 Finally, the mouse I've been waiting for! |
| Review Date: October 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Dylan Ginsburg, |
Edit: I've stopped playing WoW so much and have been playing other types of games recently. Now that the buttons can be remapped this mouse works well for any game. It's great for shooters because I can swap weapons without having to reach for the F-keys. I've grown to appreciate how ergonomic it is. It fits my hand perfectly. I'm fully acclimated to the button placement and can hit the right one without thinking. Razer was right that it takes 15-20 hours for it to become second nature. I have found that for my short fingers only 9 of the 12 thumb buttons are an easy reach. I try to put the less important functions on the top row.
As an avid WoW player I'm always on a quest for mice with more buttons. MOAR! Most mice are limited to 5 mappable buttons that my fingers can actually reach. Some do cram more buttons on the mouse but place them in awkward locations that are only practical for infrequently used functions. I had high hopes for the SteelSeries WoW branded mouse but it's built poorly and the thumb buttons are hard to press individually without fat fingering the next button. Another mouse I wanted to like was the Sandio 3D but it's way too large for my hand. Plus, the hat switches are good for movement but not so good for mapping to four individual functions. I've been using Logitech MX series mice that have 8-9 mappable buttons. These are comfortable and the software is very flexible in how the buttons are mapped. I've been content with them but am always looking for more.
Enter the Razer Naga. I thought this was a Photoshop joke when I first saw the picture. But they really have put a cell phone style keypad on the thumb side for a total of 17 buttons. What's amazing is they've done this while keeping the mouse a reasonable size and having all but one button within easy finger reach. The mouse feels very high quality. It's very comfortable with good tactile feel. The scroll wheel is the nicest I've ever used. It's clear that Razer puts a lot of effort into creating a functional design, not just something that looks good in the box. My only complaint about the physical aspect is that it's rather lightweight.
The thumb buttons will take getting used to and I'm still working on it. I'm not going to raid with it out of the box because I don't want people to die. But even after a short while playing around with it in battlegrounds I'm improving and I can tell that the muscle memory will build up quickly until it feels natural - just like with a keyboard or gaming pad. Thoughtfully, Razer includes rubbery stick on nubs that you can place as tactile landmarks to train yourself. Razer claims 88% of gamers are fully comfortable after 18 hours of play.
The Windows driver is simpler and less flexible than I expected. The thumb buttons map to either the number row above the keyboard or the right number pad. The 5 main buttons map to the standard windows Left/Right/Middle/Back/Forward actions. There is no custom button mapping. Razer expects you to use an in game interface to map your actions to the fixed buttons. This is fine for WoW but could be a limitation on other games.
Razer supplies a custom WoW addon that is available at [...]. It's just a branded version of Dominos - an established addon. It's good that Razer licensed something that is fully featured and well tested rather than creating something new that probably wouldn't be as good. I'm unable to use it, however, because it conflicts with Bartender4. There is no need to use the Razer addon as the mouse is just acting like 12 keyboard buttons. Since the default behavior is to just map the 12 numbers above the keyboard you could just use standard WoW action bars and keybindings with zero configuration.
If it's not clear by now, I think this is a great product. I've been waiting for a mouse like this for 5 years and Razer has delivered!
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Revolutionary
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| Review Date: December 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jennifer, MN, USA |
I cannot give the Razer Naga enough praise. I have been a PC gamer since the dawn of home PC's in the mid 90's and I have watched the market for PC gaming peripherals grow and change over the years. I have always been somewhat intrigued by gaming mice being a somewhat hardcore gamer, but I could never push myself to take the plunge because I didn't feel they offered anything over what my regular internet mouse could do.
Enter the Razer Naga.
As soon as I saw this mouse, I knew there was something special here. Suddenly we've jumped light years ahead of our standard 5-button mice to a 17 (!!!) button mouse. I knew after doing a bit of research that I had to try this mouse and I am so glad I did. Some reviews are calling this mouse a gimmick. You can go ahead thinking that while I continue to have more control over my games than I ever have before.
Basic features first. The Naga is very comfortable in my hand and looks and feels of very high quality materials. I especially like the little "ridge" on the right side of the mouse which is obviously made to support my ring finger comfortably and give me a better grip on the mouse. It glides like a dream, even off a mouse pad. The wide range of configuration options makes control perfect for any user. The right and left mouse buttons are very responsive and the wheel scrolls smoothly with a very nice gripping texture to make scrolling that much faster and more precise. The fantastic braided cord is long and durable, yet lightweight and honestly feels like a wireless mouse, as if the cord was not even there. The size is also perfect. With all the extra features, I thought it might be too big for my small hands, but it is wonderful. My hand fits comfortably on the mouse and I have quick, accurate access to all buttons as does my husband who has larger hands than I. My index finger does not have to stretch just to barely reach the mouse wheel. It is fantastic.
Now, for the fun stuff. If you are buying this mouse, all you really care about is the 12-key thumb pad. You will be very pleased to know that it lives up to every expectation I had, despite being somewhat wary given all the "gimmicky" reviews out there. One issue I was fairly concerned about was a comment made in a previous review about how he can't grip the mouse during play without accidentally activating the keys on the thumb pad. I did not find this to be an issue in any way. Right out of the box I was using this mouse in World of Warcraft and I adapted very quickly to the sensation of all the extra keys under my thumb. You actually can grip this mouse fairly firmly without unintentionally activating any of the keys. Yet, pushing the keys requires very minimal effort. It is a perfect balance. Not too soft that you accidentally push the keys but not too hard that you can't activate them quickly and easily. Also, I tend to guide the movement of my mouse with the palm of my hand and I don't grip the mouse like a bear. If you are aggressive with your mice, you may find this an issue but neither I or my gamer husband had any issues with it at all.
I also worried that I may not be able to reach all the keys accurately and comfortably with my thumb after reading some reviews that suggested some keys may be worthless. I was overjoyed to find that I can easily access all 12 keys easily and effectively without having to lift my hand or contort my fingers in weird ways. It was actually very natural for me. The biggest challenge you will face with the 12 keys is simply getting used to them being there. I've only logged a few hours with the Naga playing WoW, but I've assigned all the keys to commonly used skills and I was doing pretty well straight away. I did have to look down somewhat frequently to remember which key was where, but as with anything, this will disappear after more use. I'm sure by the end of the week I will have all the keys memorized and I will rue the days that I managed to live without my Naga. If you need a little extra help, however, Razer brilliantly includes a pack of little rubberized stickers that you can place on the keys to help orient yourself while you're learning. I may end up trying them just to speed up the process, but I feel I'm already doing pretty well after a short period of time and I don't want to end up using them as a crutch. They help you out with this by adding little ridges to every other row of keys, on the 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, and 12 keys, to be specific. This does wonders to help you find your way as well.
The final potential issue I feared (again after reading some not-so-nice reviews) was that there may be a lack of customization for the keys themselves. It is true that you must choose to assign the 12-key pad to either your 1 though = keys or your num pad. I personally wanted to keep my 1 though = keys where they were as I had intended for the Naga to be an add-on for the keys I already used frequently to give me access to a second set of quickly accessible skills. I worried at first that this would not be possible. Again, I was very pleased to find that this also was a non-issue. The switch on the bottom of the mouse lets you quickly switch between your standard keys and the number pad, so I decided to try out the second option. My main game is WoW, and I noticed that all the existing keybinds for the number pad (excluding auto run and run/walk) were keys I never use. So I was quick to reassign my second in-game hot key bar to those keys. Instantly I had quick access to 12 more hot keys without having to mess with shift, alt and ctrl which I've always struggled with having fairly small female hands. I have never been able to activate alternate hot key bars quickly due to my fingers just not being able to reach all keys at once without taking my hand off the mouse, and this was really my primary reason for this purchase. The Naga has not let me down in this aspect and has been a very worthwhile purchase for me.
As for the other features, the back light is beautiful. I am not much for flash, but the beautiful blue glow of the keys and wheel and the fading logo on the Naga are fantastic. Just the right intensity as well. You can use the configuration software to turn the keypad/wheel and logo on and off independently if you choose. Only wish they had allowed me to change it to pink! Also, the custom DPI tracking is fantastic. You will need to download the software and drivers for this which is quick and painless. It gives me so much control and currently at 5000DPI, I need hardly any space to move my mouse and my accuracy is spot on. The WoW addon is also very nice, though I choose to pass on using it for my love of Bartender. I was very tempted, however, because the ability to arrange your hotkey bar to match the actual layout of the buttons would make learning the keys so much easier. I just didn't feel I wanted to spend the time to totally reconfigure my interface, though at some point down the road I may because I feel I could potentially get a lot more out of the Naga if I did. The addon fixes my aforementioned problem of hands not being big enough to reach all the modifier keys to activate alternate hot key bars by letting me use my left hand for the modifier and my right hand to activate the actual key on the mouse. The addon changes pages automatically when holding down the modifier so it seems very very functional and intuitive. When I overcome my aversion to changing my UI and become completely comfortable with my new Naga, I will probably take the plunge and reconfigure my setup because I really do feel I will benefit in the long run. Baby steps!
I do have to point out one minor issue that isn't really an issue at all. The forward and back keys on the Naga are much further up on the left side of the mouse than I am used to and I have for years bound my most essential skills to these keys. Razer obviously had to move them up to make room for the thumb pad so it isn't really a flaw as much as it is a necessity. It did, however, take a lot of getting used to and I was frequently pushing the 3 and 6 keys out of habit. Within a few hours though, I am no longer fighting habit and getting used to the buttons being in their new location.
To conclude, if you are in the market for a gaming mouse, there is absolutely no comparison to the Razer Naga. No other mouse even comes close. At it's current price, it is not even much more than your typical gaming mouse and I feel you get a lot more bang for your buck with this baby. Prepare to be impressed when you receive the Naga as the packaging is very sleek and beautiful. I am not usually one to be wooed by those types of things, but they pulled out all the stops with this packaging. It makes a very attractive gift for the gamer in your life and looks a lot more expensive than what you actually pay for it. Razer is my new favorite manufacturer of gaming peripherals. I love my Naga! |
The mouse works absolutely fine, zero mapping/configuration issues. Wow players read.
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| Review Date: October 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jeff Addison, Perrysburg, OH USA |
I don't normally get on here and write reviews...as I'm normally too busy between a full time job, a full raid schedule and other stuff going on, but after reading some of these reviews I felt the need to post this. This mouse is absolutely wonderful. It feels very comfortable and all buttons are reachable. There is a little bit of a learning curve with initial use. My advice is to start small; bind three of the number buttons first and then once you have those down, add three more. You will be up to all twelve side buttons in no time.
In regards to those users that are having configuration problems here is a simple solution: I don't utilize the Razer addons, though in my opinion they are very similar to Bartender4. You can bind the weapons to any spell/action you need by simply either using the Wow in-game mapper (on the startup menu) or download the addon Bindpad, drag to the interface, and profit.
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