🚀 go-pugleaf

I said I'd give a short review after using it for a day or two.

As mentioned, The Ikari has a lot to live up to with a direct comparison to
the Copperhead.  The question is:  Does it actually stack up?

The answer is... well, yes and no.  But, If the question were:  "Does the
Razer Copperhead stack up to the SteelSeries Ikari Laser?"  The answer would
be the same.  It does and it doesn't.  I almost wish I had the time and
resources to make one perfect mouse out of the two of these.

At first, I thought the Ikari felt a little cheap.  It is taller and has a
wider base than the copperhead, but they are very close to the same weight.
The Ikari makes a hollow sound when it moves or when the scroll wheel is
used.  In fact, it sounds like the scroll wheel is rubbing on something, but
I've come to the conclusion that it has to do with the shaft and nothing is
actually rubbing.  If the copperhead (or any other mouse) had as much hollow
space as the Ikari, then they would probably make the same sound.  I've also
come to the conclusion that the hollow sound and light weight tricked me
into the feeling that it is cheap.

The side buttons (there are only two and they are where the thumb can feel
and choose either one) are in a better position than on the copperhead. 
However, they are a little less sensitive.

DPI (cpi) switching is far easier on the Ikari, but there are only two
choices.  The copperhead lets you switch through your DPI settings with the
buttons on the right side of the mouse.  You have several choices.  The
Ikari has one button behind the scroll wheel that lets you switch between
your high and low DPI (cpi) settings. -  But, the thing is that the
Copperhead locks you in to settings they chose.  The Ikari lets you make a
profile for your high and low settings and those settings are adjustable by
single counts.  You can fine tune your settings exactly to suit your
purpose.  If there was a 3 way switch to have a high, medium, and low
setting, it would be be far superior to the Copperhead in that respect.  - 
I mentioned that it was easier to switch.  The Ikari has that button behind
the scroll wheel where the copperhead has two buttons on the right side of
the mouse that are hard to reach because of the lit up rubber thing that
goes down both sides of the mouse.  In game, it is a lot easier to switch
with a button you can reach for either high or low rather than a choice of
two buttons (one for up and one for down) that are hard to reach.  But, as I
mentioned in my review of the copperhead a few days ago, I only find a few
opportunities in game to need to switch.  Then it really comes down to
whether the user might prefer two choices of personally tuned CPI settings
or several selections of higher or lower CPI settings.

Ergonamics:  Well, the Razer feels sort of like an oversized microsoft
optical with a low profile.  The SteelSeries feels like an oversized
logitech with a higher profile.  The Copperhead is designed for right or
left handed use.  The SteelSeries is only for the right handed.  The feel of
a mouse is most certainly a personal preference sort of thing, but also has
a lot to do with the amount of control you can acheive.  The rubber sides on
the Copperhead give very nice finger-tip control.  The ergo-mould of the
Akari lends itself to more of a whole-hand or wrist control of the mouse. 
However, the high counts per inch settings for both mice means less mouse
travel on the mousing surface, so it is really hard to tell the difference
between finger-tip control and whole hand control.  At lower counts per inch
settings, it becomes more evident.

The reviews I read on the net all mentioned the Free Move feature for the
SteelSeries.  All of them questioned its usefulness because it equates to
the mouse smoothing settings you find in windows and in most mouse driver
software, and more or less, everyone agrees that mouse smoothing is no good
for gaming.  Well, Free Move may not be useful for gaming, but it makes this
mouse a superior mouse for Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and very certianly
Autocad than the Razer can be.  Turning on Free Move and turning it up a
ways gives some great ability to draw straight lines.  You do have to use
the Ikari software to turn on or off the free move and to adjust it when it
is on.  Just an FYI - there is no need for any software to adjust the CPI
settings on the Ikari.  You can fine tune your settings manually with the
button and the wheel.

Both SteelSeries and Razer say not to use mouse skates.  I've never used
them and had never really considered them before Folk mantioned them the
other day.  That got me to looking at all the mouse feet around here and
also got me looking at the difference between the feet on the Razer
Copperhead and the SteelSeries Ikari.  The Razer moves faster and easier on
every single mouse surface I can find around here.  (and by the way, neither
mouse tracks worth a damn on cloth mouse pads, but both are exceptionally
accurate on hard surfaces).  The smaller feet on the Razer are just less
surface area and they glide better.  -  The Ikari has huge pads.  Even
though they don't glide as well as the Copperhead, I have to think that they
will be far more durable.  I've worn the feet off a few mice (most recently,
my ratpadz piece of junk mouse surface ate a logitech mx310 in a few
months).  I like the idea of better durability, but the glide performance
difference is actually noticable on both smooth and textured surfaces.  The
durability question might come in to play with the glide performance with
the copperhead, though.  If the feet start to wear, then it won't perform as
well a few months down the road.  I don't know which design is better...
super fast mouse feet that will probably wear quickly or somewhat slower
feet that will probably have identicle performance over a very long period
of time.

Both mice have almost too sensitive primary and secondary buttons.  It is
really easy to right click when you only intended to move or reposition the
mouse.  The Ikari primary and secondary buttons are moulded with the top of
the mouse, so they won't collect as much debris.  That is a plus.  The
Ikari's cord is encased in a tangle-free mesh where the Razer Copperhead has
a limp plastic-shrouded cord.  The SteelSeries cord looks more durable, but
both cords are nearly spring-back free.  The Ikari doesn't have the stupid
pulsating lights (plus for me but as I said before:  When I was younger, I
would have thought the stupid lights were really cool).  But, the side
lights on the copperhead are also encased in some rubber that is easy to
finger-tip grip.  The Ikari could use a little more texture to make the grip
feel more secure.  Both mice allow macros to be programmed to the buttons. 
The Ikari has a white LED that indicates whether you are set to high or low
CPI, but the Copperhead doesn't... but I think if you can't tell by how your
cursor reacts whether you are switched to high or low, maybe a gaming mouse
is beyond your needs anyway.

If I had to give up one mouse or the other, I still don't know which one I
would keep.  The Razers low profile makes it feel somewhat more like the
Microsoft optical mice I've always had, so it isn't as unfamiliar feeling
but did take a bit of getting used to because of the size and sensitivity
differences.  The SteelSeries still has somewhat of an unfamiliar feel, but
the couple of weeks it will take Razer to complete the RMA process and get a
new Copperhead to me might be enough time for me to not want to switch back.
 Either way, my son is going to be happy when his system gets a shiny new
gaming mouse <grin>.