One of the fallacies we’d like to bust at this point is the hype that many brands dealing with gaming mice in particular create about the “DPI” rating. An acronym for “dots per inch”, one of the things the gaming peripherals industry has succeeded at is establishing the important of this specification, perhaps even grossly over-emphasising it. A brief explanation is in order – DPI is a measure of sensitivity. Quite simply, it’s a measure of how little you must physically move your mouse to move whatever object you are controlling on screen to a specific point. This could be as cursory an object as a file you want to select, or a running character you are trying to aim at with your reticule or HUD in a first person shooter like Crysis. The DPI number is the number of steps of movement that a mouse sensor will register when the mouse is moved physically by one inch. The higher the DPI rating, the faster the mouse will be perceived to be. But there’s a point beyond which mouse movement becomes too fast for the human perception to trace with any accuracy, rendering it useless. For example, a majority of gamers don’t use a sensitivity of more than 1,600 dpi, and many continue to use 800 dpi, therefore a mouse rated at 5,700 dpi is largely not doing much more for a gamer than say, a good 1,600 dpi mouse. Just remember – DPI isn’t everything.
Razer Mamba
The Mamba ships in a sexy box – transparent fibre with the mouse mounted on a pedestal. There’s a bunch of manuals that come in a cardboard box in individual tray-like compartments, sort of like a chest-of-drawers – premium clothes for the prince of Razer’s lineup.
While its serpent-like shape and gracefully smooth contours remind you of its namesake, the Mamba also has just enough sharp angles to keep it interesting. It’s designed for right-handed gamers and the grip is very comfortable for all but the largest hands. The surface has a Teflon coated finish, meant to resist sweat and enhance comfort. Both mouse buttons have gentle contours to fit fingers. The mousewheel is large and rubberised, but it’s very clicky – not a bad thing. The scroll on the mouse wheel has good feedback. The two buttons on the left are perfect for use with the thumb and they’re large enough to be very usable.
Advertised as wired and wireless, the Mamba ships with a Li-ion battery and a microUSB port on the mouse also accepts a neat cable. This is a plus for gamers who fear lag typically associated with wireless mice and the chance of battery losing charge. Incidentally, with the battery inserted, you can charge the mouse on the dock, or use the USB cable that charges the battery on the go. Powering it up, the Razer logo doesn’t glow, but the rims of the mouse wheel light up in blue. Without the Li-ion battery the mouse is light, the 800 mAh battery is pretty thick and gives the mouse a substantial, but not over-heavy, feel. The charging dock is cool looking and uses the same detachable mouse cable and the base lights up in a cool blue. When charging the entire set up looks pretty neat – and is worth its weight in drool value. The dpi modifying buttons are located on the top, next to the left click. The battery indicator also doubles as the dpi indicator and has a neat green/red LED colour coding for the same.
Acceleration is slower on the Titan mat owing to more grip that cloth exerts on the softer Teflon feet; on the whole, tracking on both surfaces is very good. The left/right buttons also have the right balance between travel and feedback. The feet give a lot more grip on the Destructor mat than the Logitech G9x, evidently, these were intended to be used together. In wireless mode, there is a very slight lag noticeable when quick movements are in order, and accuracy slips a notch, although if memory serves well, it’s on par with the Logitech G7. For gaming though, stick with the bundled USB cable.
Although a selling point is the wireless mode, that will attract gamers on the go, the bulky dock that must be connected to a computer in order to use the mouse on it, is just too big to be carted around. This is not a portable mouse, nor was it intended to be. At Rs. 7,999 (MRP) the Mamba is one helluva gaming tool – it looks amazing, is built well and works near perfectly, but still, for that much dough you’d go – “hmmm, can I get anything more?” The G9x with its side scroll and ratchet scroll would be better value, although the Mamba is slightly better for gamers, and a lot better looking, which is important to some people.
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