The mouse often forms the core component of any serious PC gamer's set up. For a while now, Razer have made a name for themselves by producing excellent mice that are reliable, while at the same time offering uncompromising performance to astute and fussy gamers.

Their newest entry to the market, the Mamba, is an interesting product - a dual mode wired/wireless mouse that can operate with the cord, and without. As a result, it allows wireless freedom to gamers who enjoy it, while providing the subjective safety of a cord for those who would otherwise laugh at the prospect of using a wireless mouse for any serious gaming.

As can be expected from Razer, the Mamba comes packaged in an elaborate case that makes the mouse look like some sort of museum artefact. The packaging indicates that this is a product that Razer are intensely proud of producing. While some may disregard the packaging as a simple novelty – it is clear that the Mamba is a labour of love, and not just a shiny object. One only need look under the hood of the mouse to understand this.

The Mamba boasts some impressive technical specifications, with the user able to adjust sensitivity up to an insane 5600 DPI, in increments of 100 DPI. Gamers are also able to adjust the sensitivity of the X and Y axes independently, which allows total freedom and customisation.

Standard “gaming mouse” features are present, with the ability to program five unique profiles complete with different macros, DPI stepping options, and the ability to change DPI on the fly while you game. Other features such as the ability to use a 1000Hz polling rate, means that the mouse will respond in just 1ms, a speed that is usually exclusive (but not always) to high-end wired mice.

All these make the Mamba a formidable, fully featured mouse. What makes it better, however is that all these features are present in a wireless form, making it one of the most technically accomplished rodents to have spent time scurrying across this reviewer's mouse pad.

The Mamba features nine fully customisable buttons, with the left, right and middle mouse button each able to be assigned macros, should you choose. There are also two buttons on the left side of the mouse, customisable with macros, in addition to two buttons just to the left side of the left mouse button.

The possibilities for customisation are nearly limitless, as when installed, the software for the Razer Mamba is able to (on the fly) switch mouse profiles when certain applications are loaded. The mouse itself can store up to five profiles at any time on the mouse using the included 64kbytes of Razer Synapse memory, which allows DPI settings and macros to be used when the Razer software is not present.

On the left side of the mouse, a series of three dual-colour LEDs indicate whether the mouse is charging, and can also be used to quickly identify which sensitivity level the mouse is currently on, in addition to an approximation of the current battery level. The scroll wheel is illuminated with a blue LED to complement the charging dock, which pulses with hypnotic blue light when in use. Thankfully, an option within the software allows you to completely switch off the lighting for the dock, which can remove a potential distraction.

The dock is well styled, and complements the mouse. It has a Razer logo on one side, and two pins for charging the mouse. At its rear, a recessed mini-USB jack is present, that is used when the mouse is operating in wireless mode, using the included braided cable, which can also plug directly into the mouse for operation in wired mode. As a result, the bottom of the Mamba is slightly different to what you might expect, with the laser, an on/off switch, a sync button, and a mechanical switch all present to facilitate proper functioning of the mouse.

The small mechanical switch allows the cord to stay in place when in use in wired mode, and also ensures that the cord is not ripped asunder amidst tense or potential frustrating moments of gaming action. Build quality on both the dock and the mouse itself are top notch, though, when operating in wireless mode, the outer edges of the left and right mouse buttons which accept the USB cord can be considered a little harsh and “unfinished”, but you'll only notice this if you're looking for it.

During regular use, the mouse's low profile provides a comfortable, ergonomic design, with slight depressions present on the left and right mouse buttons following the natural contours of a relaxed hand. It is a very comfortable mouse, with its profile slightly lower than the G5 and other gaming mice.

Testing for the Mamba took place over the course of around three weeks, with a variety of wired, wireless, in-game, and general usage scenarios each taken into consideration. Games used for testing included Dawn of War II, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, Mass Effect, Space Siege and World in Conflict.

I'd like to note that testing was based on subjective comparison, with my previous mouse, the OCZ Dominatrix which was used prior to beginning the review process of the Mamba. A Logitech G5 was also used as a subjective benchmark.

Dawn of War II

Let's begin with my newest love affair – Dawn of War II. Success in multiplayer Dawn of War II relies heavily on unit micro-management and quick, precise tactical manoeuvres, which I was able to accomplish flawlessly with the Mamba. Throughout the range of DPI settings available, the mouse remained highly responsive, and accurate.

Testing took place throughout a number of 3v3 online games, with the mouse performing identically in both wired and wireless modes. On a subjective level, using the Mamba in wired or wireless modes produces identical results and handling. Razer's promise of delivering identical performance both on and off the cord holds true, as I did not notice any mouse lag or skipping (common flaws found on wireless mice) which could disrupt gaming sessions.

One thing that is noticed whilst using the Mamba is that mouse clicks are audibly louder than other mice – but this isn't necessarily a bad thing – it is nowhere near as loud as old-school, machine-gun-esque keyboards, but it is a little bit louder than the G5.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

Moving on now to F.E.A.R. 2 – the latest instalment in the series. While it has a focus on horror, I've always approached the F.E.A.R. series as mostly-generic “old school” shooters, due to the mass of interior environments, and satisfying gunplay. The Mamba responded well to F.E.A.R. 2, and, as in Dawn of War II, across both wired and wireless modes, executed my whims with accuracy and precision, as you can expect from any mouse.

For F.E.A.R. 2 – the mouse sensitivity needed to be lowered in the game options, as even at a DPI setting of 500-800 (the usual range at which I game) the game seemed to over-compensate for every little move I made with the mouse. Thankfully, the on-the-fly DPI setting enabled me to overcome this while using assault rifles and machine guns, while also allowing to adjust for more precise movements when sniping was necessary.

Mass Effect

Again, no noticeable difference through wired and wireless modes was apparent. Next up for testing was the PC version of Mass Effect. As in F.E.A.R. 2, I initially found the mouse a little too responsive in-game initially, (at the DPI levels that I prefer), and found myself again making use of the on-the-fly adjustments frequently, even after lowering the mouse sensitivity in the in-game options.

The next game in the testing pipe-line was Space Siege – the newest Diablo clone from Gas Powered Games. The game is a click-fest, much like Diablo, but also involves the heavy use of character abilities as you progress through hordes of enemies. I used Space Siege as the initial basis of macro testing, mapping Mouse 4 and Mouse 5 with simple macros that would trigger certain special abilities in sequence.

Setting up a macro within the mouse software was simple, with a ridiculous amount of space to configure highly complex macros – I'd highly doubt anyone would want to make a macro consisting of over 100 keystrokes, clicks and other things, but if you ever do, the option is there, along with the ability to record delays, which is important for some games, as some game engines are programmed with anticipation of delays between the execution of multi-key short cuts.

Space Siege

In any case, I played through the entirety of Space Siege using the Mamba, and wasn't disappointed with its performance. In wireless mode, there was no stuttering or other issues, and the mouse, as in every other test I'd conducted beforehand, performed flawlessly throughout testing.

For the final portion of my testing, I went back to one of my favourite games – World in Conflict – in which I use a variety of macros to more quickly execute certain repetitive actions. Without discussing these in depth, the simplest of these is generic build-queue orders that are dependent on what role I choose for the start of a game – while it doesn't confer any real benefit, it saves me the trouble of having to spam the same hotkeys at the start of a match depending on what role I'm playing.

As I tend to use mouse 4 or 5 for VOIP in most games, I found the two additional buttons next to the left mouse button helpful for mapping the more obscure buttons. Through some clever use of the software (and the in-game overlay offered using the Mamba software) I was able to assign a profile for each role that is available in World in Conflict, which would then load out a number of macros specific to that role.

World in Conflict

This worked well on the wired mode, but using wireless mode sometimes resulted in a short delay between profile switches, as the profile data needs to be transmitted from the receiver to the mouse's internal memory. This is accompanied with a short spike in CPU usage, which could (on not-so-grunty-machines) result in a brief dip in FPS in some games.

Razer will address this issue in upcoming updates for the mouse software (and its firmware) – which is welcome, and is a minor issue to what is otherwise an excellent mouse.

There are no real flaws to point out in regards to the actual hardware that is on offer – but what Razer have produced is somewhat groundbreaking – this is a mouse, that for all intents and purposes, performs identically in both wired and wireless modes. In a blind test, you wouldn't be able to identify which mode the mouse is operating in at any given time.

The Mamba features, as one would expect, a rechargeable battery. With the ability to charge the mouse while it is in use using the corded mode, worrying about the battery dying in the middle of a heated gaming session is an issue for around... five seconds, as you rip the cord out of the charging dock, and then place it into the mouse. While the process still causes some delay, the chance of battery dying while in use is fairly slim, with Razer boasting 14 hours of “constant” gaming from the battery alone.

With even the most sensible, of “hardcore” gamers not having gaming sessions that long (with the exception, perhaps, of LAN parties) – it isn't likely that you'll ever see the battery go flat during gaming if you keep an eye on the battery indicator on a day-to-day basis.

Razer Mamba

The Mamba is, overall, a high quality mouse, with a high price tag to match. Gamers who remain sceptical about wireless mice have obviously not had exposure to the Mamba – which proves that the technology developed by Razer for the Mamba, over a period of nearly a decade, is worth the premium of US$129.99 – the flexibility offered by the software is something which I've not seen matched by the software of other mice, and the incredible length and potential flexibility in macro and DPI customisation is a unique and noteworthy feature.

One issue with the software, however, prevents the mouse from attaining perfect marks. When configuring multiple macros, and DPI “stepping levels”, the software will often (as you switch between tabs within the program itself) write configuration data to the mouse, which can take some time when operating in wireless mode. It doesn't seem to take as long in wired mode, but the wait can be a little pressing when you want to perfect a macro or make a slight change to a DPI stepping for a certain game, before getting back into the action.

In spite of this issue, it is difficult to not recommend the Mamba as a near-flawless mouse, which seems to fulfil Razer's promise of it being the best mouse both on the cord and off. It will be very interesting to see how Razer will be able to top the Mamba with future hardware iterations – there isn't much that could be improved, save for the inclusion of more buttons for the macro-crazy.