Razer Mamba Tournament Edition

Written by John Yan on 10/16/2015 for PC  

The Mamba line has been a solid one for Razer. At E3 2015, Razer showed me two versions of their latest Mambas: a wireless one and a corded version. The wired version targeted at hard core gaming and professional gamers, as they don’t have to worry about it dying in the middle of a game. Like a lot of their latest products, Razer’s adding a little bit of color along with some small refinements. And with that, we have 2015’s Razer Mamba Tournament Edition.

Some changes have been made from last year’s Mamba. For starters, there are now two buttons behind the mouse wheel that default to changing your DPI. Before, these two buttons were located on the upper-left part of the Mamba. The move has been a nice change. The location of the two buttons is much better than before. The shape changed, but only slightly.

On the left side are two good-sized thumb buttons that are separated with small spacing. The two main buttons and two side buttons feel responsive, and I like how the spring feels underneath. Pressing the buttons offer a satisfying click and they spring back quickly.

The mouse wheel is a three-directional ratcheted design. You can use it to scroll left and right on a web page, as well as press down on the wheel for a command. It really doesn’t take much effort to push down or to one side. All buttons are programmable via the Razer Synapse software.

The size fits those that like a palm grip or claw grip. It’s what I consider a slightly smaller-than-average-sized mouse, but comfortable to hold. The surface has a nice soft finish, so it’s not slippery or uncomfortable to palm. With my sized hand, I am able to do a palm grip on the Mamba TE, but I can switch to a claw grip as well.

Razer has put in a fifth generation laser sensor that’s capable of up to 16,000 DPI. That’s sensitive. You can also expect Razer to be the only one to use this sensor for at least 18 months, as they have exclusive rights to it. Along with being very sensitive, the new laser sensor also offers up a very small lift-off distance of 0.1mm. So if you’re one of those that do pick up your mouse a lot during gaming, the low lift-off distance will benefit you in allowing for the tracking of the mouse to stop a lot sooner after it leaves the surface.

With the new sensor, Razer now allows for the changing of DPI by one, so you can get really, really granular on how sensitive you want your mouse to be. Usually, we see steps of some amount of DPI when changing, but the Mamba Tournament Edition lets you be as specific as you want. For those that want to tailor their mouse exactly to how they want it in terms of movement, this is the mouse for you.

Lighting has been a big thing for Razer recently, and the Mamba Tournament Edition gets the colored lighting treatment as well. A strip runs the length of the mouse on either side, along with the sides of the mouse wheel being lit up. With the corded edition of the Mamba, there’s also the Razer logo near the back that can change color.

You’ll have a choice of up to 16.8 million colors and a variety of effects, such as breathing, wave, cycling, reactive, and others. There are some nice separation of zones with some effects. For example, I was able to make each strip, logo, and wheel flash a different color when I clicked a mouse button. With the wave effect, I was able to configure each zone to cycle differently. The amount of customization on the lighting effects is pretty impressive and you can really tailor the mouse colors to how you want it with the easy-to-use Razer Synapse software.

Speaking of the Razer Synapse software, let me say it’s one of the most easy-to-use UIs to customize a mouse. Everything’s labeled nicely and you can change a lot of settings to make the mouse truly yours. And, as always, you can save profiles so that if you do have different settings for different games, you can easily switch to them. Link a profile to a game and it’ll automatically switch your settings when you start it. It’s that simple.

Performance-wise, the Mamba Tournament Edition features smooth and accurate tracking. I played a lot of Diablo III and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain with the mouse, along with doing everyday work such as development, PhotoShop, and web browsing. The Mamba TE mouse really held up in all circumstances. I was accurate with my mouse clicks playing as a healing monk and as a Uliana’s Exploding Palm monk in Diablo III. Having broken Greater Rift 60 with the Mamba TE, I was pretty happy with how it performed in tight situations.

Sniping was a breeze in Metal Gear Solid V with the Mamba TE. With the quick adjustment of DPI, I was able to reduce the DPI quickly when zoomed in—and return it to a higher setting when not in scope—with a push of a button. Making those small subtle movements was easy and smooth, allowing me to be accurate in both a sniping position and a run-and-gun situation.

While it doesn’t have a plethora of buttons, the Razer Mamba Tournament Edition does offer great performance. I never had any issues with the mouse and really enjoyed using it the past few weeks. At the time of this writing, it sells for $79 on Amazon, which is a good price for a solid-performing corded mouse. It’s colorful, comfortable, and comes from a company with a good track record in gaming mice.