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Razer Orochi 2013 the perfect Bluetooth Mac mouse?

blueroom

blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
I bought a 2013 Razor Orochi the other day ~$69 and this is IMHO is the best button type Bluetooth mouse for Mac available.
Its Bluetooth 3.0 is very responsive, seems it appears as a keyboard to OSX so all the buttons are supported without using Razers' Synapse 2.0 drivers. I use Better Touch Tool to program the buttons.

Razer claims longer battery life over its predecessor and I've noticed the Orochi goes to sleep very quickly ~2min but wakes up easily enough.
razer-orochi-mobile-gaming-mouse-588x378.jpg
 
I have the wired version, the taipa, I love it. Thanks for the "Better Touch Tool" tip. I used to have a logitech bluetooth mouse, but that eats batteries, is that better with this one? I told myself to wait for a BT 4.0 version before going bluetooth on a mouse again 😉
 
Don't buy the Orochi if you like battery life! Razer state 30 hours of continuous use, which makes it even worse than the Magic Mouse!! I'd hate to think what the Razer 2009 model was like with battery life... personally that doesn't concern me since I use rechargeables and the USB cable ( below ).

It really is a nice package overall. You can use the mouse wirelessly, of course, or plug it in via USB - supplied with a braided cable. The mouse comes with a travel pouch and will accommodate the USB cable too.

Only downside is that the mouse won't recharge your batteries when plugged in via USB. Not sure why Razer didn't add this - this is the second model, and seems a no brainer.

You can change the DPI on the fly, which is useful for gaming ( after all, it is a gaming mouse ).

Like Blueroom said, use BetterTouchTool - this does almost everything that the Razer drivers do, apart from turn off the green LED scroll wheel.
 
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IMO, wired mice at the way to go. Responsiveness in a mouse is what makes a good mouse a good mouse. I would suggest the Cyborg R.A.T or M.O.U.S lines, they both come wireless, but go so far as to have constant battery with the 2 included rechargeable batteries. I'll stick with my R.A.T 7... until it breaks. XP
 
I have the previous gen Razer Orochi and have not had any issue with battery life and usually use it exclusively on rechargeable batteries. I keep an extra 4 charged for my BT keyboard and the mouse and usually do not find myself needing to change them that often that it has become a nuisance.

I have had both the BT keyboard and Orochi since last fall.
 
Oh nice, pretty good looking mouse with native compatibility. I've gotta say, I've been a fan of razer's mice for a while now, I used to have a Naga Epic but that all ended tragically. 🙁
 
I'm a fairly heavy mouse user, and I've just gone through set one of some older eneloop 2400mAh cells in about a week of high daily use. Using your own AA batteries instead of a proprietary or built in cell is a good thing in my opinion. A good set of NiMH AA cells or even Alkaline in a pinch are commonly available and affordable.

Picked up a new set of Powerex 2700 AA and use their MH-C9000 smart charger to "break-in" the cells. I'll report back how long they last.

Tracking is very fast in Bluetooth mode thanks to 3.0, I had to turn it down a few notches. I can see no obvious difference between wired & wireless tracking on this 6400dpi mouse. Perhaps the latency is improved but this would be of little importance to all but gamers. The dual 4G laser tracking is excellent on most surfaces.

The braided USB cable is very flexible and portable, ideally just as easy to carry around as a spare set of batteries. As I've mentioned it's quick to go to sleep but wakeup time (press a button) is very fast ~1sec.

I'm still mucking around with BTT and the extra two buttons available.🙂

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lucasfer899 said:
Oh nice, pretty good looking mouse with native compatibility. I've gotta say, I've been a fan of razer's mice for a while now, I used to have a Naga Epic but that all ended tragically. 🙁
Click to expand...

How does a mouse end tragically? Worst thing with my original Orochi is the feet eventually become unglued but a few drops of crazy glue fixed that.

PS neat mouse the Epic, did the 12 side buttons work under OSX?
 
blueroom said:
I'm a fairly heavy mouse user, and I've just gone through set one of some older eneloop 2400mAh cells in about a week of high daily use. Using your own AA batteries instead of a proprietary or built in cell is a good thing in my opinion. A good set of NiMH AA cells or even Alkaline in a pinch are commonly available and affordable.

Picked up a new set of Powerex 2700 AA and use their MH-C9000 smart charger to "break-in" the cells. I'll report back how long they last.

Tracking is very fast in Bluetooth mode thanks to 3.0, I had to turn it down a few notches. I can see no obvious difference between wired & wireless tracking on this 6400dpi mouse. Perhaps the latency is improved but this would be of little importance to all but gamers. The dual 4G laser tracking is excellent on most surfaces.

The braided USB cable is very flexible and portable, ideally just as easy to carry around as a spare set of batteries. As I've mentioned it's quick to go to sleep but wakeup time (press a button) is very fast ~1sec.

I'm still mucking around with BTT and the extra two buttons available.🙂

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How does a mouse end tragically? Worst thing with my original Orochi is the feet eventually become unglued but a few drops of crazy glue fixed that.

PS neat mouse the Epic, did the 12 side buttons work under OSX?
Click to expand...


It was ended by my roommate and a fanta. Dont eat your chinese takeaway and play a very competitive minecraft game map, where all the players are literally hovering above their seat every few seconds. Yeah, then he almost dies, his hand flies to the left of where it was on wasd and knocks the drink onto my mouse, he offered to pay up for a new one, but he just gave me his spare magic mouse instead. 🙄 Now I have 2 Magic Mouses. 😀

To be honest, I never tested the 12 side buttons under OSX 😛 because I actually had no use for them, I'm sorry to say. I only did gaming under windows at the time, and I'm a very keyboard heavy user. I could not go back to not using keyboard shortcuts, it skyrocketed my productivity.

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Well, nice to see that this Orochi is £65, much easier to swallow than the £120 my Naga Epic cost. Also, bluetooth is lovely to see, I hated the stupid docking station for my naga. Guess I'll be getting this mouse then!
Anyone know of PowerMac G5 compatibility? 😕
 
soomster said:
Razer is junk!
Click to expand...

*Quoting Sheldon, turning bright red and screaming at the top of my lungs, pointing finger in furious manner toward door*

GEEETTTT OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT 😡

</SARCASM>

What do you have to back up your comment? Razer makes some of the best, of not the best peripherals I've ever used.
 
Simply put there's very little to choose from among decent Bluetooth mice. The current Microsoft & Logitech choices are average at best.

Logitech did have a Bluetooth MX Revolution that you could only buy with a keyboard combo in 2009. Never actually seen one in the wild. I do have a quite dead MX Revolution (batteries won't charge and they're un-replaceable) from my old PC laying around.

Just installed a pair of Powerex 2700 AA batteries charged to ~2670mAh each (according to the C9000 charger).

Lets see how long the batteries last.

The feel of the Orochi is nice, tracking excellent. Build quality very good.
 
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Crazy, I was just looking into this mouse right now.

If you don't mind me asking, where in Toronto did you find it? Canada Computers is showing stock, but also saying "coming soon 2013". Not sure if they just haven't updated the description, or if they're holding them for some reason.
 
Logitech general have gone down hill. They used to have great mice and keyboards but are now bland.

Their BT mice used to be good - years ago.

blueroom said:
Simply put there's very little to choose from among decent Bluetooth mice. The current Microsoft & Logitech choices are average at best.

Logitech did have a Bluetooth MX Revolution that you could only buy with a keyboard combo in 2009. Never actually seen one in the wild. I do have a quite dead MX Revolution (batteries won't charge and they're un-replaceable) from my old PC laying around.

Just installed a pair of Powerex 2700 AA batteries charged to ~2670mAh each (according to the C9000 charger).

Lets see how long the batteries last.

The feel of the Orochi is nice, tracking excellent. Build quality very good.
Click to expand...

jaimejaime said:
Crazy, I was just looking into this mouse right now.

If you don't mind me asking, where in Toronto did you find it? Canada Computers is showing stock, but also saying "coming soon 2013". Not sure if they just haven't updated the description, or if they're holding them for some reason.
Click to expand...

Canada computers have them - they just haven't removed the Coming 2013 text.
 
If there's a better Bluetooth mouse with OSX support I'd like to know.

jaimejaime said:
Crazy, I was just looking into this mouse right now.

If you don't mind me asking, where in Toronto did you find it? Canada Computers is showing stock, but also saying "coming soon 2013". Not sure if they just haven't updated the description, or if they're holding them for some reason.
Click to expand...

They just got them in. That's where I got mine. Make sure it's the 2013 version when you buy it, and get a decent set of NiMH batteries.
 
Stella said:
Canada computers have them - they just haven't removed the Coming 2013 text.
Click to expand...

Wish I had know that, I ordered direct from Razor about a week ago..Could have saved the shipping and wait. Oh well, hopefully the mouse is as good as expected when it arrives.
 
Update, I've gone through a full charge of PowerEX 2700 AA batteries in about two weeks; until the red LED flashes on the mouse. Normally I'll swap the batteries about once a week so this is not an issue for me.

It's a great Bluetooth mouse, and terrific for CAD apps like Sketchup wherein a button mouse still rules supreme. Tracking on most surfaces is very good and the resolution is excellent.

FYI the old mouse has blue LEDs and the new one green. Else they look identical.
 
Just bought it on Monday and arrived today. Would try it out.

30 hours of battery life is not that great already. That's really like one week of usage for gamers. But i m not, LOL
 
I've had one for about a month, (replacing a Magic Mouse.)

My observation so far.

1. The feel is great and it is very accurate for my use, (visual effects work.)

2. The Synapse software is a joke. Half the time it hangs at boot for no reason and if you move your pointer over the menu bar icon it just pinwheels. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times to no avail. Seriously skip the synapse software.

3. You can at least use the right side buttons to stage up and down the sensitivity without the software. Although I wish it was the left side as it is too easy to hit them accidentally, and they are harder to find by feel.

4. I tried BTT and magic prefs as I heard they work with it, but I couldn't get anything to happen, (to br fair I didn't spend more than a, minute or two messing with the settings as I don't need either programs other features.)

5. It goes to sleep, WAY to quickly, 15 second of no use and it looses its connection. With the synapse software it would take 20 seconds to regain a connection after pushing a button. When not using Synapse it's more like 4 or 5 seconds.

6. battery life sucks, I only get about a week and a half use out of it, and I don't use it all day long. My Magic Mouse lasted at lease a month and a half. (Have a high end PC graphics machine that I do most of my main work on sitting next to it.)

7. I have a death adder that I love. I wish they made a blutooth 4 version of that, it would be my perfect mouse, (I know there is the Mamba, but it doesn't have bluetooth)

8. They need to update those synapse drivers and release a firmware update to decrease the sleep lag issue.

I do like the mouse, and there are the pros and cons as I see them. I wouldn't mind the battery stuff soo much if it would wake instantly and the synapse software were usable.
 
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1. Agreed
2. Also true, I uninstalled Synapse soon after installing it. I used it to turn off the wheel LED (which for whatever reason came back on by itself)
3. Better touch tool appears to override that, is this for the wired mode only, does it need Synapse installed?
4. BTT is worth learning and supports some pretty great macros
5. It's very quick to sleep, 3min to sleep, 1-2sec wake
6. It's very battery hungry, I use 2600mAH NiMH cells, I charge em about once a week
7. Let's hope BT 4.0 is on Razor's short list
8. Yes.
 
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I had a mx revolution and then got the performance mx. They are eat mice and prefer them to the Magic Mouse no matter how much I would love to love the minimalistic magic mouse. I was thinking bout buying the razer mouse wi the dock I think it's the mamba, any tips?
 
It would be nice to see a firmware update that allows the user to set sleep times and support battery level indication via bluetooth.

Still it's a great mouse.
 
I like my Logitech G500. Wired and very sensitive. Has multiple DPI profiles so you can change sensitivity on the go (Windows to OS X, other peripherals). Also has one of the most satisfying clicking buttons ever.
 
w00t951 said:
I like my Logitech G500. Wired and very sensitive. Has multiple DPI profiles so you can change sensitivity on the go (Windows to OS X, other peripherals). Also has one of the most satisfying clicking buttons ever.
Click to expand...

Plenty of good wired mice out there, Bluetooth not so much.
 
blueroom said:
Plenty of good wired mice out there, Bluetooth not so much.
Click to expand...

There are good ones with proprietary wireless adapters.

I think there are two reasons more mice don't use bluetooth:
1. BT still isn't standard on most PCs, so an adapter must be supplied anyway (though more are slowly adopting it)
2. BT is traditionally not as energy efficient as many of the propriety wireless systems. (BTsmart could change this)
 
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