Successful Concept
review by
artifact
I've had 2 of these (the second one being a Molten edition) in 3 years. Both are still working, but not without issues... more on that later.
Main features:
It's not until I started testing other MMO mice that I realized how good the Naga is. The Logitech G600, Corsair M90 and SteelSeries WoW mice... all pale in comparison to the Naga's execution of the MMO button cluster. The thumb grid is placed exactly where my thumb has the best reach and spaced just well enough that misclicks are extremely rare. It's also organized in a way that is easy to memorize and plan keybindings for. It's come to a point where I rely on the thumb grid so much that I'll be uncomfortable going back to a mouse with a "standard" amount of buttons.
Mouse buttons 4 and 5 however leave something to be desired. They're not exactly in optimal reach of the index finger and require some practice to wield with dexterity?I would rather have them next to the mouse wheel. They're easy to ignore if unused though, so I can't really fault the mouse with them.
Feel:
No matter the grip I find myself using, the mouse is very comfortable. I can go on long gaming sessions and my hand won't feel any discomfort (then again, that can be said for most of the mice I've used).
The Naga uses Omron D2FC-F-7N switches for the left and right mouse buttons. I've not used a mouse with a click that feels better. I'm not sure what switches the thumb grid uses, but if feels great as well, and requires just enough pressure that you won't easily misclick, yet won't exert your thumb.
There's no thumb rest though, and some people may find the feel of the buttons under their thumb grating, but that never bothered me. You can't have both a thumb grid and a thumb rest and keep it all accessible and comfortable.
Tracking:
The Naga is equipped with the Philips Twin Eye PLN 2032 laser sensor, providing 5600 DPI, 1000Hz polling rate. Don't expect stellar tracking, especially given the Z-axis bug, but you probably aren't considering this mouse for high precision aim anyway.
The mouse feet are basic teflon pads which glide smoothly on my Razer Kabuto. Razer apparently sell improved pads on their online store, but I haven't found the need.
Build quality:
This is where things really go downhill. The upper shell of the Naga is made of cheap plastic, and unfortunately the prongs that connect the left and right mouse buttons to their switches are part of that shell, so over time the stems of the switches will bite into the prongs and create a notch, which will make clicking increasingly mushier until it no longer works at all. If that happens you'll have to RMA the mouse if it's still under warranty or repair it yourself if you don't want to throw it away. My Molten currently has this problem and waiting to be fixed.
Another issue I've experienced?on both my Nagas?is mouse button 4 not always registering when pressed. Not a big problem as, like I said before, MB4 and MB5 can be overlooked and the mouse is still fantastic without them.
There's also the "double click issue" many users have been complaining about, but I've not experienced so far, where a single click will register as a double click. This is apparently fixed by opening the mouse (will void your warranty) and spraying a bit of contact cleaner on the offending switch.
Software:
The Naga basically works out of the box just by plugging it to a Windows PC, so I wouldn't recommend using the software at all except when a firmware update is available.
That being said, my gripe with Synapse is essentially the same as other vendor mice software: it needlessly adds bloat to your system. You'll also find that the addons Razer provide for MMOs are essentially mods of existing user addons, and unnecessary.
Price:
Given the mediocre durability, this mouse is on the pricey side. Better wait for discounts.
Conclusion:
Subjective comfort aside, the Razer Naga is the best MMO mouse to date. If you need a good gaming mouse, find your left hand fingers leaving the keyboard's WASD cluster?thus limiting your freedom of movement?more than you'd like in
any game, and don't mind having to replace your mouse about once a year, this is the mouse for you.
Pros | Cons |
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Design, Plug & Play | Z-axis tracking, build quality |
Ratings