Razer Firefly - My Review

[CostcoSamples]

I purchased the ridiculously priced Razer RGB mousepad, known as the Firefly.  I first saw it at E3 2015 and thought it looked really cool. Here are a couple of shots of it on my desk:

 

 

 

You can see much better photos online, sorry for the bad picture quality.

 

My thoughts and experiences:

 

- The hard plastic surface is not perfectly flat.  My mouse gets sort of high-centered in the middle.  Normally you want your mouse to glide on its teflon pads.  With this mouse pad, that is not the case at certain points.  This problem leads to slightly different amounts of friction at various points on the pad, which is not good (it is subtle, but come on Razer, your mouse pad has ONE job.)  It also feels like the underside of my mouse is getting caught on something.  Not a pleasant mousing experience.

- The RGB lighting works very well, is plenty bright, colors are vibrant.  Very nice.

- Even if the hard plastic surface was perfectly flat, I don't like the noise my mouse makes when gliding on it.  Also, I find it way too fast, I want a bit more control.

- Razer Synapse software is fine, but it's one more program running in the background.  The mouse pad plugs in to USB for light control.  It is actually really cool how you can coordinate lighting effects with other Razer products.

- Purchasing from Newegg.ca (Canada) was not a very good experience.  Shipping is slow, as it comes from their New York warehouse (and must cross the border).  I decided to return the mousepad, and had to pay return shipping.  This purchase ended up being a big waste of money.  I paid $12 shipping to get it to my house, and have to pay another $15 to send it back, plus a 15% restocking fee by Newegg.  Overall, my purchasing experience was not good, and I will definitely avoid Newegg.ca in the future.  For purchases in western Canada, I highly recommend memoryexpress.com, which I will stick with in the future.

[xTrekStorex]

so my opinion of Razer gets confirmed again

Since the Deathadder and old Lachesis they havent made anything of quality and even close to being worth it's price.

Software - ok. It's used by most of their products so if it were to suck (like their old one did) most of their products would only be half as "good".

 

so yeah.. nobody should buy Razer gear..

[Statik]

$70 for a non-smooth mousepad that fucking lights up?

 

Biggest waste of money ever. Thanks for trying it OP, but that's retarded. It looks cool and all, but takes away from any clean aspect of the desk. It almost looks too clunky to take the place of a nice looking mouse pad. It also just adds another wire to your desk and makes it look that much worse.

 

EDIT: I guess I should add that I like nice clean looks, mainly complimented by good performance. Taking something as simple, aesthetically pleasing, and clean looking as a mouse pad, and strapping fucking LEDs to it is some serious bullshit thinking.

[Grrizz]

Reaffirmation of why I don't buy Razer products anymore...

[TrigTrig]

so my opinion of Razer gets confirmed again

Since the Deathadder and old Lachesis they havent made anything of quality and even close to being worth it's price.

Software - ok. It's used by most of their products so if it were to suck (like their old one did) most of their products would only be half as "good".

 

so yeah.. nobody should buy Razer gear..

 

As an owner of a few Razer products, I can say it's hit or miss with them. I absolutely love my Kraken headset, Deathadder mouse and Blackwidow keyboard. They are all very nice quality and I've never had any issues with them.

 

I also have a Razer tactical backpack (whatever it's called). It's VERY high quality with a ton of padding and very good weather resistance.

 

That being said, I also have a pile of Razer stuff I hate.

[xTrekStorex]

As an owner of a few Razer products, I can say it's hit or miss with them. I absolutely love my Kraken headset, Deathadder mouse and Blackwidow keyboard. They are all very nice quality and I've never had any issues with them.

 

I also have a Razer tactical backpack (whatever it's called). It's VERY high quality with a ton of padding and very good weather resistance.

 

That being said, I also have a pile of Razer stuff I hate.

did you use other brands to compare?

I also had a lot of Razer products over the years and only the Lachesis is one I remember being good - and it still broke down after 2 years of usage.

the Kraken 7.1 was shit since audioquality was way too bassy, the pads were too slim and it hurt my ears after 1 hour of usage. the earcups were too isolated so I always had some pressure on my ears. the mic was brilliant but for a headset costing 100€ the sound quality and comfort was way too bad.

The bassy sound was fun for games like Battlefield but for music and anything else e.g. Dota2 it was not great at all.

 

Keyboard wise I find the Razer switches way too passive and feeling "cheap" compared to real MX switches like the Blues or the Browns that I use.

[TrigTrig]

did you use other brands to compare?

I also had a lot of Razer products over the years and only the Lachesis is one I remember being good - and it still broke down after 2 years of usage.

the Kraken 7.1 was shit since audioquality was way too bassy, the pads were too slim and it hurt my ears after 1 hour of usage. the earcups were too isolated so I always had some pressure on my ears. the mic was brilliant but for a headset costing 100€ the sound quality and comfort was way too bad.

The bassy sound was fun for games like Battlefield but for music and anything else e.g. Dota2 it was not great at all.

 

Keyboard wise I find the Razer switches way too passive and feeling "cheap" compared to real MX switches like the Blues or the Browns that I use.

 

In the end, it's all personal preference. 

 

I personally liked the tight fit of my Krakens. I have a set of Kraken Pros for music and the 7.1s for gaming. I think they sound very nice. Ideally for music I'd have something different, but I don't listen to that much to justify buying anything else.

 

As for the keyboard, I haven't really used any other ones except membrane keyboards. All I know is this is the best keyboard I've ever used.

 

As for mice, I've been through 5 different brands of mice in the past 4 years and the only one that I've felt comfortable with is the Razer Deathadder, which I've been using for about 2 1/2 years now. No other Mouse has come close to the control and accuracy it gives me. Plus, it feels really solid.

[CostcoSamples]

so my opinion of Razer gets confirmed again

Since the Deathadder and old Lachesis they havent made anything of quality and even close to being worth it's price.

Software - ok. It's used by most of their products so if it were to suck (like their old one did) most of their products would only be half as "good".

 

so yeah.. nobody should buy Razer gear..

Yeah, sometimes their stuff is good though.  I have the new RGB Deathadder, and it's good (no issues yet, after 2 months).  I also have a Kraken headset (1 yr old) and it has mediocre audio quality, and is not comfortable for more than 1 to 2 hours (I got it free at a Titanfall tournament so I don't complain).

 

This mouse pad is a complete failure. The way it is designed, I can't recommend it to anyone.  I can feel hollow spots under the surface where the wiring goes, its not good.  And hard mouse pads in general are difficult because you need pretty tight tolerances in manufacturing to get it perfect, there there is risk of getting bent in shipping.

[CostcoSamples]

$70 for a non-smooth mousepad that fucking lights up?

 

Biggest waste of money ever. Thanks for trying it OP, but that's retarded. It looks cool and all, but takes away from any clean aspect of the desk. It almost looks too clunky to take the place of a nice looking mouse pad. It also just adds another wire to your desk and makes it look that much worse.

 

EDIT: I guess I should add that I like nice clean looks, mainly complimented by good performance. Taking something as simple, aesthetically pleasing, and clean looking as a mouse pad, and strapping fucking LEDs to it is some serious bullshit thinking.

Lol glad I could be the guinea pig! COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY. 

 

And I agree, the extra cord is annoying, plus the thing is very long. 

 

I ended up getting a Steel Series QCK, which I LOVE.  The gliding friction is perfect and I noticed my mousing accuracy improve with it.  My wife has been making fun of me because for years I've been saying how unnecessary mouse pads are in general.  

[Rekx]

Buy a QCK mousepad or qpad king size mousepads. Be happy.

[CostcoSamples]

Buy a QCK mousepad or qpad king size mousepads. Be happy.

yes, I returned the Firefly and bought a QCK.  It is WAY better, for a fraction of the price.

[FaZe Booce]

My mouse and its crappy ass software keeps me from buying a Razer product ever again in my life.

[Syntaxvgm]

I purchased the ridiculously priced Razer RGB mousepad, known as the Firefly.  I first saw it at E3 2015 and thought it looked really cool. Here are a couple of shots of it on my desk:

 

IMG_20150806_234326.jpg

 

IMG_20150806_234310.jpg

 

You can see much better photos online, sorry for the bad picture quality.

 

My thoughts and experiences:

 

- The hard plastic surface is not perfectly flat.  My mouse gets sort of high-centered in the middle.  Normally you want your mouse to glide on its teflon pads.  With this mouse pad, that is not the case at certain points.  This problem leads to slightly different amounts of friction at various points on the pad, which is not good (it is subtle, but come on Razer, your mouse pad has ONE job.)  It also feels like the underside of my mouse is getting caught on something.  Not a pleasant mousing experience.

- The RGB lighting works very well, is plenty bright, colors are vibrant.  Very nice.

- Even if the hard plastic surface was perfectly flat, I don't like the noise my mouse makes when gliding on it.  Also, I find it way too fast, I want a bit more control.

- Razer Synapse software is fine, but it's one more program running in the background.  The mouse pad plugs in to USB for light control.  It is actually really cool how you can coordinate lighting effects with other Razer products.

- Purchasing from Newegg.ca (Canada) was not a very good experience.  Shipping is slow, as it comes from their New York warehouse (and must cross the border).  I decided to return the mousepad, and had to pay return shipping.  This purchase ended up being a big waste of money.  I paid $12 shipping to get it to my house, and have to pay another $15 to send it back, plus a 15% restocking fee by Newegg.  Overall, my purchasing experience was not good, and I will definitely avoid Newegg.ca in the future.  For purchases in western Canada, I highly recommend memoryexpress.com, which I will stick with in the future.

Wow.........I'm stunned it can't be a basic mouse pad. 

Just goes to show slapping lights on it and calling it gamer grade usually means it's a bad product. 

[PillowSmoke]

I can't believe that this thing costs $60. But I don't question whatever floats your boat.

[Psykomantis00]

I'm a razer fan when it comes to their mice. This looks like a pile of shit though. 

[Rekx]

Wow.........I'm stunned it can't be a basic mouse pad. 

Just goes to show slapping lights on it and calling it gamer grade usually means it's a bad product. 

The price is also insane. 

[anthonyc813]

i got this cause I had bestbuy gift cards and nothing to get there... so why not buy a 60.00 mouse pad that lights up? looks awesome IMO. very pleaseing to the eye and when gaming in the dark BUT

 

HOLY SHIT my Naga FLIES across this thing!! I have the mouse turn to the slowest setting in control Panel and its still super fast! Need to get used to slower wrist movements! my god this thing is so quick! might return it just for this reason. need a week

[anthonyc813]

Wow, it fails as a mousepad which leaves it with the only selling point RGB. I would mount it behind the monitor as some kind of ambient light and get a proper pad instead.

That might be a better option for this thing lol. Smart thinking. I feel like I'm missing a icon to click on my desktop. Played the x wing in battlefront for 10 minutes and my aim was all over the fucking place.

[thekeemo]

Watch out when buying from Mem Ex

7 day return period

And they will try to convince you to buy an inferior and more expensive product every damn time..

[NickTheMajin]

Am I the only one who doesn't like all my shit lighting up? I'd be infinitely happier if my g502 didn't light up at all and my k70 had white lights instead of "gamer red"

[GeekJump]

Whenever Razer is mentioned, expect anti-fans to crawl out from the cracks

 

so yeah.. nobody should buy Razer gear..

 

Their keyboards and headphones (and all their other new shit they came out with at CES) might be shit, but I have fond memories of my old razer mice and currently use my deathadder w/o fail. Still prefer Logitech mice but Razer get a ton of hate on this Forum. It's almost as bad if I say I prefer iOS over Android and use my MacPro for gaming (I DON'T!!! just giving an example lol)

 

Am I the only one who doesn't like all my shit lighting up? I'd be infinitely happier if my g502 didn't light up at all and my k70 had white lights instead of "gamer red"

 

Yea, the only thing I like to have lights is my case. My DA has RGB but I don't mess with it much. A rgb mousepad would be distracting as hell IMO.

 

And to hell with Gamer Red and Blue! White should be the default standard. matches with everything!

[xTrekStorex]

Whenever Razer is mentioned, expect anti-fans to crawl out from the cracks

 

 

Their keyboards and headphones (and all their other new shit they came out with at CES) might be shit, but I have fond memories of my old razer mice and currently use my deathadder w/o fail. Still prefer Logitech mice but Razer get a ton of hate on this Forum. It's almost as bad if I say I prefer iOS over Android and use my MacPro for gaming (I DON'T!!! just giving an example lol)

 

 

Yea, the only thing I like to have lights is my case. My DA has RGB but I don't mess with it much. A rgb mousepad would be distracting as hell IMO.

 

And to hell with Gamer Red and Blue! White should be the default standard. matches with everything!

Well in that case you might have wanted to quote my entire post since I give reason instead of just hate on Razer. I also had Razer mice (Lachesis & Diamondback) a couple years ago and they were awesome.

I also do like the current Mamba Chroma. However in general their quality dropped by far and pricing still is the same if not even higher than in the early days.

 

I just switched to a Logitech G502 which was on sale for 44€ - that thing rocks every mouse I've had so far (including all Razer and Roccat mice I owned). So yeah, Razer mice are pretty and can be decent - but price to performance is simply bad (except maybe the standard Deathadder).

[GeekJump]

snips

 

My first comment wasn't directed towards you, only the second bit about keyboards and such. First comment was just a general thread wide comment.

[olbaze]

Man, I remember when people were bitching about LEDs in mice being unnecessary bling. Those were the good times. The only time where LEDs were anything but bling is keyboards and even that is questionable as you shouldn't be using it in an environment where you can't see the keys.

 

Their keyboards and headphones (and all their other new shit they came out with at CES) might be shit, but I have fond memories of my old razer mice and currently use my deathadder w/o fail. Still prefer Logitech mice but Razer get a ton of hate on this Forum. It's almost as bad if I say I prefer iOS over Android and use my MacPro for gaming (I DON'T!!! just giving an example lol)

 

The thing is, Razer didn't exactly develop the DeathAdder either. They collaborated with Microsoft to release the Microsoft Habu, which was meant as a gaming-oriented successor to the IME 3.0. At the time, Razer's own mice were shaped very differently, as their top of the line mouse was the Copperhead, with Diamondback being supposedly the most popular one. And some time after the Habu collaboration they came up with DeathAdder, which was pretty much the exact same shape, just with an optical sensor and no LED strip. Look at the thing, if you didn't know better you'd say it's a ripoff of the DeathAdder: http://amzn.com/B000H16G3W

 

And Razer has gone through a lot of questionable business choices (Razer switches, Chroma, constant re-releases, "Collector's Editions"). And unlike 10 years ago, now they have vast amounts of competition.

[CostcoSamples]

Razor QC is bad, everybody knows it.  But the design of they stuff is very nice, IHMO.  

 

While the Firefly mousepad turned out to be total junk, I have a Deathadder RGB for my wife's laptop and my wife and I both love it.