Price

It's $80, which is about par for the gaming mouse course.

Verdict

It uses the tracking engine that's standard on all of Razer's high-end mice now, a 5600dpi sensor, as mentioned above, with a 1000Hz polling rate for 1ms response time. And, like every other major Razer mouse, it's got onboard memory for storing profiles of macros and DPI settings. These things work well, as they have on previous Razer mice, though how much you need major gun specs is really up to you.

What's different about Imperator is that it's a totally new ergonomic direction for Razer, who's previously iterated the same form factor several times over for its right-handed mice (even Mamba, their wireless mouse, uses a tweaked Death Adder shape). It feels a lot like a Logitech mouse, actually, of the MX500 ilk, to be precise.

It's more compact than the expansive DeathAdder, which you basically sprawled your hand on top of, forcing a more aggressive, and more ergonomic, grip on the mouse. I feel like it's an improvement by taking a definitive ergonomic stand, but it loses that flexibility in how you hold it, which was the real genius of Razer's previous right-handed mice, so former Razer diehards might not be keen on it.

Also new are adjustable thumb buttons—that is, they slide further up or down the mouse, so you can place them where you want. The problem is that they're too thin now, and I'd prefer simply larger thumb buttons that are just easy to hit, wherever your thumb's at. The thick, braided cable is another upgrade, replacing the thin, fragile cable Razer's historically used, bringing them up to speed with gaming mice from Logitech and SteelSeries.

What makes this my favorite Razer mouse yet is the grip, combined with the solid sensor and tracking they've used for a few mice now. Is it worth $80? My answer's the same as it always for gaming mice: If you think so.

Best-feeling Razer mouse yet

It's $80

Thumb buttons are too thin
[Razer]

SteelSeries' Kinzu pulls off the bargain gaming mouse gambit way better, at $35. Or you can get more aggressively armed gaming mice at Amazon for about the same price, even from Razer.

RAZER ABYSSUS™ GIVES GAMERS THE COMPETITIVE EDGE BY FOCUSING ON THE FUNDAMENTALS

Carlsbad, Calif. – Nov. 10, 2009 - Razer™, the world's leading manufacturer of high-end precision gaming and lifestyle peripherals, today launched the Razer Abyssus™ gaming mouse. By combining simplicity with a state-of-the-art 3.5G 3500dpi infrared sensor, the Razer Abyssus stands ready to frag.

"Less is more," said Robert "Razerguy" Krakoff, president, Razer. "We've taken our ambidextrous three-button mouse design and loaded it with our industry-leading technology without the added cost of too many bells and whistles. Our goal with the Razer Abyssus is to give competitive gamers access to gaming grade hardware without breaking the bank."

About the Razer Abyssus
The Razer Abyssus mouse is designed for gamers that demand reliability and functionality under the fiercest gameplay conditions. The Razer Abyssus is armed with two large non-slip buttons tuned for maximum tactile feedback and features Razer's built-in Hyperesponse™ technology. Underneath, Razer has placed two easily accessible mechanical switches — one on-the-fly dpi switch giving the user their choice of 450, 1800, or 3500dpi; and one polling rate switch allowing instant adjustment from a standard 125hz to 1000hz Ultrapolling™.

Razer Abyssus
COST: US $49.99, Europe €39.99

AVAILABILITY:
Razerzone.com – Available Now
China – In Stores Now
Worldwide –Late December 2009

Product Features:
3500dpi Razer Precision™ 3.5G infrared sensor
1000Hz Ultrapolling™ / 1ms response time
Mechanical dpi/polling rate switches
On-The-Fly Sensitivity™ adjustment
Always-On™ mode
Ultra-large non-slip buttons
16-bit ultra-wide data path
60-120 inches per second and 15g of acceleration
Three independently programmable Hyperesponse™ buttons
Ambidextrous design
Scroll wheel with 24 individual click positions
Zero-acoustic Ultraslick™ Teflon feet
Seven-foot, lightweight, non-tangle cord
Approx. size in mm 115(L) x 63(W) x 40(H)

[Razer]

Price(y)

Orochi is $80, which is steep for a Bluetooth mouse, even one that travels well. It's especially painful considering the sensor's finickiness means it doesn't live up to its raison d'tre, even if the mouse does feel great for a portable and you get gamery things like onboard storage of macros.

It feels good, mostly

Orochi pulls off that rare trick where it manages to feel almost ergonomic when you grip it, despite being a symmetric mouse, because the side grooves cradle both your thumb and your ring finger. The rubberized texture is classic Razer—smooth but sticky at the same time, designed for your hand to sweat on and still maintain a grip. In the end though, it is a small mouse—so while it works great in a pinch for a couple hours at a time, the squee size makes sure it's not exactly the comfy La-Z-Boy of gaming mice.

Track this

For a mouse that you're meant to take anywhere, it should have a less picky sensor. While it tracks perfectly on my wood desk and on regular mousepads, it was pretty damn spotty on the faux leathery surfaces covering the desks at the Gawker offices, though they've never been a problem for other mice I've used on them from Microsoft or Logitech (I always considered them to be nearly perfect mousing surfaces, actually). It's unfortunate, too, because the bottom of the mouse itself glides on top of anything like Brian Boitano.

Software and configuratorator

Orochi uses a pretty standard Razer configurator that lets you adjust DPI, program buttons, assign macros, switch the mouse's lighting on or off. There's even a Mac version now. The catch is that you can't configure the mouse when it's connected via Bluetooth, you have to plug it in via USB. But the Bluetooth pairing process itself is painless, and worked perfectly. I didn't get to fully test Razer's claim of 1-3 months of battery life under "normal usage" for obvious reasons, but I haven't managed to kill it with a couple days of what I'd call heavy usage. If the battery does drop, you can always plug it in via breakaway USB though.

If it was cheaper and the sensor could handle more roughage, it'd be a solid pick for fragging in a Starbucks, but it's a kinda risky buy for that much money, as is.

Ergonomics are solid

Yay Bluetooth

No configuring while using Bluetooth

The 4000dpi sensor is a little too picky about surfaces

$80!

Price: $15

The Verdict: Somewhat slippery compared to cloth, your mouse movements are going to feel a little too fast until you get used to it (which is the case with all plastic pads). It's in a "widescreen" format, and a little smaller overall than most mousepads. But overall, surprisingly good, and worth $15 if you need to take a mousepad everywhere 'cause you don't want swine flu on the bottom of your mouse.

Crazy thin

Good mousepad

Wide format might take some getting used to

[Razer]

Razer Mamba

Mamba is clearly Razer's most carefully designed product yet. Even the packaging was clearly agonized over: The mouse is held aloft on a pedestal inside an acrylic cube, which has a shelf system built into it holding parts like the battery, power cable and charging stand.

But the design is only part of why you're paying $130—it's to make you feel good about dropping that kind of cash. You're paying that much because Razer says it's the first wireless mouse that's actually gaming grade, with a latency of just 1ms—twice as fast as other wireless mice, and the same 1000Hz polling rate as their own wired mice. In other words, they're promising zero lag while taking the gaming mouse DPI wars to the unwanted and ridiculous new level of 5,600 DPI.

It uses 2.4GHz for wireless, just like Microsoft's SideWinder X8 and Logitech's now old-school G7 (and every other wireless device) but supposedly Mamba detects and avoids noisy channels to skirt by interference. In this respect, does live up to the hype—at least when you've got sufficient juice. After using it in a couple weekends of Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead, I really didn't notice any response difference between it and my wired mouse. It's perfectly lag-free and twitchily responsive. Wakeup is also surprisingly quick, or at least it was with the 1.02 firmware—it seems a bit slower with the 1.03 update, which is designed to improve battery life. I also never noticed any interference, despite running in close proximity to my dual-band router and the X8, actually.

Where the polish rubs off and shows some rough patches are on the battery and software front. Razer claims 72 hours of "normal gaming usage" and 14 hours of continuous gaming. I didn't quite have the balls to game for 14 hours straight, but with Razer's 1.02 firmware, I never got more than 48 hours of what I'd call normal usage battery life, and when it drops to that last bar of battery, it does not play well at all. They've since released firmware 1.03, which is supposed to improve battery life. Installing the update on Vista 64-bit is something of an arcane science (Update: Razer wanted me to note that the process is a just a simple installer with XP and Vista 32, and that new mice will have 1.03 already on it). You have to boot into a mode where it accepts drivers that aren't digitally signed, and then the update process itself requires a second mouse. The configurator software, while it provides a full-featured set of options, is not as responsive as I'd like—it takes a bit to read the mouse's settings (which are stored onboard) and longer still to change them.

When your battery does get low, you can plug the USB cable into the mouse to play and charge, turning it into a standard wired mouse with the same 1ms latency. It pops easily out of the charging cube/wireless receiver, but for some reason it tends to fight you to avoid plugging into the mouse, which is my biggest problem with the otherwise smart modular design.

Ergonomically, it's one of the best mice around. It's essentially a lighter version of Razer's DeathAdder, though with the addition of a new groove for your pinkie, which took me a little bit to get used to. My only problem with the button placement is that the DPI selection buttons are not distinct enough, so if you're trying to quickly drop the DPI down to precisely snipe someone's head off, you might crank it up instead and shoot the guy in the foot. The texture is a nice use of rubber—it's not super sticky and rubbery, so your hand doesn't feel weird and gross if it gets sweaty, but it does give you a solid grip.

Shape and texture feel fantastic

Smart design touches throughout

Response time is perfect

Battery life not so great

Firmware updating process is a pain on Vista 64. for now anyway

$130 is pricey!

SideWinder X8

The design apparently still outsourced to the Empire's mice and keyboard division, Microsoft's third SideWinder mouse cuts the cable and improves on the series in a lot of little ways that add up to making it the best SideWinder yet.

As I suspected when I eyeballed it, ergonomically it's finally designed for humans. The sharp spine has been softened into a far more pleasant hump, though it retains the same overall shame as the past two. (It's huge.) So, it's not as sleek as the Mamba, but they have finally nailed the way it should feel in your hand. The unorthodox vertical thumb buttons have been reshaped into ergonomic slopes that form a groove for your thumb, so after the initial adjustment period, this touch finally works. The metal scroll wheel isn't super fantastico to use a lot, but the on-the-fly DPI buttons have a good placement in the middle, but need to be larger—it's too easy to hit the wrong one. The textured plastic feels a little cheap, too.

It uses 2.4GHz wireless at a 500Hz polling rate (half of Mamba's) and can crank the DPI up to 4000. Playing the same games as I did with Mamba—TF2 and L4D—again, I never noticed any real difference in response versus my usual wired mouse. In other words, it seemed lag-free to me. On the DPI front, you can only pick between three steps at a time—not five, like on the Mamba or on-the-fly. One superior touch over the Mamba is the built-in LCD that displays your DPI setting—on Mamba you have to decode what the combination of green and red bars on the side mean. On the other hand, try to find where it displays battery life. (I couldn't.) Speaking of, the battery life is vastly superior to Mamba—I got over five solid days with four intense three-hour gaming sessions on a single charge.

If you had to pick a headlining technical feature (since Mamba also eclipsed its 4000DPI crown), it'd probably be that it uses Microsoft's BlueTrack technology which can track on anything. Indeed, it worked perfectly on multiple surfaces, including a a glossy plastic SteelSeries SP pad that Mamba wouldn't touch at all. (My standard surface is the cloth SteelSeries QcK+, in case you're wondering.) So if you game on crazy surfaces, BlueTrack is a definite check in the X8's column.

The charging dock/receiver is more functional and less "ooooh" than Razer's—it's a hockey puck with a groove for wrapping the cable. But what's neato is that the play-and-charge cable attaches to the mouse magnetically so there's no trying to cram it into a stubborn hole like on the Mamba.

Improved ergonomics over last-gen

Long battery life

Good response time

Shape and vertical buttons an acquired taste

Positioning of the hump for your hand makes it feel ginormous

There Can Be Only One?

Can you cut the cord and achieve sweet, wireless freedom while feeling safe that your fragging powers are undiminished? Yep. Response time felt the same for every mouse I used: X8, Mamba and my wired mice. Which means two things: Gaming-grade wireless is here (just in case you doubted it), and performance isn't the reason you should pick the Mamba over the X8.

Mamba has better design, feels better (especially if you have smaller hands) and more functional software. The SideWinder X8 has longer battery life, less finicky software and it's much cheaper. You can get the X8 for about $75, while Mamba is very much $130. As always, whether or not the frills of gaming gear is worth the extra scratch is up to you, and this is more true here than usual, given the price gap. [Razer, Microsoft]

Razer has unleashed the full potential of gaming mice by designing an ergonomic, lag free gaming mouse with 2.4GHz gaming grade wireless technology, making it the fastest mouse both on and off the cord. With dual mode wired/wireless functionality, the Razer Mamba lets users immediately and seamlessly switch from wired to wireless play. With first in class polling rates at 1ms as compared to traditional wireless mice that poll at 8ms, players will have virtually lag free game play.

The Razer Mamba also includes a host of features like Razer Synapse™ on-board memory that lets gamers store and bring their mouse settings wherever they go. And the world’s fastest 5600DPI Razer Precision™ 3.5G Laser sensor, the Razer Mamba wireless gaming mouse lets gamers move with lightning speed and precision to easily escape from becoming prey.

Cost: US- $129.99; Europe- €129.99
Available: Razerzone.com Feb, 2009, Worldwide Q1 2009

Features:
• Detachable seven-foot, lightweight, braided cord
• Battery life & DPI stage indicator
• Ultra-large non-slip Hyperesponse™ buttons
• Ergonomic design
• Zero-acoustic Ultraslick™ Teflon feet
Specifications:
• Gaming Grade Wireless Technology
• Dual Mode Wired/Wireless Functionality
• Razer Synapse™ On-board Memory
• 5600DPI Razer Precision™ 3.5G Laser sensor
• 1000Hz Ultrapolling™ / 1ms response rate
• Up to 200 inches per second*/ 50g acceleration
• Approximate size: 128mm x 70mm x 42.5mm
• Battery Life: 14hrs (continuous gaming); 72hrs (normal gaming usage)
*Depends on surface used

The Price: $40.

The Verdict : Razer’s surprisingly strong suit appears to be audio. While the build quality of Moray is pretty typical of $40 buds (and sadly, Razer gear all-around), they definitely perform above and beyond their class.

Like V-Moda’s Vibes, they’re all about bass, and pack plenty of surprisingly rich punch there. But they also suffer a bit from the same problem that plagues most bass-heavy buds—slightly muddy sound in mids and highs. Still, these seemed to be as clear as the $100 Vibes, if not more so, in my mix of test tracks from several different genres.

They come with three pairs of buds—small, medium and large—which have a weird rubber/plastic hybrid feel to them. Not unpleasant, per se, just kinda cheap feeling. The seal isn’t quite as firm as with pricier buds, but it’s not bad.

While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend these for jazz or anything that you would demand super exceptional clarity for (you would really need to step up to a higher price range there), they’re very capable for their class, and are a solid choice if you mostly listen to hip-hop or rock (or you know, game). [Razer]

The Lycosa Mirror edition swaps out of the rubber coating I had a love/hate relationship with for an all-glossy, super-shiny approach, though everything else is the same, so it's still $80. If you like laptop-style keyboards and want one spec'd for gaming, the Lycosa breed is a pretty solid choice. [Razer]

The Price: $59.99

The Verdict: You'll remember in my gaming gear Battlemodo that I slighted Razer's Lachesis mouse for its ergonomics and build quality. Thinking I might get along with a right-handed mouse better, Razer sent me the DeathAdder, which just dropped for Macs ('cause Mac gaming is so robust.)

And I did, greatly preferring it to the ambi Lachesis. It's comfortable, and if you like the ergonomics of Microsoft mice, you'll probably dig DeathAdder, which has a similar form factor. The most clever thing about the design is that the two buttons are clickable deep into the mouse's body, so you can grip it shallow or really palm it—also useful if you have tiny hands. Tracking's accurate enough, though I'd have liked more than three settings for DPI.

I would've also liked a thicker, braided cord, like on Logitech's G5 or SteelSeries' Ikari, but overall the build quality seems good enough. Is it worth $60? As much as any other gaming mouse is worth the extra bones. [Razer]

The Gear
From Razer, I got the Lachesis mouse, Lycosa keyboard, Piranha headset and Destructor pad. That's $80 each for components plus a $40 mouse pad, totalling $280.

From SteelSeries, it's the Ikari Laser ($90), 7G keyboard ($150), Siberia Neckband headset ($100) and QcK+pad ($15). Do the math and it adds up to $355.

My old, battle-tested equipment, all Logitech: MX500, Media Elite keyboard, whatever free Logitech headset came with Unreal Tournament 2004 and a free Vista mousepad. Street (or garage sale) value of about $45.

Quick and Dirty Conclusions
It takes more than 20 minutes to get used to a new keyboard and mouse. So I spent a couple days with each set to get comfortable before actual testing with what I've been at almost exclusively on PC as of late: Team Fortress 2. I didn't want readjusting to a game like Battlefield 2142 added to the list of possible variables.

Because of my style of play (mostly heavy/sniper, offensive support), the best indicator of whether or not my game improved is still kill-to-death ratio, even though TF2 is an objective-oriented game. I've taken the results for 15 rounds of gameplay for each set of gear, then averaged them out to a single K-D ratio for each, and accounting for dominations (killing same guy three times).

SteelSeries: 2.6, with 5 dominations
Logitech: 2.42, with 2 dominations
Razer: 1.98, with 2 dominations

What It All Means
Objectively, SteelSeries made me a better gamer. Why? Because comfort level is the bottom line when it comes to gaming (or any) gear you grip or pound everyday, more so than any stupid spec or number proving how awesome a piece of equipment is. Ergonomically, the SteelSeries stuff just felt right, even after using it a short while.

Fans of Logitech's MX500 (me!) or G5 series mice will dig the SteelSeries Ikari mouse, since it's almost the exact same, but with an extra nub for your ring finger, plus it fixes the crappy scroll wheel issue that plagues the G5 and G7. The Razer Lachesis mouse is ambidextrous, and it just never felt right. (I'm not a claw gripper, though.) I kept accidentally hitting the buttons on the right side of the mouse, causing it to reboot to change profiles, which got me killed more than once. The braided cable on the Ikari, like on Logitech's G5 mouse, was a construction plus over Lycosa's thin rubber cord, though they both feel solid. I don't think either is worth the price ($90 for a mouse is insane), though—my MX500 is still just fine.

Keyboard-wise, Razer's Lycosa actually has a better layout (big backspace, small enter) than SteelSeries' 7G. It's also the much sexier of the two. But I'm not too big on its squishy laptop-style keys for gaming, and the keys' rubber coating started out as a plus and grew into a minus as it made my fingers feel weird and sorta chapped after extended sessions. SteelSeries compromises between big clacky keys and soft touch by registering the key press at the halfway point—they're tall keys—so you can go light or really slam them. I wish it had the subtle backlighting like the Lycosa , and maybe some more macro options. But the build quality of the 7G is absolutely bunker-worthy—it's incredibly heavy. I could club a family of baby seals to death with it and go back to gaming (after wiping the blood off). Yeah, it's $150, but it feels like it's going to stick around to the next ice age, so you're actually paying for solid equipment, gaming BS aside. The Lycosa feels more fragile—not crappy, but just above average.

Headsets have the same build matchup—the SteelSeries is heavier and more sturdy—but this time the cheaper Razer Piranha comes out ahead in audio quality (no surprise, actually). Positional audio was much truer, especially rear to front (a necessity to avoid getting backstabbed by a bastard Spy). Besides, as SteelSeries readily admitted to me, the Siberias suck for music.

Mousing surfaces? Whatever. Beyond the basics of non-reflectivity, it's total hype.

Conclusion
SteelSeries made me a better gamer, but the label "gaming gear" is BS. Buy what feels comfortable, because that's what you'll game better with. If you're a fan of Razer ergonomic styles (I wasn't overly) then it might be worth the extra price, but on the construction merits alone, it doesn't necessarily stack up. The SteelSeries stuff felt more substantial and like the build quality was slightly more commensurate with the higher price point (though I still think the 7G should go for like $100, not $150). Most scientific statement I can make: I was most comfortable with SteelSeries and my old gear, so I did better with them. [SteelSeries, Razer]

The omni-directional business actually works and you can actually hear grenades chucked your from "virtually any direction." The 300W RMS of THX-certified power probably help, pushing the audio everywhere it needs to go. Highs and mids are "especially clear and resonant," though low fidelity is the where system hits a patch of weak sauce—at 400 bucks, that's a bit troubling. The only other bit of blah is the slightly unresponsive touch controls, but they system looks hot, so we can forgive it being a little cold to the touch. Maybe that's a little too much insight into our personal life. [Gadget Lab]

I did a little research and discovered that all Razer gaming controllers are, in fact, on sale through the 29th — but with the following disclaimer:

*Markdowns taken from regular prices. Excludes special order, clearance, demo and open-box items. Selection varies by store. Rainchecks on insert items only.

If you're on a considerably smaller screen, you'd probably find yourself in the case of the missing cursor. Fortunately, you can adjust the resolution on the fly, and profiles are stored in the mouse's 32KB of onboard memory. The major drawback's actually the scroll wheel, which he wishes was more like the one on Logitech's G9. That aside, it pulls a pretty solid 9.0 rating.

Since it's an ambidextrous mouse, I'm also guessing dedicated-hand diehards (like myself) or un-fans of Razer ergonomics might not be entirely comfortable with it either. At $80 MSRP, I'd grope one in-store somewhere before dropping coin. [I4U, Razer]]

At a glance, Razer mice might not seem cutting edge. After all, in the world of wireless everything, the ultra-powerful Razer Copperhead still uses a USB wire connector. But those who use the mice (myself included) know that there simply isn't anything else like them.

The original 1000dpi Boomslang released back in 1999 made quite a large splash in the gaming community and represented one of the first high-end mice truly geared toward performance. The Boomslang chassis enjoyed a few re-releases with updated internals, and even a run that came packaged in a collector's tin, mirroring the release of the first 1,000 Boomslang mice ever made. But in 2001, fans of the Boomslang were to see the last incarnation as Razer moved on to new designs.

But the wait's over. The newest Razer Boomslang Collector's Edition 2007 looks like everything we've come to expect from Razer, and the specs show quite a bit of thought on Razer's part. Going with a less crowded 5-button ambidextrous design (rather than adopting the newer 7-button layout), the mouse boasts 1800dpi, 32KB of onboard memory, 6400 frames-per-second, and the usual gold-plated USB connector. The Boomslang is still as wide as ever, at 139mm x 82mm x 35mm.

Only 10,000 will be made, available both at Razer's online store and selected retailers for $99.99. You'll get a numbered Boomslang in a titanium-finished case and a collector's card all inside one of Razer's signature tins. You better believe I'm lining up for this one. – Kevin Hall

Product page [Razer]

Originally, it was expected to cost $99, and there was reportedly also another version on the way (which we haven't seen yet, either) that could accommodate the Microsoft Zune.

Even at that inflated price, though, it still looks like a convenient yet pricey concept that could eliminate at least some of those wires on your desktop. – Charlie White

Product Page [Amazon]

As you can see (with more after the jump), it's a keyboard. With a Zune dock. What did you expect?

But as long as the keyboard is pretty decent, consolidating two gadgets—a dock and a keyboard—into one is always good in our book.

– Jason Chen

Thanks tipster!