CES 2009

On the heel's of Logitech's announcement of its own new PC gaming peripherals, Razer brings word this morning of new PC gaming mouse and a audio headset. The $130 Mamba mouse hits stores in February and the $80 Carcharias (a family of sharks) headset is set to debut at retail this month.

The Mamba mouse includes many of Razer's hallmark features, plus a few that are new. The large buttons, nonstick Teflon mouse feet, 1,000Hz polling rate, and built-in memory (for carrying mouse settings between systems) we've all seen before. You'll be glad to know the laser sensor dpi arms race marches ever onward, with Razer trumping Logitech's new 5,000dpi G9x by ramping the Mamba's sensor up to 5,600dpi. Phew.

Razer's Mamba gaming mouse offers both wired and wireless PC gaming.

(Credit: Razer)

More interesting for the Mamba is that it's rechargeable, and you also have the option to use it in both wired and wireless modes. The picture above features what appears to be a charging base, so it's unclear if the mouse will recharge while it's plugged in on the wired connection as well. Regardless we like the idea of giving gamers flexibility to go on or off the cable. That $130 price tag also makes the Mamba the most expensive gaming mouse we're aware of.

The Razer Carcharias features an inline remote and a reasonable price tag.

(Credit: Razer)

For its headset, Razer doesn't get into many details of the Carcharias. The press release mentions changeable ear pads (as opposed to changeable headband padding on the Logitech G35), and an inline remote control, both of which are useful features. And the $80 price tag puts the Carcharias $50 under the new Logitech model, although Razer also doesn't boast about simulated 7.1-channel audio like Logitech does. With its imminent release date, hopefully we'll gain some more information with a hands-on review.

Logitech announced several new member of its G-Series line of PC peripherals today. We'll tackle them one at a time, starting with the G35 Surround Sound headset.

The G35 Surround Sound Headset simulates 7.1 channel audio output.

(Credit: Logitech)

When it's available in March, the Logitech G35 Surround Sound headset will cost approximately $130 for the benefit of its simulated 7.1 channel audio output. It includes an adjustable, noise-canceling boom mic, as well as three buttons on the left ear piece dedicated to what Logitech calls "voice morphing" in its press release. This sounds like a simple voice-effect overlay, and we're confident your World of Warcraft guildmates or whoever might be on the receiving end of your chat software will want you to use these effects over and over and over and over. You get volume and mute buttons built into the ear piece as well, and Logitech also gives you three different headbands to use with the G35, a welcome nod towards customization.

Logitech is not the only peripheral vendor with a 7.1-channel headset on offer. Razer's Megalodon was announced in 2008 and is also scheduled to launch sometime in Q1 2009. We're skeptical as to whether it's worth getting too excited over 7.1-channel audio simulated over headphones, but we'll withhold judgment until we can give either headset an actual listen.

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(Credit: Logitech)

When Logitech released the Harmony 1000 in 2007, we were disappointed that the tablet-style remote wasn't easily customizable and that the response time of its 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen wasn't quite as zippy as we would've liked. Two years on, it looks like Logitech has finally taken those criticisms to heart. The new Harmony 1100 includes the ability to customize the on-screen buttons, and its new Flash-based OS (and faster processor) should make for a smoother user experience. Those improvements--plus the black color scheme--look to be the only major changes from the 1000, so the new model should have all of the now-standard perks we've come to expect from Logitech's Harmony line (Web-aided programming via Windows and Mac PCs, task-based control, compatibility with tens of thousands of devices). Unfortunately, the Harmony 1100 will retain the original model's sky-high $500 asking price when it debuts in February 2009--and anyone wanting to take advantage of the remote's RF control features will need to invest another $100 or so in a separate RF-to-IR dongle. Meanwhile, those of us waiting for an update of the Logitech Harmony One that offers RF (or maybe even Bluetooth, for those pesky PS3s) are out of luck; the Harmony 1100 is the company's only new remote for now.

Note: This post has been updated to correctly reflect the features of the original Harmony 1000 model.

(Credit: Philips)

The Philips universal remote line has a new top dog. The Prestigo SRT9320 combines a 2.8-inch color touch screen on the top half with hard buttons on the lower portion. The screen handles both channel favorites (replete with familiar icon logos) and customized commands. The SRT9320 can control up to 20 devices, and it's completely programmable as-is--including learning modes and multidevice macros--without the need to connect it to a PC. (A USB port is included only for future software updates--presumably things like additional channel icons.)

While the Prestigo SRT9320 has a premium $249 price tag, it's missing such high-end niceties as RF control and a charging cradle. And while Philips touts the fact that you don't need a PC to program the SRT9320, we've found that to be a big advantage when dealing with sophisticated multidevice macros (something the task-based Logitech Harmony models handle with aplomb). By comparison, the Logitech Harmony One also has a touch-screen/keypad design (and a rechargeable battery), and it can be found for less than $200.

The SRT9320 will be available in the first quarter of 2009. In the meantime, a trio of more affordable Philips Prestigo models are currently available, all of which include a color LCD screen: the SRU8008 (controls 8 devices, priced below $100); the SRU8112 (12 devices, scrollwheel, also sub-$100); and the SRU8015 (15 devices, scrollwheel, wider form factor, under $180).