Review: Microsoft Habu Mouse
posted by: Alex NThe Microsoft Razer Habu is the result of Microsoft teaming up with Razer, a company that is known for its gaming accessories. The mouse offers an ultra-fast response time of 2,000 DPI which is ideal for gamers when they find themselves quickly changing targets in any first person shooter. Other useful features include programmable buttons on the left side of the mouse which offer to further customize your controls for optimal performance.
These buttons offer a great benefit in terms of control because you can assign two buttons that would usually be assigned to the keyboard. With these buttons on the mouse it allows faster reaction time when you’re gaming. The side programmable buttons are removable from the mouse because the mouse comes with two sets of programmable buttons. The two sets are there to give the user a preference between larger or smaller side buttons based on comfort.
When I first got the mouse I was skeptical because I was very used to my Logitech Trackball that I didn’t want to switch to any other type of mouse. But after using the Habu I changed my mind. It took some time getting used to but when I tested it by playing Counter Strike Source I could see why it’s a gaming mouse. My score increased significantly mostly because of the improved reaction time and precision the mouse offered. It’s also very comfortable to use even over long periods of time so you don’t have to worry about getting carpal tunnel.
Something that I thought the mouse lacked was being cordless because as with all mice the cord sometimes got in the way. I predict it won’t be long until a cordless Habu is made but this first model doesn’t have this feature. If the Habu was cordless it could improve gaming performance even more. Also the mouse doesn’t have a switch for the blue backlight, so whenever you use it, day or night it’s constantly lit up in blue. Update: Thanks to Gary for pointing out that the blue light can be switched on and off on the Habu mouse settings program, as seen in the screenshot above. The light up feature is useful when you’re playing in a low lit area but during the day the backlight could get a bit annoying.
Overall it is a great gaming mouse and I recommend it to anyone who plays any type of FPS online. The Habu offers everything you need in a mouse including speed, comfort, and precision. You can’t go wrong with the Habu.
Price:
Newegg: $59.99
November 22nd, 2006 at 6:56 pm
I read in another review you can turn off the glow on the pipe or scroll wheel independently with the light options in the software. It is shown in your picture on the right side of the menu under “Light-Options”
November 22nd, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Gary, Thanks for the tip, I didn’t do the review myself, but I will inform Alex, the reviewer, and tell him about the light options, I can’t believe he didn’t notice it.
November 23rd, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Hey Vlad, no problem. I am just doing my research on this mouse and waiting for it to come out here in Canada
I have an Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 that has faithfully served me for almost 5 years now, and the Habu looks like the perfect upgrade.
I have tried logitech mice and just can’t get used to the shape, and I dislike the heaviness or lag of cordless mice.
November 24th, 2006 at 7:21 am
I assure you that the Logitech Revolution MX is anything but heavy and has absolutely no lag what so ever! Bu then again, you might not like the shape. I must admit though, that couple with the Di-Novo Edge, it looks mighty snazzy! I trialled them both at a conference in Birmingham.
November 24th, 2006 at 9:05 am
Thx for a nice rewiev. I got my Habo yesterday and i must say, its the perfect uppgrade from my intellimouse 3.0 that i have used for 3 years now. Dohh if u still want to be a bit retro in a glossy design. Order the new design of intellimouse 3.0. Microsoft have done it again! Just beccause of the sucess from last intellimouse. DOhh in black edition instead of grey :).
Dohh Microsoft / Razer HABU mouse rocks your world.
Eaven for World of Worcraft gaming its a huge lift.
Trying it for CS gameplay tonight* GOing to be a blast :).
I say - GO FOR IT! Buy Habo
// Mörka conny
November 24th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Delta: I must say that the Logitech diNovo Edge Keyboard looks absolutely awesome!
Flavine : Thanks, for the comments, I think if you a gamer this is one of the best mice out there.
November 24th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
thank you for the kind words on the review
sorry about the light issue, i should’ve said that you could turn it on with the software but there’s no actual button on the mouse for the light. that’s what i meant.
November 26th, 2006 at 3:10 am
Delta Taph, I do not mind the shape of the MX Revolution and I did consider getting it. However, I was waiting for the Cordless desktop MX3200 for a long time and when I bought it, I was very disappointed at the mouse and the keyboard both. The mouse was very heavy and very laggy and unresponsive. The keyboard did not have a good feel to the keys IMO and I found it difficult to type correctly on.
After that disappointment I went back and looked for a good corded mouse to upgrade to and the Habu seems to be it. From the specs however, it appears that the IE 3.0 tracks fast movements better than the Habu, but it should still be sufficient.
December 4th, 2006 at 8:32 pm
I’ve been FPSing for about 8 years now, give or take, and I currently have a Copperhead and G5 in ciruclation. I just received my Habu, and I can honestly say that it is going to replace both of them. Those two older mice will join my Boomslang, Dimaondback, and MX510 on the shelf, because this has everything I need. I have very large hands, and the Habu fits it perfectly.
BTW: Reviewer, a wireless mouse is inherently slower to respond than a wired mouse, and I can guarantee that the latency and ‘auto-off’ features of a wireless mouse disqualify them from any hardcore/pro gamer’s ensemble. I highly doubt Razer will ever make an FPS mouse wireless. A wireless Krait, perhaps, but MMORPG/Strat games don’t interest me.
December 5th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Gary, I feel your pain. I’m in Canada, too (Ontario) and I’ve been waiting for the Habu for months. We have to rely on losers like Future Shop to release it at higher than MSRP only to put it to 75% off on special savings days every few months. Miss it the sale and you have to pay higher than MSRP. Arg. And here it is December 5th and Canada still doesn’t have Habu. Pitiful…
December 7th, 2006 at 12:43 am
I got the Habu today… a very sweet mouse. I was living in Canada until Nov. 11th, until I got a job in the US. I feel very fortunate to be able to enjoy such a wonderful device. I feel for you fellow Canadians… I would want one too.
December 13th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
I got sick of Microsoft not offering Habu in Canada that I bought a Logitech G5, yesterday. Although the G5 is a solid mouse, I miss the optical Explorer shape…a lot. They’re not that dissimilar, but the Explorer shape is taller giving my big hand a perfect place to rest. The G5 doesn’t seem to be big enough for me. I know this post was off-topic, but I hope Microsoft reads this and shapes up and gives Canadians some respect.
December 14th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
The only reason I’m posting is to let you know that when it comes to playing any sort of game, there is a noticable delay when it comes to all wireless mice.
Razer does not make wireless mice for one reason: Performance and speed. You lose that by making a mouse wireless. This is why your usb cable’s connector is gold.
December 14th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
OMG, you don’t need gold (or silver) to have full or high speed USB 2 data speeds. Thanks anyway, A Gamer.
December 14th, 2006 at 5:23 pm
Gold connectors prevent signal loss over time with oxidization of the connectors. Since gold oxidizes very slowly, it is preferred for more high-end devices. Anywhere there is an emphasis on full signal, gold is good. Gold will not change the speed of the mouse, just help keep the signal flowing at peak performance.
December 14th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
Dude, binary is not like that. It either transfers the 0s & 1s or it doesn’t. You’d be right if you were talking about analogue signals, like composite cables on a VCR…
…that’s why no-name ethernet cables and other cables that transfer binary code (like HDMI/DVI cables) are all the same. This is why it’s such a joke when so-called brand name comapanies like Monster put out “high quality optical cables”, etc…binary is binary.
December 16th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
I got my Habu a couple of days ago. It’s REALLY really nice and I would recommend it to anyone needing a precise, ergonomic, non-claw grip (aka flat palm grip) mouse. That very much includes creative professionals (I’m a Photoshop man myself) as well as gamers (I also play FPSs like there’s no tomorrow). The bottom line is that this mouse is comfortable and performs very well. And it looks pretty sweet too
However, the driver is a bit of a problem. Here’s how I got things working:
0. Download the new drivers from http://www.razersupport.com
1. Plug in your mouse
2. Install the driver
3. Install the firmware
That worked for me. I’m running WinXP SP2 and the driver (and firmware) version I downloaded from the support site was 2.01.
-Monk
January 15th, 2007 at 6:19 am
Hey!
Have any of you guys managed to turn the glow off?
While in windows, i can turn the glow off, but if i reboot my computer, the glow keeps popping up. Its really annoying!!
Am i the only one with this problem?
February 19th, 2007 at 4:13 am
Hi,
I can not update firmware!!!
Am i the only one with this problem?
Send me email,please.
February 26th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Hi,
it’s a nice mouse, yeah. But I have no idea whatsoever how to install the software. The mouse used to work for a week. Then it started to just turn off during playing. Connecting it to another USB port helped for a day. Today no port works anymore. Installing or uninstalling any versions of the software has no effect. There is no useful online help. The Habu Config Tool never worked. The firmware update tool never worked. Wish my logitech mouse would still be with me
February 27th, 2007 at 2:47 am
Likely a lot of the problems with Habu rest in Razer land, as they wrote the firmware and drivers for it. Microsoft’s site points to Razer’s site, so that makes me wonder… Can anyone confirm?
February 27th, 2007 at 3:36 am
http://support.microsoft.com/hardware
February 27th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Hello again,
after hours of installing, uninstalling and searching I found this link (http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=245538) that describes how to flash firmware on the Habu mouse. I stepped through the tutorial and finally, my Habu config tool acknowledges the mouse and it has now firmware version 2.01. Since then it has only turned off again once. After that I couldn’t bring it back at all so I searched for further articles (for another several hours). I thenread in another article that the mouse will only work on one of all USB ports. After attaching it to 4 wrong ports, there was only the front port left. And voilá - it now lights again and I can finally become happy with it.
Thanks for reading, hope you can enjoy (or stay the hell away from) this beast now, too.
Andrew
February 28th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
It’s off again. I give up. *sniff*
April 5th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I just purchased today and cannot update firmware - after many install/uninstalls.
Sounds like a real problem.
I just hope I can program it to work with AutoCAD.
Has anyone resolved the problem??
Paul.
April 9th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I picked one up today from FutureShop here in Canada. After over an hour with Microsoft Tech support, we figured the right mouse button is toast. It also took several attempts to update the firmware, and to get the system to recognize the mouse. Basically, I lost 2.5 hours of my life that I’ll never get back. This $85 paperweight is going back to the store tomorrow. I’ll stick with my basic Logitech 3 buttom mouse for now. I play Call of duty 2 with a dozen of my friends, and I was hoping for better aiming, shooting etc. Any other suggestions for a good gaming mouse? Are these actually better for FPS-type games???
- Craig
April 9th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
I finally got this thing to work by following the procedure at http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t246317.html
So far so good.
I too lost more than just a few hours fiddling, researching and then fixing the problem.
Hard to believe that MS and Razer would allow this product to be distributed with a problem and then to not provide a fix yet. Even the instruction in the package are contradicting as the tag on the USB plug says to load the software first and the instructions say to plug in the mouse first. Not that it matters cus neither make it work correctly.
I do like changing the DPI on the fly. Wish I could change the profiles as easily.
//Paul.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 am
The habu is a great mouse, however i have a real problem with the glow pipe. Every time i reset or restart my computer the glow pipe on the habu turns back on even if it was off prior. For some reason the firmware won’t keep the glow pipe off. So after a reset or power up i am forced to go and deselect it.
one this is for sure. This mouse looks incredibly good, especially with my saitek eclipse (a holelot of blue glow)
May 1st, 2008 at 7:51 am
GUYS THE PROBLEM IS WITH THE FCKN CABLE !!! THE END OF THE CABLE ON THE MOUSE SIDE HAS IT - FIDDLE WITH IT AND YOU WILL SEE THAT THE MOUSE GOES OFFF - DAMN MICROSOFT - I SUPPOSE ITS BECAUSE HOW TH MOUSE WAS PACKED OR STH LIKE THAT.
GOOD LUCK EVERYBBODY WE WHO HAVE PAID FOR THE SH*T WILL HAVE TO SUFFER THROUGH THAT - BANDAGE IT DO STH
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I agree about the cables, same damn problem here! Can’t be just a cooincidence can it…
Still, problems aside it’s still a great mouse.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I went through hell installing it and my lights won’t shut off… I don’t care much about that, they’re fine on, but still…
Another, bigger issue is that it’s very choppy. Not jumpy but unsmooth, like it’s riding on dust or sand. Anyone else have that issue???
I use it for Photoshop, so I need smooth lines… I got it for the macro buttons and to match my reclusa KB and Belkin N52TE… not a gamer, just love all the macro options for design and digital audio work, but if I can’t keep it smooth then I can’t keep it.
April 30th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
The ironic thing about the cable dying is that Microsoft had exactly the same problem with the original Intellimouse Explorers. They actually recalled them in June 2002 (if they were still near being under warranty and if you had registered the mouse with MS) and they eventually fixed the issue on newer Intellimouse Explorer designs.
Now Razer makes a mouse inside an Intellimouse Explorer body and the problem resurfaces all over again. Maybe somebody at Microsoft should have passed along information on fixing this common problem when they sent Razer the body for the Intellimouse.
So I guess the moral of the story is register your Habu with Microsoft, just in case they offer to replace it someday.