Mice & Keyboards by stefan @ 2012-11-21
The new Taipan ambidextrous mouse from Razer weights no more than 132 grams, comes with a high performance 4G Dual Sensor System with 8200DPI and makes use of the Razer Synapse 2.0 software for easy customization of the 9 programmable Hyperesponse buttons.
At first I would like to thank Razer for offering me a sample of their Taipan Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse 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."
8200 dpi 4G Dual Sensor System
Introducing the all-new 8200dpi 4G Dual Sensor System – outfitted with a laser and an optical sensor to accurately calibrate the mouse to any surface for exceptional pinpoint tracking. This lets you execute headshots with ease while moving with instant in-game responsiveness – a sensor that is a perfect match for your lightning fast reflexes.
Improved ambidextrous ergonomics
Designed with extensive feedback from professional gamers, the Razer Taipan’s ambidextrous form suits a wide variety of grip styles and hand sizes. Whether you’re right-handed or a south-paw; use claw, palm or fingertip-grip, this mouse stays firmly in hand and comfortably so for extended periods of gaming.
Razer Synapse 2.0 enabled
Razer Synapse 2.0 is cutting-edge, intuitive, proprietary software that functions as the Razer Taipan’s brain, automatically syncing the gaming mouse to a cloud server to download driver and firmware updates, as well as to save your individual settings without you needing to lift a finger. You’ll never have to set up a new mouse at tournaments again when Razer Synapse 2.0 downloads the personal settings from your own Razer Taipan, and ports them to the new mouse, making it an exact replica of your own. Learn more
4G Dual Sensor System - 8200dpi
Ambidextrous form factor
Razer Synapse 2.0 enabled
9 programmable Hyperesponse buttons
1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time
Up to 200 inches per second / 50g acceleration
Approximate size: 124 mm / 4.88” (Length) x 63 mm / 2.48” (Width) x 36 mm / 1.42” (Height)
Approximate Weight: 132 g / 0.29 lbs
PC / Mac with USB port
Windows® 8/ Windows® 7 / Windows Vista® / Windows® XP (32-bit)/ Mac OS X (v10.6-10.7 and above)
Internet connection
100MB of free hard disk space
Razer Synapse 2.0 account registration (requiring a valid e-mail address), software download,license agreement acceptance, and internet connection is required to use full feature set of product and to receive updates.
Razer is shipping the Taipan gaming mouse inside a small cardboard box, with a theme we are already used to from the previous peripherals; the front side comes with a photo of the main product, along with the main features list:
The features in more detail along with a short description are to be found on the box laterals:
On the back side, we'll get some explanations regarding the mouse main components, along with the list of technical specifications, in multiple languages:
The box can be also opened like a book so we are able how the mouse does really look without the need of unsealing the enclosure:
As a bundle, with the mouse we will receive the set of two Razer stickers, along with the documentation, which is kept together with a transparent plastic belt:
The supplied documentation is divided into multiple leaflets, each of the same size:
The first leaflet will instruct us to register the product on the Razer website, for receiving additional support:
A short introduction to the Synapse 2.0 unified software configuration can be also found on the second documentation leaflet:
Next, we have one Quick Guide, which will show how the connectivity to the computer must be made, along with a description of the main components:
A Master Guide is also supplied, which will explain in detail the mouse functions, along with the Synapse 2.0 GUI functionality for this mouse:
Let's take now a closer look on the Taipan mouse:
The Taipan looks sightly different when compared to the other Razer mice we have reviewed in the past, and not in a bad way; we think that the overall design Taipan proposes is more professional, clean and the ambidextrous design also makes it a preferred mouse for the lefties. The top side of the mouse is made from hard plastic, a better choice in our opinion since we have seen that on the mice fully covered with rubber, the back and buttons area begin to show signs of wear and catch dirt, oil in a short period of time:
The back side comes with a rather discrete Razer logo:
When looking to the left side of the mouse, we can see two programmable buttons, along with a rubber portion for gaining a better grip with our thumb finger:
Since this mouse is ambidextrous, the right side looks identical:
When looking at the front, we can discover the left, right buttons and the scroll wheel with plastic on the sides:
Two more programmable buttons are also located near the scroll wheel, which are initially mapped for switching between different DPI steps:
On the back side of the mouse, we will find the 8200DPI 4G dual-sensor, along with the power ratings and product serial numbers:
As we have seen with other high quality gaming mice, the cable is braided for enhanced durability:
The USB connector is also branded with the Razer logo and gold plated for achieving a better contact:
When we plug in the mouse for the first time in a spare USB port, we will see that the scroll wheel lights up, along with the Razer logo in the back, which has a pulsating effect:
The Razer Taipan software and drivers will be installed via the Synapse 2.0 engine, which can be downloaded from the manufacturers' website:
After Synapse 2.0 has been installed, we will be prompted to create a new account or enter up the details of a previously created one:
The engine will then start downloading the necessary files and perform the installation automatically:
When all operations have been completed, a system restart will be required:
The GUI comes with an interface split on multiple tabs; different functions can be defined for the Right Click, Scroll Click, DPI selector buttons, along with the four lateral buttons:
Here are the functions that we can specify for each button:
Among the selectable functions, we can choose Keyboard shortcuts:
When Sensitivity is selected, we can choose either to select “Stage Up” or “Stage Down”; from here we can also quickly jump to the Sensitivity Stages menu:
The Performance tab will allow us to “Enable X-Y Sensitivity”, configure the Sensitivity Stages, adjust the current DPI, set the Acceleration level or adjust the Polling Rate:
The number of Sensitivity Stages can be selected and each can have a different DPI value:
The Lighting tab will let us turn on or off the LED light for the Scroll Wheel and Logo on the back; however, there are no LED effects to customize:
Inside the Calibration menu, we can enable Surface calibration depending on the mouse mat we are using and adjust the Liftoff Range:
Inside the Macros tab, we will be able to record new actions that could be later assigned to the programmable buttons:
First we would like to point again that the mouse design with the plastic on top (and not rubber coating) is our preferred choice because signs of use may appear after a much longer period of time; also, the quality of the materials is top notch. The ambidextrous shape of the mouse is quite comfortable and the programmable buttons located on the sides are accessible enough (the left ones will be used with the thumb and the right ones with the ring finger). However, when holding the mouse tightly, we may have some small confort issues after a long time period because the ring finger will touch the right lateral buttons, which are not rubber coated.
The high performance sensor performed admirably and we did not have issues when testing it with both aluminum and cloth pads; we have found that using 1600DPI is great for office work, but we can always climb higher when running action-intensive games like CS: GO.
Razer insists on pushing the Synapse 2.0 “in the cloud” software and does not give us the option to install the software before creating and logging into an account; while this issue may create difficulties in some environments the GUI is created in such a way so it is easy to understand. Considering that this is a gaming mouse, we would have preferred to have a little more control over the lighting effects, like the ability to have the LED lit continuously in the back of the mouse.
The Taipan is now available to be bought from the Razer Store for about 79.99 Euros.
I would like to thank again to Razer for making this review possible!