Xerosphere

I recently entered the world of high-end mousing. I have to say, I'm impressed, and wonder how I ever got along without it.

The Razer Pro|Click V1.6 feels good in the hand, is smooth and accurate, the buttons have great action, the software driver has a "sensitivity adjust on the fly" feature that is wonderful, and the thing is just plain cool looking too.

As a frequent purchaser of high end pro-sumer level computer gear I have to wonder aloud "Does high end gear always have to be festooned with bling?" There is a substantial amount of duct tape on my PC case to try to block out the red and blue LED glow. I have dismantled many a component to clip a leg off an LED that is just there for show. I have felt like a complete idiot delivering a high-end server machine that looks like something out of Blade Runner and glows like a UFO to a law office.

Back to the Razer. It glows blue. Brightly. The scroll wheel has a bright blue LED underneath it and the mouse literally illuminates the whole room to the extent that I can read a book with the lights out. The night that I got my new mouse, I laid down in bed and looked up at the new bright blue glowy spot on my ceiling (from the mouse in the next room).

In looking at the features of other Razer mice, I did see one mouse (the DeathAdder -- great name [its a gaming mouse if you couldn't guess]) that had software control over the internal lights, a very nice feature. I wrote to Razer support and they promptly replied that they had no plans to include that feature in this mouse.

It is worth mentioning that Razer makes gaming hardware, and the Pro|Click line seems to be their first foray into making goods for the professional world (that is, the non-gaming professional world), so maybe it was just out of habit that they kept the bling in this model of mouse. To disable the cosmetic LEDs inside your Razer Pro|Click v1.6:

• First, know that this will probably void your warranty and please know that I disclaim any liability of the consequences your actions or inactions -- if you cut your hand off, get an electric shock, get dropsy or the croop, or break your mouse, it isn't my fault.
• Next, peel off the Teflon slide at the bottom of the mouse to reveal the single screw holding the thing together. Unscrew the screw. Don't lose it.
• Pull the top off the mouse. It takes a little wiggling and a little bit of force. There are two little "teeth" at the clicky end of the mouse that hold that end in place, so you first lift up, then pull back. You'll get it.
• Once the top comes off, the two LEDs are in plain sight. If you can't see them, plug the mouse back in for a second (you unplugged it before you took it apart, right?) and trust me, you will be able to see them. You may want to don your Ray-Bans first.
• (ok, please make sure it is unplugged at this point) Cut one leg of the LED and bend the other a little bit so there is a good space, and make sure you don't cut anything else, or put the now broken leg of the LED in such a place that it might touch any other part. If you don't have the appropriate tools to cut it, your toenail clippers will do. But ewww. Repeat this for both LEDs, or maybe try just one of them to keep a little bling.
• Put 'er back together, re-screw the screw, re-attach the Teflon slide, plug back in and bask in the darkness. If you decide in the future that you want your bling back, a simple dot of solder will do the trick. Enjoy.

You may notice that now the mouse emanates *no* light at all, since the high resolution sensor uses infrared light which is invisible to the human eye. Yay.