Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
General: The Microsoft Habu
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
Today, Carolyn Koh takes a look at The Microsoft Habu, a mouse that came out of a collaboration between Microsoft and Razer.
The Microsoft Habu is a Razer / Microsoft collaboration. The technology of Razer melded into the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer form factor. The resulting offspring, the Habu (a particularly venomous snake found in Japan & other Southeast Asian countries) - a lightning fast mouse with Razer's signature "fanged" head and the Microsoft IE 3.0 mouse's round back and plump butt.
Out of the Box
The Microsoft Habu arrived with a sheet of instructions and a software CD. The gold-plated jack was covered with a green sticker warning you that proprietary software was necessary run the mouse and to install the software on the CD before using the mouse. The Quick Start Guide then of course instructed the user to... Ha-ha... 1. Plug the mouse in, and 2. Install the software.
The fact is that you probably should install the software first. Although I was fool enough to ignore the warning and did not have any issues, some users warn that you're going to need to be a rocket scientist to discover how to install the Habu driver if you did not install the software first before installing the mouse. Perhaps it's because I ended up uninstalling and reinstalling the software.
;)
Read the whole review here.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
I took so many nice pics too. Borrowed a pro camera and light even. I had a size comparison with the G5 and the Diamondback, and a glowy in the dark pic.
I would absolutely love the mouse if I could get my hand wrapped around it.
~ Carolyn
{Edit} Loaded it up.
It's not a very good picture and our graphics guy has his standards. This one I took with my point and shoot camera.
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
Ancient Everquest Player
cant see why ppl buy so meany find one u like and stick with it
I wish this review had been out before I'd bought my Diamondback. There's a very important point made here (and other reviews have touched on it also) about the sensitivity of the mouse and how it's designed to be clicked and moved. The Diamondback is VERY sensitive, to anything: movement, pressure, a strong breeze... You get the idea. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE this mouse, and I've had excellent results with it, but the buttons are almost too sensitive at times. I probably at least three times a day end up clicking when I don't intend to. Most of the time that's not a problem, it's just an irritant, but in a MMOG, when you might be hovering over the buy or the sell button and haven't yet decided, a click at the wrong time can be extremely painful. Now in all fairness, the sensitivity can be gotten used to, and I find the Diamondback to be one of the most comfortable mice I've ever used, even though I'm more partial to the ones you can sort of drape your hand over. It's worth mentioning that you may want to think twice if you're moving from a more robust mouse to something like a Diamondback, as it requires a fair bit of time to get used to that sensitivity.
I've had my Habu for a few months now and absolutely love. I had a G5 and liked the tech behind it, but the feel of the Intellimouse was always much preferred. This is the best of both worlds. Lack of side to side doesn't bother me as I like my scroll wheel to be precise in gaming and side to side motion usually causes it to slip one direction or the other.
I just got my Reclusa keyboard in, matches extremely well and a very good keyboard. Best combo I've ever had.
I'd like other opinions before I buy.
---
He said to me, "On your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that going for me, which is nice.
I for my part have been using a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer quite a few years. Now the 'mousewheel-button' wasn't reacting reliably anymore and I decided that if I get a new mouse it could as well be one of these 'gaming thingies'.
I'm not a pro-gamer and I'm not too precise with my hands so I went to a store where I could paw them all. :P In the end all those 'ultra sensitive highest end gaming mice' had far too sensitive buttons for my hands ... except for the Habu. Trying the Razer Death Adder, Diamondback, Logitech G5 and a few other gaming mice I always ended up accidently pushing the buttons.
In addition to that, as mentioned in the review, the Habu is rather 'bulky' compared to the other gaming mice. I personally like to 'rest' my hand on the mouse. If I need to react quickly in situations that require fast reactions I can still break up the comfortable position, but having something under my hand ... I guess I just got used to that over all the years using the Intellimouse Explorer. Even though I don't have big hands I feel mor comfortable with the Habu than I did with the Death Adder for example.
I've been using the Habu for about two weeks now and I'm glad I didn't choose any of the alternatives.
LLAP!
Gethron
I must be in some way impaired. I do not notice any delay in the response of my Microsoft G7 wireless laser mouse. My only problem is the battery life, as the battery needs to be swapped seemingly once every eight hours of continuous use. It takes about three seconds to swap, but still, it can catch you off-guard, even with the charge indicator.
I use this mouse and I must say I'm very happy with it. I'm not used to having a mouse with such sensitive before, but I learned pretty fast. It works good and I like the shape of the mouse, fits perfectly for my hand. I like some of the features like changing the sensitivity with the use of buttons on the mouse and such. It doesn't weigh very much and it slides perfectly. Not that I'm very critical, but still...
The ergonomics match my hand very well, and I am indeed one of those players who moves his hand to guide the cursor (old school FPS, what can I say). I love that the buttons can be remapped, as i put the DPS switch on the side panel, mainly for FPS games.
Overall, it's a good mouse. I don't think the habu dethrones any logitech models past the G5. It is however a decent step forward from the intellimouse.
-- xpaladin
[MMOz]
AC1/2, AO, DAoC, EQ1/2, SoR, SWG, UO, WAR, WoW
I can only say the Quality HAS to be superior since I have had the bog standard MS mouse on most of the systems I used for work and they lasted a pretty long time.
I bought the Razer Diamondback after the last article here and was sorely disappointed for three reasons;
1. WAY too quick . There just didn't seem to be a middle of the road setting no matter how I tuned it from the windows standard software to the Razer driver software.
2. The Razer mice I looked at including the Diamondback were all a little TOO small for MY hand
BUT the main issue was the NO WEIGHT factor, the cable tended to PUSH the mouse around when you parked it and all the ones I saw in the store were pretty much the same. Basically I prefer a heavier mouse that can withstand it's own cable flexing it away from wher I put it. To be honest, how HEAVY can a mouse be? They are not like pushing a BRICK.
3. And the last boils down to the QUALITY I stated at the onset, MS have a pretty decent standard of quality, I know ANY company can have a bad product and maybe MY experience is a one off, but the Razer buttons failed within 2 weeks which I find disturbing. Phantom clicks and not clicking THAT soon? I play MMORPG's and SL, so SPEED isn't so much an issue but accuracy IS usually nice to have AND reliable buttons.
After all this I am still using the best mouse I EVER bought, an old MX518 Logitech. It never had any issues with drivers or buttons failing and it has the sexiest look
As stated by others, these are just my own opinion. (with a smattering of observations)
A "No Life" onliner - average 6 hours per day gaming.
The Wiz that Waz
Im not trying to be rude, but I have both the logitech and the razer copperhead. The logitech was given to me, but that really doesnt matter. What does matter is that the Razer copperhead is one of the best mice on the market. I dont see any reason why one would really want a microsoft branded mouse over the better looking razer one. You really do not need to get any more advanced, because gaming doesnt need ultra sensative mice. Its fine where the razer left off. Why get a microsoft brand mouse when the razers look better, all the microsoft mouse really is, is a rebranded razer with some tweaks.
Im not really impressed. The keyboard on the other hand looks promising, but again, there are better looking gaming keyboards out there, even with screens attached to them.
If microsoft is trying to go after the gamer this time around, they need to ditch the big white MICROSOFT text they put over everything and style it after the xbox franchise. Just my opinion anyways.
My question is does it worth the money to buy a bluethoot set ? Better wireless quality ?
Thanks
to play MMOs a wireless set will do just fine, but i wouldn't recommend it -.-
A friend of mine was able to get me a deal on one of these babies - just about the time my mouse was crapping out. Not good when your a daily online gamer as I am.
Anyway - the install of this mouse is a nightmare - following all the instructions - if my friend hadn't told me of his nightmarish experience with the constant rebooting - uninstalling and reinstalling of software (after the firmware update) I would have given up and thought this mouse is crap.
But, after 3 or 4 reboots the software finally recognized my mouse - I mainly wanted to explain for people who maybe purchasing this -have some patience with the install.
The mouse works great but, the buttons on the side????????? I hate them - they have almost killed me several times in WoW.... What did I do to remedy the situation? I jerked the removable/swappable side button panel out - unscrewed the plate that holds the button sensors in - removed the mini circut board - and now I'm good to go. Even if you disable the side buttons - if you accidentally are pressing one (as they are right next to where my thumb grips the mouse) it will interfer with other clicks - so basically you will get a non response.
Basically Microsoft tried way too hard with this thing... And as nice of a review as the fellow here stated (I'm sure for the free mouse and future free mice he had to be nice) - this mouse is overcomplicated.
Basically I like it because well.. I paid for it - and after adjusting it for me - it works well enough.
I do not recommend this mouse - get a logitec.
Microsoft failed me with the Zune (overpriced and too late - Apple wins) and this mouse (overcomplicated - logitech wins)
Stick to operating systems microsoft.
-Currently looking forward to FFXIV
-Currently playing EvE and Global Agenda
I read this comment today after reading the review on this site. I have used Intellimouse for a couple of years now and though it was bulky when I first bought it, I have now become used to the size of the MS mouse. Having read that this person also used the Intellimouse and then loved the new Habu, gave me the desire to try it for myself. I read this review and comments around 8AM this morning and had the Habu on my PC around 10am. It is now 7PM and I have used the mouse all day.
For someone having come from the Intellimouse series, this mouse fits like a glove. You'll feel right at home with this mouse. The shape & size are very comparable. The on-the-fly resolution adjustment has been interesting to trial. I think I actually prefer the lower resolution for desktop operations and probably my MMO games, but can see myself changing to higher resolutions for FPS games.
This mouse is certainly more responsive and fast, I even noticed a significant response in a game where I've had slow mouse response in the past and assumed there was nothing which could help that game. Anarchy Online is a game I have played a number of years (around 5 years), and always enjoyed. Yet, my mouse always seemed laggy in it. The Habu for whatever reason has for me, brought the game to a faster more reliable usability. Since this is something which has always bugged me in AO, I noticed it rather quickly.
In Lord of the Rings Online and Counter Strike: Source I didn't initially notice any major improvements, but then these games had seemed to be responding quite well with the Intellimouse anyway. I probably won't use the spare thumb panel, unless the current one becomes 'sloppy' from use, then I might change it just for the sake of using new buttons. I have however removed the panel and looked at how the new panel clips into the side of the mouse. It's a nice touch for someone who takes their mouse serious.
Basically, if you've been using the Intellimouse, then this mouse if made for you. It feels like using your Intellimouse in a lot of ways, only faster, more comfortably shaped buttons. But for size & weight, you're right at home. One cant' ginore the bling factor either. It slooks damned good with the lights all over it. Sitting next to my Logitech G15 keyboard, it makes my desk look that much better!
Edit - After reading the review on this site also, I downloaded the formware and software for the mouse before plugging it in. I instaleld the software, then plugged the mouse in. It detected the mouse immediately and began to work, though askign for reboot. After the reboot I instaleld the firmware and rebooted. Done.
Wampyre