THE SteelSeries range of gaming mice are well-liked by gamers, offering a solid balance of quality, performance, price and style.
The latest one to spend some time on my desk is the SteelSeries Rival 5, described by SteelSeries as a “Precision Multi-Genre Gaming Mouse” which is “Perfect for all Battle Royale, FPS, MOBA, MMO, and other fast-paced games” – and based on my experiences with it, I am inclined to agree.
At first glance, the SteelSeries Rival 5 is a fairly generic looking gaming mouse, right down to the RGB lighting (which is positioned somewhere useful, so you can actually see it when you’re gaming)
Measuring 128.8mm long by 63.35mm wide and 28.2mm high, it sports 9 buttons and the mechanical switches on the mouse are rated for 80 million clicks.
Being a wired mouse, it also has a 2m long USB cable, made out of that flex material that does a good job of not tangling or snagging on things – surprisingly helpful on my desk, which has all sorts of pens, notes, coffee cups and assorted odds and ends on it at any time.
The mouse can be customised with the SteelEngine software, which covers everything from “what the buttons do” to “polling speeds” and, of course, the RGB lighting.
I’ve tested the Rival 5 across a range of games, including Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, Lego Builder’s Journey, Solasta: Crown of the Magister and Control, and it worked perfectly with all of them. I mean, it’s a gaming mouse, so I’d be worried if it didn’t, but it offered an excellent experience regardless of what sort of game I was playing.
I have two notable issues with the Rival 5: Firstly, it’s a bit light for my tastes (but that’s purely a personal preference thing) and secondly, the grey thumb button was too far forward for me to reach with my thumb without readjusting my entire grip. Since I didn’t program it for anything it wasn’t an issue, but if you like being able to do as much as possible off your mouse it’s something to keep in mind.
While the SteelSeries Rival 500 suits my playstyle better, the Rival 5 does everything it says it will, does it well, and offers a versatile gaming experience across pretty much whatever you’re likely to be doing with it, short of some kind of international-level hyper-competitive championship.
This is a short review because there’s really not a lot else to say – it’s a great general-purpose mouse, it’s comfortable to use, ticks all the “gamer cred” boxes (for people who want that) and with an RRP of $119, it’s not outrageously expensive either.
