Recently I did an unboxing of the Razer Krait 2013, and due to exams, holidays, and just sheer laziness, I never got around to a review. Though the Krait sat lonely by itself in a corner for over a week now, maybe it's because of my initial dislike for it that discouraged me from wanting to review this mouse. In any event, it's lonely yellow shine induced me to use it once again and give it its full credit (or smackdown) that it deserves.
My YouTube review of this found can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76MkvYdzcRQ
Though it's called the Krait 2013, it doesn't quite resemble the 1st Generation Krait at all. The only thing similar may be it's darkish yellow lighting and it's relatively size, and even it that department the Krait 2013 seems to be pushing it. Razer have effectively taken the Taipan shape and reduced it down to a miniture size akin to that of the Samolsa Asia edition around 5-6 years back. The size is most definitely NOT for people with big hands, and even for supposedly the smaller "Asian" market, in my opinion it's too small as well. However, for what it's worth, it does pack a punch of a sensor in the Avago S3988, the same sensor as the new Deathadder 2013, and will set you back around $57.97 on eBay inclusive of shipping. There seems to be a FLOOD of Korean suppliers dying to get these mouse overseas it seems. To my knowledge, the mouse has been officially spotted on the Brazlian / Chinese Razer sites, with the Chinese site charging 299RMB (48USD). Compared to the $69.99 Deathadder 2013and $79.99 Taipan, on the surface it seems like quite a reasonable deal. I'll be mainly focusing on the shape - comfort / performance on the mouse to determine whether it indeed is worth purchase.
Specifications
- 6400 DPI 4G Optical Sensor
- Ambidextrous form factor
- 3 Programmable Buttons
- 1000Hz Polling Rate / 1ms response time
- Up to 200 IPS / 50g acceleration
- 7ft / 2.1m Rubber cable
- Weight: 78g (Mouse only)
- 177mm x 55mm x 36mm / 4.61" x 2.32" x 1.42"
- Synapse 2.0 - PC or Mac with USB 2.0 port
Weight / Shape
As mentioned in the intro, this is a fairly small and light-weighted mouse. For some sense of how light this mouse is, it weighs almost exactly the same as the Kinzu v2 does (Kinzu weighing in at 78g as well. The slightly bulkier Logitech G1 weighs in at 85g, while the IO1.1 weighs in at around 86g. For some reason although the Kinzu is the saem weight, the Krait feels lighter than the Kinzu when held. This may because of the relatively sharper shape which puts on a lighter "placebo" effect on the hand, as the Kinzu is slightly rounder around the edges and the click buttons. Personally, if the shape was slightly more comfortable for my hand, I really believe I wouldn't mind the lightness of the mouse. As long as it is not overly light in the 50g range, I believe most people won't find this an issue.
For reference as to hand size, my hand is approximately 19 cm from the tip of my middle finger to the base of my wrist. With my thumb scrunched up next to my index finger, my hand is 10cm wide at it's longest point. I'm not even quite sure if this is small or normal sized, but what I can tell you, is that the Krait felt extremely small in my palm upon first hold.
The Krait embodies the the shape of it's elder brother Taipan but in a much smaller form factor. With the popularity of ambidextrous mice back among gamers / casual users, Razer took the approach of making an IO1.1 similar form factor in two different sizes, a similar strategy to SteelSeries who have done this with their Kinzu / Xai / Sensei line of gaming mice. Although they have done this, Razer have by no means detracted for their ergonomic lines like SteelSeries has, and this I support fully. However, the size of the Krait is really bugging me unlike that of the Kinzu v2.
Krait's overall shape is one thinned and streamlined. The thumb areas curve noticeably curve inwards and back outwards again with the edges of the mouse feeling relatively sharp for a mouse (as opposed to a round-bodied IO1.1). Overall I can appreciate where Razer is going with the shape, the Krait may just be too small for people with larger hands. Notably they've released this mouse only in Asian markets to a presumably smaller handed crowd, but it's hard to imagine one with hands small to find this completely comfortable. Admittedly, I enjoy the Kinzu v2 ALOT, for a smaller on-the-go replacement to my desktop mice of IO1.1 / IE3 and others. Perhaps, this is due to the Kinzu's fat base which barely rests in the palm of my hand which gives me this comfort that the Krait does not. The Krait embodies much more of a thinner base similar to the Copperhead / Diamondback, although in a smaller form. Even at a full-fledged finger-tip grip, the mouse is barely usable for me, and at a claw grip- the sides become to slippery. People with smaller hands MAY find this more comfortable, but I can only speak from my perspective.
Overall Build Quality
In general, the lower-end Krait feels like it's made of cheaper plastic, or that's the immediate feeling I had when I felt it for the first time. The surface feels somewhat rough, matte, dry, and I cannot say that you're getting extremely durable material out of this mouse. It's not the smooth matte surface found on the old Deathadders. Compared with Razer's previous mice, the plasticky feel definitely is a turn off. I can't really describe this any better but it just feeling cheap.
"Rubber" sides are added on this mouse similar to that of the Deathadder 2013 / Taipan. Admittedly I have yet to try these two mice in person, but the side grips on the Krait 2013 aren't side grips at all. They're hexagon patterned dots which feel just as slippery and cheap as the body of the mouse itself. Fair to say, it makes usage that much more uncomfortable. Notably, this mouse is the "cheaper" end "essential" line in Razer's repertoire, however, for the same price, in terms of purely quality, I prefer the Kinzu far more.
The scroll wheel also resembles a cheap type of rubber slapped onto a plastic wheel. It may seem like I'm giving this mouse the smack down in terms of quality, but it really does feel cheap. It feels almost like someone slapped a tight rubber band on top of the wheel.
The cable isn't braided, and the USB head... well... its not Golden if that's what you're wondering. I never believed that a golden USB head made any difference anyways.
Click / Scroll Wheel
This is a simple three button mouse. Both the left and the right click feel quite moderate. Not extremely hard to press and not extremely light either. Currently I don't have the tools to measure the exact force required to press down on the key. For reference, the hardness is very similar to the Kinzu v2, and much lighter than the Microsoft IO1.1. However, it doesn't come in the range of extremely light clicks such as the Ikari, or.... any other light clicks you can think of.
The scroll wheel however, requires quite a good amount of force to press. By far it's one of the hardest middle buttons I've had to press out of all the mice I've used before. Razer could've definitely made this part lighter.
Additionally, the scroll wheel scrolls relatively smoothly with slight feedback and stoppage at ever juncture. Compared to the Kinzu v2 scroll, it stops at every juncture slightly more. Not as much as the IO1.1 scroll, but just enough that it causes noticeable stoppage. Not my favorite scroll of all time, but I guess it'll do the job.
Software
As most of you know by now, Razer has moved it's driver systems in all of their new mice to the cloud. What this means is, your profile is saved on the internet allowing you to access the exact same settings with any computer provided that you install Razer Synapse 2.0 on it. My experience with Razer Synapse 2.0 is quite limited with some complaining that it's a big inconvenience and others saying it never syncs properly. Perhaps I'm not in the best position to comment on the flexibility and practical usage of the software itself. However, I do find the need to be connected to the internet cumbersome in order to change the settings on the mouse.
The mouse itself does not seem to have onboard memory, which would suggest that it will reset to factory settings every time it's connected to a new computer. From my tests, I adjusted the settings of the Krait on a Mac and tested it on a PC. Surprisingly, Enotus does seem to retain the settings set in the Mac for both the DPI / Polling. I'm not quite sure if other's using the same sensor are getting different results, but it seems like the Krait does retain it's stored settings.
The software allows DPI changes in 100 increments, from a minimum of 100 to a maximum of 6400. Polling rates of 125 / 500 / 1000 can also be chosen. Acceleration can also be adjusted via Synapse 2.0 from 0 - 10. Furthermore, the macro function is quite standard in most gaming mice software though I rarely use it anyhow. This is a fairly big contrast to the DA2013 software where many more things can be adjusted such as LOD calibration. This setting is not present in the Krait 2013 Software.
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