One problem with gaming mice is that they’re usually big, heavy, and have lots of buttons. If a mouse is full-featured then is usually comes with a similarly full-featured size. Usually small and ultra-light mice are given away with laptops or are intended for office use, and thus not very powerful or useful.
Gaming laptops are becoming more and more common at LAN parties (and for techies on the go). There are a lot of laptops that feature amazing onboard nVidia and ATI graphics chips, and can be considered true desktop replacements. Since they were meant to be portable, why would you also want to lug around a large mouse and lots of accessories?
Razer’s Imperator gaming mouse is the exception to this general rule. It packs a lot of powerful features and a 5600 dpi laser sensor into one of the smallest and lightest packages we’ve seen in a gaming mouse.
On the next page we slip her out and see just how perky she really is…
At first glace the Razer Imperator looks like a small black laptop mouse. Once it is plugged in, the scroll wheel lights up with blue light, and the once hidden Razer logo starts its trademark “breathing”. The mouse has two types of plastic, a matte rubbery texture for the main part, and a shiny slick black texture for the left and right.
The mouse has a small form factor when compared to other gaming mice. The shape is more accessible as it doesn’t have a lot of slopes or flanged buttons. The plastic scroll wheel is notched and gives a very satisfying click with each turn. Below the scroll wheel are two configurable buttons, which are by default set to DPI increase and DPI decrease.
As mentioned before, the left side of the mouse has a shiny texture, and is formed with a small thumb rest. Above the thumb rest are two thumb buttons, but the position of these buttons can be adjusted to fit your thumb. Nearly every mouse I have ever tried usually has the “forward” button too far forward, which usually causes one to test how far they can stretch their thumbs. This adjustability is one of the greatest features of this small mouse.
The bottom of the mouse has three teflon pads (two in each front corner, and one larger one at the back). Within the center area is a profile-switching button, 5600dpi laser sensor, and a slider to adjust the position of the thumb buttons. The slider can be moved to one of five different positions, and is notched to keep its place until you move it again.
Gaming Mouse Weight Comparison
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The Imperator is easily one of the lightest full-size mice we’ve ever tested. Weighing in at 2.3 ounces, it is more than a full ounce lighter than the SteelSeries Ikari or Mionix Naos, both of which are already pretty light. If weight (or the lack of it) is your primary concern in a full-featured mouse, then you just can’t beat the Imperator.
Although the mouse is very powerful and configurable (as you’ll see when you start using the software), the minimalist approach to this mouse is a bit too minimal. There are no LED indicators to show the current DPI position or profile selected. You either have to use your memory or look at the Razer software.
Razer mice do not use “drivers” per se, as all of their configuration is contained within onboard software. You do need to download an install software that lets you change these settings, however; in this case the Imperator Configurator.
The Configurator is arranged into five different sections, and each tab has sub-windows as appropriate. The first tab is the Assign buttons tab, which lets you set several different functions to any of the seven buttons. Honestly most gamers won’t want to specify anything beyond the default, as most games already recognize the scroll wheel, Forward and Back buttons within the game. MMO and RTS gamers may want more buttons, or rely on a gaming keyboard for all of their macros.
Assign a number of functions to any of the 7 buttons
The DPI up and DPI down buttons are practically critical for a gaming mouse, and most users will leave these alone. There is no “DPI cycle” command, which could free up one button. I’m a big fan of configuring 2 DPI modes for FPS games, and switching from “high” to “low” without having to go through a bunch of intermediate steps. Since there are no visual indicators on the mouse of your current DPI setting, it is likely that gamers will misjudge their setting and stumble a few times. Even if you program 2 positions, if you accidentally press the wrong DPI button then you won’t switch. Having 2 DPI buttons also meand you have to reach a little further, too.
The mouse does feature “On-The-Fly” Sensitivity adjustment, which basically allows you to use the scroll wheel to fine-tune your current sensitivity setting without having to use software or dig through menus. If you assign a button to “on-the-fly sensitivity” and press this button, then the scroll wheel will adjust sensitivity from 1 to 10 in .5 increments. This might be useful, but still requires one to hold down a button while scrolling, which requires two fingers, so if you use it frequently then it should probably be assigned to a thumb button to ensure grip on your mouse.
The Adjust Performance lets you set the number of DPI levels (Razer calls them Sensitivity Stages), and the setting for each level. You can set one to five DPI levels, and can independantly set the X and Y axis, which can be helpful in First-Person shooters when you need more horizontal movement than vertical (keeping your eye on the horizon). You can also choose to Enable Mouse acceleration, which interpolates additional data for each mouse movement. Many gamers turn this off for gaming, which is why there is actually a need for DPI resolutions as high as 5600. You can also adjust the Polling Rate of your mouse from 125Hz, 500Hz and 1000Hz.
Adjust performance tab lets you specify several DPI settings, and assign seperate X and Y positions
The Manage Profiles tab lets you create, import, export or delete mouse profiles. There is also a checkbox to Enable On-Screen display, which is the only way you can tell which profile has been selected. You can also click an Auto-Switch checkbox that automatically switches the profile for you whenever your game (or application) is in focus. Honestly, you should depend on this feature with the Imperator, as it is difficult to manually switch profiles with this mouse.
The Manage Profiles tab and sub-screens
The Manage Macros tab is one of the most powerful parts of this software, and lets you create, import, export or delete macros. By default the software records any time between commands as a delay, but you can switch this off by clicking the “Ignore Delay Between Events” checkbox. Alternately, you can specify a default delay between commands by checking the “Insert Default Delay” and inputing your own time. The software records mouse clicks and keyboard commands, and will accept 16 events (8 keydown and 8 keyup events). The software had no problem with holding down several keys while pressing others, like doing a manual Copy and Paste (which requires holding down Alt while pressing X for example).
The Lighting and Maintenance Tab lets you toggle the blue LED lighting on the mouse’s scroll wheel and Razer logo. You cannot turn the Razer logo “full on”, however. The logo is either “breathing” (fading in and out) or completely off. This tab also displays the Driver and Firmware version of your mouse. You can also click a button to restore all default settings.
When the Razer software is installed, a launch icon is displayed in the bottom right of your task bar. The Razer Tray icon does not display any of this information with a mouse hover, either. You have to right-click and see which of your profiles have a checkbox next to them. The DPI information does not update in real time on the Configurator, either.
The Razer Imperator certainly packs a lot of features into a small package. The minimalist package can be a boon to some who need a powerful mouse without a lot of bulk, but in our opinion it can be a little too minimalist.
We really would have liked to see some visual indication on the mouse that shows the currently selected profile and DPI position, at a minimum. The shape is better on smaller hands, and the ergonomic design is a lot more accessible as it doesn’t have a lot of the crazy slopes and shapes of other mice.
As with Razer’s other gaming mice, your profile and configuration is stored on the mouse’s internal memory, so you can take it to several different computers and it will behave exactly the same.
The Razer Imperator is a really good gaming mouse, especially if you’re looking for a small and light form factor, or just need customizable thumb buttons. The price is reasonable for a Razer mouse, but can be a little on the high side when compared with other brands of gaming mice.
For the same amount of money you can get a gaming mouse with more features, but there is always a premium for the Razer brand for a reason. Razer is the equivilant of Ferrari in the PC gaming world, so if you have your heart set on one with a 5600dpi rating, then you should check out this smaller model with its smaller price tag.
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Front and back of the Razer Imperator
Technical Specifications
- Ergonomic right-handed design
- Adjustable side buttons
- 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G Laser sensor
- Razer Synapse On-board Memory
- Up to 200 inches per second / 50g acceleration
- Seven independently programmable Hyperresponse buttons
- 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response rate
- On-The-Fly Sensitivity adjustment
- Zero-acoustic Ultraslick Teflon feet
Approx. size in mm: 123(L) x 71(W) x 42(H)
Left and right of the Imperator
Hardware requirement
- PC/Mac with USB port
- Windows® 7 / Windows Vista® / Windows® XP or Mac OS X (v10.4 and above)
- Internet connection (for driver installation)
- At least 35MB of hard disk space