Razer Krait Review

Admin - 2007-01-23 16:39:11 in Input Devices
Category: Input Devices
Reviewed by: Admin   
Reviewed on: January 25, 2007
Manufacturer: Razer
Provided by: Razer
Price: 39.99

Introduction

Razer Krait, kind of an odd name if you ask me. When I first heard the name, it had me thinking about a crate of fruit. But this Krait is far from that and is one of Razer's newer installments in their performance mouse lineup. Razer was formed in the late 90’s by current founder and owner Robert Krakoff. His goal was to make a performance mouse at a competitive price. Bringing real performance to the everyday user, the Krait is being marketed as a somewhat normal MMORPG mouse. Razer already has a very strong mouse lineup, with the Boomslang, Viper, Diamondback, and the Copperhead. So let’s see if the Krait lives up to the Razer name.


Closer Look


The krait comes in a fairly spiffy box, adorned with a picture of the mouse, as well as its name in bold text.



The back of the box has all the Krait's features marked out. It has 3 buttons, gold plated USB connector, etc.



The rest of the box has little bits of text explaining about some of the advantages of this mouse over your standard mouse.

  
Closer Look Contiued

Opening the box and taking out the mouse, I found that it is well packaged with shock-proof plastic. The mouse comes with a very long cord, a driver disc, and a little pamphlet for instructions.

 

That’s right this acclaimed "plain" mouse needs drivers. When the mouse is plugged in, the clear plastic sides and the mouse wheel light up in a very appealing orange color. Time to play with this baby and see if she lives up to all the hype.

 

Specifications

1200 APM* Optimized for Real-Time Strategy (RTS) / Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming(MMOG).

Infrared engine powered by Razer Precision™

1600 DPI, twice that of conventional high performance sensors

Ultra large non-slip mouse buttons, tactile response design

Award winning Razer drivers featuring On-the-Fly sensitivity™ adjustment

Frame rate over 6400 frames per second (5.8 megapixels per second)

16 bit data path, as compared to 8 bit and 12 bit data paths
used by other conventional mice

Always-On™ Mode – the optical sensor never powers down -
provides instantaneous response at all times during gameplay

High speed motion detection, up to 40ips and 15g

Buttons – 3 physical buttons optimized for gaming response and
independently programmable

Non-slip side rails and new ergonomic ambidextrous design

Zero acoustic Teflon feet for smooth motion over any surface

Gold plated USB connector for maximum conductivity

Size: 5.04" length x 2.5" width x 1.54" height

7 foot, lightweight, non-tangle cord


*APM = Actions Per Minute

Configuration

Well before I could start any testing with this mouse, I had to find a way to lower the sensitivity, as stock it comes so fast I could barely click on the close button on my windows. After installing the drivers I took a look at all the tweaks that I could perform to this mouse. First things first, I lowered the sensitivity from the max (10) down to something that felt closer to my old mouse (4). Now I was ready to go.


The other tabs in the Krait software allow you to change the scroll wheel speed. You can change from scrolling one line at a time, to entire pages at a time. The other major feature was the ability to remap all 3 of the buttons individually. You can make mouse3 perform the action of mouse1, or have it scroll. There is A LOT of adjustment in there.


There was a second sensitivity screen where you were able to set the sensitivity for the X, and Y Axes, as well as lower the DPI from 1600 to 400. I chose to leave these settings as they where, as the mouse seemed to be performing great already. In the button mapping screen you can assign an on-the-fly sensitivity changing option to one of the buttons. This will allow you to scroll up or down to raise / lower the sensitivity. When I bound it to mouse3 (the wheel) it was semi awkward to adjust the sensitivity while holding the wheel down.

 

Testing


Now that I had it setup somewhat like my old mouse (a first generation Microsoft 400 DPI optical), it was time for some gaming. So I loaded up my favorite shooter: Counter Strike: Source. After the game loaded up, I joined a server and was instantly impressed. It felt almost like the mouse was a bit ‘snappier’ than my old mouse, it's hard to explain, but I'm sure it's due to the Krait sending more updates a second than my old mouse. This obviously resulted in  quicker and smoother motion. I had never noticed before just how slow my old mouse was, this Krait is fast! After a few rounds I had adjusted to the new speed of the Krait, and I was back in the groove of things. This mouse made life much better in game. I was able to aim faster and more accurately with the same amount of movement as my old mouse required. After playing a FPS, I switched and started to play some Wow (World of Warcraft). Again, I noticed that this mouse had more accurate tracking and performed well in the MMORPG, though I don’t see how a mouse could not.

Conclusion

After using this Krait for a few days, my view on performance mice has changed immensely. I am not a fan of fancy mice, and I have no need for on the fly sensitivity adjustment, as well as lots of other buttons. But this Krait fits the bill perfectly.  This mouse offers the user improved accuracy, superior tracking, and great ergonomics. If any of those things appeal to you, then the Krait is the mouse for you. The Razer Krait is an improvement for any user who is looking for a somewhat "plain" mouse.  If you are in the market for a no frills new mouse then defiantly give the Krait a look!

Pros


Cons