Razer Mamba Review

Razer Mamba Review – There aren’t many wireless gaming mouse in the market at the moment. Apart from Razer Mamba, we have Razer Orochi, Microsoft SideWinder X8 or the upcoming Roccat Pyra. There may be others that I’m not aware of (feel free to shed some light for me) but at this moment in time, competition is not so fierce. Nevertheless, Razer doesn’t just provide a so-so solution but instead going all out with the Razer Mamba.

I’m not going to talk much about the Mamba’s technical specification as you can read them by yourself over at Razer Mamba’s official page. Let’s have a closer look at the Mamba in this Razer Mamba Review post.

Razer Mamba Review – Mamba features overview

From the build quality, performance of the mouse, and up to the display case itself, Razer Mamba is top notch in every aspect. There is a bit of annoyance with plugging and unplugging the cable (more on this later) but I can’t find any significant flaw with this mouse. Razer Mamba is black coated with added blue glow ambients on the Razer logo and the middle mouse button. The wireless transceiver is also as menacing as the mouse itself, complete with a blue light glow beneath it.

Apart from the usual left-middle-right mouse buttons, Razer Mamba comes with two extra side buttons and two tiny DPI switches. These buttons are of course configurable through the Razer Mamba’s Configurator software.

If you game (if not, why do you even bother getting this mouse?), it’s best to leave the DPI switches as the default. This way, you can crank up the DPI higher by pressing the upper button when you game and set the DPI lower when you are on your desktop. These DPI settings are set through Razer Mamba Configurator software.

Razer Mamba Review – Feel

Razer Mamba feels great in your hand or I should say, my hand. It’s definitely designed for right handed gamers as it’s ergonomically designed for the right hand (it has nice contour for your thumb). It looks and feels quite similar like the DeathAdder so if you are coming from the DeathAdder, you’ll have the feeling of deja vu. Gaming with Razer Mamba for several hours is comfortable without any feeling of hand fatigue. The buttons are quite responsive and allow you to do rapid clickings (which I often do with the left mouse button on some FPS games).

The buttons are not the quietest though as they produce clicking noises which are good for feedback but bad if you are sharing your bedroom with a roommate who is trying to get some sleep.

The DPI switches are well placed on the upper left corner of the mouse, so you won’t accidentally click on them when you don’t want to. The scroll wheel also scrolls very smoothly and can be clicked without much force. Most FPS games utilize the middle mouse button nowadays so it’s important to have the perfect feel and feedback.

Razer Mamba Review – General Performance

Performance wise, Razer Mamba doesn’t disappoint. Combined with my Razer Vespula, gliding the mouse is as smooth as ever. It allows up to 5600 DPI so it fits both low and high sensitivity gamers. I’m quite happy with a 3800 DPI and its accuracy is nothing to be complained about. Scoring some headshots with my GOL sniper on Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a piece of cake. Check on my Battlefield Bad Company 2 Stats here:

537 kills with 383 headshots

Often I got kills simply because I could point my gun quicker and more accurately than my enemies. A sniper vs sniper battle often happened in Bad Company 2 and thanks to Razer Mamba, I could already pull the trigger while my enemies were still trying to get that perfect aim at me with their mouse. I tried to snipe more for the purpose of this Razer Mamba Review post.

Razer Mamba Review – Wireless performance

This one is easy to say, Razer Mamba doesn’t perform differently when wired or being wireless. As promised by Razer, Razer Mamba doesn’t disappoint and literally feels as great as using it wired. There is no feeling of lag and sluggishness at all. It seems that many skeptical wired gamers can now “rest in peace” because wireless gaming has really come into perfection!

Razer Mamba Review – Battery Life in Wireless mode

From Razer Mamba’s FAQ,

Q: How long should the charge on my battery last on the Razer Mamba?
A: Continuous Gaming Usage – 14 hours. Normal Gaming Usage – 72 hours

Q: How long does it take to fully charge the battery on my Mamba?
A: Depleted battery will be fully charged in about 3-4 hours with the switch in the “off” position, with the switch in “on” position 3- 5 hours. For best results, we recommend charging in the “off” position.

In my own experience, the Razer Mamba’s battery indicator went from 3 (full) to 1 in about 4-5 days of using it. I used it around 4-7 hours a day after work for some regular desktop activities and also for gaming (about 2-4 hours occassionally every night). Note that I never turned the mouse off so it surely took a bit of battery power away. Not to mention I kept the glowing lights on (they are just too cool to turn off – but you can from the configurator, if you really want to).

The battery indicators are located at the left side of the mouse and the same LEDs are also being used to identify which profile you are in. It can be a bit confusing at first to differentiate these but you’ll get a hang of it after a while. By the time I write this Razer Mamba Review post, I’ve grown accustomed to them.

Razer Mamba Review – Minor annoyances

The only annoyance I could find with the Razer Mamba is the cable plug. You’ll feel the frustration if you like to switch between the wireless and the wired mode frequently. Taking out the cable from the charging dock is a breeze but not when you want to take it out from the mouse. The step requires you to press and hold the eject button underneath the mouse while pluggin the cable out of the mouse. It sounds simple but in reality, the cable still doesn’t come off easily. During the process, I often pressed some mouse buttons accidentally while trying to yank the cable out. If you don’t do this every day, it’s perfectly fine but hopefully Razer Mamba 2? has a more elegant solution like the Microsoft SideWinder X8s, for example.

It’s also hard to have Razer Mamba working wirelessly without waking Windows 7 up every now and then. Whenever I set it to wireless mode, put the Mamba on the charging dock, and set my Windows 7 to sleep, Razer Mamba wakes it up after a few hours. I’ve tried contacting Razer’s technical team through my channel and it seems that I have to disable both mouse and keyboard devices to prevent Razer Mamba from waking up Windows 7. Or you can turn the mouse off (there’s a power button underneath) when you set Windows 7 to sleep. This is because in wireless mode, the system must send a signal to the dongle, which then decodes this signal and wakes up the computer during the process.

Razer Mamba Review – Conclusion

Even when there are not much competition yet in the wireless gaming mouse market, Razer went all out when they designed the Razer Mamba. It’s the perfect wireless gaming mouse in terms of feel, performance, and build quality (oh, and the display case, if you are really into that sort of thing). Razer Mamba proves that wireless gaming has gone to the next level, to the point where there is literally no difference between a wired and wireless gaming anymore. I’ve been always skeptical about gaming in wireless before but Razer Mamba prove me wrong.

With an awesome sleek design, easy-to-charge yet menacing charging dock, comfort, and a 5600 dpi level, Razer Mamba easily comes on top of every possible gaming mouse out there in the market. So if you are looking for a wireless gaming mouse and you have the money, look no further than having a Razer Mamba in the palm of your hand.

Razer Mamba Review – Pros

+ Wireless performs as good as Wired
+ Includes a USB cable in case you are running out of battery
+ Sleek design
+ Comfortable to use for hours
+ Cool charging solution through the dock
+ Supports up to 5600 DPI
+ Supports multiple profiling and DPI settings
+ Reasonable battery life