The gaming mouse has come a long way since the advent of Razer's Boomslang, a pioneer on the PC-gaming scene in the late '90s.
Razer's first gaming mouse, it used an 1,800dpi sensor, perfect for thwarting alien baddies in the shooter of its day, Quake II.
It wasn't ostentatious by today's standards, bearing five buttons plus a scroll wheel that glowed in Razer's signature "Secret of the Ooze" green.
I mention the Boomslang because, in many ways, the new Razer Abyssus Essential ($49.99) reminds me of it.
But, alas, the Abyssus isn't nearly the revolutionary must-buy that the Boomslang was in its day.
It's more of a niche mouse for lefty users and/or Razer aficionados.
Indeed, mouse times—and value propositions—have changed.
The Abyssus Essential also glows, now in the requisite 16.8 million RGB color options to turn your mouse surface into a disco.
But that's the main bit of flair, and forking over fifty bucks for a mouse with just two buttons, and a scroll wheel whose spin resistance can't be tweaked, is a tough sell.
Still, that's why this mouse is called "Essential"—Razer states outright that the feature set is no-frills.
Because so many buyers today like at least the option for pretty lights, the main appeal is the customizable RGB lighting.
As long as you're cool with that, this mouse is a fine buy; just know that the lighting and the Razer mystique is what you're paying for here, not a set of deep hardware features.
All the Lights, a Lower Price
Measuring 1.46 by 2.48 by 4.51 inches (HWD) and weighing 2.72 ounces, the Abyssus Essential is compact and light.
It's a suitable size for smaller hands, and the straight lines that define the right and left sides keep your index and middle fingers flat on the mouse, rather than arching them over a curve.
The Cougar Surpassion ($29.90 at Amazon) we recently tested, for example, is very close in size to the Abyssus.
It weighs 3.36 ounces, but its build makes it feel lighter.
Despite the Abyssus weighing less than Cougar's shooter, I never found that the Razer mouse skittered across the mouse pad on its own, the way that the Surpassion did.
It held its place where I left it.
The reason for the better grip: two glossy sections of silicone on its underside.
These mouse feet are designed to be slick, but Razer made them bigger than normal for this model, which gives them both good glide traits and decent purchase on your pad.
They should keep the mouse body from slip-sliding away and giving up your position when, say, you're cowering for cover in nooks and crannies around a map in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds .
The overall shape of the Abyssus Essential reminds me of the energy sword from Halo.
At the front edge, the two mouse buttons are separated by about a half inch of space.
The buttons create the sides of a little canyon overlooking a plastic divider, from which the rubber-coated USB cable pokes out the front.
Behind that gap is the scroll wheel, which has a stippled surface.
Although you cannot tweak the level of spin resistance the way you can on the Editors' Choice Razer Basilisk ($109.66 at Amazon) , the default scrolling resistance is satisfactory.
It was not so light that I'd overshoot when switching weapons in Fortnite (Free at Epic Games) , and not so heavy that it was a chore toggling to the next slot.
Meanwhile, my index and middle fingers were comfortable enough resting atop the right and left mouse buttons.
Better yet, given the symmetrical shape, the Abyssus Essential accommodates the often-neglected base of lefty gamers.
The real star of the show, though, isn't the edgy-but-minimal look; it's the lights.
Not every $50 mouse dons full-fledged RGB lighting customizable via software, which may explain the trade-offs in other, arguably more crucial areas, such as the non-braided cable or the low button count.
The Abyssus Essential has a single lighting zone that covers two key areas.
Like on most Razer mice that have mood lighting, the logo shimmers, here in one of 16.8 million colors at a time, and then there is the underglow.
Note that the Abyssus Essential's upper shell has a matte-black coating that, I found, can wear if you don't coddle it, exposing unwanted RGB light through dot-like specks.
Toss the mouse, unprotected, in a backpack when you travel, letting other objects chafe it, and you should expect to see some of these tiny chips emerge.
The bottom half of the mouse has a more rugged texture than the top, which helps with grip in addition to durability.
Performance Specs: Lightly Armed
The mainstream gaming mouse Daxdi has tested that's most comparable to the Abyssus Essential is the Logitech G Pro ($129.00 at Amazon) .
It's also among our highest-rated of recent times.
An ambidextrous mouse donning a more complicated arrangement of six buttons, the G Pro is a mainstay for gamers trying to save a buck.
And the reason you might consider it over the Abyssus Essential has as much to do with the number of buttons as it does sheer performance.
Take the maximum tracking resolution.
Whereas the pricier Abyssus Essential maxes out at 7,200dpi, the Logitech G Pro pushes a cap of 12,000dpi.
Now, DPI isn't everything; some would argue it's an arms-race factor of "my number is bigger than yours." However, the Logitech G Pro feels smooth, tracks well even across large, high-resolution displays, and has a braided cable, to boot.
When used in conjunction with a single 1080p monitor, the difference between these two mice will be negligible.
But I'd suggest opting for the Logitech G Pro were there any likelihood of you upgrading down the road to a QHD or 4K panel; the higher DPI setting might be more useful, in that situation.
What escalates the cost of the Razer Abyssus is the RGB lighting.
If you can do without it, the Logitech G Pro is your better option.
And if inexpensive RGB is dear to your heart, the Corsair Sabre RGB is another unit to look at.
It is rated for up to 10,000dpi sensitivity and bears the same 16.8 million color palette.
The one caveat is that the Sabre isn't an ambidextrous design; its wide grip reminds me of the original Xbox "Duke" controller, good for gamers with large hands but clunky for others.
The Abyssus Essential, therefore, serves a niche of gamers who prefer fewer buttons but must have ostentatious lighting.
You get no extra trappings beyond the personalization you can pull off in Razer's Synapse 3 software, such as button-function assignments, performance adjustments, and of course, tweaks to the RGB effects.
Software That's in Flux
In my Razer Basilisk review, I noted that Razer's Synapse 3 software needs some work in one key area.
Granted, it's still in beta at the moment of this review, and it's bound to see improvements upon its official release, expected in June.
But, as it stands at this writing, Synapse 3 remains incompatible with many other Razer products.
If, say, you want to use the Abyssus Essential with an older Razer keyboard, you'll need to install a previous version of Synapse, too.
That said, you can assign every button on the Abyssus Essential to an action of your choosing: a mouse function, an application launcher, or a macro (a combination of recorded keyboard and mouse functions).
This mouse in particular also supports a feature called Mouse Use, which optimizes it for either left- or right-handed players, depending on their dominant hand.
The Performance column lets you select the sensitivity level, ranging from 800dpi to 7,200dpi.
From there, you can change the polling rate to 125Hz, 500Hz, or 1,000Hz.
(Most users should just leave it at 1,000Hz.)
Under Lighting, you can choose among Breathing, Reactive, Spectrum Cycling, and Static presets, or you can switch off the lighting to save power.
If that isn't comprehensive enough, the Advanced Effects tab is where you will find Chroma Studio, but since the Abyssus has only a single lighting zone, everything you do here will apply across the whole mouse.
You get a handful of Chroma Studio-exclusive effects (Fire, Ripple, Starlight, Wave), in addition to the option to layer effects atop each other, but that's the extent of the appeal here.
The Advanced Effects can get only so advanced on a gaming mouse this basic.
The Cost of Millions of Colors
Fifty bucks is a big ask for a basic mouse, and given the sacrifices that the Abyssus Essential demands—settling for the fewest possible buttons, and beta software—the price seems steep.
While its mystical underglow will tempt those in pursuit of affordable RGB, others will bemoan the hardware compromises made to get there, such as the non-braided USB cord, a lower-than-the-pack peak sensitivity, and the susceptibility to surface chipping.
Still, some upsides balance out the cons.
You just won't find very many lefty-friendly RGB gaming mice out there, period, and none derives from a company as reputable as Razer.
Other non-RGB ambidextrous gaming mice exist, of course.
The Logitech G203 Prodigy comes first to mind, and a little searching uncovers the Asus Cerberus and BenQ Zowie FK2, among others.
Alas, some of these ambidextrous mice are not quite symmetrical, in the way the Abyssus Essential is; some have buttons on only one side; and still others bear a shape that favors right-handed players, even if they are marketed to lefties too.
As a result, lefties might look on this truly egalitarian Razer model with special favor.
And despite the current incompatibility quirks with legacy Razer gear, Synapse 3 is robust and easier to use than the Corsair Utility Engine or Logitech Gaming Software.
So that works in its favor, too.
Stiffened by that ever-changing software spine, the Abyssus Essential will improve over time.
My hope is that the pricing will, too.
Pros
Ambidextrous design.
Eye-catching underglow.
Oversize glide pads.
Cons
Coating is prone to dings.
Single-zone lighting.
Lacks a braided USB cable.
Low max DPI for the price.
View More
The Bottom Line
The Razer Abyssus Essential fills a very specific niche: It's a gaming mouse with basic features, RGB lighting, and a design that works well for both lefties and righties.
The gaming mouse has come a long way since the advent of Razer's Boomslang, a pioneer on the PC-gaming scene in the late '90s.
Razer's first gaming mouse, it used an 1,800dpi sensor, perfect for thwarting alien baddies in the shooter of its day, Quake II.
It wasn't ostentatious by today's standards, bearing five buttons plus a scroll wheel that glowed in Razer's signature "Secret of the Ooze" green.
I mention the Boomslang because, in many ways, the new Razer Abyssus Essential ($49.99) reminds me of it.
But, alas, the Abyssus isn't nearly the revolutionary must-buy that the Boomslang was in its day.
It's more of a niche mouse for lefty users and/or Razer aficionados.
Indeed, mouse times—and value propositions—have changed.
The Abyssus Essential also glows, now in the requisite 16.8 million RGB color options to turn your mouse surface into a disco.
But that's the main bit of flair, and forking over fifty bucks for a mouse with just two buttons, and a scroll wheel whose spin resistance can't be tweaked, is a tough sell.
Still, that's why this mouse is called "Essential"—Razer states outright that the feature set is no-frills.
Because so many buyers today like at least the option for pretty lights, the main appeal is the customizable RGB lighting.
As long as you're cool with that, this mouse is a fine buy; just know that the lighting and the Razer mystique is what you're paying for here, not a set of deep hardware features.
All the Lights, a Lower Price
Measuring 1.46 by 2.48 by 4.51 inches (HWD) and weighing 2.72 ounces, the Abyssus Essential is compact and light.
It's a suitable size for smaller hands, and the straight lines that define the right and left sides keep your index and middle fingers flat on the mouse, rather than arching them over a curve.
The Cougar Surpassion ($29.90 at Amazon) we recently tested, for example, is very close in size to the Abyssus.
It weighs 3.36 ounces, but its build makes it feel lighter.
Despite the Abyssus weighing less than Cougar's shooter, I never found that the Razer mouse skittered across the mouse pad on its own, the way that the Surpassion did.
It held its place where I left it.
The reason for the better grip: two glossy sections of silicone on its underside.
These mouse feet are designed to be slick, but Razer made them bigger than normal for this model, which gives them both good glide traits and decent purchase on your pad.
They should keep the mouse body from slip-sliding away and giving up your position when, say, you're cowering for cover in nooks and crannies around a map in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds .
The overall shape of the Abyssus Essential reminds me of the energy sword from Halo.
At the front edge, the two mouse buttons are separated by about a half inch of space.
The buttons create the sides of a little canyon overlooking a plastic divider, from which the rubber-coated USB cable pokes out the front.
Behind that gap is the scroll wheel, which has a stippled surface.
Although you cannot tweak the level of spin resistance the way you can on the Editors' Choice Razer Basilisk ($109.66 at Amazon) , the default scrolling resistance is satisfactory.
It was not so light that I'd overshoot when switching weapons in Fortnite (Free at Epic Games) , and not so heavy that it was a chore toggling to the next slot.
Meanwhile, my index and middle fingers were comfortable enough resting atop the right and left mouse buttons.
Better yet, given the symmetrical shape, the Abyssus Essential accommodates the often-neglected base of lefty gamers.
The real star of the show, though, isn't the edgy-but-minimal look; it's the lights.
Not every $50 mouse dons full-fledged RGB lighting customizable via software, which may explain the trade-offs in other, arguably more crucial areas, such as the non-braided cable or the low button count.
The Abyssus Essential has a single lighting zone that covers two key areas.
Like on most Razer mice that have mood lighting, the logo shimmers, here in one of 16.8 million colors at a time, and then there is the underglow.
Note that the Abyssus Essential's upper shell has a matte-black coating that, I found, can wear if you don't coddle it, exposing unwanted RGB light through dot-like specks.
Toss the mouse, unprotected, in a backpack when you travel, letting other objects chafe it, and you should expect to see some of these tiny chips emerge.
The bottom half of the mouse has a more rugged texture than the top, which helps with grip in addition to durability.
Performance Specs: Lightly Armed
The mainstream gaming mouse Daxdi has tested that's most comparable to the Abyssus Essential is the Logitech G Pro ($129.00 at Amazon) .
It's also among our highest-rated of recent times.
An ambidextrous mouse donning a more complicated arrangement of six buttons, the G Pro is a mainstay for gamers trying to save a buck.
And the reason you might consider it over the Abyssus Essential has as much to do with the number of buttons as it does sheer performance.
Take the maximum tracking resolution.
Whereas the pricier Abyssus Essential maxes out at 7,200dpi, the Logitech G Pro pushes a cap of 12,000dpi.
Now, DPI isn't everything; some would argue it's an arms-race factor of "my number is bigger than yours." However, the Logitech G Pro feels smooth, tracks well even across large, high-resolution displays, and has a braided cable, to boot.
When used in conjunction with a single 1080p monitor, the difference between these two mice will be negligible.
But I'd suggest opting for the Logitech G Pro were there any likelihood of you upgrading down the road to a QHD or 4K panel; the higher DPI setting might be more useful, in that situation.
What escalates the cost of the Razer Abyssus is the RGB lighting.
If you can do without it, the Logitech G Pro is your better option.
And if inexpensive RGB is dear to your heart, the Corsair Sabre RGB is another unit to look at.
It is rated for up to 10,000dpi sensitivity and bears the same 16.8 million color palette.
The one caveat is that the Sabre isn't an ambidextrous design; its wide grip reminds me of the original Xbox "Duke" controller, good for gamers with large hands but clunky for others.
The Abyssus Essential, therefore, serves a niche of gamers who prefer fewer buttons but must have ostentatious lighting.
You get no extra trappings beyond the personalization you can pull off in Razer's Synapse 3 software, such as button-function assignments, performance adjustments, and of course, tweaks to the RGB effects.
Software That's in Flux
In my Razer Basilisk review, I noted that Razer's Synapse 3 software needs some work in one key area.
Granted, it's still in beta at the moment of this review, and it's bound to see improvements upon its official release, expected in June.
But, as it stands at this writing, Synapse 3 remains incompatible with many other Razer products.
If, say, you want to use the Abyssus Essential with an older Razer keyboard, you'll need to install a previous version of Synapse, too.
That said, you can assign every button on the Abyssus Essential to an action of your choosing: a mouse function, an application launcher, or a macro (a combination of recorded keyboard and mouse functions).
This mouse in particular also supports a feature called Mouse Use, which optimizes it for either left- or right-handed players, depending on their dominant hand.
The Performance column lets you select the sensitivity level, ranging from 800dpi to 7,200dpi.
From there, you can change the polling rate to 125Hz, 500Hz, or 1,000Hz.
(Most users should just leave it at 1,000Hz.)
Under Lighting, you can choose among Breathing, Reactive, Spectrum Cycling, and Static presets, or you can switch off the lighting to save power.
If that isn't comprehensive enough, the Advanced Effects tab is where you will find Chroma Studio, but since the Abyssus has only a single lighting zone, everything you do here will apply across the whole mouse.
You get a handful of Chroma Studio-exclusive effects (Fire, Ripple, Starlight, Wave), in addition to the option to layer effects atop each other, but that's the extent of the appeal here.
The Advanced Effects can get only so advanced on a gaming mouse this basic.
The Cost of Millions of Colors
Fifty bucks is a big ask for a basic mouse, and given the sacrifices that the Abyssus Essential demands—settling for the fewest possible buttons, and beta software—the price seems steep.
While its mystical underglow will tempt those in pursuit of affordable RGB, others will bemoan the hardware compromises made to get there, such as the non-braided USB cord, a lower-than-the-pack peak sensitivity, and the susceptibility to surface chipping.
Still, some upsides balance out the cons.
You just won't find very many lefty-friendly RGB gaming mice out there, period, and none derives from a company as reputable as Razer.
Other non-RGB ambidextrous gaming mice exist, of course.
The Logitech G203 Prodigy comes first to mind, and a little searching uncovers the Asus Cerberus and BenQ Zowie FK2, among others.
Alas, some of these ambidextrous mice are not quite symmetrical, in the way the Abyssus Essential is; some have buttons on only one side; and still others bear a shape that favors right-handed players, even if they are marketed to lefties too.
As a result, lefties might look on this truly egalitarian Razer model with special favor.
And despite the current incompatibility quirks with legacy Razer gear, Synapse 3 is robust and easier to use than the Corsair Utility Engine or Logitech Gaming Software.
So that works in its favor, too.
Stiffened by that ever-changing software spine, the Abyssus Essential will improve over time.
My hope is that the pricing will, too.
Pros
Ambidextrous design.
Eye-catching underglow.
Oversize glide pads.
Cons
Coating is prone to dings.
Single-zone lighting.
Lacks a braided USB cable.
Low max DPI for the price.
View More
The Bottom Line
The Razer Abyssus Essential fills a very specific niche: It's a gaming mouse with basic features, RGB lighting, and a design that works well for both lefties and righties.
