Razer's New Toys
In a world of sleek and minimalist Apple peripherals and less-is-more design, Razer has always held the line against sterile modernism with absolutely bonkers, gaming-focused mice, keyboards, headsets, and computer gaming kit that looks like the lovechild of Lamborghini and a rock concert. Their marketing looks straight out of a second year student’s band poster, but beneath all the hype are some products that are straight out of the good old days of gaming gear, when substance dropkicked style to the curb.
The two mice I was given to test are on two ends of the Razer spectrum. The dark and grippy Taipan has rubberized grip pads and a very tactile feel. It isn’t overburdened with a million buttons (though of course it has controllable green LED lights on it), but what it lacks in absurdities it makes up for in butter-smooth movement and accuracy. This mouse glides very neatly over the surface and never seems out of control. It’s ambidextrous, which should please any lefties out there, and if you can avoid accidentally triggering the buttons on the opposite side and don’t need a lot of flash, it’s a pleasure to use.
On the other end is the Naga Hex, which is the kind of toy Razer is famous for. In addition to the mottled plastic top and shapelier, right-hand-only curves, this mouse sports a hexagonal button spread on the thumb pad, which can be programmed to trigger whatever macros you like. The precision might not be quite up to par with the Taipan, and the styling may put some punters off, but for dedicated gamers, it’s very useful part of your arsenal.
Both mice practically glide with almost zero effort over one of their custom mousepads (anyone remember mousepads?). The Scarab has a hard surface designed to make their own mice move with minimal effort, meaning that with enough sensitivity tweaking, they can make my usual mouse feel sluggish, heavy and clunky by comparison. It’s a hard thing to explain, but as I ran them through their paces playing League of Legends (badly), the control and ease were a noticeable pleasure.
Less inspiring is the Arctosa keyboard with all the letters black-on-black with no backlighting, meaning that you’ll either learn to touch type or everything you write will come out drunk. It looks the business, like a F-117A stealth fighter in hard black angles, but in practice the included media buttons feel cheap, the screwed-in palm rest feels like overkill, and while it feels fine, never really seems to justify its price tag. Little things like making sure keyboard mashing won’t produce stuttering results in game and macro memory are nice, but ultimately it feels like a concession to the entry-level gamer, who would be better served by getting a more well-spec’d model (with a backlight!) or just sticking with an ordinary bit of kit.
Razer seems to make no bones about the fact that these are for gamers, and other parties can take their business elsewhere. Whether they are actually worth their cost (not inconsiderable in many cases) depends on just how seriously you take your gaming. With new kit coming out this year in the form of the Razer Edge (geddit?), they are planting the flag firmly at the top of the gaming mountain.