Razer produces some of the best gaming laptops around, in the form of the Razer Blade Stealth, Razer Blade, and Razer Blade Pro, but not all of their products are designed to blow up your wallet.
The Razer Naga Hex V2 is one such product, as a gaming mouse designed around MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games like League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm. However, the Razer Naga Hex V2 is a great option for all sorts of games, rocking tons of customizability.
I haven't personally used a "gaming mouse" for quite a long time since Logitech's popular MX518 back in the day. I haven't had a real gaming PC for several years, and have been using Microsoft's ultra portable Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse and the Surface Book's trackpad for most things. Since picking up a Razer Blade 14, I figured it was time to buy a real gaming mouse, and given the Hex's unique features (and my current addiction to Heroes of the Storm), I thought it could be a good choice. I went in blind without reading any reviews or commentary, and here's what I found.
Tech Specs
- 7-button mechanical thumb wheel
- 14 programmable buttons
- Rubberized thumb grip
- Adjustable 16,000 DPI laser
- Tilt click scroll wheel
- Razer Chroma lighting
- Cloud storage for customization profiles
- 1000 Hz Ultrapolling / 1 ms response time
- 2.1 m / 7 ft braided fiber USB cable
- Dimensions: 119 x 75 x 43 mm / 4.68 x 2.95 x 1.69 in
- Weight: 135 g / 4.41oz (with cable)
Build quality and construction
The Razer Naga Hex V2 is the second "Hex" mouse from the company, which features a unique circular thumb wheel with seven additional programmable buttons. In addition to the wheel, the Naga Hex V2 also has two DPI-altering buttons, a scroll-wheel complete with a central click, and a left and right tilt click, and of course, regular right and left clicks.
It's significantly larger than mice I've been using recently, but it's pretty standard as far as quality gaming mice go, at around 1.7 inches in height.
The Razer Naga Hex V2 fits comfortably in hand, with rubberized grips for both the thumb wheel and your right pinkie. The scroll wheel is also rubberized and has some notches and textures to make scrolling a breeze. There's very little resistance in the wheel, but it still stops at each line reassuringly, making it a pleasure to use.
The plastics deployed on the surface of the mouse are matte black, and have a lightly textured/rough feel about them, as opposed to the smooth plastics found on some of Razer's other mice like the Orochi. The texturing makes the mouse feel great in hand, making it easy to grip even in clammy conditions through long sessions or under tournament spotlights (not that I'll be seeing any of those anytime soon).
The click action on each and every button is reassuring, and the mouse is lightweight but not to the point where its regular left and right clicks will impact the trajectory of your cursor.
The underside of the Naga Hex V2 utilizes what Razer calls "Ultraslick" mouse feet, and can confirm that their namesake is a fair one. The mouse works well on all types of surfaces, whether you're planning to stick it straight on the desk or use a mouse mat. The smoothness of the mouse feet should make cleaning rather easy, too.
It feels extremely solid all around, and there's simply very little to complain about.
In practice
The radial buttons are positioned at the widest part of the mouse, on the left side making it an unlikely choice for left-handed players. The center of the wheel is a rubber grip, designed for your thumb. Personally, I find the positioning to be a tad awkward. Hitting the buttons closest to your wrist requires a bit of effort, and naturally, squeezing the mouse in from the left can dislodge the cursor, making the buttons a little prohibitive in first-person shooters.
Still, this is marketed as an MOBA mouse, and the radial wheel works best in games where precision cursor movements aren't 100 percent necessary. MMO players, ARPG players, and perhaps even campaign shooter players might find the thumb wheel to be an indispensable asset. But the impact it has on the cursor is too great to justify its use in online shooters like Battlefield 1.
Additionally, it can be a little hard to get used to. A tactile indent or bump on the "number 1" button would be a simple but powerful addition to help orientate your thumb to the center of the wheel without trial and error. I played through several Heroes of the Storm matches, attempting to use solely the mouse for my keybinded abilities, and found myself making costly mistakes frequently as I learned its button positions.
I'm reluctant to blame the mouse since the mechanical buttons themselves are spread out well and have great action. However, I do think some form of physical, tactile features on the keys would have certainly helped commit the button positions to muscle memory.
Beyond the learning curve associated with the thumb buttons, every other aspect of the Razer Naga Hex V2 has been a complete pleasure to use. In shooters like Overwatch, in World of Warcraft, and particularly in complex strategy/simulation games like Stellaris and Cities: Skylines, the extra buttons are extremely handy.
The fact you can set up profiles and keybindings for different games is a great addition too. You can even change the mouse's lighting using Razer's Chroma system, and adjust every other button and feature, including the DPI adjustment buttons.
Final thoughts
The Razer Naga Hex V2 is a tremendous gaming mouse with a huge array of features and functions, headlined by its unique 7-button thumb wheel. While it does take a bit of getting used to, it's easy to see how it could make certain games easier, particularly complex games with many keybinds.
As far as MOBAs go, having the keybinds on the same hand as your cursor can help with precision for targeting area of effect attacks (AoE) and making quicker judgments. Dropping Gul'dan's AoE corruption and fear spells felt a little snappier, once I got used to the positioning. A small notch on the first button would have seriously helped; perhaps it's something they'll add in the V3.
The Good
- Great build quality
- Chroma lighting is still stunning
- Ridiculous amount of buttons
The Bad
- Might require you to change your mouse habits
- No left-handed option
- Tactile bumps on the thumbwheel would have helped
For $65 you're getting a 16500 DPI mouse with high-quality materials and construction, tons of customizability, wrapped in a chassis that simply looks gorgeous. I feel completely satisfied with my purchase, as I ditch the Arc Touch BT mouse of my Surface days. If you're a gamer and you're willing to retrain your mouse brain, I think you'll get a lot out of the Razer Naga Hex V2, but if you're happy with keyboard controls, you might want to check out our Razer DeathAdder Elite review instead.
