Razer Basilisk Ultimate review

Plenty of mouse for your money

Reviews
By Mark Knapp
published
Razer Basilisk Ultimate
(Image: © Future)

TechRadar Verdict

The Razer Basilisk Ultimate is a serious wireless gaming mouse with high-end performance and features galore. But, it comes at such a high price, most gamers will be better off looking elsewhere.

Pros

  • +

    Buttons aplenty

  • +

    Excellent, tunable performance

  • +

    Feature rich

Cons

  • -

    Bitterly expensive

  • -

    Over-involved customization

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With a price of $169/£169/AU$299, the Razer Basilisk Ultimate is a premium wireless mouse that sits in a price bracket considerably higher than that of our top picks for the best gaming mice list. It’s undoubtedly a great mouse, featuring almost all the bells and whistles you’ll be hard-pressed to find together in many of its rivals. Still, the question is, is it worth spending all that money on?

There are perhaps a couple of things we don’t like about it, yes. For example, much like the more affordable Razer Basilisk X Hyperspeed, the Razer Basilisk Ultimate has an angular design that seems to borrow a bit too much from the Logitech G502 design. Also, it requires customization that seems a bit over-involved for our liking

However, the Razer Basilisk Ultimate also has a lot of things going for it that makes it worth the price. It has a comfortable and fairly traditional form. Its side grips offer plenty of purchase, making it easy to use in intense gaming situations. At 107 grams, it’s weighty enough to feel substantial, but not too heavy you’d worry about dropping it. And, it has a whopping 14 brilliant RGB lighting zones, complete with neat effects you can control via the Chroma Studio module. Alongside all its other features, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth, if you can spare it.

Razer Basilisk Ultimate

(Image credit: Future)

The RGB lighting of the Basilisk Ultimate is contributing largely to the looks and price of the mouse. It has a whopping 14 lighting zones split between the Razer logo on the palm, the scroll wheel, and an LED strip running along the left side of the mouse. The LEDs are brilliant and have some neat effects, though nuanced control requires a separate Chroma Studio module, which is a bit more involved than we’d like to see. Setting up macros also requires a separate module.

It’s not just the mouse that has lights though. The Basilisk Ultimate has a wireless charging dock that also has its own LED strip. It has special effects as well, but we think the most handy is having the color indicate the mouse’s battery level.

The ability to charge by simply setting the mouse onto a stand is simple, making it easy to keep the battery topped up. But, even if we forget, the mouse can offer 100 hours of battery life with the lights turned off. We can even get through a pretty busy week of work with the lights left on.

Razer Basilisk Ultimate

(Image credit: Future)

The Basilisk is no slouch when it comes to other features. It has 11 programmable buttons, with two standard thumb buttons, a third thumb paddle that’s actually easy enough to reach, two buttons below the scroll wheel (their default is DPI Up and Down), as well as left and right scroll wheel clicks. The scroll wheel itself is interesting, with a dial underneath the mouse that lets us tune how pronounced and firm the notches are, making it easier to scroll through weapons in games. All the buttons feel consistent as well, with Razer Optical switches underneath offering a 70-million click lifespan.

The wireless connection is handled using a tiny USB dongle that can conveniently plug into the charging dock. There’s a small case for the dongle on the bottom of the mouse as well.

That wireless connection is all part of the Basilisk Ultimate’s excellent performance. It delivers a latency-free experience with a 1,000Hz polling rate. And, the Focus + Optical sensor can handle mouse movements up to 650 inches-per-second and 50 G of acceleration. The mouse stores 5 DPI settings from 100 to 20,000 in 50 DPI increments along with an option to set separate sensitivities for the X and Y axes. Lift-off distance tweaked can also be tweaked between 1mm and 3mm.

Razer Basilisk Ultimate

(Image credit: Future)

With all that, you’d have to expect Basilisk Ultimate to perform well, and it does. It performs on level with any of the best gaming mice we’ve tried. There’s no perceptible delay in actions over the wireless connection. In shooters (Titanfall 2 in this case), the tracking is spot-on. We can whip around on enemies, snapping our sites on them after jumping out of a wall run, dispatching them, and moving on with ease. We find that aiming prowess just as handy in Red Dead Redemption 2 Online, where the ability to quickly take out a few lawmen that came out of nowhere makes a big difference in completing a mission after our teammates got lost and left us stranded.

The Razer Basilisk Ultimate is a truly great mouse rounded out by a handy charging stand, but it comes at a price that makes it something most gamers will safely be able to forget about.

Razer Basilisk Ultimate

(Image credit: Future)

Buy it if...

You want the mouse with the most
`The Razer Basilisk Ultimate can do a lot, and it does it well. The excellent battery life, dazzling lights, and top-tier performance easily make it worthwhile if you have the money in your budget and don’t need any other upgrades to your setup.

You have a Razer setup
If your whole rig is already Razer, this may as well be the mouse for you. You can sync up the RGB on all of your devices, making the most of the RGB lights on the Basilisk Ultimate. Plus, you won’t need different software to manage every peripheral.

You’re tired of your wireless mouse battery dying
Though you can use the Basilisk Ultimate in wired mode, there’s almost no excuse for needing to. The wireless charging stand makes it so easy to let the mouse charge after every gaming session. Even if you don’t charge that often, the battery is ready for the long haul.

Razer Basilisk Ultimate

(Image credit: Future)

Don’t buy it if… 

You don’t need all the bells and whistles
The Razer Basilisk Ultimate is great for gaming, but so are plenty of other mice that skip expensive features. You can get a wireless gaming mouse that will perform on par for much less if you’re willing to lose the RGB and wireless charging.

You want a mouse for at home and on-the-go
One thing the Basilisk Ultimate didn’t upgrade from the <a href="https://www.techradar.com/reviews/razer-basilisk-x-hyperspeed" data-link-merchant="techradar.com"">Basilisk X HyperSpeed was the connectivity. The cheaper mouse offers both a 2.4GHz wireless dongle and dongle-less Bluetooth connection, making it a more versatile mouse that can still game masterfully. 

You like big mice
The Razer Basilisk Ultimate isn’t small, but it has a sloping design and is a bit narrow. So for anyone with big hands, this can make it feel somewhat small in a claw grip just tiny in a palm grip. 

Mark Knapp
Mark Knapp

Over the last several years, Mark has been tasked as a writer, an editor, and a manager, interacting with published content from all angles. He is intimately familiar with the editorial process from the inception of an article idea, through the iterative process, past publishing, and down the road into performance analysis.