Razer Ironclad Review(?)


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(FYI: I?m not really a review/reporting person, so apologies in advance if the quality seems lacking somewhat. I?m doing the best I can! :p)

Hey guys, this is a review of a mouse mat. But it?s a special one - it?s a Razer Ironclad. It?s the most expensive and most high-tech mouse mat that they do and it falls under their ?Elite? category of products. What it basically is is a single sheet of extra smooth anodised aluminium, just like what modern Mac computers are constructed from. It feels extremely smooth indeed, even slightly cold to the touch. It?s also much larger than most mouse mats with approximate size at 320mm (L) x 270mm (W) x 2.5mm (H).

Naturally the mouse mat is extremely sturdy and has a bit of weight so it, but it?s not heavy by any means.

Underneath it has a non-slip rubber mat - these kinds of mats are really good for attaching things to surfaces with no adhesive, such as keeping your phone from sliding around the dashboard in your car so it?s definitely put to good use here.

It comes with some fantastic packaging as you?d expect from Razer. Upon opening the outside box you have to pull on a tab to lift the main packaging from the depths of it?s bright green home, and then lift out. It actually looks almost like a laptop in there - maybe Razer should design a laptop chassis for another manufacturer (or have they already?). And of course you get the obligatory Razer stickers, a certificate of authenticity from ?Razerguy? and their catalogue.

So, how does the mouse mat perform? I don?t have a gaming mouse, just an Apple Magic Mouse which is absolutely not ideal for this kind of mouse mat, it would work best with a high end gaming mouse - However, the tracking is still excellent - it still glides across nicely even with the Magic Mouse?s hard feet. There is a bit of a ?bounce? to the mouse mat when you put pressure on it but this is due to the rubber underneath, there is no flex in the materials. This is much smoother and precise than no mouse mat or a standard mouse mat, plus the extra large surface helps when you?re using a large screen like I am, although it does take a bit of getting used to. I found myself not using the right side of the mouse mat at first as I kinda forgot it was there! Practise makes perfect though.

I tested the mouse mat in Back to the Future, Portal, Torchlight and World of Goo. For some games like Back to the Future the improvement is not that noticeable, but in World of Goo where quick sweeping movements are key for quick success, it?s quite staggering just how useful a different surface is.

The only negative aspect of this is the price. It?s very expensive - especially if you?re in the UK, Razer are not kind to us - this product is $59.99 in the US, and it?s ?59.99 in the UK, which means we have to pay an extra ?23.00 for it.

Yes, this mouse mat is too expensive for most of us, and even most gamers. You could easily get away with something cheaper and get almost as good a performance, but if you need the absolute best for whatever reason, then I guess this is for you.

Why did I buy this, you say? Just been doing some improvements to my workstation and decided to just get a proper mouse mat that isn?t going to disintegrate on me after a few years! It replaced an Allsop Redmond mouse mat.

I?ve placed an order for a Razer gaming mouse so I can get more out of this mat, so I could follow this up in the future if you want me to.

Bottom line

If you're a gamer and you have a high end mouse, this will be absolutely brilliant, even if it is a quite expensive. If you're not a gamer, the large smooth surface still has many benefits, but you can get away with a lower end large surface mouse mat.

Unboxing Photos

(Sorry, best quality I could do)

Box as it comes:

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Upon opening the first box we are presented with this:

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Upon pulling the tab and lifting out the mouse mat box, and then removing it from the sheath:

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Close-up of the mouse mat box.

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The mouse mat itself (sorry about the shadow, the box opens like a laptop)

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Mouse mat placed on my desk, with the typical Razer stuff on top:

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And then we have all the contents:

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Finally, in a useable condition! Yeah I know.. A Magic Mouse. xD

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.. And that's it. Thanks guys.

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it looks delicious :p

i got a high end razor mouse.. but i went with their cheapest mouspad... its the sphex.. and i was using a glasspad before. so this one is like a STICKER.. it sticks to any hard surface.. and ive attached this onto the glass plate and there is a clear difference.. i can only imagine how good ur mouspad must b :) do get a Razor mice.. or if they dont suit ur hand then i will prefer a logitech as their mice are more ergonomic.

and does anybody know the specs of the magic mouse? like DPI and polling rates?

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Couldn't tell you - I know it's more than a standard mouse.. but it's nowhere near the DPI of a good gaming mouse. Maybe around 1000-1600DPI?

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Sensor quality, polling rate, lift off distance, built in acceleration and prediction are the factors to worry about. A mouse can be excellent for gaming as low as 400-800 dpi ;)

Mouse mats are somewhat subjective just like mice, hard surface mouse mats feel too slippery for me (having tried out several polymeric and metallic ones), hence why I use cloth mouse mats (Puretrak Talent, Mionix Alioth 400).

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post-154856-0-68352000-1301244307.jpg

I just exchanged the Magic Mouse for a Razer Orochi Bluetooth mouse.

It's a million times smoother, there is pretty much no noise when moving it across this mouse mat, whereas with the Magic Mouse there was a pretty loud grinding sound. Saying the Magic Mouse glided across it was ... nothing like this. This mouse actually 'glides'. If I push it and let go, it will just glide to a smooth halt.

The only thing I wasn't liking was the packaging. It seemed like it was more for display purposes than practical-but-super-cool packaging.. which is weird for Razer equipment. Still! Nice mouse.

In wireless mode it's up to 2000DPI with an 8ms response rate, and in wired mode it's up to 4000DPI with a 1ms response rate.

Which would you prefer? :p

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Orochi wired at 1800 dpi and 500-1000hz polling :p Personally I use a Deathadder, works great for design/editing programs and gaming. Most gaming mice in general use teflon for the glides, so they have hardly any friction on well cut metals. I find it hard to believe that the magic mouse doesn't actually, based on the general build quality of apple products.

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Reviewed this some time ago too. Definitely a high end quality mouse pad/mat. I tested it on a few gaming mouse like Razer Mamba, Racher Lachesis, and the SteelSeries Xai

Especially love the material, it's cool to touch on the wrist, especially during summer :)

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It's being used in a fairly large room, and it covers it quite fine.

It runs off Bluetooth so battery life & range should be quite high.

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i remember i onced used a Bluetooth device with my mobile which had the option to control windows media player and i changed tracks with the phone on the ground floor when my Pc was in the basement :p

do comment on the battery life of the mouse. And also if it includes a rechargable battery or not.

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Hi,

It's 2 AA's, just like my Magic Mouse. I happened to buy a pack of 40 Duracell Ultra AA's recently though, so it's no bother. It came with a back of Energizer AA's - I'll let you know how long the battery life has been when I need to change the batteries I imported from my old Magic Mouse to those. :p

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Thanks. :]

Surprisingly the desk only cost me about ?20 altogether. Picked up 4 metal red legs and a black table top and then put em together. :shiftyninja:

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really sweet desk// and its very cheap and looks really HQ..

if i can find a desk like that in that price over here ill buy it without even a 2nd thought!.. so my search begins :p

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