Razer Mamba Gaming Mouse
Test Setup & Results
Published: 10th April 2009 | Source: Razer | Price: £116.14 |
Test Setup
Here's a short list of hardware that will be used when putting the mouse through its paces:
Intel Core 2 Quad q6600 @ 3.0Ghz
Gigabyte X38-DQ6
OCZ ATI Certified PC-6400 4x1GB kit @ 800mhz
Sapphire 3870XT 512MB
Samsung Spinpoint F1 500GB
Samsung Syncmaster 2232BW
Boogie Bug AimB.Pad XL Gaming Surface
To give the mouse a thorough testing the following programs will be used:
Mozilla Firefox - Surfing the web is one of the most common tasks performed on a computer system today, therefore it is necessary to see how the mouse performs during casual browsing.
Wordpad - Office work comprises of mainly typing, however the humble mouse has a large part to play in fonts, sizing colour etc.
Team Fortress 2 - a team-based first-person shooter multiplayer game that demands a quick response time and smooth effortless tracking.
Results
Adobe Photoshop
Many users complain about poor tracking making it difficult to carry out the necessary tasks during photo editing. Cutting out a rendered image is one such task, therefore it had to be undertaken. To my surprise the Mamba performed well, far above my expectations. The MX Revolution used to do this well, but the Mamba walked all over it and then some.
Simple tasks like selecting items in the toolbar, creating brush strokes and cloning all became effortless thanks to the superior tracking of the 3.5G laser sensor.
Mozilla Firefox
Browsing the web was a pleasurable experience at 5600DPI. Generally when a laser mouse exceeds 3000DPI you find yourself moving past the area you intended to stop at, or clicking only to find that the mouse cursor has moved and your click hasn't registered. This is not the case with the Mamba. Every target was hit and every link was successfully registered as if the Mamba's life depended on it.
Opening tabs can be a burden on some mice, requiring a hard press down on the scroll wheel to initiate a new tab. The Mamba did this with ease. It was almost like it could predict your next move, and execute it perfectly below your fingertips.
Moving forward and backward between pages was much like any other mouse, but the clever positioning of the side buttons meant that switching from one button to the other was very efficient. The thumb rests on both buttons and can be moved with ease to the desired button as and when necessary.
Wordpad
The mouse doesn't play as large a role as the keyboard in this application, but fiddling around with the font, text size and colour were all simple tasks that the Razer Mamba chewed up and spat out.
Team Fortress 2
The game that makes grown men boil with rage and little boys cry. A fast paced first person shooter that requires great skill and tactics. Playing as one class wouldn't provide and accurate view of how the mouse performed so a few popular classes were used to determine the overall performance of the mouse.
Scout - The speedy gonzales of the game. Wielding a baseball bat and armed with a scattergun the scout uses his speed and agility to bombard the enemy with shotgun pellets in quick succession, however he cannot sustain a lot of damage. During the game as scout it was apparent the Mambas sensor was doing its work. Keeping the crosshair on the opposing player posed a challenge at first, but after a few minutes the sheer speed of the mouse swiftly changed from a nuisance to a powerful weapon that could be used to outplay the opponent.
Soldier - The spammer. If you want a good spamfest this is the class to use. Armed with a Rocket launcher you can propel up to four rockets simultaneously at the enemy. A durable but slow character. Using the Soldier is great when you aren't in a competitive mood. Jump on and shoot a few rockets about here and there. One noticeable area in which the Soldier excelled using the Mamba was taking out Scouts. They like to use their speed to get behind you, but the Mamba allowed me to follow the enemy like a hawk ready to strike on it's prey.
Spy - The master of disguise. Armed with a knife, the ability to disguise as the opposing team and an invisibility cloak the spy uses these traits to outwit and backstab his opponent. Getting close enough to the opponent to stab him in the back is half the battle. Once a desirable position has been reached uncloaking and stabbing your opponent can be difficult, especially if you don't judge the angle quite right. Quickly readjusting to get a backstab, disguising and cloaking were synchronised together with the agile response of the Mamba.
Most Recent Comments
Anyway, nice review, and I like the way it can be wired aswell
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Originally Posted by name='PeterStoba'
Author: Stuart Kennedy? I thought Anti Hero wrote it, who is called Pete? :S
Anyway, nice review, and I like the way it can be wired aswell |
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Originally Posted by name='Sleekit'
oooo looks niice, they need to revamp the GUI of the software badly haha. Might still pick a logitech over this tho
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The only reason I'd pick another mouse, logitech,roccat etc.. over this is price
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Originally Posted by name='Jim'
Is his name Pete? All emails came from Stuart. Maybe his brother?
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Thanks for all your comments guys. It's great seeing my review published on the front page
Interesting to see that the disadvantages of wireless have been cancelled out, but that price is rediculous!
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Originally Posted by name='jiffz'
Great review mate, enjoyed reading that. I liked the way you chose 3 different classes in TF2 as they are all handled very differently.
Interesting to see that the disadvantages of wireless have been cancelled out, but that price is rediculous! |
I think it's so nice, I may even buy one
Linky
-edit-
I'm guessing the wireless in this is pretty powerful, do you know if it affects speakers in the same way as a mobile phone?
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Originally Posted by name='Luigi'
I'm guessing the wireless in this is pretty powerful, do you know if it affects speakers in the same way as a mobile phone?
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Originally Posted by name='Luigi'
It would seem microsoft have already made a wireless gaming mouse, and judging by the reviews I have read, it works pretty well.
I think it's so nice, I may even buy one Linky |
Also, I hope theres some sarcasm there because that mouse is fugly!
looks amazing and im sure it performs amazing
- The weight is good, with a solid feel about it.
- The size is a tad small and I find that my hand is still resting on the mouse pad as opposed to being completed supported by the mouse. I don't have big hands either i.e., medium sized gloves fit me ok.
- Button feel on the left and right mouse buttons is the best I have come across. Tactile and responsive at the same time.
- DPI adjust buttons don't feel like they are in the right spot. The idea is good but I end up usually clicking the LMB at the same time.
- The forward/backward buttons seem too far forward but this could just be the way my hand is shaped.
- Scroll wheel has nice weighting and feel.
- I am unable to detect any lag of any sort when wireless.
- The on/off button is a good idea.
- Surface of the mouse feels good but am concerned that the surface coating will wear off in time.
- The LED's on the side is a good idea which I have used for checking which DPI setting I am on.
- The software that comes with it is not that hard to use. I am using version 1.07 and firmware 1.13 so maybe it has improved with the later releases.
- In-game performance is good and I forget I am using the mouse which is a good sign as it means that the mouse is doing its job and not fighting me. However I am not using the backward/forward buttons.
- Other reviews have mentioned that the USB lead is fiddly to plug into and out of the mouse but I have found it works well. You need to use the cable release button which is why some people may have had a problem.
Overall a good mouse. Was it worth the money?....not really. I suspect I can get a mouse at half the cost with pretty similar specs and performance. Time will tell on the longevity of the product and the cost will be forgiven if it lasts as long as I hope.
Thanks guys for the article/review and as a newbie to the site I hope I can add my 2 cents worth on product that you have reviewed that I have purchased and used.
The drivers do not like windows vista or windows 7 (i think)
The mouse wheel makes all kinds of noise
I cant seem to pinpoint things im trying to click on anymore
In FPS games its REALLY bad
I do like it because its big and its fast
The one i have the side grips? or whatever are starting to come off sometimes when i touch them and it gets dirty alot
I even have the Razer Vespula that Razer says is the best pad for this mouse
On another note dont ever buy a vespula if you game alot because both sides of mine are were out and ive had this pad less then 6 months (and the wrist thing hurts your hand after sometime
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Originally Posted by HackHeaven
I have this mouse and i have to say its the first mouse that is a *gaming mouse* ive had and it is not good The drivers do not like windows vista or windows 7 (i think) The mouse wheel makes all kinds of noise I cant seem to pinpoint things im trying to click on anymore In FPS games its REALLY bad I do like it because its big and its fast The one i have the side grips? or whatever are starting to come off sometimes when i touch them and it gets dirty alot I even have the Razer Vespula that Razer says is the best pad for this mouse On another note dont ever buy a vespula if you game alot because both sides of mine are were out and ive had this pad less then 6 months (and the wrist thing hurts your hand after sometime |
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Originally Posted by Zeals
Yeah there are a lot of complaints with the Vespula wristrest, since the material used to make the cover for it is extremely coarse or something. When it comes to the Mumba, are you using the latest drivers? Because mine doesn't have any of those problems, I guess it's just Razer quality control problem. |
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Originally Posted by HackHeaven
I dont even have the software for it installed i dont think because its kind of hard to get it installed i did have it installed on my old pc and it was the same as it is now |
I was bought this mouse by my lovely girlfriend when it came out, and I've had no problems with it at all, no driver problems, no squeaking from the scroller and I find it more responsive compared to my old G5, and I'm a heavy fps gamer so I'm v.fussy about my mice.
i had a deathadder
better than any other i have had. well engineering and ergonomic. plus it matches my black and blue neon theme
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