Razer Orochi (2016)
A diminutive mobile mouse aimed at the gaming market.
Razer is best known for its dedicated gaming peripherals, but it has a bit of a sideline in mobile-oriented products such as this Orochi mouse. Aimed at laptop users, it’s actually fairly light on gaming features: it connects through either Bluetooth or wired USB — the latter via a detachable 90cm braided cord which slots into the mouse’s base below the scroll wheel.
Its ambidextrous design offers two thumb buttons on either side and a nicely-sized, rubberised ratched wheel, and while there’s an 8,200dpi laser sensor, there’s no onthe-fly DPI switching, or even a Bluetooth pairing button for that matter (you need to press down all four side buttons to activate pairing mode).
The rubber grips on the sides make it stable in the hand and a dedicated power button on the bottom, plus a robust little carry bag mean it’s easy travel with.
It uses two AA batteries for power, which results in a bit too much junk in the trunk for our liking — it’s backheavy, which isn’t overly comfortable in this smaller design if you’re a fingertip or claw-style mouse gripper. It’s a little better if you prefer to rest the bridge of your palm on the top — but this is a very compact mouse lengthwise, so resting your palm on the back will generally place your fingers too far forward.
The mouse included with Razer’s new Turret lapboard (see page 40) is physically almost identical to the Orochi, but it uses a rechargable battery, so the weight is far better balanced.
That said, our favourite mobile mouse is still the Logitech MX Anywhere 2. It weighs 103g vs the Orochi’s 111g, but that weight is nice and evenly distributed — you can find it for around $90 on the street.