Razer Mamba PC gaming mouse review

April 4, 8:55 AMPC Game ExaminerBryan Edge-Salois

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The Razer Mamba in its natural, camoflauged state.

The Razer Mamba brings a whole new level of freedom, precision, and butt-kicking to your PC gaming with its comfortable grip, (up to) 5600DPI resolution, programmable macro buttons, and wireless operation. 

The Un-boxing
Razer certainly knows how to package its products. The Mamba comes in a a hard plastic case, in which the Mamba sits perched on a clear, plastic pedestal. It looks like it belongs in a museum of Awesome Gaming Artifacts.

"Throw me the mouse, I throw you the whip!" I thought to myself while I invaded the case to remove the prize. I half expected some sort of security system to turn on when I freed the mouse from its clear plastic prison.

Installation
The Mamba uses an LED-illuminated pedestal as the battery charger and the receiver -- so even when it's out of the box, it still sits atop your desk like some sort of gaming mouse god, waiting for a sacrificial frag. 

The pedestal connects easily to any USB port. More interestingly, you can disconnect tthe USB cable from the pedestal and connect it to your mouse, converting it into a standard wired mouse -- mainly in the event of running the battery down, or if there's interference with the wireless signal. If you're still convinced that wireless mice can't be killer gaming mice, the Mamba will change that attitude quickly.

I almost instantly fell in love with the Mamba -- and the wireless freedom it provides is responsible for that in a big way. The Mamba's silky-smooth wireless operation is as much a pleasure in regular day-to-day PC usage as it is for gaming. And like the Razer Arctosa keyboard, it's one of the sexiest looking gaming mice I've had the pleasure to take for a test drive.

Ergonomics

The Mamba is plenty comfortable, although I found the macro buttons a bit inconvenient to reach. This isn't so much the Mamba's fault, however, as it is the way I like to grip the mouse. I've always preferred a light 'fingertip' mouse grip, which places my hand and palm a bit farther back on the mouse. It was rarely a big issue for shooters, but if you like the same type of grip and plan to make heavy use of the macro buttons, the Mamba may not be the best mouse for you.

The Mamba on its LED-illuminated charging pedestal

The Mamba eschews some of the (arguably) more frivolous features such as customizable feet and weights (like the Logitech G9x and Microsoft's Sidewinder x8) that can be inserted into the mouse to adjust its weight. I didn't really miss these features -- and in fact, after playing with the Mamba, my Logitech G9x felt too heavy, so I adjusted the G9x's weight to match the Mamba's. Perhaps Razer has engineered the 'perfect weight' into the Mamba already.

Performance & features
Make no mistake -- this is one wireless mouse you can game with. I detected nary a missed movement in my 'test' sessions spent with Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2. (There's not a whole lot more to say about it, really -- it just rocks.)

Although the Mamba sports a 5600DPI resolution and earns the Mamba bragging rights for 'fastest mouse in town', 5600DPI is pretty much three times the speed of ridiculous for most games or general Windows usage. Generally, after about 3000DPI the sensitivity of any gaming mouse is too  fast for most users, who will probably find themselves flying all over Windows, missing icons and menus, or spinning wildly and unable to hit the broad size of a Boomer in Left 4 Dead.

Fortunately, the Mamba can store up to five different DPI settings, which you can be changed on-the-fly using the DPI up and down buttons (the two small buttons to the left of the left mouse button). And like most gaming mice, all of the Mamba's buttons are fully programmable, and can store customized, complex keyboard/mouse macros -- which will no doubt be especially useful to RTS and MMO players.

In addition to all its customization features, the Mamba stores all its settings in its own internal memory, so you can take the Mamba to LAN parties and not have to worry about installing the Mamba driver software on a different PC.

Bottom Line
For $130, the Mamba is a relatively expensive mouse (even for gaming mice), but it definitely delivers on its promises --it's a wirless mouse that is as fast, ultra-precise, flexible, and comfortable as its corded siblings.

Visit the Razer Mamba home page for more info

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Razer Arctosa gaming keyboard

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