Mice & Keyboards by stefan @ 2011-03-31
Enter the TRON universe with the help of Razer and their Gaming Mouse and Mat combo; the high performance gaming mouse is shaped like a Lightcycle and when it is moved on the specially designed mat, it leaves a glow trail behind, exactly like on the Game Grid. The mouse also comes with sound effects, straight from the movie, when it is in initialization mode.
At first I would like to thank Razer for offering me a sample of their TRON Gaming Mouse and Mat Bundle for reviewing.
"Razer is more than just the world's leading brand in gaming.
We were founded in 1998 in San Diego, California by our CEO Min-Liang Tan and our President Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff in a tiny shared office with a couple other gamers. We have grown today to hundreds of employees worldwide with offices in seven cities, including San Francisco, Hamburg, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore.
Our vision from the very beginning was to be the world's greatest gaming brand and we've set out to achieve that by designing the best gaming products that any gamer has ever seen.
We believe that truly great products are based on technology, designed with extensive human factors and user ergonomic studies and then tested by the top professional gamers. In simpler terms, our own world class scientists and engineers develop cutting edge technology in-house or with partners, design phenomenal products around core technologies – and test the hell out of them in the field with our pro-gamers before we launch them.
We are the only gaming hardware company in the world with dedicated gaming user interface research and development labs, and our technology and designs are incubated in three dedicated design centers located in facilities in California, Singapore and Shenzhen. No other company boasts of technology like we do – because we're the only guys who have what it takes under the hood.
We tell it like it is: some can pretend to co-develop products with professional gamers, but gamers don't develop technology: scientists and engineers do (and ours just happen to be gamers as well).
We develop and design our products in our own labs and then put them to the test with top professional gamers who use them in pro-level tournaments and then provide us with feedback. Then we iterate on the product, refining it with the feedback – over and over and over again. That's how it's done, that's how a Razer product is built from ground up. No marketing BS and no hype.
We pioneered the eSports movement with the world's first $100K tournament back in 2000 and we have continued to give back to the community by sponsoring top eSports athletes who give back to Razer by beta-testing our products. We remain one of the largest sponsors of eSports community sponsoring top global eSports teams worldwide.
The people that work here at Razer are gamers just like you – some amateur, some ex-professional gamers, some just play for fun, just ask our CEO who will lay the smack down on you in Quake Live or our President, who has over ten level 80's on his local server. Hell, he will even take you on a raid in the middle of the work day.
We are the same gamers who are told by the suits that we need adult supervision and we need a professional CEO or management team – and we're the same gamers who tell the suits exactly where to shove it because we like doing what we do – and we do it on our own terms.
We hope our passion for gaming speaks to you like it does to us, through our products and we hope you enjoy the competitive edge we bring to your game."
Unique TRON Light and Sound Features
See and hear the TRON Gaming Mouse rez to life with unique light and sound effects straight from the movie. Let the mouse react to your actions on the Game Grid with authentic light alerts.
5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G Laser Sensor
The 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G laser sensor is the most advanced Razer sensor that arms you with all the precision and tracking you need to survive in the TRON universe.
Ambidextrous Design
Designed to be equally comfortable for both right and left-handed use, this gaming mouse is your perfectly balanced Lightcycle hurtling you through the Game Grid.
Hard Mouse Mat with Tracking Glow Trail
Create a TRON blue glow trail behind your TRON Gaming Mouse with every swipe you make across the mat.
TRON Gaming Mouse
Light and Sound Effects at Startup and Shutdown
Lighting Alerts
Ambidextrous Design
5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5g Laser Sensor
7 Hyperesponse Buttons
1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time
Zero-acoustic Ultraslick mouse feet
Braided 7 Foot USB Cable
Approximate size: 110L x 61.3W x 33.5H (in mm)
TRON Gaming Mouse Mat
Hard Mouse Mat with Bioluminescent Tracking Glow Trail
Approximate size: 290L x 207W x 3H (in mm)
Hardware Requirements TRON Gaming Mouse
PC with USB port
Windows® 7 / Windows Vista® / Windows® XP
Internet connection (for driver installation)
At least 35MB of hard disk space
Both the mouse and the mat from the Razer TRON combo are shipped in the same box; on the frontal side we can see the a photo of the products in action, along with the TRON, Razer and Disney logos:
When looking on one of the box sides, we can find the System Requirements listed:
Also, on the opposite side we can find a Product Description, but also the full Technical Specifications:
The back of the box reveals other interesting information regarding the product, along with the main Product Features:
When looking at the other laterals, we can see the special box design, along with the seals:
The internal box is not plain, but comes with an interesting texture, that can be also found on the mouse body, or on the mat; the TRON logo is present in the lower left corner:
Lifting the top of the box reveals a semi-transparent protective plastic piece, that covers the internals:
The first item that we will see after the removal of the protective cover is the mouse mat:
After the removal of the mat, we can find the documentation envelope, along with the TRON mouse, in a plastic frame:
The envelope also comes with the TRON Legacy logo, and a small Open sign:
The famous TRON bike can be found on most of the manuals; the Master Guide is separate for both English and French, we get Quick Start Guides for both the mouse and mat, and we can also find the famous Razer stickers or extra registration information:
One of the documents inform us on how to register the product on the Razer website; this way we will also become a member of the “Cult of Razer”:
The Quick Start Guide for the TRON mouse gives us information about the main product components, but also how to connect it to our desktop or laptop computer:
The Quick Start Guide of the mat informs us on how to use the TRON mouse on it, and which are its main components:
Inside the Master Control Program....hmmm, Master Guide, we can find besides the information we can get from the Quick Start Guide, how to use the software interface of the TRON mouse:
The regular Razer stickers are also present in the box; it would have been nicer if the green glow would have been replaced with a cyan TRONish version:
The TRON mouse comes with artwork directly from the latest movie and lights up gradually, when connected to a spare USB port; its shape is ambidextrous, comes with a braided cable for extra durability and its surface is all made of shiny plastic, in two different colors (black and cyan); unlike other mice, the TRON mouse turns on while sounding like a TRON Light Cycle starting up:
In the back of the mouse, we can also find a black Razer logo:
Further in the back, we can find another small cyan plastic component, that lights up when the mouse is operating (it can be turned off if we want to):
The laterals of the mouse also look impressive, preserving the same color and design scheme; two extra rubber buttons can be found on both laterals, fully programmable. These are well placed, because thanks to the claw grip type (best for high sensitivity gamers), we will have our thumb and little finger placed at all times on the lateral rubber buttons:
The frontal side of the mouse has not been neglected (it is the part which we rarely look upon after the mouse has been installed) and internal lighting passes through the cyan plastic parts:
The mouse bottom features the Razer Gaming Ultraslick Feet, for minimal friction and very good movement precision; here we can also find the product power rating, the model number, serial number and Disney, Razer logos:
In the center, we can find the 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G Laser Sensor, also present in the previously reviewed Naga Epic:
The bottom mouse LED (that can be also disabled with the software application), creates a nice light trail when used with the special mat:
The TRON logo is also present here:
The mouse USB connector is also custom designed, comes with the Razer and TRON pictograms:
Here is how the mouse does look after it has started up (with lights on in the room):
At night, when all lights are off, the mouse really shines (we can also see that the light glows on the laterals too):
Here is a view on the bottom LEDS, while the mouse is operating (the bottom LEDs do not light up if the sensor is not tricked by placing near it a piece of paper or other material):
The mouse mat that comes in the box has a hard surface and can leave Bioluminescent Glow Trails when the light underside the TRON mouse is activated; artwork from the movie is also present here:
On the bottom of the mat, we can find a rubber anti-slip surface, with the TRON logo in the center:
What is interesting is that after the mouse is moved on the surface at a smaller speed, or if it is kept on the surface for a while, it will light up some dots on the surface, that can be seen even with the lights on in the room:
After turning the lights off, it is another story: the light trails can be fully seen and they stay there for a while longer:
Before installing the software application, it is recommended to flash the product to the latest firmware; Razer have a downloadable program on their website, very easy to use, that takes care of this problem. The firmware updater instructs us in the first screen to connect the mouse to our computer:
The flash procedure will begin right from the next screen; the software will first enter the bootloader, and then the actual flash procedure will take place (with a verification afterwards):
The main TRON mouse software interface will display on the bottom the currently installed firmware, so we can check if the flash procedure was successful; the interface comes with the same skin as the mouse itself and it is split into multiple tabs. Here we can also see a section for the TRON keyboard, which is not enabled if the product is not detected; in the Assign Buttons tab, we can set different functions for all programmable buttons, save the modifications as a new profile, but also set functions for the scroll wheel:
Here are the functions that we can set for the programmable buttons:
The functions that we can assign for the scroll wheel are the following:
The Tweak Performance tab allows us to select the current DPI, adjust Sensitivity Stages, enable or disable the mouse acceleration, but also set the polling rate:
In the Sensitivity Stage Settings menu, we can define multiple stages, with the DPI setting of our choice, through which we can navigate afterwards:
In the Manage Profiles Tab, we can check out the current profile, define new profiles, import them, assign an application to a specific profile, or enable the Auto Switch feature, which loads automatically the specified profile when the chosen application is launched:
In the Manage Profiles menu, we can record unlimited keystrokes (depending on our total storage space); the macros can be imported or exported on the HDD for future use. Here we can define new macros, insert a delay time, or even assign Basic or Additional Commands, by accessing the Advanced button:
Basic Commands
Advanced Commands
The last tab takes care of the Lighting; from there we can enable or disable the scroll wheel, sidestrips or underglow light; if the underglow light is turned off, we won't get any cool effects on the TRON mat:
Both TRON mouse and mat from Razer carry unique features; Razer gives us the possibility to get the mouse only, at a smaller price, but we will miss the mouse pad glow feature that comes with the combo.
The mouse is designed to look like a Lightcycle from the latest TRON: Legacy movie, lights up gradually and has an original movie sound effect when it starts up:
The TRON mouse also comes with the high performance 3.5G 5600dpi Razer Precision sensor, which can also be found on the Razer Naga Epic (or Naga), previously reviewed on the website.
There aren't negative points we can add hardware-wise regarding the TRON mouse (it is a claw grip mouse, so you either like it or hate it), but we would have loved to see some more options added in the software interface, like the ability to modify the light intensity for the top strips and mouse wheel (not only on/off), or the possibility to change/turn off the startup sound, in case we get bored by it after a while.
The Bioluminiscent hard pad looks best during the night time and the light trails do not disappear right away, but remain there for a while; the rubberized surface on its back keeps it fixed on the table.
Of course, the TRON collection from Razer is not complete without the TRON keyboard (the software application already has support for it), which will be launched sometime in April, does not lack unique features and comes with the same interesting light effects from the TRON movie. Without a doubt, this is one very futuristic looking mouse, made especially for TRON movie enthusiasts, but does not disappoint at all in terms of features, by including the latest high performance sensor from Razer and fully programmable buttons, including combos.
The TRON Mouse and Mat from Razer does not come cheap, it can be found in stores for about 119 EUR. If we intend to buy only the mouse, it will cost us about 89.5 Euros.
I would like to thank again to Razer for making this review possible!