A REALLY Nice Mouse (Compatibility Concerns for the Razer Mamba )

[aresinferno]

The base IS the wireless receiver. So no base, no wireless mouse.

The good thing is that it's completely USB powered which means you don't need an AC outlet to charge your mouse.

But I think it kinda misses the mark for its intended use. It would have been much easier to just have a small dongle that you can slip in your bag and take it with you.

The Mamba just doesn't really lend itself to mobile computing.

Ok thanks for the quick answer. I guess having to use the base defeats the point of having it wireless. I would be okay if there was some kind of expresscard (if possible) or mini (and i mean mini) USB dongle.

Isn't there some kind of way to connect it to the wireless on a macbook pro or does it use a slightly different frequency to prevent interference?

Although I do see one practical use for this and a laptop. Plugging it into your large LCD/LED/Plasma TV using mini-displayport to HDMI, sitting far back on a sofa or bed with a bluetooth keyboard and an awesome wireless gaming mouse and suitable mousepad while playing a game

There is always the 1600dpi non-gaming radtech bluetooth mouse that is bluetooth or plugs in with USB to charge / use non-wireless. that is what i liked about it and hopes the mamba would be. A really practical mouse without need for a reciever base station that charges using USB and becomes wired when you need to. If the mamba did this i would be sold

 

[khoolmann]

Ok thanks for the quick answer. I guess having to use the base defeats the point of having it wireless. I would be okay if there was some kind of expresscard (if possible) or mini (and i mean mini) USB dongle.

Isn't there some kind of way to connect it to the wireless on a macbook pro or does it use a slightly different frequency to prevent interference?

It's 2.4hrtz vs bluetooth so no you can't make it work with your mac without a plug-in receiver.

 

[apfhex]

Isn't there some kind of way to connect it to the wireless on a macbook pro or does it use a slightly different frequency to prevent interference?

As with other non-bluetooth wireless mice, you must use the included receiver. It's definitely not meant as a portable mouse, especially since it's meant for serious gaming.

 

[khoolmann]

Wired to Wireless

I thought I'd post this incase others have had the same issue with the Mamba.

When going from wired to wireless mode, more often than not the mouse wouldn't register (i.e. the cursor wouldn't move even though the base receiver clearly has power going to it from the USB port).

This happened to me quite a few times and no matter how often I would plug the wire back into the mouse or the receiver, I would be forced to do a restart to get the mouse operational again.

Then, quite by accident, I worked out the solution.

I simply turned the mouse on BEFORE unplugging the cord and putting back into the docking station.

Don't know why this is the way it is - I doubt it is a design feature - more like a flaw - but there it is.

Hope this helps anyone else who's had the same problem.

 

[apfhex]

When going from wired to wireless mode, more often than not the mouse wouldn't register (i.e. the cursor wouldn't move even though the base receiver clearly has power going to it from the USB port).

I had this happen too. Fiddled with it a while and got it to work again.

I got my Steelseries SX pad today and it's really nice. It's big. Mouse slides across it with just enough smoothness for me but it comes with some feet you can add just in case. Has a firm grip on the desk with the rubber underside.

Razer talks about this some on their website, regarding the way people like to grip mice and that the Mamba (like the Deathadder) is palm grip type. I already considered myself a palm grip person but the Mamba is even more so. There's a very noticeable difference in the comfort and performance of the mouse when you have a real proper grip on it. With the MX Rev I could never really grip quite wholly. The Mamaba is a better fit. The huge Steelseries pad helps with this because you can make more sweeping, whole hand movements.

 

[Koski]

A question!

If you boot into windows, turn of the dock and wheel LEDs in the software and then boot back into OS X, does the LEDs stay off? I just can't stand blue LEDs. That's basically the only thing that keeps me from buying it ^^

I had this happen too. Fiddled with it a while and got it to work again.

I got my Steelseries SX pad today and it's really nice. It's big. Mouse slides across it with just enough smoothness for me but it comes with some feet you can add just in case. Has a firm grip on the desk with the rubber underside.

Razer talks about this some on their website, regarding the way people like to grip mice and that the Mamba (like the Deathadder) is palm grip type. I already considered myself a palm grip person but the Mamba is even more so. There's a very noticeable difference in the comfort and performance of the mouse when you have a real proper grip on it. With the MX Rev I could never really grip quite wholly. The Mamaba is a better fit. The huge Steelseries pad helps with this because you can make more sweeping, whole hand movements.

 

[rkdiddy]

I had this happen too. Fiddled with it a while and got it to work again.

I got my Steelseries SX pad today and it's really nice. It's big. Mouse slides across it with just enough smoothness for me but it comes with some feet you can add just in case. Has a firm grip on the desk with the rubber underside.

Razer talks about this some on their website, regarding the way people like to grip mice and that the Mamba (like the Deathadder) is palm grip type. I already considered myself a palm grip person but the Mamba is even more so. There's a very noticeable difference in the comfort and performance of the mouse when you have a real proper grip on it. With the MX Rev I could never really grip quite wholly. The Mamaba is a better fit. The huge Steelseries pad helps with this because you can make more sweeping, whole hand movements.

My Steelseries came in today - you're right it is BIG. Construction is great, but it doesn't work with my wired MM. Might have to upgrade.

 

[apfhex]

If you boot into windows, turn of the dock and wheel LEDs in the software and then boot back into OS X, does the LEDs stay off?

I'll try this later if I remember. I suspect that they will stay off as most of the settings are written directly to the Synapse™ memory on the mouse and dock.

 

[Signal-11]

Apfhex, I think I saw you posting on the Windows 7 RC threads as well. Can you get Aero shake to work with your high sensi/DPI mice?

 

[apfhex]

FYI the lights do stay off when you turn them off in Windows.

Apfhex, I think I saw you posting on the Windows 7 RC threads as well. Can you get Aero shake to work with your high sensi/DPI mice?

I didn't even know about that feature! Aero Shake works fine... DPI doesn't really have anything to do with it? besides making it easier to shake.

 

[Signal-11]

I didn't even know about that feature! Aero Shake works fine... DPI doesn't really have anything to do with it? besides making it easier to shake.

Nah, I'm asking b/c it's much harder to activate with my Lachesis that with my VX Revo. I would think the opposite would be true but I have to scrub this stupid mouse back and forth like a madman to get it to activate. I feel like I'm trying to pop out a lightning kick with Chun Li.

 

[apfhex]

At higher DPI the cursor just moves faster, so in theory it's easier. Either way, though, kind of an annoying feature. You do have to shake the cursor quite a bit to activate it, by design.

 

[thepawn]

I've been using mine for a few days now and its been great so far. I did have it go dead on me one day after I forgot to charge it overnight. (I work from home, so I'm on a computer 8+ hours a day)

The sensitivity and accuracy is fantastic, I've never had a "smoother" mouse - in both wired and wireless modes.

I haven't figured out how to keep it recognized when going back from corded -> cordless mode, what's this trick you guys are talking about?

In case you are wondering why it detects a "keyboard" when you plug it in is because the mouse does also advertise itself as a keyboard for the macro support. Buttons 6 and 7, by default assigned to DPI, can be re-mapped in windows to macros that are stored in the mouse. Using a VM Win install I've remapped these two buttons to macros to bring up Dashboard and DejaMenu.

I'm still going to give an MX1100/MX Rev a try, but so far, the Mamba is winning my mouse-test battle. (I'm moving from a G7, which has also worked great under OSX) I already tried a Microsoft X8 Sidewinder, but it just wasn't comfortable for me.

Oh, and I run Steer Mouse.

 

[khoolmann]

Firmware update 1.07

Today I installed the latest Firmware update - curiously there are two - 1.06 & 1.07 - apparently they are a little different so check out the Razer support page before you decide which one to go for (I just went for 1.07 as I felt that had the highest number - must be the latest).

Initial impressions are a smoother, more precise mouse. The battery life seems to be better (2 bars left at the end of a full day vs 1 or none prior to the update) and the delay of several seconds when waking from sleep is gone and I mean GONE. The Mamba is now super responsive from sleep - instantaneous even.

Do yourself a favor, go to the Razer web site and download those bad boys. Be sure for flash both mouse and receiver - don't just update the firmware.

 

[apfhex]

Today I installed the latest Firmware update - curiously there are two - 1.06 & 1.07 - apparently they are a little different so check out the Razer support page before you decide which one to go for (I just went for 1.07 as I felt that had the highest number - must be the latest).

From their site...

Changes from version 1.06
- Implemented Dynamic DPI Scaling technology to mitigate occurrences of “jitter”

There's also an updated driver, 1.04, different from the firmware update, not actually new today but recent.

Anyway, I LOVE that the mouse wakes instantly now, just like the MX Rev.

 

[thepawn]

From their site...

There's also an updated driver, 1.04, different from the firmware update, not actually new today but recent.

Anyway, I LOVE that the mouse wakes instantly now, just like the MX Rev.

Interesting, I'll have to go check out the update.

The only issue I still run into is getting it to go back from wired->wireless ... sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't.

I wasn't bothered by the wake-up time, it was a second or two, which I was used to with my Logitech.

 

[thepawn]

Holy cow was that rough.

Note - Make sure you have a real WinXP bootcamp or Vista bootcamp/pc around to do the upgrade. lol.

My parallels instance wouldn't recognize the "IOUSB" mode for hte bootloader, so I went over to my laptop with Win7 64-bit and forgout about driving signing the first go around...then it wouldn't "automatically" recognize the drivers for the base in Win7 (kept trying to load the 32-bit ones) so I had to manually update those...2.5hrs later it was all flashed only to find it deletes all the profile and macros stored in the mouse, so baaack to windows to find I didn't actually -save- my previous macros and profile and I had to make them again. Whew.

I'm now all 1.07 and all macro'd again. lol. Not for the faint of heart.

 

[Ashendar]

I've just picked up a Mamba and mine is displaying some bizarre behavior - initially on start up the tracking is terrible with the cursor randomly appearing at the edges of the screen, however after a couple of minutes it settles down and works fine. Anyone else experienced this pattern of behavior?

 

[apfhex]

Anyone else experienced this pattern of behavior?

No, but if I'm using it wired (which I often do, the battery life really isn't good I've discovered), on a fresh startup of OS X it will recognize clicks but not movement, and I have to unplug it and then back in to get it to work. Could be a Steermouse issue though. No issues in Windows, or when just using it wirelessly in either.

 

[thepawn]

Check your firmware revision.

I have no issues with mine (wired or wireless) these days other then the "wired-to-wireless mode dance" you still need to do once in a while.

 

[ChrisN]

Mine works fine but when coming from sleep and in wireless mode it takes a couple of seconds to get connected again.

 

[apfhex]

Mine works fine but when coming from sleep and in wireless mode it takes a couple of seconds to get connected again.

If you have the latest firmware, it should wake instantly from sleep.

 

[thepawn]

If you have the latest firmware, it should wake instantly from sleep.

+1

 

[Ashendar]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have the latest firmware so i don't think that is the issue. It most likely is an issue related to Steermouse/OS. Will have to try without steermouse to see how i go.

Cheers

 

[thepawn]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have the latest firmware so i don't think that is the issue. It most likely is an issue related to Steermouse/OS. Will have to try without steermouse to see how i go.

Cheers

Wierd... I run steermouse with no problems....