The Razer Abyssus was a solid gaming mouse but now, I’ve tried the Razer Imperator, and I can say this mouse is a very nice mouse. In fact it remedies many of the minor niggles I had with the Abyssus. Please bear in mind that the Imperator is a USD$80 mouse(about RM260ish) and is off a different class from the Abyssus.
The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that the imperator was a much larger mouse. Carrying it on my hand, it felt a lot more heavier(has a bit of weight) than the Abyssus, which is how I like my mice. The design looks sleek and attractive. Good first impression.
I personally don’t like ergonomic design(ergonomic design of any mouse for that matter). It looks good, but it forced me to hold the mouse the way it wants to be held(it’s not as bad as some other mice). But after 2 weeks, I can say that I’ve got used to it. The top half of the mouse is ruberised giving you excellent grip. Perfectly fine and comfortable once you get used to it.
The Imperator doesn’t have a wonky mouse wheel unlike cheaper mice. The mouse wheel on the Imperator is well built and lasts. No squeaky noise on this mice. In fact the entire mouse is quite well built except for the side mouse button 4 and 5. It’s a thin button that doesn’t quite feel sturdy like other mice buttons(as well as their older Razer mice).
However the thinness of the button has its advantages as well. The positioning of these buttons, just above your thumb makes it impossible to accidently click these button. Pretty smart. On top of that, these button can be adjusted to be more to the front or back(the mouse has an adjustable button below it).
Adjusting DPI on the Imperator is a lot more on the fly. The DPI adjustment button are located on top(I’ve been using it for a long time and you can’t accidently press these buttons), just behind the mouse wheel. Two buttons, one to increase the DPI and another to decrease it. The Razer Imperator has what Razer calls Synapse(on board memory) that allows users to customise their sensitivy settings. The Imperator allows you to customise five different sensitivy settings(using the DPI adjustment buttons you can change) using the drivers available on their website.
I liked the way DPI settings can be changed on the Imperator as it was very convenient when I needed to make smaller mouse movement for 3D design work, I could change it with ease. The technical aspect of the Razer Imperator is highly impressive. Specifications below(click on image to view bigger image):
What’s not listed in the specification is the lift off height of the Imperator. For the uninitiated, that's the height the mouse can be lifted up before the sensors stop accepting mouse inputs. This allows users to use the mouse by lifting it(so you don’t need to make big sweeping movements).
The shorter the height the better. The Imperator’s lift off height is very good. You could lift the mouse like a regular mouse without worrying about the cursor moving due to the sensor picking up movement when the mouse if lifted. I was very impressed by this.
The Razer Imperator does its highly impressive technical spec justice. The level of customisation and quality offered in this package is amazing. The only down side to the offering is the thin side buttons does not quite feel like it’s up to the level of build the rest of the mouse is.
Pros:
Cons:
Rating: 8/10
MSRP: USD$79.99
What’s the most important part of a computer that is vital to a PC gamer? Apart from the graphic cards and CPU that is. Yes you probably guessed right it’s the mouse. It’s the thing which makes PC gaming what it is. The direct feedback you get and the precision that you can never get from a controller. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the Razer Abyssus, a new mice from Razer, a company that is well known for its high quality peripheral for gamers.
What’s evident to me upon opening the box is that the Razer Abyssus isn’t like your higher end Razer products. It’s a more basic no nonsense mouse. What this means is cutting out the extra buttons and fancy quick macro buttons without sacrificing quality. It’s still a top quality product. It has what you need in a mouse, two button and a mouse wheel(which also acts as mouse button three as usual).
But what I was really impressed with was the fact that it has the sensitivity of a higher end mouse. Simply put, Razer cut out the extra fluff and maintained the quality. Have a look at the specification below:
Razer Abyssus Specification:
3500dpi Razer Precision 3.5G infrared sensor
• 1000Hz Ultrapolling™ / 1ms response time
• Mechanical dpi/polling rate switches
• On-The-Fly Sensitivity™ adjustment
• Always-On™ mode
• Ultra-large non-slip buttons
• 16-bit ultra-wide data path
• 60-120 inches per second and
15g of acceleration
• Three independently programmable
Hyperesponse™ buttons
• Ambidextrous design
• Scroll wheel with 24 individual click positions
• Zero-acoustic Ultraslick™ Teflon feet
• Seven-foot, lightweight, non-tangle cord
• Approximate size: 115mm(L) x 63mm(W) x 40mm(H)
The sensitivity options are placed at the bottom of the mouse. You can can adjust the frequency from 125hz to 100ohz(polling rate, basically how often it refreshes the movement). You can change the dpi from 450, 1800 to 3500dpi. This give you a range of sensitivity that you can pick depending on your preference. My only complaint about this is that the placement of these buttons(at the bottom) makes it easy to accidently press the other mouse buttons.
The top half of the mouse is rubberised, which gives you a good grip and the other bottom half is mostly in a glossy black finish(you could get fingerprint smudges easily if you thumbs wonder to much to the side). The mouse fit my hand perfectly and is of a good size(not at all like a puny laptop mouse). However, its quite light and doesn’t have much weight to it which may turn off some people who prefer their mice to feel heavier. Eventually I got used to its weight and it became a non issue.
All in all the Razor Abyssus is a good entry level gaming mouse that has the sensitivity of a high end gaming mouse for a much lower price(it has an MSRP of RM149). If you are looking for a good optical mouse that offers precision with an affordable price tag and without the extra buttons, the Abyssus does a good job fulfilling this role.
Price(MSRP) : RM 149
Pros
Cons
Review Rating : 7/10
