Razer's Firefly Brings Chroma To The Mouse Mat
One of the biggest features in today's peripheral market is the addition of RGB backlighting. Razer already implemented its version, called Chroma, in a few of its peripherals such as the BlackWidow keyboard, the DeathAdder mouse and Kraken headset. It's adding one more device to the Chroma family, and it's not a product that you would expect to have the feature. It's called the Razer Firefly, a Chroma-enabled mouse mat.
Unfortunately, the mat itself doesn't light up; rather the left, right and bottom borders of the mat have Chroma lighting. Just like the BlackWidow keyboard, the Firefly also features wave, spectrum and reactive lighting patterns. Through Razer's Synapse software, users can also sync the Firefly to match colors and patterns with other Chroma products.
The Firefly is powered by a seven-foot USB cable, and it offers 13.98 x 10.04 inches (LxW) of real estate for your mouse. Even with the lighting feature, it still manages to weigh less than a pound. The Chroma lighting means that the mat itself is a bit elevated from the surface, so Razer also added a rubber base beneath it so that it doesn't slip and slide on a desk.
Most mouse mats might be a little more expensive than a traditional mouse pad, but because of the Chroma lighting, customers are going to need to fork over $59.99 if they want to try out this unique product when it comes out in June.
Razer seems to be thinking ahead of the curve with the Firefly. Other companies only have RGB lighting on keyboards, but Razer is going ahead and figuring out how to put it on most of their products. It should be interesting to see who picks up the Firefly, but for those who want to add even more color to their gaming PC setup, the Firefly is yet another way to do so.
Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
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Solandri As cool as it looks, I've found black to be a terrible color for a mouse pad. The optical tracking on mice relies on light reflected off the surface the mouse is sitting on. If the surface is black, less light is reflected, and the tracking is less accurate.Reply -
f-14 a lighted rainbow parade statement if ever i saw one. with out saying that i see absolutely no point to this. it's about as intelligent as doing the same thing to every piece of glass used for windows or doors.Reply -
slyphnier then why most pad black ?Reply
if black less accurate, i believe it been a long time ago when someone claim to make the best accurate surface with specific color -
bgunner As cool as it looks, I've found black to be a terrible color for a mouse pad. The optical tracking on mice relies on light reflected off the surface the mouse is sitting on. If the surface is black, less light is reflected, and the tracking is less accurate.
The issue of reading on black depends on the sensor type you have. All my mice read on black but mice that read optical light and not laser light have issues on a sky blue and white cloud pad. This issue is very subjective to the mouse itself and the type of sensor it uses.
I myself when I saw this I asked myself why and it just takes up another USB port. Now If I was to build a system and turn the whole room into either a CPU room or a man/she cave then I could see the use to help tie things in but I honestly believe this is more of a nitch/gimmick thing for those that bought any razor devise that has Chroma.
EDIT: to add a little humor to this, The picture that Tom's is showing for this thing makes me think... Razer Firefly-swatter. Hows that for a mental picture? -
scolaner EDIT: to add a little humor to this, The picture that Tom's is showing for this thing makes me think... Razer Firefly-swatter. Hows that for a mental picture?
I feel like someone would buy that if it was a real thing.