Tech Olive

For this month’s Mamba Files, I decided to combine my Winter-Een-Mas gaming marathon with a Mamba battery life test. It was a tall order considering the fact that Razer claims the Mamba will last up to 14 hours of heated gaming, but I was up for the task.

Starting midnight, with a full Mamba battery and the whole morning ahead of me, I began my gaming. When the day was over, I had amassed many hours of gameplay, but how many of those hours did the Mamba’s battery survive for? Well, let’s start with the numbers:

-Fallout 3: GOTY Edition-
3 hours, 45 minutes, 3 seconds.

-Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare-
4 hours, 7 minutes, 37 seconds.

-Bioshock-
3 hours, 48 minutes, 53 seconds.

-Portal-
54 minutes, 19 seconds.

-Beta test I’m not allowed to mention-
1 hour, 42 minutes, 49 seconds.

For a total of 14 hours, 18 minutes and 41 seconds.

Unfortunately the Mamba’s battery only lasted just over 12 hours of continuous use, rather than Razer’s estimated 14, but that should be more than enough for any gamer that still has any sanity. And if you ever do find the end of your battery’s charge, just switch to the cable and it charges while you continue to game. More importantly, switching to the cable gives you almost no pause in your gaming process, just swap and go.

This test was performed with the Mamba’s DPI set to the maximum 5600 and the LEDs on. Razer says the battery life depends on the mousing surface used. We tested the Mamba on the Razer Destructor; one of Razer’s suggested mouse pads for the Mamba.

MAMBA QUALITY UPDATE:

Last month, I mentioned that the left-click button had developed a squeak. However, over the month that followed, that squeak slowly faded away and I no longer hear it while gaming. However, a new (and equally common) squeak has become noticeable.  When using the scroll wheel, I often hear a quiet squeak, but as Razer said, if the Mamba is still under its one-year warranty, they will repair or replace the unit if such a squeak occurs. Other than the assorted squeaks, the Mamba has performed and acted as anyone would expect of a 2-month-old mouse.

Tune in next month for an in-depth review of the Mamba’s firmware and software.