Razer Mamba Wired/Wireless Mouse Review
Taking on the wireless gaming arena with a
vengeance
Features:
• Detachable seven-foot, lightweight, braided
cord
• Battery life & DPI stage indicator
• Ultra-large non-slip Hype response™ buttons
• Ergonomic design
• Zero-acoustic Ultra slick™ Teflon feet
Specifications:
• Gaming Grade Wireless Technology
• Dual Mode Wired/Wireless Functionality
• Razer Synapse™ On-board Memory
• 5600DPI Razer Precision™ 3.5G Laser sensor
• 1000Hz Ultra polling™ / 1ms response rate
• Up to 200 inches per second*/ 50g acceleration
• Approximate size: 128mm x 70mm x 42.5mm
• Battery Life: 14hrs (continuous gaming); 72hrs (normal gaming usage)
*Depends on surface used
Jumping into the wireless arena with all guns
blazing
There was once a time where it was perceived
that no real gamer would try using a wireless mouse. Many of these ideas
came from the fact that wireless mice just couldn't keep up with the
accuracy of a wired mouse. My first gaming mouse was the Razer DeathAdder. I
wasn't aware of how important a mouse was to certain types of gaming until I
started to read about gaming mice technology on the Razer website.
Razer has figured out how to create a very fast and agile hybrid wired/wireless
mouse with the Mamba.
Contents
I found the Mamba packaging to be very
impressive. The mouse comes in a very nice clear acrylic display box that allows one a
full 360 degree view of the mouse. You can easily tell that this is a flagship
mouse for Razer from the box it comes in. It has been rumored that Razer has
been working on this mouse since '01. Like most things Razer they didn't want to
let an unfinished product out on the market until it was tested and the Mamba
has definitely come of age.
The top part of the box is a clear acrylic case
the pretty much showcases the Mamba on a pedestal but sits on top of the rest of
the boxed enclosure. 4 more additional boxes are housed with the lower black
box.
The first box is sideways in the bottom part of
the case and contains 5 manuals: 1) Mamba quick start guide 2) Driver download
and support page 3) Certificate of authenticity 4) 2 Master guides (one in
English and the other in French)
After pulling the above first box out one will
notice 3 more boxes that can be pulled out like drawers from a closet. The top
(1st box) contains the connector for Mini-USB End of Cable (Wired mode / battery
charging). The 2nd box contains the Rechargeable battery and battery cover. The
bottom (3rd box) contains the battery charging dock which acts as the receiver
as well for the Mamba.
Connections
Connecting up the Mamba is a fairly easy and
straight forward process. Razer does recommends you charge the battery for a
good 3 hours before using it in wireless mode. Using the USB cable you plug in
one end into the charging dock and the other into any available USB port on your
system. On the bottom of the Mamba you will want to slide the power switch to
the on (left) position.
To pair the Mamba with the charging dock you push in the
pairing button in on the charging doc and the mamba at the same time. The
pairing button on the charging dock will start to blink indicating the pairing
process has started. Once the blinking stops the charging process is
complete and as long as you have the charging dock connected to your system
through the USB you are ready for wireless action. If you want to go to wired
play just hook the connector jack from the USB cable into the front end of the
Mamba and you are ready to go wired.
The great thing about this is that it will
charge as well while connected directly to the Mamba! So depending on how long
you use the mamba you will be able to go back to wireless if you want to later
on if need be. To disconnect the wire from the Mamba you only need to slide the
release lever over on the bottom of the Mamba and pull out the connector
and you are good to go wireless again.
A Thing about Polling
Latency or polling is the amount of time it
takes to move data across a wireless connection. With the Mamba you will have a
1ms/1000Hz polling. Normal mice have a 8ms/125Hz Polling. This means that it
takes a normal mice 7 times longer (8ms/125Hz polling vs. the Mamba's 1ms/1000Hz
polling) for it's data to reach the system than the Mamba. If you are wanting to
play to the extreme every 1ms counts! The Mamba has effectively taken the
speed and accuracy that was once only for wired gaming mice to the wireless
playing field with the Mamba.
Specifications and
comparisons
| |
Razer Mamba (wireless) |
Logitech G9 |
Logitech G9X |
Microsoft Sidewinder X8 (wireless) |
Razer DeathAdder |
| DPI Ranges |
100-5600 |
200–3200 |
200-5000 |
200-4000 |
1800 |
| Wireless/Laser type |
Razer Precision™ 3.5G Laser sensor |
|
|
Blue Track Technology |
Razer Precision™ 3G infrared sensor |
| Dual mode (wired and wireless capability) |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Size (Dimensions) |
28mm (length) x 70mm (width) x 42.5mm (height) |
|
|
125.6mm x 78.8mm |
28mm (length) x 70mm (width) x 42.5mm (height) |
| Custom Grips |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Acceleration |
50 G |
20 G |
30G |
75 G |
15 G |
| Tuning Weights |
No |
Yes (up to 28 Grams) |
Yes (up to 28 Grams) |
No |
No |
| Ultra polling Rates |
1ms/1000Hz |
1000Hz |
1000Hz |
500Hz |
1ms/1000Hz |
| Onboard Memory |
Yes (up to 5 profiles) |
Yes (up to 5 profiles) |
Yes (up to 5 profiles) |
? |
No |
| Battery Life |
14 Hrs (Continuous) 72 Hrs (Normal Gaming) |
N/A |
N/A |
30 Hours |
N/A |
| Buttons |
7 Customizable |
7 |
7 |
12 Total (7 customizable) |
5 |
| Hand Orientation |
Right |
Right |
Right |
Right |
Right |
| Tilt Wheel |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| On the Fly DPI switching |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Warranty |
2 Year |
3 year |
3 year |
3 year |
2 year |
| Wireless Capability |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Pros
1. A true gamer mouse that out
beats the competition of the top of the line wired gaming mice on the market
today
2. Ability to switch from wired to
wireless mode is a huge plus for us gamers
3. Lightweight and very comfortable
in your hand
4. Programmable profiles so you can
take your Mamba on the go and be ready for any type of LAN party action
Cons
1. Price at $129 USD (as of 06/07/09 can be a bit steep for the
casual gamer)
2. The release button for taking
out the USB adapter from the front of the Mamba in wired mode can be a bit
tricky.
Conclusion
I was using the Razer DeathAdder
Mouse before I bought the Mamba. Mind you I was very happy with the DeathAdder
but I had to get my hands on the Mamba and see what all the hype was about.
I am very pleased with the in-game testing that I have done so far with the
Mamba. It has the comfy feel of the DeathAdder but with more buttons and
wireless. I find the ease of being able to move the mouse around without the
least bit of drag from the wire of a wired mouse to be very nice indeed. The
Response time was very nice as well. I run the mouse at around 3000 DPI for my
liking right now in FPS games but being able to go up to 5600 leaves me with
plenty of space if need be. Being able to switch DPI setting profiles on the fly
is very nice as well. There is nothing like being able to go from a fast run and
gun style of play on a high DPI to a lower DPI for those more intricate sniper
shots if one needs to. I have done a little bit of testing so far in my favorite
shooter (COD 4 Modern Warfare) but I will be adding more feedback as I use the
Mamba more in the combat zone. Stay tuned.
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