Razer Naga Pro Wireless Mouse
One mouse (with many buttons) to rule them all?
SINCE ITS ORIGINAL release in 2009, the Naga has become one of the figureheads of the Razer line-up. Mainly targeting players of MMO and MOBA games, the up to 12 side buttons make it an instantly recognizable mouse.
Now, let’s get our little gripe out of the way first—the proprietary micro USB connector. "Micro USB are not proprietary" we hear you cry. You’re correct, but Razer makes it so that you can only use incredibly slimline connectors or its own one. We can’t even blame it on a money-making scheme, as we couldn’t find replacement cables available, and the ones for other Razer products are a reasonable price. It is just strange. With a wireless mouse, we often just grab it and throw it in our bags when we leave the office, especially mice with Bluetooth such as the Naga Pro. This enables us to use our normal mouse when working out of office. Great! With a proprietary connector, however, you have to remove the cable from the PC as well, which is often easier said than done. It is time to just go to USB-C and allow us to use one cable to charge our on-the-go items. At least there is a charging dock available for the Naga Pro Wireless for an additional cost.
Now that our little niggle is out of the way we can talk more about the mouse. The battery life is very good—in fact, in the four or five weeks we used it, we charged it fully once after the initial outof-the-box charge, and it quite easily managed 100+ hours of use after charge. The sensor is impressive, as you'd expect from a PixArt 3389 with a few tweaks from Razer. It tracks very well on a vast number of surfaces, and you shouldn’t have any issues at all. Although the mouse is wide, it is comfortable to use in all standard grip types after the initial adjustment period.
The Naga has three very easy-toswap side plates that enable you to choose between two, six or 12 fully programmable side buttons. Strangely, only the 12-button version is RGB lit—we would have liked to see the others have lighting options as well, but this is more of a personal preference. The 12 buttons are quite difficult to differentiate between, as they are quite small and in a 3x4 grid. However, if you’re using them a lot it will soon become second nature. We used the Naga with the six-button setup the most, as it seemed a good compromise between number of buttons and usability.
RAZER SOFTWARE
The Razer Synapse software is simple to use and makes the Naga very powerful, and you can easily program the buttons to your preference. Using a Naga will never replace a keyboard, but in MOBA games in particular, I found myself assigning keys that were usually either accidently pressed or out of reach. The two wireless modes worked as intended with no drop-outs in either 2.4GHz mode or in Bluetooth. There is a nice little compartment to store the USB dongle in behind the side plates too, which is great if you’re on the move.
All in all, the Naga is an impressive mouse. We can’t fault it too much other than some aesthetic and personal preference points. It used to be that the Naga was a mouse that was aimed at the
MMO/MOBA players, but over the years it's evolved to become a mouse for all games. The three side plates make changing the thumb buttons a two-second job, and users who like the shape and don’t mind the weight will be more than happy. If you are only into FPS games, there are better options, but if you want a good all-rounder with easyto-change thumb buttons, then the Naga is for you.