Rapoo VT7 Max Gen-2 Wireless Gaming Mouse Review
THe Lightest Mouse I’ve Ever Used!
Retail Price: $59.99
Disclaimer: Rapoo sent us a unit free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees and support our channel by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.This is the most lightweight mouse I’ve used thus far— and I’m not even kidding about that. When I first unboxed the Rapoo VT7 Max Gen-2 I thought this was a toy. Weighing a mere 53 grams, can this mouse really perform as good as it feels? Let’s take a closer look.
Very Unassuming
The Rapoo VT7 Max Gen-2 comes off as a very unassuming mouse. The white variant I received is simple in look and feel. It’s 5-inches long and about 2.5 inches in width. It fits my palm comfortably and has supposedly been designed with esport pros to be optimized for claw and fingertip grip styles. There are 10 programmable buttons that can be macro recorded to streamline efficiency. However, I was unable to actually try programming them due to the software being in Chinese. For a mouse sold to a western audience, this is a major deterrence as it doesn’t seem to be much of an effort put into supporting a global release. However, it is comfortable, can be used for both left or right handed, and has more features than the generic look it has may give off.
Connectivity
I’ll preface the rest of this review saying that I did not game much with this mouse (what new mother has time for that right?). I did, however, use it everyday as an office mouse on both Windows and MacOS. The VT7 Max can be used both wired and wirelessly via 2.4 Ghz connection. I typically used it wirelessly and was impressed at how quickly it reconnected with my device even after going idle for a bit of time. It was seamless to use and quick to respond. I wasn’t surprised, given its features as a gaming mouse, but it made my usage that much more effortless to tackle the everyday tasks and worksheets I would use it for. I also appreciated the 800 mAh battery life. Despite over a month of regular use now, the battery is still going strong (although for the sake of this review I did try charging it). Rapoo advertises up to 750 hours of battery life on a single charge— which is quite impressive.
For those who are interested in its gaming features, Rapoo lists a 30K optical sensor, 120M optical switch, and true 8K wireless polling on the VT7 Max. In practice, this mouse should perform well for those looking for no lag and fast reaction during gameplay. There’s also additional features like mouse rotation adjustments and on-board memory for supporting multi-profiles. There’s not a lot this mouse can’t do when it comes to features and functions. So what is it missing?
Mixed Emotions
To me, Rapoo sacrificed a bit in its design language to dial in and focus creating such a lightweight mouse. And by that I mean, if you’re looking to purchase something that adds some wow factor to your desk, the VT7 Max is not it. There’s no fancy RGB lights that are staples for gaming peripherals, there’s no pop of color, there’s nothing except for the Rapoo logo that even then you will need to look closely to identify. It’s completely muted in the best way possible though as it has a minimalistic vibe to it. If the look of your accessories doesn’t matter to you— that’s totally fine, but traditionally that’s what distinguishes a “gaming” accessory from a regular office mice. And I think in part, the reason why Rapoo didn’t add any bells and whistles to the look other than from a weight standpoint, was to keep its price fairly low. At about $60, this is what I’d consider a mid-tier mouse, but when pitted against competitors with some of these selling points, it has potentially some better value than other brands which do contain RGBs. Personally, looking at the mouse doesn’t make me happy or excited to use it, but the VT7 Max has been a workhorse when it comes to being comfortable enough to use daily for me.
So should you buy this mouse? I guess it depends. I was unable to program any keys as a test due to the software language barrier and on their site. That might not matter to you if you are able to read Chinese. Again, if you’re looking for something that looks exciting or different, this is not at all what you may be interested in. If you want a non-intrusive design that is simple, then this mouse fits that to a tee. Selfishly, I think I’m willing to sacrifice some of this ultra lightweight functionality for a little more trendy design language, but the Rapoo VT7 Max does make up for it with a fantastic battery life.
With a long-standing reputation as a workhorse, the Logitech MX Master 3S maintains its reputation as an ergonomic driven mouse.