Razer Boomslang 20th Anniversary Mouse Review: For Collectors

The Razer Boomslang 20th Anniversary Edition gaming mouse costs over one thousand dollars. $1,337, to be specific.

I was surprised. Everyone I mentioned this to was surprised. Even the Razer representative hosting the press conference seemed surprised. It’s not made of gold. It doesn’t even have real leather on the leather-wrapped components. It’s a plastic-based polyurethane leather, attached to a transparent plastic shell. For $1,337.

According to Razer, you aren’t paying just for the throwback shape. You’re paying for the prestige of what the brand calls the “exotic supercar of mice.” It’s something they admit will be, for most buyers, a display piece more than an actual, functional mouse—they even send you a framed, broken-down version with each functional mouse.

Is there any actual reason to spend this money on a “leet” mouse that looks like a Ghost from Halo and comes with a display case? For many, there was; I received this mouse only a day before preorders started, and the 1,337 units sold out almost immediately. If you want one now, you’re likely going to be stuck spending nearly $2,000 on the aftermarket.

Clickable History

There couldn’t be a better time for Razer to release a reimagined version of its first mouse: The transparent, rounded, and futuristic designs of the early 2000s have swung back around to being cool in the public eye, and a retro mouse like this (as much as it hurts to call this “retro”) is exactly the kind of thing I expected every brand to be pushing for.