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SteelSeries Rival Review by Takasta

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#1 ·
SteelSeries Rival Optical Gaming Mouse Review

Introduction

YouTube Review Link:

The SteelSeries Rival has been out for a while now, with its announcement made shortly after I did my Kana v2 review. Interestingly, they decided to announce this mouse in the European / N.American markets before they did for the Kana v2. To some extent, they didn't even announce the Kana v2 releases in these areas. Perhaps they were trying to target a different consumer base with the Kana being smaller and the Rival being somewhat of a larger mouse (for people with relatively larger hands).

It's somewhat of a refreshing release from SteelSeries, seeing another Ergonomic mouse come into the market after many years of drought. Notably, their first mice the Ikari had quite a unique shape and I was a very big fan of both the laser / optical versions (to which I still have today). The Rival seems takes a more conventionally ergonomic approach as seen by Razer / Roccat and other companies. My guess, they're trying to target back another niche in the market who would prefer that to all the ambidextrous mice that they have been releasing. In my opinion, about damn time. They've overdone the Xai shape way way way too much with all their limited editions and refreshes (for saving R&D costs of course).

No, I was not able to get an early release of this mouse as I did for the Kana v2 unfortunately, so therefore this review comes a little late since its release. The Rival was released only a week ago in Hong Kong and I was probably one of the first to pick it up here locally (save for perhaps some that ordered it off the European webstore). Indeed, I was very tempted to do the same, but the price was too too steep. 59.99 Euros + 36 Euros for shipping would set me back about 100 Euros. By contrast, a brand new Rival in Hong Kong costs $459 HKD = 45 Euros. As much as I liked gaming mice and SteelSeries, I couldn't really justify paying double the price just for the sake of a review. In the end, that proved to be a wise decision as I feel like I'm probably going to sell this mouse soon as I'm NOT too big of a fan. As much as I advocate for SteelSeries products, this is not one that I'm impressed with, and those products are few. On a side note, I picked up the 9H gaming headset which uses the same SteelSeries Engine 3 as the Rival, and I'm absolutely loving it. Perhaps I'll post a written review of that in another sub-forum on Overclock.

Boxing

Boxing is one of the simplest I've seen in a while. It barely even comes with a pamphlet anymore. Maybe it's just me, but it's almost reaching Zowie like simplicity in terms of packaging

Box x 1
Mouse x 1
Replacement name plate x 1
Piece of paper x 1












Weight & Shape

Own Measurements

Weight: 110g
Height: 48mm
Width: 70mm (at fatest part)
Length: 130mm

The shape takes that of the the IE3 plus a little bit of a Roccat feel to the front, making for a slight wider and straighter approach than the IE3 had. This really comes down to personal preference whether you like the shape or not. Some people may like it, some people may not. What I may try to do here is to draw comparisons to different mice to give you a better sense of what this mouse feels like.















General comments: The mouse itself is quite large, akin to that of the IE3 and is ergonomic. The base is quite fat, with a somewhat of a long approach to the chassis. The thumb rest curves slight to the middle and has a very big area for you to grip it. Above it, the two side buttons are fairly large as well and are quite easy to find. The right hand side of the mouse curves in a way such that your fourth and fifth fingers are quite close together. The overall shape of the mouse does force your hand to curve off center and to the right.

My hand is 19cm from the tip of my middle finger to the base. I'm more off an RTS / MOBA gamer so I prefer claw gripping my mice. Certainly, you can attempt to claw grip this mouse, but the bulkiness of it in my hand didn't quite suggest for me to do so. I found myself during both MOBA / FPS gaming keeping the mouse at a relatively low height from the surface, not really "flicking" the mouse as much as I would with lets say a Kana v2 which is quite a bit lighter. This mouse is definitely more suited for palm gripers but also for claw grippers who do not lift their mice as high during flicks. Unfortunately, the bulkiness of it is not quite my style.








The mouse draws a lot of inspiration from the IE3 I feel. From the overall size, to the curves on both the left and the right hand side. However, the mouse is not as curvy, and the matte surface does slip out of my palm, unlike the relatively more glossy surface of the IE3.

On this note, the mouse is relatively harder to claw grip than the IE3 as well. This is mainly due to the surfacing of the mouse. With the IE3, when you claw grip the mouse, because of the glossy nature of the surface, it'll pretty much stick to the back of your palm. To test this, I can hold the IE3 with only my second and middle fingers on the top of the mouse and the base of my palm. With the Rival, its' relatively harder to claw grip it because the surface tends to slip out of the palm of my hand. This is somewhat annoying and for a claw grip gamer like myself, I was forced to grip the mouse harder using my thumb / fourth / fifth fingers to hold the mouse while I lifted it.



In terms of size, both mice "fill me up" just as well, but the sensei has a much lower height profile than the Rival does. If the Sensei was a ferrari, then the Rival would be an SUV.



My Go-to mouse at the moment, the Kana v2 has a much smaller profile than both the sensei and the rival. You are really comparing two different beasts when it comes to the shape and size. If the Kana v2 is a good fingertip grip for you, the Rival may be a good size in terms of claw gripping it. if you feel comfortable claw gripping the Kana v2, the butt of the Rival may be sticking right into your palm when you try to claw grip the Rival. You may also find that you're holding the Rival further back on the mouse than you were on the Kana v2.



Comparing the Rvial to the DA is almost like comparing the IE3 to the DA. In this picture I have the 2013 edition, but in terms of shape, it's the same throughout all versions. The DA has a much nicer rounded base like that of the IE3. This is something I prefer because the curve just feels nicer in the palm. The rival at the base, has curves that are not completely rounded. On both the left and the right hand side, there is a clearly shaped chassis which suddenly cuts off. If you can imagine your walking on top of a ridge, and on the other side, it sudden goes downslope rather than smooth hill of that of the DA / IE3. Personally I'm not quite fond of this, but perhaps other people are.

The DA is also somewhat smaller in length and width (at the base). If your Rival is the SUV, then the DA is a sedan. For my hand (19cm), the DA is more of a claw grip mouse as palm gripping it as somewhat too small, and the Rival is more of a palm grip mouse. The Rival also has an elongated finger extension space which stretches out flatter compared to the DA. On the DA, your fingers should curl over the hill of the mouse.

Build Quality

This is a very debatable aspect of the mouse to which I'm sure, some would prefer it and others would not. The Rival employes a "matte" surface, but it is unlike those seen in their previous line of mice, specially the Xai, Kana v2, Ikari laser. It's definitely not as "silky" feeling as the black Kana v2 and to some extent feels a little more coarse than that. However, it is more slippery in a odd way than the Kana v2. In this regard, it is definitely NOT like the Deathadder Black edition, whereas the Kana v2 was more similar to that.

The closest surface I can draw to the Rival is probably the Zowie AM, which has by the way, a difference surface to that of the FK. The AM also has a relatively coarse surface for a matte surface and does not feel quite as silky as the skin. The Rival is similar to that of the AM, but is ever so slightly more "slippery".

In terms of its' durability, I have not personally used this to full extent over time, but I've had couple of friends who have used it consistently for a week. They've reported that the mouse has already shown early glimpses of "glossing", resulted from the sweat and perhaps rubbing of the fingers on the surface. This is probably not a good sign in any case, but I'll be happy to hear further comments on this aspect.







Side Grip

SteelSeries have employed quite an aggression and large area for the side grips of the Rival. I fee like they took a play out the playbook of Razer like they did with the / Krait 2013 / Taipan / DA13. I mean, it is quite nice that the area is so large and it allows you to grip the mouse better, but honestly I feel like it just makes the mouse look and feel quite cheap. The side buttons do not feel "comfortable" by any means, even though they are extremely easy to grip. For me personally i would much rather prefer a more grippier side matte (or glossy) surface than aggressive side buttons like these. Perhaps you may like it, but personally not really my cup of tea. Aesthetically, it just doesn't look quite a nice as well.






Cable

The Rival does not use braided cabling as seen in the Sensei / Kana which is, refreshing in a way if you never liked braided. Personally I never really minded braided as long as it didn't tangle, but this is more of a sidestep than a down / up grade.

Switches

Switch / Click Test Video:

PCB pictures are available in the other Rival thread, so I won't bother posting more here. SteelSeries supposedly employed 30M rated switches (no one seems to know who actually made them yet), a move somewhat stepping out of the box from previous Omron Switches. Do they feel like Omron switches? No is the answer. Are they better? Well, this again comes down to personal preference. My subjective opinion, is that the switches feel much more mushy (a term used by some, but disagreed upon by others when describing the Rival) but I feel like that is the case. The click seems to be slightly lighter and makes a click which is not as audible and crisp as Omrons do. The Rival switches also take less force to hold down. With the Omrons, the release is quite a sturdy and slightly hard one. The Rival switches in this sense has a lighter release back upwards.

Sensor / Performance

The mouse employes the Pixart PAW3310 Sensor (labeled as Avago by Steelseries), which is the newest optical sensor to hit the block since the Avago A3090. This sensor is also employed by the Avior 7000 / Naos 7000. The mouse itself is goes up to 5000 CPI, with the Steelseries Firmware allowing double CPI of up to 10,000. I'm not too sure why SteelSeries labelled it 6500 on the box, but perhaps I can be better enlightened by this. The CPI steps are in steps of 50 which is very reasonable, never saw the need of steps of 1 or 10 for that matter as seen in the sensei. There is no felt acceleration with this mouse and tracking at most of the lower CPI steps are pretty stable and jitterless. At 5000+ CPI though, 500 hz / 1000 hz tracking starts jittering quite a bit which is expected, but everything below seems like it's performing as expected.






















Scroll Wheel / Lighting / Firmware

The Scroll Wheel actually reminds me of the IE3 scroll wheel a little bit. There is a nice stop at each step, and requires a small amount of force to push it forward. It has a small initiation force with a slightly quick snap in to the next step. Compared to the IE3 wheel, the snap in effect is not as prominent, but it feels a bit like that. In comparison, the Kana v2, has a very smooth to minimal stop, and glides quite quickly through steps.

Switch / Click Test Video (Includes scroll wheel test as well for demonstration) :




Misc: Also comes with 16.8 Million lighting. Small note here, the light is somewhat dulled because of the Matte surface unlike that of the sensei which seems somewhat brighter

Firmware





Conclusion

At the price of $59.99, I must say it is relatively competitively priced for what it's offering. A big ergonomic mouse with a powerful new optical sensor at an attractive price point. For SteelSeries, they have always overpriced their products to start out with, but I feel like this mouse is somewhat reasonably priced for what it's offering. In comparison, though I haven't tried their mice yet, Mionix is offering the same sensored mice for upwards of $79.99. I won't speak too much of those mice as I haven't tried them yet, but I feel like this is still a reasonable offering.

In terms of shape and overall comfort, this is one of personal preference. I much preferred the old IE3 and DA shapes compared to the Rival which takes a little bit from IE3 and the Roccat shapes. Some may like it, some may not. I've had the benefit of reading through almost 80 pages worth of comments of people's opinion's on this mouse and on this note, I can only express my subjective feeling of how I feel about the shape: it's OK, not great, not bad.

Where it seems to miss the mark in my opinion, is with the matte surfacing and the big side buttons. When it comes down to it, these things are both personal preferences again. However, the matte surface just doesn't feel that comfortable on the hand (coarse) and seems to make for a somewhat slippery grip when I try to claw grip it. I really feel like the surface is not built to last a long time, but only time can tell with this one, and perhaps I may be proved wrong as well. With the side buttons, I felt like they were overly done and don't feel as comfortable as they can be. Aesthetically, I'm also not really digging the feel of it.

The Rival will definitely not be staying on my desk for too long, perhaps only for the purposes of testing the sensor. With the mixtures of opinions over this mouse, only a personal test of this mouse may help you decide whether it's right for you or not. In any case, I feel like there will be takers even if you happen to dislike this mouse. For now, the Kana v2 retain its crown as my primary home / mobile gaming mouse.
 
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#2 ·
After using the Rival for a while I've found the shape pretty comfortable but I still agree with what's said here. Preferences obviously, but by making the shape "straighter" than the DA and 3.0 I feel palm grip users lose a little bit of comfort with the mouse. One could probably make the argument that people are just too used to the DA/3.0 shape but I think in any sort of future revision making that back left side more curved would be beneficial for a lot of palm grippers.

My other complaint comes with the cable. Those with bungee's are obviously unaffected but the damn cable drags all over the place and isn't very flexible at all. I really wish they would have gone with a braided cable or just a rubber cable that was more flexible. I actually think the switches are fine and are a step in the right direction for people that hate incredibly light and mushy switches.

Aside from that I'd say everything else about the Rival is pretty solid.
 
#8 ·
i Remeber people saying that the s3888 on the deathadder 3.5g was a variant of the 3090 so basically 1800 and 3500 dpi were the natives steps that why I though the deathadder would basicaly be a S 3310. I though the da 2013 would be in native steps of 50. I perfer 450 dpi so i was wonder which to purchase im thinking of get the naos 7000 instead though im still confused on which step are native on DA 2013
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ginyan View Post

Nice review. This shape doesn't interest me but I'm looking forward to more mice using this sensor since it seems really good.

A smaller, lightweight mouse with this sensor would cerainly be interesting.
Yes, I have the same idea with you. After using Rival awhile, I rated 3310 a good sensor, those LEDs and Engine 3.0 were good as well. But due to my small hands, this mouse hurt my hand so much so I went back to Kana V2.
If there is a mouse that goes with this sensor, 2 LED zones, same size as Kana I will definitely give it a try.
 
#20 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by maxvons View Post

Anyone else having troubles with the mouse kinda "digging" in to the left side of the palm like in this image? I get some numbness/feeling of having to scratch from it.

Not for me, my thumb goes around that and I don't actually feel it pressing on anything. Depends a lot on your grip, i'm more of a claw/palm hybrid
 
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by metal571 View Post

Not for me, my thumb goes around that and I don't actually feel it pressing on anything. Depends a lot on your grip, i'm more of a claw/palm hybrid
If I kinda halfway fingertip it with my palm still touching and off the table, but with my thumb in a more "claw-like" position, it doesn't touch. Guess I'll try to change my grip to this for a while, and see if it gets better.
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by neymar32 View Post

Right now the Rival is the value for money option when it comes to gaming mouse fir FPS purposes. Also check out this review:
Nice, but I don't get why people make these "unboxing and reviews". Do they unbox it AGAIN? Or is it a brand new unboxing? Since I can't see anyone reviewing a mouse, or any product for that matter, the day they got it.

I prefer the way Linustechtips does it. He calls it an "OVERVIEW", not "REVIEW".
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by maxvons View Post

Nice, but I don't get why people make these "unboxing and reviews". Do they unbox it AGAIN? Or is it a brand new unboxing? Since I can't see anyone reviewing a mouse, or any product for that matter, the day they got it.

I prefer the way Linustechtips does it. He calls it an "OVERVIEW", not "REVIEW".
Linus is just awesome. I like hearing the opinions of Logan on Tek Syndicate as well.
 
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