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Hey here again with another product review 
This time I'm reviewing the official, the highly criticized, the unique, the Razer Starcraft 2 mouse! (AKA the Razer Spectre) Yes this is the mouse that was laughed at by the majority of the community for its "APM lighting" technology, however there are more reason to buy this mouse than its lighting. Lets get to it!
Razer's fancy boxers are second to none. It comes with another fancy box inside, which contains the usual instruction manual and product marketing
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/fKlfn.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/QEzbv.jpg)
After getting it out of the box, the mouse was better looking than I thought it would be. Those who hate how Razer uses plastic around the base of the mouse will be happy to know the Spectre uses rubber coated sides. However unlike most Razer mice the top is smooth plastic (opposed to rubberized). The front of the mouse is significantly wider than the back. So where you grip the sides decides on how wide the mouse is. Theres large "Zero-acoustic Ultraslick" mouse feet on the bottom, which i have to say work amazingly well.
You can see how the side slopes in towards the bottom, leaving it narrower at the bottom
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/sIWlE.jpg)
Notice that big switch on the bottom? That's the button force adjustment feature. Switching between high and low is a HUGE difference. This feature is awesome, and very simple to adjust. As for the shape, it feels a bit awkward. Hopefully I won't notice is once I'm used to the mouse.
The mouse is very small, just a tiny bit smaller than my old Salmosa. As for the side buttons the are nicely positioned which minimizes the chances of accidentally pressing them, however they lack feedback when pressed which isn't exactly ideal.
Hard to tell from here, but the Spectre is a bit smaller. The narrowing shape also makes it feel smaller in your hand compared to the big back of the Salmosa.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/t4vYx.jpg)
The software is a real gem. Here's some pictures of all the features.
+ Show Spoiler +
This is where you can get crazy. The mouse allows you to customize all the normal settings, but then it gets insane. You can set the colors for each band of APM which goes in increments of 50 all the way to 400 (the increments can actually be changed to whatever you want). Additionally you can set the mouse to blink 1-5 times in whatever color you want when an in-game event occurs. For example you can set it to go crazy after your mothership is complete lol! Thats so awesome. Lastly when your out of the game the lighting can be independently set to what ever color you want or turned off. Oh and you can record macros on the mouse. Since its a blizzard licensed product I guess their okay with that.
To sum this mouse up, it feels like a luxury sports car, fast but there's plenty to it. The APM lighting system might seem gimmicky, but when examined there's a hell of a lot to it. Other features like button force-adjustment are warmly welcomed, and the ability to customize is almost unlimited with the Spectre. So if the Salmosa is to bare for you, spend the extra money and upgrade. But if your fine without all the extra features theres little difference other than DPI between the Salmosa and Spectre.
Rating: 10/10
Recommend for: Tech savvy people, who like features
Don't recommend for: Minimalists, or people who don't care for the features. You can get a cheaper mouse in that case.
Link to Buy: Amazon Razer Store
Additional Photos:
+ Show Spoiler +
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Sweet man, I envy you.. Mine hasnt come yet, I'm glad you like it and alot of what you've written reflect my feelings and thoughts on this mouse even before I've had the chance to touch it, so I'm pleased
<3
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Well, you say there's a hell of a lot to the lighting system (and I suppose there is), but who wants to read morse code from under their palm when they could just as easily look at the screen, or listen to ingame sounds?
The only interesting thing with that mouse is the macros, even though it's a Blizzard product it's weird that they would let you use those... Is there any official word on what you can and can't do?
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On December 04 2010 07:13 pat965 wrote:
Well, you say there's a hell of a lot to the lighting system (and I suppose there is), but who wants to read morse code from under their palm when they could just as easily look at the screen, or listen to ingame sounds?
The only interesting thing with that mouse is the macros, even though it's a Blizzard product it's weird that they would let you use those... Is there any official word on what you can and can't do?
I'm not sure what their official word is, but i assume whatever is possible within the program is legal at the moment. Like I said though, I'm not sure.
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Does the APM lighting bug out over 500 apm? I've been trying to work out the formula they use for the APM output to the registry that the Razer software uses, and it seems to be a 3 digit number that overflows above 300 apm
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Thank you so much for the review Razer Spectre isnt out on my country yet but I pre ordered mine so its coming in a few days :D
Also thanks for giving me a heads up on how my new mouse is going to be like :D I'm so looking foward to it !!
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does the z-axis issue affect your play?
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On December 04 2010 08:54 Phaded wrote:
Does the APM lighting bug out over 500 apm? I've been trying to work out the formula they use for the APM output to the registry that the Razer software uses, and it seems to be a 3 digit number that overflows above 300 apm
I had a problem with the lighting after i adjusted the colors then started playing SC2. It would bug the hell out. After i reset my computer it worked fine though. As far as it bugging at 500 APM that hasn't happened to me yet, although the only time i get up that high is the starting spam.
On December 08 2010 21:32 genra wrote:
does the z-axis issue affect your play?
Not sure what you mean, I haven't noticed any problems with the laser yet. Whats the z-axis issue?
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Pick up the mouse and set it down again while watching the cursor... does it jitter much or jump to other places?
afaik the spectre resembles everything that can be done wrong with a laser mouse.
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On December 09 2010 03:25 AT_Tack wrote:
Pick up the mouse and set it down again while watching the cursor... does it jitter much or jump to other places?
afaik the spectre resembles everything that can be done wrong with a laser mouse.
Yeah i tried that out. It has a terrible problem when you pick it up, the cursor moves a good deal down and right. Although I don't have a problem with it because I have it set to a very high DPI, and I almost never pick it up.
The laser is however very skeptical sometimes, although I think that's directly related to how responsive i have it set. When the Spectre's on a hard mousepad and set to high DPI it literally is so easy to move that you find the mouse doing weird things on your screen because your wrist/hand are actually moving a fraction of a inch. I think I might start trying lower DPI settings, and maybe then the z-axis problem will start to effect me.
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yeah this mouse weighs more than a salmosa/abyssus and its a laser mouse which is pretty bad for razer mice (cus of the sensor they use) compared to their optical mice. Also im pretty sure those macros will get you banned, blizz product or not.
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This mouse is far from a 10/10.
Sorry to say, but the current Philips twin eye sensor on razer mouses is TRASH.
The mouse looks very uncomfortable for your hands also.
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Let's give it 10/10 cuz of APM lighting?
I didn't read one line about how it felt handling in-game? Just 'it looks uncomfortable' - how bout some more info?
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On December 19 2010 19:33 DarKcS wrote:
Let's give it 10/10 cuz of APM lighting?
I didn't read one line about how it felt handling in-game? Just 'it looks uncomfortable' - how bout some more info?
Heres my review (I got the mouse)
-We don't even notice the lighting (My hand is on the mouse!)
-The mouse is too small and very uncomfortable for the hand. Not good if you play for long time a day.
- Some big laser problems that you can notice when you play. You can learn more on youtube when you type Razer spectre.
- Because of those two last reasons it's hard to play well and control groups and units.
- Oh yea, the right click is too soft and it's annoying. Seriously.
- But I guess the look is somewhat cool (I need to find a good point lol)
So, I'm generous when I say 5/10
Again, if you don't take that game too seriously and just play for fun, it's not that much of a problem.
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On December 20 2010 15:44 DracoQC wrote:Show nested quote +On December 19 2010 19:33 DarKcS wrote:
Let's give it 10/10 cuz of APM lighting?
I didn't read one line about how it felt handling in-game? Just 'it looks uncomfortable' - how bout some more info? Heres my review (I got the mouse) -We don't even notice the lighting (My hand is on the mouse!) -The mouse is too small and very uncomfortable for the hand. Not good if you play for long time a day. - Some big laser problems that you can notice when you play. You can learn more on youtube when you type Razer spectre. - Because of those two last reasons it's hard to play well and control groups and units. - Oh yea, the right click is too soft and it's annoying. Seriously.- But I guess the look is somewhat cool (I need to find a good point lol) So, I'm generous when I say 5/10 Again, if you don't take that game too seriously and just play for fun, it's not that much of a problem.
Did you try the button force adjustment, if you read the OP it says the difference is HUGE. Or is the right click not affected for some stupid reason?
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Did you try the button force adjustment, if you read the OP it says the difference is HUGE. Or is the right click not affected for some stupid reason?
You can change the force of the button, but only for the left one. Can't do anything for the right button.
I don't know why it's like that...
You kinda need to force your finger a little to not click... Not that hard but after 4-5 hours sometimes it's annoying. Some accidental right click aren't cool in certains situations lol
At least it's cool for the left click for sure.
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Having used the mouse at Blizzcon, it felt very cheaply made, not sturdy at all, and it was also in an uncomfortable shape. I really wouldn't consider buying this mouse really. There are better/cheaper alternatives on the market from SteelSeries/Razer/Microsoft like the Sidewinder X3.
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I just want to ask this; people who dislike the shape of the mouse are usually people who never used a ambidextrious mouse before, and then complain about the form of it. I mean why even bother with one of these if your handgrip is more made to fit something that is ergonomic?
What I meant to say is that putting down the mouse for its shape, when you're a user that generally prefers ergonomic mice, is just extremly subjective at best.
DracoQC - at what DPI do you play, and how does the laser issues fair at lower DPI rates?
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United States11637 Posts
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Thx for some real info! I think I'll go for the Razer mamba :D
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