my Razer Imperator review

hey guys, i recently brought a new mouse, the Razer imperator, and thought i short review was in order.

the Imperator is a high end gaming mouse made by Razer and as such the prize of the unit reflects this.





It uses the tracking engine that's standard on all of Razer's high-end mice now, a 5600dpi sensor, with a 1000Hz polling rate for 1ms response time. And, like every other major Razer mouse, it's got onboard memory for storing profiles of macros and DPI settings of which 5 can be programed in, and switched between via the mouse buttons, of which there are 7 programmable buttons not including the mouse wheel features, when switching between profiles a handy visual display shows on the screen telling you what DPI you are currently using.



the desigh of this mouse is very different from previous models in that it's height is greater especially around the palm rest, which for bigger hands makes it much more comfortable and at least for me easier to use and gives greater comfort when used for lengthy gaming sessions, so basically ergonomically it is very comfortable and at least a little different in shape from earlier models.







add to that the new feature of the two thumbs buttons being adustable, meaning you can slide them further up or down the side of the mouse allowing you to get the perfect position for them....i really like this feature and in my last mouse the Razer diamondback 3g found the thumb buttons annoying and hard to use well.



the mouse has a blue glowing wheel and Razer logo, each can individually be switched off with-in the configuration tool which is also used to set button use, adjust and program DPI and polling etc.

also another new feature of this mouse is the thick, braided cable which is another upgrade in my opinion, replacing the thin, fragile cable Razer's historically used.

What makes this my favorite Razer mouse to date is the grip, overall shape and feel, combined with the solid sensor and tracking, making it a pleasure to game with. (below image is a side buy side of the Imperator and the Diamondback 3g)




i really cant fault this mouse it is great to use in every day use as well as in game, its very responsive and reacts well to movement, the price is about standard i guess for a high end gaming mouse and this mouse will set you back around $80

i give this mouse a 10/10 and would recommend it to anyone looking for a replacement high end gaming mouse.

cheers and hopefully, this review helped in some way, feel free to ask any questions.

 

nice review, i thought it was weird that i never see anyone using this mouse. it's one of the most comfortable ones i've tried out and i would buy it but i have a ton of gaming mice already.

 

i read that if you life the mouse up and place it own slowly, the cursor jumps toward the bottom right, i actually watched a video on it

i believe they come with a newer driver now which reduces the jump

 

^never heard of this problem, or read reviews of the imperator. But reducing jump is still not solving such a horrible problem.

 

I had mine for a month and I liked it a lot. What made me return it was that it had no wireless option...and I found a 50$ razer coupon to with which I bought i a Mamba

The glowing logo is schmexy.

 

i just spent the last 5 minutes trying to get this to happen, not once did it jump, so perhaps he had a faulty mouse.

 

That is quite a mouse, I will probably buy it myself.

 

Nice review! Thanks for sharing.

I bought an Imperator a few months ago and I unfortunately find it disappointing. It feels too hollow and cheap to me. I also don't like the click feel, it is shallow and lacks feedback. Additionally, I have been having some tracking problems; it will skip randomly (even though the sensor is clear of dust/etc).

I bought the Imperator to replace my aging BoomSlang CE 2007 but went back to that and have since replaced it with a SteelSeries Xai.

 

you may be lucky, if you search "razer imperator z axis problem" on google, you will find many links as well as some youtube videos and recent testimonials on how the firmware update does not resolve the issue

nonetheless, this only matters if you are very picky, the imperator, from what i've read, is arguably the most comfortable razer mouse

 

For me, the Imperator is like DeathAdder on steroids. More buttons and fancier lights. Would buy it in an instant if it weren't for the price.

 

seems like you where having the same problem as mentioned by Brawn, thats a shame and it seems to be a problem for the mouse, im not experiencing the problem and compared to my last mouse the Razer diamondback 3g this mouse is such a huge improvement over that, that i cant fault it.

of the three Razer mice Ive tried this is by far the most comfortable, its more compact in length and has more height in the palm rest giving it a nicer fit and feel in the hand.....

my friend has the deathadder and the imperator has a nicer feel add to that the higher DPI (i think the deathadder has a max of 1800) and adjustable thumb buttons, i would definitely recommend it over that.

 

The new DeathAdder is 3,500 DPI, just FYI.

 

If you cant change its DPI on-the-fly, the numbers mean nothing imho... I dont count a single button on the bottom surface of the mouse as an on-the-fly changer.

 

im a wee bit confused by your comment, in the review i stated that the Imperator has up to 5 preset DPI and polling options which can be changed on the fly using any of the programmable buttons, but at default are the two buttons right behind the mouse wheel, also when you click a new profile i visual appears on the side of the screen informing you of the new DPI setting you have selected.......

 

thanks for the review, the fornt of it kinda looks like the orochi.

 

haha, no dude, i was talking about the DeathAdder, not Imperator.

 

ill still take the 5600 DPI (imperator) over 3500(deathadder) any day

oh I see, well my bad........that makes more sense then.......

 

Realistically, you're not going to tangibly notice anything over 2,000 or so if you're not running triple 2560x1600 displays. I recently upgraded from a 3,500 DPI DeathAdder to a 5,600 DPI Mamba, and while the wireless certainly is fantastic, it really isn't any more precise on my single 1680x1050 display.

 

exactly, it depends on your screen resolution
what is most important is how accurate the sensor is and how well it tracks the z axis as well as low latency and high polling rate

 

oh thats interesting, so basically for "joe average" who uses a single screen set-up there is no need what so ever in buying a +70$ mouse for gaming, my 1800DPI diamondback would have been fine......damn..... but the imperator is much more comfortable all the same.

ok so basically every gaming mouse is the same cause these days they all seem to have 1000Hz polling and 1ms response, have we inadvertently stumbled upon the biggest scam to hit gamers

 

It's not a scam; higher DPI does lead to more precise movement; it's just that for most people the difference stops being noticeable over 2,000 or so. If you game at high enough sensitivity, though, it is certainly possible to still benefit from higher DPI.

 

oh ok, well i generally game at highish DPI, fps @ 4600dpi, rpg/rts @ 3800dpi, i do notice a difference between my diamondback @ 1800dpi and the imperator.

 

How do you guys hold your mouse? I have the imperator and my pinky tends to be bent on the button right side almost touching my mouse pad..I try to grasp the mouse so my pinky is stretched out and on the right groove but it just feels weird and I can't really play like that. I feel joint pain on my pinky now, like it's swollen or something..feels sore. The way I play is that I use my middle finger to right click.