Steel Series Rival

Steel series is a highly renowned peripheral manufacturer. They have dominated the gaming peripherals market for quite some time. Today, we are going to be reviewing the SteelSeries Rival, a mid-range gaming mouse. The rivals costs about $59. Pretty cheap considering its potential. So, the price is very attractive and it brings a lot of features with it. 

The Rival is an optical gaming mouse. Optical mice are more preferred by gamers and enthusiasts due to the better surface tracking on optical sensors. So, it's great to see an optical sensor here at this price point. The precision of the mouse is top notch. Same story with the ergonomics. The ergonomics of the mouse is great and it fits well in the hand. The sides of the mouse are rubberized and textured which allows for getting a good grip on the mouse. The mouse feels really comfortable and it's pretty nice for all types of grips. The mouse does attract finger marks which is something to keep note of. 

It has proper thumb support including support for all your fingers.It also feels very pleasing and it's a pleasant mate for long session usage. The mouse has 6500 CPI which is great for high resolution and competitive gaming . The mouse tracking is excellent on both dark and light surfaces. The mouse weighs about 128 grams which is pretty light weight depending on your preference. The LED colors on the mouse are customizable which is a great inclusion at this price. There are two color zones. One is the SteelSeries logo on the body and the scroll wheel. The colors are subtle but vibrant as well. Since, the color is customizable, you can color match it with your other hardware. The buttons on the Rival are surprisingly good. SteelSeries use their own buttons on the rival which are very good. The primary left and right click provide excellent tactile feedback. The scroll wheel is also pretty damn good. The sensitivity switch is located behind the scroll wheel. The mouse is very highly equipped for gaming. So, gaming should be a breeze using this mouse. There are two browser buttons on the left , above the thumb rest which might come in handy. The SteelSeries driver software is very nice and intuitive. It's straight forward and easy to use and lets you do what you need to without any unnecessary hassle. Macro recording , button mapping, sensitivity settings etc. everything can be done pretty seamlessly from within the driver software. Angle snapping and polling rate can also be adjusted inside the driver software. Creating profiles is pretty simple and straight forward. So, the SteelSeries Rival looks to dominate the mid-range gaming peripherals department and it indeed is a solid contender for it. It's a great mouse for budget gamers and thankfully doesn't miss out on most of the enthusiast grade features. 

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