Razor Boomslang Review

The Razer Boomslang is a gamers dream. Made with Karna's Precision Technology which uses focused light to measure ball rotations, this mouse comes in two models. The Boomslang 1000, at 1000 DPI (dots-per-inch), and the Boomslang 2000 (2000 DPI) beat out any average mouse which tops out at 450 DPI. Because of this increased accuracy, game play is improved, and Razer boasts that this mouse is the ultimate video game mouse. Regardless of which method you use to plug in your Razer, PS/2 or USB, the outcome is equal. Razer has managed to boost the PS/2's ordinarily slow pooling rate making the mouse work perfectly using either method of connection.

The size of this mouse is a common misconception. It it not utterly big, but still maintains a width advantage over all other mice on the market. At 35 mm in height and 81mm in width, this mouse is complimented with a sleek, low design, semi transparent (almost iMAC) color, and rubber buttons, which is a great feature that increases friction. The mouse ball, for a good reason, is placed at the back end of the mouse instead of the middle. As an outcome of this, the whole weight of your wrist lies on the mouse ball, and no slippage will happen. This mouse is simply oddly shaped, and not that this is a necessary disadvantage, but it just takes a long time to get used to. Still, using it today, it is impossible to tell where the pinky actually is supposed to go (best suggestion is to leave it hovering above the mouse). All this mouse takes is some getting used to.

Overall, the Razer will not in any way degrade the rest of your applications just because of it's "for games" design. The buttons on the side can be used as forward/back button in a browser, and the scroller is fully implemented to its full potential. One feature really enjoyable with this mouse is it's "on-the-fly sensitivity" option. By holding the side button and working the scroller, you can change sensitivity on the spot. Also, everything is customizable, from the buttons, to scroller spred, scroller click, and macros binding macros to the buttons. Installation is a snap, and the tin can this beast comes in also includes a PS/2-USB adapter.

This mouse is relatively compatible, it seems to run fine on Windows 98/98SE systems, but obvious drivers for windows2000 (aka NT5), have not been released, and this has cause for more than just a few hours hopelessly trying to get the darn thing to work. Also, it is suggested to use this mouse with a thin plastic mouse pad, such as the official Razer one (available to order online), because the conventional mouse pad just doesn't do the job. Normal mouse pads give drag to the sleek low profile of the Boomslang.

Here are some other great features which the Razer Boomslang boasts about:

PATENTED DUST BARRIER: Helps to make clean kills over the long term.

PS/2 FLEX: Available when using a PS/2 connection, this function lets you adjust the pooling rate - the speed at which your computer and the Boomslang communicate from 10-120 Hz.

6 MIPS: The Boomslang communicated at a blazing 6 MIPS (million instructions per second) while traditional mice use 1.5 MIPS.

7' CORD: More elbow room is a result of this longer cable.

ERGO-DESIGN: Levels the playing field for right-handed, and left-handed players. This is due to the symmetrical makeup of the mouse.