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Unlike some manufacturers, Razer choose not to include a software CD in the box with the mouse. This may seem a little strange to some users but it has the significant advantage of ensuring that users always download the latest version of the mouse drivers. There is, however, a small card which instructs us to go to the Razer website to download the drivers. The package is only about 25mb so it shouldn't take long to download and it only takes about 2 minutes to install.
Once the software has been installed we are free to configure the mouse to our needs. The first page of the software lets us configure the nine different mouse functions using a number of drop down menus. These let us select from a list of predefined options or access macros which can be recorded on page four of the software. The macro recorder on page four lets us record custom keyboard macros with control over the delays between each keypress. You can also assign a selection of predefined functions such as copy, paste, run and show desktop by clicking the ‘Advanced' button.
Clicking the ‘Adjust Performance' tab lets us set the DPI level to any discrete value between 100 and 5600 DPI for each sensitivity stage. You can configure up to five different sensitivity stages which are switchable using two buttons on the mouse. There is also an option which lets us set X and Y DPI levels independently for all sensitivity levels. This page also contains options for adjusting Acceleration and Polling rate. The third page of the software lets us create different settings profiles and these can be set to auto-launch when you open specific applications or games.
The final tab, labelled ‘Lighting and Maintenance' lets us turn the logo and scroll wheel illumination on and off. It also has a ‘Check for Updates' button that directs us to a downloads page on the Razer website with the latest version of the mouse software. Below this button, there is an additional button that lets us restore all settings to default.
We were a little surprised when we started our gaming tests as the Imperator didn't seem to respond very well to the ROCCAT Sota surface, refusing to move the cursor horizontally. We immediately switched to a SteelSeries QcK cloth surface which worked perfectly. After a while, the Imperator started working with the Sota surface, though, and we're not sure what the problem was. When we were finally able to conduct our gaming tests, the Imperator performed flawlessly, tracking accurately in both X and Y axes. Despite the rather small teflon feet on the underside of the mouse, the Imperator glides even more effortlessly than the Xai which has much larger feet. This was noticeable on all the gaming surfaces we tested it with.
