Razer, as a peripheral maker, has had a long history in gamers' hearts. They were the first company to release a gaming grade ball mouse, and one of the first to release a gaming grade infrared optical mouse. In recent years, they have had steep competition from the likes of Logitech and Microsoft’s gaming line of peripherals but Razer has come back with some redesigned products with some very attractive price points. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at the entry level mouse in Razer's current line up - the Salmosa.

The Salmosa is the smallest and cheapest of all Razer's gaming mice. This is also the lowest priced gaming mouse Razer has ever produced. However, in the case of the Salmosa, cheap doesn’t make it disposable because this mouse is packed with more features than most $40 mice.

The mouse is smaller than your average Razer, on par with some of the Saitek or OCZ offerings. It’s not quite the size of a notebook mouse but it sure feels like it. But in the small package, you still get a 1ms response time, "on the fly" sensitivity adjustment (via a hard toggle), Razer's always on mode, and a host of other standard Razer design options.

The design of the Salmosa is ambidextrous, which means it can be held by either hand. The mouse is coated with the now familiar "Razer Rubber", which gives the mouse a nice grip for those hot gaming nights. There's the left and right buttons and a ratcheted scroll wheel that's also capable of side scrolling. The lack of additional side buttons is a shame and probably wouldn't have increased the price any if they threw in at least one on each side. But Razer decided to go Spartan with this one and kept it simple. The cord is 7ft long and is rubber sheathed to be thin and light. It really comes down to preference if you like your cords braided like the Logitech G5/9 or thin rubberized such as the Razers. Irregardless of your preference, the Salmosa cord is long and light enough to not be in the way during a heated frag-fest.

At the heart of the Salmosa is a 3G infrared 1800dpi sensor. Although it's not laser powered, it will still get the job done with plenty of style. You might be required to use a decent mouse pad for the sensor to be truly effective but if you're looking at a gaming mouse, you would have a gaming pad already. Otherwise, that's just like buying a sports car and throwing on Wal-Mart tires - it's just wrong! The mouse is capable of on the fly sensitivity switching but don't get too excited because to switch sensitivities, you have to flip the Salmosa over and flip a few physical toggles. There's one for the dpi so it can change from 800dpi to 1800dpi. While another switch lets you choose from 125Hz, 500Hz, and 1000Hz for the USB polling rate. This being a nice feature to have on a gaming mouse, it does defeat the purpose of on the fly switching when you have to flip it over.

During regular usage, I actually found the Salmosa extremely comfortable. I have smaller hands than your average man and find mice such as the Logitech G5 and the Sidewinder X8 to be on the larger side. The Salmosa was just right for my hands, being slightly larger than a notebook mouse but not overly huge. The 3G infrared sensor did the job just fine during games of Call of Duty 4 and Team Fortress 2. In fact, I barely noticed a difference in performance when compared to my Microsoft Sidewinder X8 (although I did miss the side buttons.) The only thing you may notice when using the Salmosa as compared to a higher end mouse such as the X8, is that the lift off distance is quite noticeable. In a higher end mouse, your cursor tends to stay in the same location when you lift the mouse off the desk, but in the Salmosa, being infrared and of entry level specs, that cursor will jump. And this means during those intense corridor firefights, you just might end up looking at a wall after lifting up your mouse.

Razer software drivers for their mice hasn't been the most user friendly in the past but with their latest Salmosa driver suite, it's actually quite pleasant. The interface is simple but in depth enough and you can even assign specific functions to the one assignable button - the mouse wheel. Here's where you can assign the dpi switching option of the mouse to the said middle button for true on the fly adjustment but, you lose that middle button for something else and makes the hard toggle under the mouse redundant.

For the MSRP of $39.99 USD, the Salmosa is a great choice for gamers on a budget. It's easily a better performing mouse than the cheaper "professional office" mice, and will match the performance of many other entry level gaming mice. The build quality of the Salmosa is excellent, and it's got all the great design features of a high end mouse less the cost of entry. Some users might find the smaller size to be a hindrance but if you find the larger gaming mice to be uncomfortable, then you need to give the Salmosa a try. The lack of additional buttons and no true on the fly dpi switching does hurt its overall value but those shortcomings won't really matter to a gamer on a budget. This is by far the best entry level gaming mouse I've ever used and the cost/benefit ratio is very attractive.