When it released three years ago, the Viper Mini quickly gained a lot of fans. Value for money was excellent, and the shape, which essentially is a smaller Viper with a larger hump, was received very well. Hence, it came as no surprise that people wanted more: a better sensor, along with wireless. Earlier this year, the Viper Mini Signature Edition checked those boxes, but at a not so budget price point of $279.99. By comparison, the Cobra Pro is almost a bargain at $129.99, coming with many of the features already familiar from recent Razer releases such as the Viper V2 Pro, DeathAdder V3 Pro, and Basilisk V3 Pro.

Accordingly, performance is largely as expected on the Cobra Pro. Razer's latest Focus Pro 30K sensor is used, with great results: CPI deviation is appreciably low, general tracking virtually flawless aside from minor outliers in wired mode, polling stable, and wireless motion delay at 1600 CPI sits at just 1 ms. The only issue worth mentioning is a rather curious behavior which I've also encountered on many other recent Razer releases, where motion delay will increase by a full interval at a random point throughout the motion. Of course, the Cobra Pro is also compatible with Razer's HyperPolling Wireless Dongle, which enables true 4000 Hz wireless polling, lowering latency even further. Click latency likewise is just as excellent as one would think: At 1000 Hz and in 2.4 GHz operation, 0.9 ms are averaged, and in conjunction with the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle at 2000 and 4000 Hz, a mere 0.5 ms can be achieved.

Compared to the Viper V2 Pro and DeathAdder V3 Pro, Razer has opted for a different approach on the Cobra Pro. Whereas the former mice did away with RGB lighting, Bluetooth, rubber side grips, and charging dock compatibility in an effort to go for the lowest weight possible, all these features are included on the Cobra Pro. In a sense, the Cobra Pro could be regarded as the result of giving the Viper Mini the Viper Ultimate treatment, as the feature set is nearly identical. At the same time, there is an argument to be made that the Viper Mini is the wrong mouse to give said treatment to, as its small form factor doesn't lend itself as well to being loaded with weight-increasing features. At 77 g, the Cobra Pro not only weighs close to 20 g more than the Viper Mini, which had minimal RGB lighting and no rubber side grips, it even weighs more than the Viper Ultimate, which was sitting at 74 g while being much larger. While I hesitate to call the Cobra Pro "heavy," and the excellent weight distribution contributes to it not feeling heavy, I believe a small mouse like this one would feel much better in hand if it were in the 60-65 g weight range. Build quality at least is fine on my unit, as actuating the side buttons by pressing below them is impossible, although when applying lateral pressure, the shell makes a little pop sound, which persisted even after disassembly.

In order to better support the extensive RGB lighting, the Cobra Pro comes with a larger 420 mAh battery instead of the 300 mAh ones used on the Viper V2 Pro and DeathAdder V3 Pro. Despite the larger capacity, battery life without illumination is similar to the Viper V2 Pro and DeathAdder V3 Pro, sitting around 100 hours in 2.4 GHz wireless operation. The Cobra Pro has Bluetooth, however, which provides up to 170 hours of battery life. Since the battery charge indicator within the software is in fact accurate and reliable, I've also been able to gauge expected battery life with RGB lighting enabled at the default brightness. Around 50 hours can be estimated, which is a decent bit better than what the Basilisk V3 Pro has been able to muster, while featuring similarly extensive RGB lighting yet a much larger 600 mAh battery. Charging isn't particularly fast on the Cobra Pro, but the charging cable is decently flexible, and considering the very solid battery life, charging not breaking any speed records can be forgiven.

The Cobra Pro comes with Razer's latest-gen optical switches for the main buttons, which deliver a firm and snappy button response, some pre-travel notwithstanding. Subjectively, button response feels sharper yet more muted compared to the Viper V2 Pro's, and subjectively less pleasing. For the side buttons, Razer has opted for low-profile switches from CF, which score with low pre and post-travel, but button response is weirdly muted. Due to how the mouse is designed internally, going with full-size switches wasn't really an option, but button response surely would've benefited, as these switches are more suited towards being used as CPI buttons, which they actually are used for on the Cobra Pro as well. The scroll wheel encoder comes from TTC ("blue") and provides decently tactile and controlled scrolling, though noise levels are elevated. The usual PTFE feet familiar from other recent Razer releases also see use on the Cobra Pro, and glide is as excellent as ever.

Synapse is the software of choice for the Cobra Pro, and there isn't much to say about it that hasn't been said before: Resource usage is still substantial, but functionality is fine, and bugs virtually nonexistent. One thing the Cobra Pro has over the Viper V2 Pro and DeathAdder V3 Pro is the presence of a profile button, by making use of which one can easily get by installing Synapse for initial setup once and uninstall right after. With no less than five profiles, accounting for pretty much any use case should be easy.

Those who simply wanted a Viper Mini made wireless no doubt will be disappointed by the Cobra Pro, whereas those who've always wanted a Viper Mini with the Viper Ultimate/Basilisk V3 Pro feature set will feel right at home. Objectively, there is little to criticize, and though still pricey, the Cobra Pro retails for $20 less than the Viper V2 Pro or DeathAdder V3 Pro did while having virtually the same feature set as the $159.99 Basilisk V3 Pro, making it the "budget" model of the Pro series of mice. As such, the Cobra Pro earns our Recommended award.

Looking at the competition, there is a seemingly unlimited number of options. For $159.00, the G-Wolves Hati-S Plus 4K comes with true 4000 Hz wireless polling out of the box, similar performance, better buttons, and a much lower weight at 51 g, though also no RGB lighting or a full bottom plate. The $119.99 VAXEE XE Wireless has slightly worse performance, the same weight, better buttons and build, and extensive on-board configurability. For $99.99, the Xtrfy M8 Wireless comes with worse performance, lower weight, great buttons and build, and no need for software. The $94.95 Pulsar X2 and X2 Mini have worse performance, a lower weight while lacking a proper bottom plate, and higher button quality, but some issues with quality control. For $89.99, the LAMZU Atlantis and Atlantis Mini likewise have worse performance, a lower weight while also lacking a proper bottom plate, and better buttons. For $79.99, the Endgame Gear XM2we has worse performance, a lower weight, optical switches for the main buttons, and perfectly functional software. Lastly, the Cooler Master MM712 is the budget option at $69.99, with significantly worse performance even on the latest firmware, optical main button switches, a lower weight, and a poor side button.