Tech Olive

This month on The Mamba Files, we’ll be doing a bit of rehashing on previously covered topics. Why? Because this month’s focus is on what needs to change with future revisions of the Razer Mamba. Of course, you may not agree with all the points and changes proposed in this article, so be sure to tell us what you’d change in the comments!

When it comes right down to it, any product after several months of usage will start to change in your mind. You’ll get used to some things that originally annoyed you, while at the same time you start to pick up on things that annoy you more and more, and wish were slightly different. That’s what this month is all about.

The first annoyance that is noticed with the Razer Mamba is its smooth, glossy plastic lower body. Even after just an hour of heated gaming, you’ll find that this surface attracts grime and sweat like no other, and it only gets worse over time. Sure, it can easily be cleaned, but how could Razer fix it? They need to trade the Mamba’s smooth glossy plastic for a textured, bumpy, rough, or even simply a matte finish. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as eye-catching, but it would be a lot more user-friendly.

The next annoyance you’ll face is the Mamba’s battery longevity. Granted, for a gaming mouse managing just over 14 hours of solid gaming before giving out is impressive, but is it too much to want more? Sure, you can switch to wired mode and charge the mouse while continuing to game, but this is a sacrifice. If Razer offered an upgraded battery or even if it used conventional batteries, you would be able to eliminate this issue almost entirely. It is worth noting that you could also turn off the mouse’s lighting and turn down the DPI, but this too would be a slight sacrifice.

Some research into the Mamba’s all-too-frequent issue of the squeaking mouse wheel and buttons should also be considered by Razer’s engineering team. While this is an easily fixable issue, it’s one that shouldn’t exist at all, especially in a something that costs $130.

Another design aspect that should be given a bit more attention in the future is the Mamba’s ergonomic design. It seems like it’s stuck between wanting to be an ergonomic right-handed mouse and wanting to be an ambidextrous design, but because of the tiny hint of right-handed design, it’s unusable by left-handed gamers. Also, since the Mamba already features an LED, future revisions would greatly benefit from color-selectable LED lighting assuming, of course, this doesn’t affect the Mamba’s battery life in an adverse way.

And last, but most certainly not least, we come to the Mamba’s price. I’m sure this is a point we can all agree on. It goes without saying that the Mamba is Razer’s premiere gaming mouse with no rival, but does this also have to show in its retail cost? Above all else, Razer should try to focus on bringing the price of the Mamba down in future revisions.

Check out previous Mamba Files articles and stay tuned next month where we’ll repeat our battery endurance test to see how the battery survived the past 10 months of gaming.