Killer Instinct - Razer Boomslang 2007 Collector's Edition Review
This one was a very long time coming. A mouse that I've wanted to try since I was a kid, and now I've finally got my hands on one. This is the Razer Boomslang 2007 - a collector focused revival of what is widely regarded as the first purpose-built gaming mouse. Does it live up to the legacy?
Still, the Boomslang has maintained a pretty healthy legacy in the minds of many early PC gamers because at the time there was truly nothing else like it. Nearly every gaming mouse currently on the market has this translucent green relic to thank for being the first one with the balls (rather, THE ball) to try something different. Razer thought it was important too, so they revived the Boomslang in 2007 as a 10,000-unit collector's edition for $100 each.
We might laugh at it now, but $100 in 2007 was a lot of money to ask for something like a computer mouse. By that point, the Boomslang was very much superseded by newer, more advanced mice like the Logitech G5 and the then-fledgling Razer DeathAdder. The collector's edition had to be far beyond just a reissuing of the original Boomslang if anybody wanted to foreseeably justify paying that kind of money for what otherwise might just seem like an outdated product.
Thankfully, Razer understood the assignment - and they decided to make the resurrected Boomslang something that felt truly special.
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Based on the shit brown discoloration on my box, the previous owner clearly didn't like taking care of their lungs. |
Full disclosure: I paid $200 before tax and shipping for my own Boomslang 2007 Collector's Edition: an open-box deadstock example that I figured was worth the price of admission after nearly two decades of unsatisfied teenage curiosity.
What's immediately apparent about this mouse is the overall presentation. It arrives in a black box held closed by a stainless steel clasp with the Razer logo etched on it. Open it up and you're greeted by a card denoting which example out of 10,000 the mouse is, and underneath that; a black painted version of the familiar, circular tin that the original Boomslang was typically packaged in. Preem.
Pry the lid off the tin and you'll find the circular shaped manuals, a bag of spare PTFE feet, along with one thing that immediately dates this mouse to its time period - a CD with all the software for the mouse. Again, that might seem funny now - especially since the disc drive has been a thing of the past for several years now in most new computers - but this was still a time where you could safely assume at least some not-insubstantial demographic lacked reliable internet access, so seeing something like this is nice.
Underneath all that? The mouse itself, just chilling in its foam-lined throne of late-2000s excess.
I'm going to just dive right into the elephant in the room here to ensure this review stays honest from start to finish: this mouse has problems. Not functional problems, but more like lasting age and storage condition problems. Electronics manufacturers in the 2000s had a really awful habit of putting soft touch rubber finishes on every visible surface of their gadgets and while they looked and felt great at first, repeated exposure to things like hand oils, friction, and even just time can result in the finish turning into a sticky, disgusting sludge.
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| Lookin' pretty crusty there, grandpa! |
My Boomslang 2007 CE is one such example. I can validate that it had rarely - if ever, left its tin and yet; the rubber covered parts of the mouse have deteriorated into a pretty sorry state. The main buttons and lower section of the palm rest all now have a cloudy looking finish on them that feels slightly sticky to the touch. The worst hit by far though? The side buttons, which have turned into a chalky, powdery white. Even though I was anticipating this possibility; it still sucks, and I wasn't about to try and handle the mouse until it was cleaned up.
But let's pretend that everything is just swell and the rubber isn't slowly decomposing before my eyes: I can't stress enough how sick I think this mouse looks. I thought it looked bomb in 2011; when I was just beginning to dip my toes into PC gaming, and I still think it's one of the best-looking mice Razer has ever put out. The overall size and shape are still identical to the original Boomslang, but it's now decked out with a titanium top shell and the soft touch rubber finish on the main buttons, sides, and back.
When you plug the mouse in, the scroll wheel and the bottom of the mouse light up with a vibrant green. Age-induced rot aside, the Boomslang 2007 CE looks absolutely gorgeous. It's one of those mice that had me smitten just on appearance alone. I didn't even have to think about how it felt - though once I set it on my pad and got my grip on it, I probably should have.
The Boomslang is a... very creatively shaped mouse, to put it lightly. It has a very low and wide ambidextrous profile with a prominently wedge-shaped front with massive main buttons backed by a rounded, almost egg-like rear palm rest. As was the case with the original, there is a single additional top button nested below the scroll wheel, and two side buttons - one on each side nested deep in the strange little crevices where the front and back of the mouse join together.
If that all sounds unaccommodating - well, that's because it is. The shape of the mouse kind of forces your hand into a claw or fingertip grip by default and while you can palm the mouse, it just feels weird considering how flat and wide it is. There really isn't any substantial arch that can support your hand across the whole length of the mouse.
All of this makes the Boomslang a bit of an odd creature to get a good grip on. On most modern mice, it feels perfectly natural to rest your index and middle finger across the top while gripping the flat sides with your thumb, ring, and pinkie fingers. With the Boomslang, your thumb and pinky kind of hook into the "armpits" of the mouse while the sheer width of the front splays out your remaining fingers across the top. You're not really resting your hand on the mouse so much as it's stretching you into submission.
It's also freaking massive. In fact, it's without doubt the largest mouse in terms of footprint I've ever planted at my desk. Like, it's actually bigger than the mammoth Logitech G700s and makes the undeniably large Mad Catz M.M.O. 7+ look positively normal sized by comparison. You're not merely just using the Boomslang: you're piloting it. And all that girth comes with weight, 126 grams to be exact. This is not some modern MOBA slinger, as if the shape didn't already make that obvious.
And the side buttons are... let's be honest: they are total shit. They are so awkwardly recessed and easy to accidentally trigger that I couldn't imagine willingly trying to use them outside of pure necessity. If there was one thing that definitely killed this mouse in favor of the more conventionally shaped mice like the Diamondback that replaced it - I would wager it had to have been these buttons. My god.
That said, I think declaring the Boomslang hopelessly uncomfortable would be a little unfair to it. People have and still fondly recall its handling, so there is certainly a small cachet of people that actually do like the shape of this mouse. But it is definitely a product of its time, and it does feel very dated; especially compared to anything following it that even slightly considered proper ergonomics.
You would at least hope then the mouse packs enough performance to make up for the rather oddball ergonomics and to sum up my findings on that in one word? Sorta?
The Boomslang 2007 CE is equipped with an 1800 DPI 3G optical sensor with up to 1000 Hz polling rate over USB. That on paper is a little bit of a step backwards from the original 2000 DPI ball mouse, but with a massive increase in response time and tracking accuracy. The lack of a physical ball also should mean the mouse should glide quite a bit easier too - and it does, thanks to some good PTFE feet.
In actual practice, the Boomslang 2007 CE feels perfectly capable. An 1800 DPI sensor is just about the bare minimum I would accept for a mouse to be usable on a modern high-resolution display. Helped along by it's 1000 Hz polling rate, the mouse feels smooth, controlled, and plenty fast. While it certainly isn't going to please twitch motion speed freaks, to me it feels competent enough as a mixed-use mouse on an ultrawide 1440p display.
That said, the spec sheet is a little damning when you compare the Boomslang 2007 CE to mice released around the same time as it. This mouse effectively sports the same sensor package that was equipped on the Diamondback G3 which released a few months earlier. Nothing wrong with that, mind you - the 1800 DPI optical sensor is a proven sensor, but that same year Razer also introduced their first generation of laser mice: the Lachesis. That mouse also came out before the Boomslang but with a 4000 DPI laser sensor. That barely matters now since all of these mice are relics of a bygone era, but you can't help but feel a little shafted that the ultra-luxe mouse didn't even get the highest spec sensor that was on offer at the time.
To me, Razer's biggest flaw to their products in recent years has undoubtedly been their software experience. Synapse is largely forced upon users if they want to unlock their product's full feature set, and it uses a frankly obscene amount of resources for what effectively should just amount to a configuration tool. So it was a little weird, yet liberating using an early version of it with the Boomslang 2007 CE completely unshackled from the bloated, telemetry gathering shitshow that is the current app.
This old version of Synapse is very basic though, featuring just basic button remapping, DPI and polling rate adjustments, along with profile setting. That's not a whole lot of features but then again; this mouse doesn't really do a whole lot else to begin with. It just works and honestly, that's enough.
I think then whether or not this is a good mouse to actually use is completely subjective. The performance is more than fine relative to the era: the old optical sensor is nothing to write home about, but it tracks well and the smoothness is a big step up from the old ball mouse. But the shape is still going to be a very divisive thing. Some people will adore it, others will think it's absolutely cursed - and that's fine. I don't believe any faithful revival of the Boomslang could ever be considered an accommodating product from how it handles alone.
Would my younger self had been happy using the Boomslang 2007 CE as a primary mouse? I mean, probably - but I was just happy to have a computer that could run Command & Conquer 3 on low settings back then! I would've been smitten with just about anything that glowed like this thing does. Present me found it more-or-less adequate after some adjustment time (and disabling the stupid side buttons), but then I switched back to the G700s again and was quickly reminded what real comfort felt like.
What this mouse is though, is a fantastic collector's item for both those who loved the original Boomslang and those who are just even a little curious about how this mouse felt without having to settle for ball mouse hell. The build quality, choice of materials, and overall presentation makes this a pretty special mouse for just about anyone.
But let's bring things back to reality: the Boomslang 2007 CE is now a nearly two-decade old mouse and as you could see with my example: time takes no prisoners. Plastic gets brittle, rubber degrades, people use it and abuse it until there's nothing left worth owning. That initial number of 10,000 units probably has dwindled a fair amount, and what good-conditioned units are left probably won't stay as nice looking as they did back in 2007 - even if they did just sit in the box on a shelf for the past two decades.
Entropy is a bitch, and unfortunately; alternatives are few and far between.
I briefly mentioned the Razer Lachesis; it being one of Razer's early forays into laser mice. It's an ambidextrous mouse with multiple side buttons and a shape that - curiously, looks a whole lot like the Boomslang. The bulky front-end tapering back into a prominently rounded palm rest. Yeah, that's basically a Boomslang in all its glory, except with a 4000 DPI laser sensor and more buttons.
But the Lachesis isn't exactly the same shape as the Boomslang. It lacks the "armpits" of the old mouse where the side buttons were stashed, instead opting for flat sides with two side buttons each and the front is less aggressively sloped towards the desk surface. So, while it is close in spirit, it won't exactly replicate the same cursed grip of the original mouse.
But it is generally pretty affordable to pick up on the secondhand market - unlike the most recent option.
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Source: Razer |
It was a long wait but on February 10th, 2026, Razer finally brought a modernized Boomslang back for the second time around with further hardware updates. This new 20th Anniversary model was nothing short of a marvel of mouse technology, featuring Razer's latest 45k DPI Focus Pro Gen-2 sensor, optical switches, HyperSpeed wireless connectivity at up to 8000 Hz polling, Qi dock charging, and RGB underglow. That's about as fittingly overkill of a spec sheet as you can make for this type of halo product.
And yet, what Razer priced this mouse at felt like a total slap in the face for people like myself who waited nearly twenty years for another chance to try this mouse with modern hardware. The Boomslang 20th Anniversary Edition was priced at an utterly incomprehensible $1,337 USD and limited to just 1,337 units worldwide.
That is absolutely fucking insulting.
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| Source: Razer |
For your $1,337, you get a mouse that's all plastic, uses PU leather - which is nearly as prone to cracking and flaking with age and use as the old soft touch finish was to rotting, and considering it lacks both wired and Bluetooth connectivity - it's also actually less featured than some of Razer's own substantially less expensive dock capable mice.
Seriously; you can get a Cobra Pro with a still very overkill 30k DPI sensor, proper tri-mode connectivity and HyperPolling capability, all bundled with the dock for $170 direct from Razer as of writing. It may not have the retro appeal of the Boomslang - but it's a modern, daily drivable mouse with a price that won't leave you feeling like an asshole when the ABS shell starts to shine up.
But the Boomslang comes with a frame so... I guess that makes it worth it?
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| Source: Razer |
I also scoff at the idea that the use of PU leather was supposed to help make this mouse more accessible to a wider audience, as this quote from Wired's review states:
While I was initially surprised by the choice to use artificial PU leather instead of actual leather, my conversation with Charlie Bolton, Razer’s lead designer, revealed that there were reasons behind this. Along with issues of longevity and maintenance, Bolton pointed out that some religions look down on owning and handling items made of leather. While I see real leather as a more “premium” offering within my own cultural context, I can understand their decision from this perspective, since it makes the product accessible to a larger audience.
I'm sorry, but no. You're giving them too much credit.
I completely sympathize with avoiding the use of animal products in order to avoid cultural or philosophical complications when designing a product. But on a $1,337 mouse limited to 1,337 units, pretending PU leather is some noble accessibility-minded choice feels laughable. This was never designed to be accessible. It was designed to be scarce, expensive, and collectible. So yeah, I’m more inclined to believe Razer used PU because it was cheaper and easier to manufacture - then wrapped that decision in premium-sounding marketing because of course they did.
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| The funniest part? If you do the math; most of these morons are barely breaking even at best - if they even sell. |
To me, that shows a pretty obvious philosophical gulf between the Boomslang 2007 CE and the 20th Anniversary Edition. The 2007 mouse feels like Razer, still close enough to its old RazerGuy-era roots, trying to honor the weird thing that put the company on the map. Expensive? Sure. Limited? Absolutely. But 10,000 units at $100 still reads like a collector tribute fans could reasonably aspire to own. The 20th Anniversary Edition feels different. At $1,337 and only 1,337 units, it comes off less like a love letter and more like Razer auctioning off its own legacy to whoever could click fastest before the scalpers arrived.
Maybe that’s nostalgia talking, but the 2007 Collector’s Edition feels like it came from a Razer that still understood why the Boomslang mattered to people. The 20th Anniversary Edition feels like it came from a Razer that understood only that people would pay for it.
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| RIP Robert "RazerGuy" Krakoff |
Somehow, the 2007 Collector’s Edition remains the most accessible way to experience a modernized Boomslang in its purest form. Not accessible as in cheap - because it absolutely is not. Accessible as in it doesn’t force you to deal with ball-mouse archaeology, and it doesn’t ask you to pay $1,337 for the privilege of being laughed at by Razer’s marketing department.
This is not a good modern mouse. It is too old, too weird, too ergonomically hostile, and too rare to recommend as a daily driver. But as a faithful modernization of one of the most important gaming mice ever made, the Boomslang 2007 CE still occupies a weirdly perfect middle ground: modern enough to use, old enough to matter, and obtainable enough that it doesn’t feel like Razer is actively insulting you for wanting one.
And for someone who just wants to satiate their inner teenager? That's the best kind of tribute.
What's Good
- Premium titanium top shell and collector presentation.
- Serviceable 1800 DPI optical sensor.
- Basic but functional programmability.
- Bloat-free software.
- Shape is as awkward handling as it looks.
- Sensor isn't even the best of its generation.
- Old rubber materials are prone to degradation.
- Very expensive for what is still just an old mouse.
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