Software

The Orochi V2 is fully compatible with Razer's staple software suite, Synapse 3. Synapse is embedded into an overarching software suite called Razer Central. From there, it is possible to install additional optional modules, such as Chroma Connect, Chroma Studio, or the highly sophisticated macro editor.

All settings are accessible through four tabs. "Customize" houses button remapping, which also includes a HyperShift function to enable a second set of button maps that can be accessed upon pressing a dedicated shift button. "Performance" is used to adjust CPI for up to five levels, ranging from 100 to 18,000 CPI and in increments of 100. Polling rate can be set to 125, 500, or 1000 Hz. "Calibration" allows one to adjust the lift-off distance either by selecting one of two pre-defined levels (1 or 2 mm) or one of the pre-calibrated Razer surfaces. The fourth tab, called "Power," includes all settings related to power-saving. One can set the idle time (in minutes) after which the mouse enters sleep mode, as well as the battery status percentage at which Low Power Mode is enabled. In Low Power mode, the maximum tracking speed of the sensor is lowered from 450 IPS (11.43 m/s) to 200 IPS (5.08 m/s), alongside increasing the sensor framerate ramp-up time, which increases delay at the onset of motion. Lastly, profile management is available, too.

All setting changes are applied immediately and saved to the on-board memory, so the software does not need to be running (or be installed) all the time. On my system, the software had a RAM footprint of 328 MB on average when running in the foreground, which doesn't change when minimized, be it to the taskbar or the system tray. Upon exiting the application, several processes with an overall RAM footprint of 147 MB keep running. Remarkably, these processes even load when setting Synapse not to auto-start with Windows. The only way to shut off everything while having Synapse installed is by running the firmware updater for the Orochi V2. Speaking of which, firmware updates can only be done through Bluetooth, which involves a process that is as tedious as it is laborious.

Battery Life

The Orochi V2 can be operated either with a single AA or a single AAA-battery, but not both. Expected battery life thus will not only depend on settings and connectivity, but on battery capacity as well. According to Razer, when using the included Lithium AA-battery, the Orochi V2 has an expected battery life of up to 425 hours if used in 2.4 GHz mode at a polling rate of 1000 Hz, and up to 950 hours using Bluetooth. Lithium AA-batteries typically have a capacity of around 3000 mAh, so through simple arithmetic, one can gauge expected battery life with one's battery of choice.

While Synapse includes a basic, non-percentage-based battery charge status indicator, it is based on the discharge curve expected of a Lithium AA-battery. Thus, the estimate will be largely if not entirely off when using any battery that isn't a Lithium AA; i.e., even just a regular Alkaline AAA. Meanwhile, the Low Power Mode setting is based on a percentage which relates to the current battery charge status, which makes this setting of little use if a non-Lithium AA-battery is used, as it won't work the way it's supposed to. In addition to the status indicator within Synapse, Windows will display a percentage-based indicator within Bluetooth settings when using Bluetooth, though this one operates under the same parameters and is merely implemented in order to comply with specifications, irrespective of the accuracy of its reported value. In any case, due to battery status reporting being unreliable when using a non-Lithium AA-battery, which I did during testing, I cannot give any estimate regarding expected battery life.

After not moving the mouse for a short while, the Orochi V2 enters a rest state from which it can be woken up by either moving the mouse or clicking any button. The same goes for sleep mode, which is entered after a certain amount of time set in minutes within Synapse.