When it comes to choosing a mouse for my daily PC gaming, I’ve been picky over the years. I settled on the underrated Microsoft Sidewinder series for a while before making the jump to Razer, forgoing the company’s tried and tested Deathadder and skipping straight ahead to the very first Mamba. It’s a mouse that’s served me well for years, and continues to do so today. The Razer Mamba Tournament, however, makes me want to question that decision.
The Mamba Tournament is not a direct replica of the traditional Mamba, instead taking most of its design cues from the cheaper (and more popular) Deathadder. It retains the two left-mounted optional buttons along with your standard left and right clicks, but adds in an extra two on the top that are exclusive to the Mamba’s design. These two buttons, located just below the textured scroll wheel, allow you to modify DPI settings on the fly. Something that I believe should be standard on all gaming mice.
The mouse itself is finished with a sleek black coating, which does well to not pick up any hand oils or sweats you produces while gaming for long periods. The textured sides help grip enormously too, and the additional space on the right side of the mouse allows for a comfortable grip with ample space for you ring and pinky fingers. Holding the Mamba Tournament is a treat, and I went for hours without really need to adjust out of discomfort. It’s simply lovely.
The additional weight on the Mamba Tournament over the Deathadder is also welcome, although may come down to personal preference. There’s no sort of weight system involved here, but I personally love my mice to be a little heavier for more precise movement. It’s a small but noticeable difference. The Mamba Tournament can’t be used wirelessly however, although the lengthy braided USB cable is more than enough for even the most confusingly weird setups.
Keeping in line with the just as confusing push to augment every peripheral on your desktop with lighting, the Mamba Tournament features full RGB lighting across three parts of its design. Two strips running down the side of the mouse and the mouse wheel are able to light up in a kaleidoscope of colour, making it look like your mouse is vomiting rainbows when you first power it up. It’s all powered by the rather fantastic Razer Synapse 2.0 software, which gives you a huge amount of control over your lighting and profile options.
In terms of raw lighting, Synapse lets you set a variety of different animations to the Mamba Tournament, ranging from solid, single colour lighting to single or split waves. The colour spectrum these make use of can be tweaked to your pleasure, as well as the speed and direction of compatible animations. If having a consistently lit mouse isn’t your thing, you can set specific on/off commands too. Want the running rainbow off during a game? You can do that. Want it only to come on after a click? That’s there too. Synapse is powerful, and there’s almost certainly an option for the setting you’re looking for.
Outside of simple colours, Synapse also doubles up as a powerful tool for recording profiles individually for games. Mapping keys or recording macros for the additional side buttons is simple and fast, and can be done on a per game basis by assigned them to specific executable. This isn’t exclusive to the Mamba Tournament or Synapse, but both should be commended for how fluid and easy they make the entire process. That can’t always be said for competitors (looking at you sometimes, Logitech).
If there is a gripe to be had with the lighting in particular, it’s the presences of a few dead spots across the strips running along the side. When animated it’s difficult to see, but switch over to solid lighting and the small issues makes itself apparent. There are some noticeable gaps between the lighting segments on the mouse, which can lead to some bothersome dead zones. It’s really a small issue, but if RGB lighting is as important to you as all the companies pushing it like to make it out to be, then it’s something to note.
All of this would be pointless to list out if the Mamba Tournament didn’t do its job properly, and on the front there’s really nothing to fault. Using it with fast first-person shooters such as DOOM and Overwatch or just simply browsing, the Mamba Tournament stayed comfortable and accurate in any situation. Having the DPI buttons underneath the mouse wheel instead of aside the left-click (as is on the traditional Mamba) is a little disappointing in practice though, as it prevented me from changing the settings on the fly easily within a game. At least not without taking my hand fully off the mouse first.
These are small by blips on an otherwise exceptional product, that I’m happy to say has replaced my trusty old Mamba for the time being. It’s not the perfect mouse, but Razer has once again delivered a quality product with all the extras the industry demands of it now. The Mamba Tournament Edition is a strong contender for your attention if you’re in the market for a new mouse, especially if you’re not up for breaking the bank for more expensive alternatives.
Last Updated: June 22, 2016
Razer Mamba Tournament Edition Chroma | |
The Razer Mamba Tournament Edition is a flashy, comfortable and exceptional mouse, ticking all the right boxes for an all-round performer. There are small issues with the RGB lighting and the position of a few buttons, but they’re negligible when taking into consideration the full, near-perfect whole.
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Ottokie
June 22, 2016 at 11:33
https://m.popkey.co/a72f64/O9M8L.gif
HairyEwok
June 22, 2016 at 12:22
Chroma Cat approves the mouse XD
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
June 22, 2016 at 11:37
https://media.giphy.com/media/w01H3jsd1pA1a/giphy.gif
Ghost In The Rift
June 22, 2016 at 11:42
I got this mouse like 4 months ago, paired with my Blackwidow chroma keyboard it looks absolutely lovely now i just need to get hold of the firefly mousepad, never had a mouse that was this good in FPS games and wont look at anything else again.
The Order of the Banana
June 22, 2016 at 12:03
I’m afraid of stuff like this, what if it induces an epileptic fit? The last thing I want is to be found on the floor, jerking with no pants on… 🙁
Ghost In The Rift
June 22, 2016 at 12:11
Dont worry, ill add some Rave so it looks like your break dancing XD
The Order of the Banana
June 22, 2016 at 12:19
Umphf umphf umphf!
Matthew Holliday
June 22, 2016 at 14:42
question, you chose the mamba over the deathadder?
The mambas selling point was its wireless, this wired chroma version is just a chunkier more expensive version of the deathadder
Ghost In The Rift
June 22, 2016 at 15:02
cause of the RGB lights and its customization abilities, i’m busy with a project for my set up and it includes RGB hence why i also got the blackwidow chroma and still need the mouse pad, sadly it comes down to availability where i live, the Abyssus, Taipan and Mamba was all they had on shelf.
Matthew Holliday
June 23, 2016 at 09:42
That is bizarre, the deathadder is their best selling mouse of all time, how does one not have stock of that, but have stock of the abyssus and taipan? lol
Alien Emperor Trevor
June 22, 2016 at 11:43
That’s a nice looking mouse & I’m in the market for a new mouse. Oh. It costs R1.6k and hates lefties.
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
June 22, 2016 at 12:17
R1.6k……yeah, my Diamondback says no
Ghost In The Rift
June 22, 2016 at 12:38
interesting, got my one at Incredible Corruption for 1.4K
The Order of the Banana
June 22, 2016 at 12:01
Is this a mouse or a disco party!!!???
Admiral Chief Maximum Effort
June 22, 2016 at 12:17
I NEED IT
HairyEwok
June 22, 2016 at 12:27
I like Razer a lot but the price tags on Razer merch is a bit high.
Matthew Holliday
June 22, 2016 at 14:38
blame musica, razer used to be the cheaper option.
these chromas are crazy expensive though.
And I have no idea who would choose the mamba over the deathadder.