New Razer mouse: the Imperator

Just a few weeks after they announced the Abyssus, Razer have done it again. The newest addition to their gaming mouse arsenal is called the Imperator.

Link on Razer's site: http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-imperator/

The Imperator has a 5,600 DPI laser sensor, same as the Mamba and Naga, although at $79.99 it's considerably cheaper than the Mamba (probably because it lacks the whole wired/wireless thing; it's strictly a wired mouse). This mouse was built from the ground up with ergonomics in mind. It is the first Razer mouse to feature adjustable thumb buttons (you can move them forward or backward on the mouse to your personal preference), and its shape, along with the side button adjustability, makes it great for palm grippers and claw/fingertip grippers alike. It's not quite the Logitech G9's three interchangeable grips, but it seems Razer has made this thing as comfortable as possible for everyone.

It has a total of 7 programmable buttons: the two standard clicks and the scroll wheel, the two thumb buttons, and two buttons just below the wheel, much like those found on the Lachesis. It is ergonomically right-hand oriented, like the DeathAdder, Mamba and Naga. And like most of their high end mice right now, it features 1,000Hz polling/1ms response, and Razer Synapse onboard memory for storage of profiles and settings.

This looks like a pretty good choice for those who want the Mamba's performance (minus the wired/wireless modes) but don't want to shell out the full price for it, and who don't want the Naga's 12 thumb buttons. If I didn't just get my DeathAdder, I'd probably give this thing a serious look.

Some photos of this new (awesomely named) beast:

 

I like the adjustable thumb button idea. However, it appears that Razer simply took the shell of an MX518 and adorned it with their logo and lighting effects. The similarity is especially true for the thumb well on the left side of the mouse.

 

Seriously, another one?! Razer has 13 different products every $10...

 

Hmm, I think the Mamba looks better personally.

 

Yeah, I'm quite sure they got the inspiration for the thumb hollow from the Logitech MX518/G5/G500/G7 (talk about chassis recycling ).

It looks like this will be some solid competition to Logitech's new G500, which has that body shape and a 5,000 DPI laser. In fact, by one-upping Logitech on DPI and charging $20 less for such an ergonomically similar mouse, I wouldn't be surprised if they made the Imperator specifically to attract potential Logitech customers.

Agreed. I like Razer mice in general, but enough is enough!

Agreed, although that's probably got something to do with costing twice as much as well.

I wonder if they put this thing out so quickly as a result of poor sales of the Abyssus, which I can't imagine many people bought.

 

abyssus caters more towards left handed mouse users..so....they have their own market...

i dont think razer is that stupid enough cuz they have been doing very well since the copperhead mouse was introduced

 

The Abyssus isn't strictly left-handed, it's symmetrical/ambidextrous, so it works just as well for left and right handed gamers. The Lachesis, Diamondback, Copperhead, Krait, and Salmosa are all the same way.

 

As if I wasn't confused enough by Razer's offerings. Wow.

 

When will they ever have discounts or rebates? I bought Logitech G9 at an insane deal, but I'd like to try a razer mice someday.

 

Razer doesn't usually do discounts themselves, but the retailers that sell their stuff (Best Buy for instance) occasionally will.

 

Not bad looking, but I'll stick to my G9x for the time being. No need for a brand new gaming mouse when the current one works fine.

Potential buyers will like the new adjustable features though. The adaptable shape for palm and claw grippers alike is going to get a few fans.

 

Please stay on-topic in this thread, thank you. I had to delete some posts.

 

Yes, you deleted mine.

The topic was the Razer Imperator. I merely pointed out that the Imperator's shape was similar to Logitech's MX518 and G5 line of mice.

 

It actually does look like the MX518.

The design is nice and the price looks ok. Maybe CM sentinel had them sweating? (Hey, its possible)

 

This looks just like a mouse I saw a few months ago with the big cog like scroll wheel and open front end.

Must have been this one but I didnt know it just now came out that or they have another mouse similar in design, and yeah it does look a lot like a logitech mouse I use.

So what is supposed to be the selling point of this one? Just ergonomics?

 

You might be thinking of the Orochi, their Bluetooth travel-oriented mouse.

Pretty much, along with featuring the same 5,600 DPI laser as the Mamba while costing significantly less.

 

Mastershroom:

One note to fix: The Microsoft Habu also has swappable thumb buttons as waell, although these butotns have to be manually popped out and replaced by a button-to-spring mechanism, and there are only two choices.

Other than that, this mouse is VERY high on the /want list.

 

I think I will keep an eye out for this to be on sale, I have a new mx518 that works fine but I am redoing my whole setup black, so this mouse will match better also I'll try out this ultra high dpi craze, I personally dont even use the full dpi available in the mx518 I only use about half of it.

 

I've had a couple of Razer's earlier wired mice and they were nothing impressive. Ergonomics were the worst out there.

There is nothing better out there than the Sidewinder I'm using from experience.

My setup:

 

Christ, 5,600 DPi?!?! Your hand could lightly slip and I bet your character would spin a 720 in-game.

 

Which Razer mice were they? Some are definitely better than others.

And the Sidewinder is indeed a very nice mouse.

DPI != cursor speed.

 

Ditto. When HL2 first came out, I had just gotten a new MX518 and had the DPI "cranked up". After less than 30 minutes of playing, I was nauseated and felt like I was going to throw up.