Tech Olive

It’s something that many gamers tend to overlook, but it is something that has as much — if not more — effect on the device itself as the hardware and technology built into it. Drivers and firmware play a huge part in making or breaking today’s high-end products. So, how well does the Mamba’s software do the job? Let’s find out.

When I first installed the Razer software, there were several small issues with its overall functionality and how it performed. Luckily, thanks to Razer’s dedication to continually improve their already great products and software, many of my early annoyances and concerns were fixed with the updates that came in the months of my ownership. However, there are some areas where I think the software could be improved.

For starters, the software doesn’t run very fast when applying changes. Of course, every time you run the configuration software, it must sync itself with the mouse’s internal profile before offering you the options to change and that usually takes about 30 seconds before the application becomes ready. Again, when you save any of your changes, the software will apply the changes to the mouse’s on-board profile, causing another delay of 40-60 seconds. Luckily, the Mamba allows you to change your DPI settings on the fly and because this is the most common reason to enter the software, these delays will probably be a tiny factor in your ownership experience.

My next criticism is the battery indicator in the software. On the side of the Mamba there is a battery life indicator that will show 1-3 bars, indicating the strength of the battery’s current charge, but this is the exact same format as the battery indicator in the Mamba’s software. There is no detailed report offering an estimated percentage or its remaining hour life; just the same 1-3 bar indicator. This makes it quite useless on the software end.

Although updating the Mamba’s firmware is refreshingly easy and sweat-free, it’s not without annoyance. As you’re clicking through the firmware upgrade setup, you come to a notification that the mouse will lose responsiveness as the update is performed. No surprise, right? Well, right after you click “Next”, the mouse uncouples itself from the wireless receiver and begins the upgrade. However, you are then given another screen where you must click “Next” before the upgrade will finish. Is the mouse responding at this point? Of course not. It’s definitely not a difficult task to select “Next” without the use of the Mamba, but it would be nice if the software offered a “Press Spacebar to continue” message for ease.

By no means are any of these small annoyances enough to ruin the software or drivers that the Mamba relies on, but these are items that I would like to see changed in future updates. On the brighter side, the software overall is laid out very clearly with a nice GUI and a very simple macro creation process.

MAMBA QUALITY UPDATE:

The buttons and scroll-wheel squeaking issues I experienced in previous months are completely gone now. It seems that, with a little patience, you can save yourself a time-consuming RMA process, should you run into this squeaking issue with a Razer mouse. My new concern is the rubber strips on the sides of the Mamba that allow for a greater grip are starting to lose their adhesiveness, causing corners to come up at times. Some pressure is enough to keep it down currently and with a 3-month-old mouse, it seems that this shouldn’t be a concern just yet.

Don’t forget to catch up on previous months of The Mamba Files and look forward to next month where we’ll focus on Razer’s RMA and customer support systems.