These switches are highly durable with a rating of 70 million clicks. The switches are also lightning fast since they’re optical, not traditional mechanical switches.

The Razer Naga X’s L/R switches have a tactile feel that leaves no doubt that a click has been actuated. The switches aren’t loud but don’t feel as smooth as some higher-end mice. The side buttons are softer when actuating and the sound is much quieter.

Gliding

There are four feet on the Razer Naga X, one spanning the width of the back, two up front, and one small foot surrounding the sensor.

The Razer Naga X’s 100% PTFE feet glide well on a mousepad or desk surface, mostly due to the mouse’s overall light weight and coverage area of the feet. The performance is great compared to other MMO/MOBA gaming mice that weigh more, which adds friction and slows down the gliding experience.

Design

Buttons

If you’re looking to always have a mouse button at your disposal to perform many actions, then the Razer Naga X will deliver. The mouse includes a whopping total of 16 buttons, including the standard L/R buttons, 12 buttons on the side, a scroll wheel, and a button behind the scroll wheel that defaults to cycling through the five programmable sensitivity stages. In total, you can program up to 34 unique actions in Synapse using HyperShift layers.

We particularly like the Turbo mode functionality, which allows you to set the number of times per second an action is implemented when holding down a button. This feature is great when you must fire off a bunch of actions in rapid succession.

Scroll wheel

The Razer Naga X’s scroll does click but doesn’t offer the additional versatility of a L/R scroll tilt wheel. You may not miss the tilt scroll functionality since there are already so many buttons to customize. There also is no free-scroll feature, which we think would be nice to include.

Overall, the scroll wheel is grippy and moves easily with the rubberized material that surrounds the wheel. Other mice that don’t include this texture can be too slippery to scroll. But that’s not a concern here, and it’s easy to precisely scroll with little effort.

Shape

Like most mice in this category, the Razer Naga X is fully ergonomic with a slanted design and ledge on the right to rest your finger. The right ledge is particularly nice since it is pronounced and gives your finger good support and extra grip.

The top of the Razer Naga X slants downward from left to right, albeit appearing to be a less aggressive slant than some other ergonomic gaming mice. That said, your hand will have plenty of palm support and sit in a more natural position than on a non-ergonomic gaming mouse, which requires you to rotate your arm slightly to a less comfortable flatter position.

Hand size and grip style

The Razer Naga X fits best if you have medium or larger hands and/or if you use a palm grip. The high-profile hump is biased toward the back of the mouse so that your palm seats squarely on top of it for the needed support. Small hands can use this mouse, but you may find that you’re uncomfortably reaching for the L/R buttons and the 1, 2, and 3 side buttons that are furthest away from your palm.

Fingertip and claw grip styles can work with the Razer Naga X, but your mileage will vary. The hump of the mouse stands up fairly high and comes into contact with your hand when using both of these grips, which does limit their usefulness. For example, the mouse is consistently obstructing the palm of your hand when holding the Razer Naga X with a claw grip and using just your fingers for micro-adjustments. The matte surface is also somewhat slick. This makes it hard to confidently and precisely move the mouse without it seated in your palm, which happens with both fingertip and palm grips. Palm grips won’t experience these same issues, though.

Customization and software

RGB

One programmable RGB zone on the Razer Naga X controls the RGB on the scroll wheel and the side buttons. The RGB can be fully customized for various effects and profiles inside Razer’s Synapse software.

Memory profiles

The Razer Naga X has onboard memory profiles that can be used to program a number of different profiles in Synapse. You can then cycle through profiles seamlessly by assigning a profile-switching command to a specific button.

Synapse software

Razer’s Synapse software is one of the best experiences available across gaming mouse brands. Synapse is easy to use and provides a ton of functionality for the Razer Naga X, including to:

• Remap your mouse buttons, enable HyperShift for an added layer of customization, and set the mouse for right or left-handed use
• Turn on Turbo mode which determines how many times per second an action will be implemented when a button is held down
• Adjust the DPI presets in increments of 100 from 100 to 18,000
• Adjust the polling rate from a list including 125, 500, and 1000 Hz presets
• Customize the RGB effects in Razer’s Chroma software
• Calibrate the mouse to enable features such as Smart Tracking and manual calibration
• Set custom configurations to automatically change profiles when opening specific games

Unfortunately, Synapse is only compatible with PCs. The Razer Naga X can be used with macOS, and the custom profiles also work. This limits its usefulness for macOS users since much of the value of this gaming mouse is in its customizability. If you want to remap any buttons, your profiles work in macOS, but you’ll need to hook up the Razer Naga X to a PC in the first place.

In the box

• Razer Naga X with cable (1.8m length)
• Rubber cable tie
• Sticker pack
• Product card
• Operating manual