When comparing Roccat Lua vs Razer DeathAdder 3.5G, the Slant community recommends Roccat Lua for most people. In the question“What is the best gaming mouse?” Roccat Lua is ranked 38th while Razer DeathAdder 3.5G is ranked 52nd. The most important reason people chose Roccat Lua is:
Its rather small size and lower than usual height allow for a substantially comfortable grip. The sides have a dent which helps fingers positioning. Additionally, the sides are smoothly textured so you shouldn’t ever feel like your hand is losing its grip.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Comfortable to use
Its rather small size and lower than usual height allow for a substantially comfortable grip. The sides have a dent which helps fingers positioning. Additionally, the sides are smoothly textured so you shouldn’t ever feel like your hand is losing its grip.
Pro Well suited for fingertip and claw grips
Unless you have small hands, this is a mouse that is meant for people who use either the claw or fingertip grip. In addition to being a small mouse and having low height, it's also extremely light, weighing only 68 grams. This makes it easy to control with a fingertip and claw grip as it relies on the mouse being as agile as it can be.
Pro Well built
Even though it’s a budget mouse, it has high quality components to ensure that the mouse can last for years. There are no unnecessary moving parts while button clicks are clear and don’t give out after heavy use. The body of the mouse consists of rubberized coating at the top and textured plastic on the sides which gives it a quality feel.
Pro Good amount of customization provided by the accompanying software
The software is very simple and easy to use. It lets you change the DPI steps, double click speed, vertical scroll speed, polling rate, very basic lighting control and the choice of hand-mode. In addition, it has the option to reassign its buttons, but since the Lua has only four buttons it’s practically useless as the main three are almost always invariable.
Pro Excellent budget sensor
The Avago A3050 optical sensor that the Lua uses has small, unnoticeable prediction and doesn’t carry over perfect tracking at high speeds (depending on the chosen DPI setting, over 60-120 inches per second or 1.5 m/s-3 m/s). But unless you use it at extremely low sensitivity, it shouldn’t be a problem. When reaching such speeds, some negative acceleration may be noticed.
Pro Full Linux support
Roccat has good Linux drivers.
Pro Can be used by both righties and lefties
Uses an ambidextrous design that actually feels as if it is and ergonomic design no matter what hand is using it.
Pro On-the-fly CPI switch
There is a button right behind the scroll wheel that will allow for on-the-fly CPI switching.
Pro Suitable for lefties
This mouse is well-known for its ergonomic shape well-suited for lefties. Its sizable groove on the right side guides the left thumb to a comfortable spot. The left side has a slightly angled surface that gives freedom for the rest of the fingers to position themselves as they please.
Pro Large thumb buttons don't get in the way of the grip
The DeathAdder has two thumb buttons that are quite large and easy to press without getting in the way of the grip.
Pro Fits the hand naturally with a palm grip
Due to its curves, it feels natural to hold the mouse with a palm grip. It has a defined thumb groove on one side and an open side for your ring and pinky fingers on the other. The general contour of the mouse is curved so it feels like it is specifically molded for you hand. The mouse relies more on its shape rather than textured finishes to maintain your hand’s grip.
Pro Comes with a companion software for customised profile creation
Although it’s an older mouse, its Synapse 2.0 software is still updated (as of Spring 2017) and allows you to change DPI, polling rate, create macros and reassign buttons. All of the options are tied to profiles. Keep in mind that certain modifications will not work unless the software is running in the background. The software also has optional stats and heatmaps that track your mouse usage. The software is PC and Mac compatible.
Pro Decent sensor, with several DPI options
This mouse comes with the Avago S3888 sensor, which is decent, but doesn’t offer perfect performance. Some of its original issues can be fixed with a firmware update. Originally, it has four DPI stages of 450/900/1800/3500. However, its 1800 DPI option is native and is regarded as the most accurate one with the highest perfect control speed. If you use the updated Synapse 2.0 software, these options increase to include every value between 100 and 3500, with steps of 100.
Pro Surface allows for easy sweat evaporation
The top of the mouse has a hard rubberized finish, which allow sweat to evaporate easily.
Cons
Con Lacks sidebuttons
Since it’s in the style of a classic three-button mouse, the lack of side buttons limits customization options.
Con Small size takes some getting used to
The Roccat Lua is a small mouse, measuring only 11.5 cm in length and 3 cm in height. The width is pretty standard with 6.5 cm at the back and narrows down towards the front. The small size might raise some concern about the grip. If it’s your first mouse of this size you might need to adjust your grip to accommodate for the smaller scale of the mouse. Commonly the grips change and include some elements of a fingertip grip.
Con Top DPI value may feel insufficient for some gamers
The DPI amount caps at 2000, which might not be enough for some.
Con Can suffer from small amounts of jitter on high DPI values
This mouse's DPI setting can be set from 250 to 2000, in increments of 250. At DPI settings higher than 1250, it can generate small amounts of jitter. The mouse works the best at 500 DPI with a 1000Hz polling rate.
Con Rubber cord is prone to breaking
It has a rubber type cable which means there’s less resistance and drag against the desk but at the same time can be more prone to damage when bent.
Con Light weight takes some getting used to
At 68 grams, it's about 30% lighter than most mice. Switching from an average mouse might take some getting used to and feel like the Lua is a bit floatey.
Con Uses an outdated sensor
The Lua’s optical sensor might be a bit dated, since it was released five years ago. Still, it mostly only shows weakness when it is facing really fast mouse movements. And as long as you are aware of it, this shortcoming can be entirely avoided.
Con Low palmrest height
The low palmrest height may be a turn off for some palm style users.
Con DPI switch is located under the mouse, so it can't be used on-the-fly
A DPI switch is available but it's located under the mouse. It cannot be bound to a different function.
Con Old legacy drivers may need to be used to solve acceleration issues
If you encounter some acceleration issues, you may need to replace the Synapse software with the old legacy drivers to eliminate this issue.
Con Mouse feet are too thin and will wear out over time
The mouse feet are really thin and will wear out over time. To avoid this, another set of mouse feet can be placed on top of the old ones to increase their height.
Con To decrease the lift off distance, a work-around needs to be used
Although the lift off distance is quite high at 3.5mm, there is a possible work-around for that (the mouse lacks the ability of changing its value). If you partly cover the sensor with a non transparent tape the lift off distance gets lowered but at the cost of losing a little bit of perfect control speed. You may want to experiment first to achieve your desired performance.
Con Sensor firmware update is essential
In order to make the most out of the S3888 sensor, it’s crucial to have its firmware updated. This eliminates the jitter that’s present without the update. Other than this, it performs quite well.
Con Side surfces feel like they are of inferior quality
The sides are a glossy plastic that feels inferior in quality to the top side.
