Razer Mamba + Firefly Hyperflux evaluate: How a lot?

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It’s been fairly some time since we’ve had a wi-fi mouse in for evaluate at Castle Shotgun, and for that I apologise. To rectify the state of affairs, I’ve acquired Razer’s Mamba + Firefly Hyperflux combo in at present, which is completely 100% the identify of a mouse and mouse mat and undoubtedly not a binned subtitle for Kingdom Hearts 3.

The major attraction right here is Razer’s aforementioned Hyperflux tech, which retains the Mamba charged always just by advantage of preserving it on its Firefly mouse mat. No want for charging, no operating out of energy mid-stab, nothing. What’s extra, as a result of the Mamba doesn’t have or want any sort of inner battery, it’s significantly lighter than your common wi-fi mouse, weighing simply 96g. There’s only one, somewhat hefty drawback. The value.

At time of writing, the Mamba + Firefly bundle goes for a princely sum of £250 / $275. That’s loads to spend on a mouse and mouse mat, even when it wi-fi. I imply, you’ve nonetheless acquired a wire going out of the Firefly into your PC, so it’s not such as you’re not eliminating them fully, however man alive, £250! I might purchase a semi-decent graphics card with that cash and nonetheless (perhaps) have a bit left over. Can a mouse presumably be price that a lot?

The Mamba does, a minimum of, look loads much less heinous than the equally wi-fi and magically-non-charging Logitech G903. There’s nonetheless a good quantity of RGB lighting occurring down the central backbone of the mouse, beginning at its scroll wheel and ending at its rear emblem and tiny energy indicator, however nearly all of that will get lined by your hand, preserving any distracting flashes to a minimal.

The Firefly can be one of many subtler RGB mouse mats I’ve seen not too long ago. I barely even seen its LED ring half the time, even when its brightness was set to 100%. This might come as a disappointment to some RGB fanatics, in fact, however a minimum of it gained’t draw your consideration away from no matter you’re enjoying.

I additionally want the general form and magnificence of the Mamba as properly. It doesn’t seem like dozens of pointy cybernetic elbows fused collectively, for a begin, and its easy, sculpted body is completely excellent for my lazy, minimal effort palm grip as properly. The Mamba’s rubbery sides additionally present loads of anchorage on your thumb and little finger when transferring it throughout the mat, and its two chunky facet buttons are all the time inside attain.

These buttons might be customised to carry out nearly any perform you want, too – together with its major proper / left clicks and the scroll wheel’s side-to-side tilt actions. You’ll need to obtain Razer’s Synapse software program to do it, however you’ll discover all the pieces from keyboard and macro bindings, media keys and activating Windows shortcuts right here to lighting and profile switching, program launching and even pasting in particular traces of textual content.

You may also use them to vary the Mamba’s DPI or sensitivity settings. You’ve technically acquired two buttons under the scroll wheel that do that already, however having them on the facet is infinitely extra handy if it is advisable to regulate them in-game. There are 5 customisable presets to select from starting from a dead-slow 100 DPI all the way in which as much as a beneficiant however far-too-fast 16,000 DPI, however arguably probably the most helpful choice of the lot is Razer’s so-called ‘Sensitivity Clutch’.

Just just like the Razer Naga Trinity, this allows you to swap to a DPI pace of your selecting for so long as you maintain the button down – helpful, say, in the event you want a gradual hand trailing somebody down a sniper’s sights for a few seconds earlier than getting again to the enterprise of frantically dashing for canopy and never having your digital head explode right into a mountain of jam.

There’s even the choice to have a separate DPI clutch for while you’re transferring the mouse vertically versus horizontally, supplying you with much more flexibility to assist justify the Mamba Firefly’s eye-watering value. Unfortunately, this function isn’t distinctive to the Mamba, because the aptly-named Fnatic Clutch 2 and Fnatic Flick 2 do that as properly for a couple of fifth of the price, making the Mamba really feel much less particular in consequence.

Of course, a giant a part of why the Mamba’s so costly is its accompanying Firefly mouse mat. Aside from the aforementioned RGB ring (which all the time provides a major chunk of change onto something as a result of RAINBOWS) and that intelligent Hyperflux stuff that retains the Mamba charged always, the Firefly additionally comes with a reversible onerous and cloth-style floor. This sits inside a small recess within the extremely agency and grippy major base, and by no means as soon as felt prefer it was about to return free or ruck up around the corners.

Personally, I appreciated utilizing the more durable floor on the Firefly, because the elevated friction produced by the material one made my mouse actions really feel fairly sluggish and sluggish by comparability. A number of it can come down to private desire, in fact, however a minimum of you’re given the choice right here somewhat than having to accept one or the opposite – which is once more one thing that goes a way in justifying its wallet-murdering value.

The drawback is that Logitech G903’s Powerplay mat does just about the identical factor because the Firefly by way of its magic no-need-to-charge-it gubbins, and comes with the identical onerous and delicate floor choices. What’s extra, regardless of costing £100 / $100 by itself, a minimum of right here you’ve got the choice of pairing it with a barely cheaper appropriate PowerPlay mouse, such because the Logitech G603 or G703. Together, you may shave round £100 / $100 off the value of the Razer Mamba + Firefly Hyperflux and nonetheless get just about precisely the identical deal.

As a outcome, as good and versatile because the Mamba Firefly combo is, I simply can’t see myself, or certainly anybody, dropping £250 / $270 on it. It doesn’t look like £250 / $270’s price of package, and I don’t really feel there’s something notably particular about it to justify spending that sum of money on it. The £50 / $60 Fnatic Flick and Clutch 2 provide many of the identical button customisation choices and, as I’ve simply mentioned, Logitech provide just about an equivalent sort of wi-fi tech for a heck of loads much less.

Even in the event you do go down the Logitech route, although, you’re nonetheless spending £150 / $150-odd on a mouse and mouse mat – which is only a bit mad in my books. What’s extra, you’ve nonetheless acquired a wire to take care of and hold tidy, which – let’s face it – isn’t actually any extra handy of getting a wired mouse. Even Razer themselves make a giant music and dance about how the Mamba is as mild as a standard wired mouse, which simply begs the query why you wouldn’t simply get a type of within the first place and save your self a load of money on the identical time. There might properly come a time when a wi-fi mouse manages to persuade me to make the leap, however not at present.

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Feature, Hardware, mice, mouse, razer

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