For many years that I play computer games, I managed to try a great many devices. During this time, the preferences in the genre of games have been determined, and on the basis of this, devices have been selected for the last few years. This is an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game). I must immediately make a reservation that in this review, the devices from Razer, whatever one may say, will be compared with my personal favorite - Microsoft Sidewinder X6. However, only in the case of the keyboard. Mouse and so favorite, because my last mouse - Razer Naga (original). In general, this review will be primarily interesting to those who have surrendered to the online world, but at the same time are not very hardcore players.

Let me introduce you to the heroes of this review! Incredibly "epic" gaming mouse Razer Naga EPIC and Razer Anansi keyboard for "true" MMO players. This couple is literally made for each other. One device complements the other and after several days of playing it is difficult to imagine how it would have been possible so masterly to control your character, say, on the keyboard, where there is not a single programmable button. However, I will tell about their interrelation a bit later. Let's proceed to unpacking devices.
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Razer anansi

More detailed pictures of the packaging, unpacking and the device itself can be viewed at the link .

The first thing I noticed on the packaging of these devices is some interesting categories. Previously, Razer had nothing like this. The fact is that conditional division of devices into “classes” is now introduced, I quote:



Elite
These Razer products are created using the most cutting-edge gaming technology so that you can gain a decidedly stronger advantage in the game. Superior to your opponents with the latest technology and innovations created in the Razer gaming labs.

Expert
These Razer products boast additional gaming features that will help you be stronger in the game than others.

Essential
These basic Razer products will provide you with a high level of play, without sacrificing gaming standards, thanks to which Razer has earned its reputation. Welcome to the big leagues.

Razer Anansi belongs to the class Expert. An incredible number of additional buttons and the ability to combine them confirms the category.

Well, we removed the keyboard. Now is the time to start copying technical information from the Razer website:
- 7 customizable modifier keys (Alt, Ctrl, Shift and their combinations) for the thumb
- Over 100 programmable Hyperesponse ™ keys
- Record macros on the fly
- One-button profile switching
- 5 additional macro keys
- Optimized key layout
- Enable game mode
- Quick access to media management
- Illumination of 16 million colors
- Size: 515 x 190 x 22 mm

The first thing I want to say is: “A damn unusual keyboard, where you can't rearrange the NUM Pad to the left side or remove it altogether!”. This is a nod to Microsoft and their ingenious solution (patented?), Which they used when developing the Sidewinder X6. Perhaps this is where my inconvenience ended and I began to discover all the advantages of the Razer Anansi.

The build quality of Anansi, as well as all Razer products, can be estimated at 8 out of 10. All parts are tightly seated, do not creak or rattle. But there are several points that engineers need to pay attention to. Such as, for example, docking the bottom and bottom of the top panel of the keyboard does not look very neat. She is almost invisible, but I know that she is like that! In the same place, the sides of the keyboard are slightly sharpened, although when using it, the hand hardly touches them. Or here's another flaw, which at first put me in shock. It seemed that the keyboard was slightly unbalanced diagonally from the bottom left to the top right. Both on a rug, and on an equal table. This phenomenon disappeared a couple of days after active use. So I don't know what it was. By the way, the keyboard is placed on the legs. Oh yeah, the space bar rattles slightly.

The keyboard is quiet, in comparison with the Microsoft SideWinder X6 or with any of the Logitech G-Series keyboards, in my opinion, the key travel is optimally chosen for MMO. I do not understand how you can play on slim or laptops. The backlight is bright and, importantly, applies to the Russian alphabet.

By the way, as for the letters themselves, i.e. fonts. Razer is famous for its unique style of its products. They have cool packaging designs, cool device names. But sometimes they go too far. On the keys of the Razer Anansi there is a horrendously unusual font, look at the photos. The letter "R" is confusing. But you can get used to this bold decision of designers. Somewhere in a week you will no longer notice the difference, especially if you type blindly. A nice addition is the small media bar on the keys F1 to F3, from F5 to F8 and from F11 to F12. Using it, you can quickly change the volume level in the system, switch the music track and adjust the backlight brightness. In addition, you can turn on the game mode (Gaming Mode) with the Fn + F11 (G) keyboard shortcut, and then the evil Windows button will not bother you.



Let's finally move on to the main advantage of Razer Anansi, for which this review is being written. This is a panel under the thumb. When I first saw the announcement of Anansi, I immediately said to myself: “Pfff, what kind of nonsense? Ctrl, Alt, Shift - that's all I need! ”. For those who have never been an MMO gamer, I will explain why these buttons are so important. This is the so-called "modifier" (modifier). With their help, you expose yourself to the combination of Ctrl + 1, Shift + Q, Alt + 5 and so on. This allows the most convenient to distribute all the "bind" (bind) and masterfully manage your character. So, Razer Anansi is specially created for you to distribute your “bind” in the way your fingers are comfortable. In addition, on the left side of the keyboard there are 5 additional buttons, which in the light of the panel under the thumb look slightly useless and even uncomfortable.



Now a personal opinion. You will be surprised, but I did not use these 7 buttons as “modifiers”. After several serious attempts to outweigh the “bind” on them, I failed. I realized that I could not, in addition to Ctrl, Alt, Shift, also use the thumb panel. In addition, the top row (buttons T1 to T5) is absolutely not felt when trying to find them blindly, and using long fingers (like a pianist) to use them in general turned out to be not very convenient. Therefore, for myself, I decided that I would use these keys as usual “bandages” and now I can “zabindit” everything I need in World of Warcraft or RIFT. Fortunately, using the driver program from Razer Anansi can be done without problems.

Since we are talking about the software part of the Razer Anansi product, then I will complete my story about the keyboard. Keyboard drivers are available only under Windows, alas. Like all devices from Razer, the keyboard can and should be reflashed by downloading the latest firmware version from razerzone.com (note that you first install the firmware program, and flash the device through it). Read more about the software at the end of the review.

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Razer Naga EPIC

To my immense happiness, I happened to write a review on the original Razer Naga. For the sake of curiosity, I advise everyone to familiarize themselves with it by clicking on this link (I apologize for sending it to another resource). Why is happiness immeasurable? Yes, because without this mouse, I could not play! Of course, the Razer Naga EPIC will be viewed through the lens of my past experience, and this part of the review will be written in the key of comparison.



As in the case of the keyboard, Razer Naga also belongs to the category, but already to the Elite. No one would argue that a mouse with 15 additional buttons is not elite! But the mouse will not please left-handers, it is not for you.

More detailed pictures of the packaging, unpacking and the device itself can be viewed at the link .

This is how a cool mouse is packed. And again, let's copy the technical specifications from the Razer website:
- 17 fully programmable MMO-optimized buttons (including 12 buttons for the thumb)
- Supports dual wired / wireless operation
- Three interchangeable ergonomic side panels
- Docking station for charging (also functions as a wireless receiver unit)
- Highlighting with a choice of 16 million colors
- Laser sensor 5600 DPI Razer Precision 3.5G
- Poll Frequency 1000 Hz Ultrapolling ™ / Response Time 1 ms
- Size 116 x 77 x 41 mm
- Battery life: 12 hours (continuous use); 72 hours (normal use in game mode)

You probably already saw in the photos that several panels are available for the Razer Naga EPIC. The big drawback of the original mouse is the model in its size. For many players (my fellows in World of Warcraft), she was too small. The Razer Naga EPIC comes in three different side panels. They are mounted on magnets (they hold up well, do not play), and the panel itself hides the compartment with the battery. Here, look at these photos:









This mouse, like its previous models, is made using the same combinations of plastic. On the sides of the gloss, and in the center of matte plastic. And immediately on the disadvantages of both types of coatings. Gloss. I hate the gloss! I always have a microfiber cloth on hand for wiping glossy areas on an hourly basis. I understand that design and all that, but how much is possible!? And now let's go through the matte plastic. It is beautiful and does not cause inconvenience, but a month after using, under my fingers, the main buttons appeared worn out zones (not erased, but erased). On the original Razer Naga this is not to this day. Were you hungry during the production?

Take a look at the bottom. There we have settled down: cool large sliding feet of a large area, a sensor, a pair button and two switches. The first is turning the mouse on and off (a note about this in the next paragraph). The second is the switching of “binds” from 1–9 to the NUM Pad (they usually put a switch on the latter in order to exaggerate their gaming capabilities).



Now about the most important innovation of the Razer Naga EPIC, which was not useful to me. But many, of course, will save life, nerves, reduce the number of wires and bring joy. The mouse can now work in wireless mode. To do this, it has a battery, a docking station and the ability to charge, working up to 12 hours. The dock connects to USB, then they find each other with the mouse (by simultaneously pressing the pair button) and everything is ready. The docking station itself is heavy, will stand where you put it. And the mouse is very easy to set up for charging (you need to charge the mouse in the dock by setting the switch to the OFF position - this is a recommendation from Razer). Well, if you are a lover of wires, like me, then put the docking station in the box and connect the mouse with a wire. Isn't that great? After all, the wire makes the mouse a complete analog of the first Razer Naga. The right engineering solution!





Click-click-clats ... Buttons. The failure of the century, era has been corrected! Oh, what am I talking about? The failure of the original and Razer Naga Molten Special Edition has been fixed. The buttons, which used to be located on the edge of the left mouse button, were absolutely impossible to use. Even if you don’t bind some very important commands to them, you will either miss the opportunity (it will slide your finger or press the left mouse button), or you will spend a lot of time on quality pressing. In general, we forget about it, like a bad dream. Buttons moved to the central part of the device, now everything is human. Otherwise, everything remained as before. “Mobile phone” at the end of the Razer Naga EPIC is exactly the same as the previous models. Forgive me, reader, but I see no reason to repeat everything that I wrote about in my review of the original "Naga" (and again my apologies). After all, absolutely nothing in these aspects has changed.

A newcomer who takes the mouse in his hands will be constantly confused and even swear. But time will pass, and he will find the highest happiness. Well, in the first couple he will be helped by the Grid Trainer, which is glued to the buttons and helps to blindly navigate the 12 keys. Stickers are short-lived and sooner or later fly away from the constant physical effects and moisture (sweat). What a pity that they are not sold separately, as a consumable.

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Software

Those who make software for gaming devices Razer - well done. Well, almost always great.



Key setting. If everything should be very clear with the mouse (setting up the main keys and scrolling), then with the keyboard, hoo-dah! "Zabindit" you can absolutely any combination of any key. You can hang macros, change profile, run the necessary programs. Believe me, everything is very convenient.



Customize profiles. I do not see the need to explain something here. Under each application / game you will have your own profile, with a specific setting. Profile changes - all settings change (even the color of the backlight). The profiles still cannot switch automatically (for example, when starting wow.exe, the software tightens the World of Warcraft profile, and refuses to switch back when exiting), confirmed by Razer. A huge stone in the garden for developers!



Macros. Expansion for those who like to automate part of the action. You can record any key combination by setting the required delay between clicks in fractions of a second. Any macro can be hung on the "bandage". Personally, I do not use. At all.

By the way, on the Razer Anansi there is an opportunity to record On-The-Fly macros. To do this, the engineers introduced a special keyboard shortcut: Fn + Alt (M).



Backlight settings. Both devices are capable of displaying a rich color scheme. But the mouse does not want to display some very dark shades, it goes out immediately. In addition, sleep and brightness settings are available wirelessly for the mouse.



And of course, rich sensitivity settings (general or X / Y separately). Change the level of DPI (dots per inch) "on the fly" and the acceleration of the mouse cursor when moving.

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Conclusion

As I wrote at the beginning of this review, these devices are good in pairs. No, of course, and each individually, they represent a good “toolkit” for an MMO gamer, but all the power is shown when you take possession of both devices. Just imagine that you will never again have to think about how conveniently to arrange the “bandage” card. After all, usually there is not enough space for 3-4 fairly important keys.

Many players do not have a good stretching of fingers (I easily reach out to 9 with my thumb, holding Ctrl with my little finger) to play on the device like a piano. And the acquisition of Razer Anansi and Razer Naga EPIC for them will be a real salvation.

By the way, in all the photos the devices are located on the Razer Goliathus Extended Speed ​​Edition carpet . Pay attention to its size (920 x 294 x 4.3 mm). Previously, I could not afford such a "carpet", because the table was much smaller. And now it is very comfortable not to feel the boundaries for the game :)



Photos of packaging and unpacking here .

Thank you for reading my review. I hope it turned out to be useful and you made your choice, which in any case would be better for you.