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blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
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
 

No-Me

macrumors 6502a
Jul 3, 2011
574
31
Rotterdam
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 ;)
 

Stella

macrumors G3
Apr 21, 2003
8,838
6,341
Canada
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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Commy1

macrumors 6502a
Feb 25, 2013
728
73
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
 

pingfan59

macrumors member
Aug 9, 2011
96
0
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.
 

lucasfer899

macrumors 6502
Sep 23, 2012
432
2
London
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. :(
 

blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
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.:)

----------

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. :(

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?
 

lucasfer899

macrumors 6502
Sep 23, 2012
432
2
London
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.:)

----------



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?


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. :rolleyes: Now I have 2 Magic Mouses. :D

To be honest, I never tested the 12 side buttons under OSX :p 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.

----------

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? :confused:
 

lucasfer899

macrumors 6502
Sep 23, 2012
432
2
London
Razer is junk!

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

GEEETTTT OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT :mad:

</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.
 

blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
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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jaimejaime

macrumors newbie
Jan 30, 2013
27
0
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.
 

Stella

macrumors G3
Apr 21, 2003
8,838
6,341
Canada
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.

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.

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.

Canada computers have them - they just haven't removed the Coming 2013 text.
 

blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
If there's a better Bluetooth mouse with OSX support I'd like to know.

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.

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.
 

jaimejaime

macrumors newbie
Jan 30, 2013
27
0
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.



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.

Thanks guys, I'll probably pop in today and check it out.
 

The Dougler

macrumors member
Oct 25, 2012
67
9
Canada
Canada computers have them - they just haven't removed the Coming 2013 text.

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.
 

blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
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.
 

taniame

macrumors newbie
Mar 27, 2013
1
0
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
 

sfxguy

macrumors regular
Oct 14, 2011
121
3
Los Angeles
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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blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
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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Nautilus007

macrumors 68030
Jul 13, 2007
2,642
1,320
U.S
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?
 

blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
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.
 

w00t951

macrumors 68000
Jan 6, 2009
1,834
53
Pittsburgh, PA
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.
 

blueroom

macrumors 603
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
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.

Plenty of good wired mice out there, Bluetooth not so much.
 

APlotdevice

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2011
3,145
3,861
Plenty of good wired mice out there, Bluetooth not so much.

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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