Sharon Harding
A mouse is an obvious candidate for cutting cords. Going wireless means you won’t get tangled in your cord or have to deal with cable drag, and wireless connections have become so reliable that even game companies offer wireless mice with no real lag issues.
The situation is a little more complicated for people who use multiple devices. Bluetooth connections may be stable, but that doesn’t mean I want to repeatedly pair and re-pair my mouse. Sometimes it seems easier to just plug in a mouse.
But there is another way. The Razer Pro Click Mini joins a selection of wireless mice that allow you to pair with three Bluetooth devices and choose which machine to control at the touch of a button. You can add another PC to the mix by using the included wireless dongle, for a total of four connected devices.
The $80 Pro Click Mini is a more portable, funnier version of the original Razer Pro Click, which costs $20 more. The new mouse has a longer battery life and is highly programmable, from the five-way wheel that can manage two different scroll styles to the ability to save macros. But rivals with similar feature sets offer even longer battery life, a quieter scroll wheel, and even an easier way to switch between your connected devices. Is Razer’s new mouse doing enough to keep up?
| Specifications at a glance: Razer Pro Click Mini | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensor | Razer 5G Optical Sensor | ||
| Connectivity Options | Bluetooth 5.0 or 2.4 GHz dongle | ||
| Programmable Buttons | eight, including 5x scroll wheel | ||
| Profiles on board | 0 | ||
| Relief | No | ||
| Mate | 3.9 × 2.5 × 1.3 in (100.2 × 62.7 × 34.1 mm) | ||
| Weight | With 1x AA battery: 3.1 ounces (88 g) With 2x AA batteries: 3.9 ounces (111 g) |
||
| Guarantee | 2 years | ||
| Price (list price) | $80 | ||
| Other benefits | 2 AA batteries included | ||
One wireless mouse, four PCs
As with the previous full-size Pro Click, you can connect the Pro Click Mini to three devices via Bluetooth, plus a fourth using the mouse’s wireless dongle. There are a few wireless mice that allow you to control multiple PCs via Bluetooth. However, if you want to connect to a fourth device or use a dongle, the Pro Click Mini jumps out. Logitech’s MX Anywhere 3 can do all of the above too, and at the same MSRP as the Pro Click Mini, but it ups the ante by offering wired control and charging. The Dell MS7421W and HP Specter 700 mouse can also be connected to four devices, and both are rechargeable.
But it’s not that easy to switch between Bluetooth devices with the Pro Click Mini. You switch machines by pressing the same long-press button to initiate Bluetooth pairing. But unlike the MX Anywhere 3, MS7421W, and Specter 700 mice, there’s no graphic on the mouse itself to let you know what you’re currently connected to. Instead, you need to remember a color code. A light on the bottom of the mouse turns blue when connected to PC 1, e.g. green for PC 2 and green-yellow for PC 3. It is a small light and two of the colors are very similar, so the system is not exact intuitive.
Sharon Harding
Moving to the device with the dongle is much easier. You just flip a switch on the bottom of the mouse from Bluetooth to 2.4GHz mode. The dongle connection should be more reliable and cause less lag than the Pro Click Mini’s Bluetooth option. Both worked well for me, even next to a Bluetooth keyboard.
If you prefer to keep a USB-A port, the Pro Click Mini has handy dongle storage under the top cover.
Sharon Harding
Removing and replacing the top cover worked without any alarming plastic rubbing noise, and I’ve never had a problem with the cover accidentally coming off.
battery life
The Pro Click Mini is smaller than its predecessor, but has a longer battery life. Razer says the little clicker will last up to about 725 hours with a Bluetooth connection and up to 465 hours with the dongle. However, the battery life for the MX Anywhere 3 is less than 1680 hours. The Dell MS7421W claims up to six months, which is about 4,464 hours, and HP’s Specter wireless mouse should last up to 1,848 hours.
Of course, you can expect the Pro Click Mini’s battery life to vary depending on how you use it and whether you switch between the different wireless modes. Also expect battery life to decrease if you use the mouse with one AA battery instead of two (you can use one battery for a lighter mouse – 3.1 ounces vs. 3.9 ounces). Dumping a battery makes the mouse feel slightly off balance and not light enough to justify the shorter battery life.
Sharon Harding
A light under the steering wheel flashes red when the remaining battery life is less than 5 percent. Razer’s Synapse software offers a battery meter, although it doesn’t give an exact percentage.
You can also squeeze the most battery out of the mouse by using Synapse to program it to go into sleep mode when it’s inactive (for one to 15 minutes). I set it to one minute, lower than the default of five, and the mouse still woke up quickly.
But no matter how long the batteries last, you will have to buy new batteries as soon as they run out; the mouse itself is not rechargeable.