Razer Mamba glows on the charging dock. (image courtesy: Razer) Click To Enlarge

The Razer Mamba is one of the products I’ve been most looking forward to: a wireless mouse from a company whose mice I love.

Every mouse I’ve gotten my hands on from Razer, I’ve liked.   I still use the Lachesis that I reviewed in January, and the DeathAdder that I reviewed is possibly the most comfortable mouse I’ve ever gamed with.

The Mamba is now available at some retail outlets, and I had the chance to ask Robert Krakoff, Razer President, some questions about the development of their flagship mouse.

Matt Schuler: How long has the Mamba been in development?

Robert Krakoff: We actually began on the Mamba 8 years ago. Over time we started and stopped often, as both external and internal wireless technologies advanced. Finally in 2009 these all came together.

MS: How much tweaking was done between finished design and shipment?

RK: Feedback from the community plus Razer Synapse, our 64k onboard memory allows us to fine tune the Mamba and nearly all of our products for years to come. In other words we never stop looking to improve.

MS: What led to designing a wireless mouse?

RK: Again gaming community feedback like most of our products. Avid gamers wanted a true gaming grade wireless mouse and while they had tried competitors’ models they were not satisfied. Latency, overall weight, battery failure at the worst times and stress related injuries due to shape and extra weight were all issues. Razer listened to all of these comments and created solutions.

Razer Mamba, free from wires, ready to strike. (image courtesy Razer) Click To Enlarge

MS: How does Razer answer gamers who say wireless mice are inferior to wired mice?

RK: Nearly 8 years of implementation and development of the Razer Mamba. If you doubt our claims (and any respecting gamer will) you must test one to know why we released this product.

MS: What was done to diminish and eliminate the lag the some wireless mice have seen in the past?

RK: Just years of coding by our crack firmware team. One of the reasons we delayed the Mamba for a number of years was the challenge of latency. Heretofore the biggest separation between home/office grade vs. gaming grade wireless mice has been latency. We were adamant that the Mamba latency solution be one of hardware and not a software improvisation.

MS: Was there a design design to go with a proprietary battery rather than a generic rechargable AA battery?

RK: From the beginning the higher concept of a dual-mode wired/wireless mouse was in place the option of rechargeable batteries was out. Also one of the key challenges for any wireless gaming mouse was overall weight as well as battery life.

The Razer Mamba. (image courtesy Razer) click to enlarge

MS: Was there a reason why the design of the mouse seems to mimic the DeathAdder as opposed to other variations of Razer mice?

RK: While the DeathAdder has been rated and awarded as our all around most ergonomic design the design of the Mamba was designed independently from the ground up. IMO the Mamba design is even superior to the DA.

MS: What’s the packaging inspired by?

RK: After our own internal acknowledgement of just how special the Mamba mouse looked and performed we wanted to express its packaging as a work of art. The concept was to place it in a jewel or fine art case in the appearance of a floating mouse. Pretty damn cool!

MS: The metal case (seen in the engadget photo gallery) seems pretty intimidating, is that going to be a custom offering for consumers who want to purchase both mouse and headset?

RK: LOL, those are press kits and not available for retail. Of course a less than scrupulous editor might offer his “kit” for sale via online auction. Naturally that would be bad form.

The Razer Mamba (image courtesy Razer) click to enlarge

MS: When can consumers expect to get their hands on one?

RK: The Mamba is available in most online and traditional retail stores around the world. The early demand has been exceptional and your readers may have to hunt a bit to find one in stock. But fear not more are on their way.

MS: Why is the Mamba going to be better than the Microsoft Sidewinder X8?

RK: That question can be best answered by a side-by-side independent comparison of these two mice. Response times, precision and accuracy, comfort over long hours of competition, battery life and recharging functions will all vary. IMO these two mice are night and day based on personal usage and experience.

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Thanks to Razer and Robert Krakoff for the interview.  I’m definitely looking forward to putting the Mamba to the test.  I will be doing a side-by-side comparison of the Mamba and the Sidewinder X8.  I really liked the X8 when I tried it out, and it’ll be interesting to see how it lives up to some Razer competition.

I don’t have my hands on a Mamba yet, but will be posting impressions right away on my Twitter account when it comes.

As usual, you can leave your comments in the section provided, or shoot me an email at matt(dot)schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com.  Part II of the “Save Your Money: Build A PC” series is coming. (It’s assembled.  It has games installed.  I’ve some pictures from the build and will post how it went in the coming days.)