Review: Razer Naga Hex

The Naga Hex is a great mouse, if it’s the right mouse for you.

With the Naga Hex, your thumb will caress the six mechanical buttons numbered from 1 to 6 on the size. Your index and middle finger sit nicely on the left and right buttons, while your ring and little finger have a nice little nook to rest on. Finally, your palm will come to rest on its perfectly curved back, making the Naga Hex seem like a mouse suited for the palm grip.

But it’s not, and gamers would do well to remember this! The Naga Hex is actually a mouse for the claw grip, and for good reason. It only has five feet ‘pads’. The area where the sixth would be is a switch for you to set the mouse’s thumb pad to the maid 1 to 6 keys or to the num-pad 1 to 6 keys. The lack of a sixth foot is what makes the Hex unusable with a palm grip – the weight of your hand will unbalance the mouse, tilting it onto the unsupported side where its sixth footpad should have been.

If you’re not a claw grip user, this will make for a horrible experience even while surfing the Internet because you’ll misclick so many times you’ll want to buy a new mouse. So be forewarned.

Otherwise, the Naga Hex is great. It’s a 3.5G, 5600 DPI model that moves and clicks like an ergonomic dream: kind of what you’d have come to expect from Razer, but with a major design definition in the thumb pad. It has a high shine finish on its back, and more muted plastic on its sides. The matte sides are great, though. That means no finger grime collecting in crevices!

As a mouse specifically made for MOBA or Action RPG gamers, it’s no surprise the thumb pad can take a beating. The Hex utilises special switches that last up to 10 million clicks. It also allows for up to 250 clicks per minute, for all your macroing needs. In spite of its designation as a MOBA and Action RPG mouse, the Hex performs surprisingly well in the FPS arena. The thumb pad is a godsend when changing weapons on the fly, and the ability to push the Hex’s sensitivity up to 5600 DPI makes for a super fly shootout.

You’ll need to get used to the thumb pad’s numbering system, though. The number placement doesn’t run clockwise, and you don’t have the option of remapping it.

But Razer has it down pat when it comes to customising the rest of your Hex. The Naga Hex uses the new Razer Synapse 2.0 software – a new cloud interface that replaces Razer’s older drivers and individual control panels. You do need to register an account with Razer, but you’ll be able to do that through the setup window.

What the Synapse 2.0 does is to bring all your Razer goodies’ configuration into a cloud. That’s great, because it means no more painstakingly reconfiguring your gear at LAN events or at your friend’s place. But it also means needing constant Internet access, even while using hardware. Combined with all the compulsory DRM news that’s been floating around, we can’t say we’re very pleased with the need for yet another cloud account, but hey, the Synapse is pretty cool. Plus, how can a LAN tournament not have Internet access these days anyway?

Overall, the Razer Naga Hex is a great mouse if you use it with the right grip, and performs beyond its marketed expectations. The Synapse 2.0 compatibility is also a bonus, and we really like how the non-shiny plastic on the sides will help keep your mouse clean after a gaming session replete with sweaty hands.