Three-Way Gaming Mouse Showdown

Mystify Mamba

Our first competitor is TerraTec's Mystify Mamba. Here's what TerraTec has for technical specs on their web site:

Resolution: game-optimized 800 cpi (counts per inch)
Speed: 35.6 cm/sec
Programmable buttons: 3
Ergonomically designed for both right-handed and left-handed users
2.5 m highly-flexible USB cable

The Mystify Mamba is the only one of our three competitors that has more than three buttons. In fact, the Mystify Mamba has five buttons (counting the fact that the scroll wheel can also be used as a button), three of which are programmable. It is equally useable by righties or lefties. The placement and size of the teflon feet mean that the mouse will be quite stable.

The Mystify Mamba has an interesting shape. It slopes gently from back to front, which gives your palm somewhere to rest while casually mousing on the Internet. The scroll wheel is made of a grooved rubber, which responds well to very little pressure. While there is an audible ticking when using the scroll wheel, it is very easy to go past your intended stopping point while scrolling. This isn't too bad when scrolling through a document, but it can get you killed in Doom 3 and Half-Life 2!

The side buttons are located just below a scalloped area on the mouse's body, which is where TerraTec thought people would grip the mouse, I guess. I don't go anywhere near that part of the mouse, however. I found that the placement of the side buttons is less than optimal, especially once a heavy firefight started. Even while casually browsing the Internet I found myself accidentally clicking the buttons and going back to a previously viewed web page. This got to be very annoying very quickly.

Select a Page Page 1: Introduction Page 2: Mystify Mamba Page 3: Viper Page 4: PistolMouse FPS Page 5: Conclusion