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Microsoft Razer Habu Gaming Mouse

Written by DM on Wednesday, May 09 2007

Once Windows recognized the mouse, I was able to run the firmware update program. This is a separate utility that is provided by Razer, and it upgrades the mouse’s firmware to 2.01. This firmware has only one benefit, but it is a major one -- it fixes a glitch where the mouse would get stuck at the lowest USB polling rate, 125hz. A fairly important fix, if you ask me.

Once you have successfully updated the unit’s firmware and installed the drivers, you can restart Windows and start using the Habu to its fullest. The configuration panel for the Habu mouse is always available through the system tray, and it puts all the mouse’s options at your fingertips. Using the panel, every single button on the Habu can be reassigned. This also including the up and down motions on the mouse wheel, and the two thumb buttons on the left side. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the mouse in two ways. There is the overall sensitivity, which has a slider that goes from 0 to 10. On top of this, there are individual sliders for the X and Y axis, for tweaking the sensitivity of the X and Y axis separately. The config options also include sensitivity sliders for the mouse’s acceleration and pointer speed. If you want to adjust the double-click speed of your Habu, you can do that as well using the tray panel, and you can even adjust the scrolling speed of the mouse wheel.

The panel also has a separate section for the gamer-specific mouse settings. You can set the polling rate of the Habu drivers to either 125hz, 500hz, or 1000hz. Some has asked why you would use anything besides the highest setting, and I can tell you from experience that it gets annoying at times when the polling rate is set to 1000hz and every single tiny motion that you make moves the mouse. It can get very frustrating if you are not in the heat of battle. You can also set the DPI rating of the mouse here to 400, 800, 1600, or 2000 dpi. Remember, the higher the dpi, the faster and more accurately the mouse will move. Finally, you can even turn the backlight for the wheel and mousetop off using this panel. Of course, if you really want to, the device also allows on-the-fly sensitivity setting using the mouse buttons I mentioned earlier. Once you are done setting up everything perfectly, you can then save the profile to the mouse itself for future use anywhere you plug in the Habu.

In the games itself, the Habu performs very well. If you have ever used a professional gaming mouse before, then you will know just what you are in store for. The movements are both precise and smooth, and the tracking at even the lowest DPI setting showed no lag or drop out whatsoever. As in most gaming mice, the laser inside the Habu never turns off, thus ensuring that the gamer never loses precious milliseconds while the optical hardware re-engages. As I mentioned above, the Habu has Teflon feet, and combined with the right mousepad, the mouse can literally glide over the pad in a near-frictionless state.

Razer has been making professional gaming mice since before PC gaming had a professional side. Now that even giants like Microsoft are realizing that there is a huge market demand for these products, you will see more and more devices like the Habu hit the market. Why Microsoft chose to team up with Razer for their first pro-mouse is not clear, they certainly have the resources and R&D department to create their own successful device. I can only assume that the software giant decided that it was better to use the knowledge of a great company like Razer in order to help launch their professional gaming line, and frankly, it was the right choice. While there are certainly problems to be conquered in the driver department, and the price is a bit high at $60 USD, the combination of the Microsoft look, feel, and marketing power and the Razer hardware, software, and pro-mouse expertise, end up producing one serious piece of gaming hardware. The Microsoft Habu is a great alternative for those who do not want to give up the quality the Razer hardware offers, but need a change from the classic Razer shape and feel.

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