Steelseries may not be the first name that comes to mind when it comes to gaming peripherals, but the company’s latest gaming mouse may make you take notice. The new Steelseries Rival 700 not only packs an OLED display and tactile feedback, the company actually made it modular, allowing you to replace key parts – including the sensor itself.
The Rival 700 is another addition to the company’s Rival series, which includes the entry-level Rival 100 and professional-grade Rival 300. All Rival mice are ergonomic right-handed mice, favouring those with palm, claw and fingertip grips. That said, Steelseries went a little…unhinged with the Rival 700.
Just as Razer with its Ouroboros, the Rival 700 shows a different approach to creating “the most powerful gaming mouse” – by making it smart. An OLED screen near the left mouse button offers users a quick glance at relevant information, such as the settings and macros in use, profiles, CPI level, and my favourite feature by far: headshot count – just like StatTrak, but in real life!
Beyond that, the Rival 700 also features tactile feedback (i.e. vibrations), giving the mouse the ability to alert users of in-game events such as spell cooldowns or low ammo, for example. It’s certainly an interesting idea, taking a leaf out of the world of game controllers; Steelseries also mentioned that the tactile feedback will not affect the mouse’s tracking performance. And of course, the mouse features 16.8 million colours for customisation via the GameSense software, and a backplate that is 3D printer-friendly.
However, the most interesting aspect of the mouse would have to be its modularity. Steelseries ships the Rival 700 with both a 3ft rubber cable and a 6ft braided cable, and the mouse cover itself is swappable to customise the design and even surface feel. But what should appeal to hardcore gamers would be the ability to even swap the mouse’s optical sensor, a PixArt PMW3360. Steelseries claims this means the Rival 700’s ergonomic design would not have to be sacrificed should gamers wish to upgrade to a better sensor when it becomes available in the future.
As with all high-end Steelseries gaming mice, the Rival 700 features reinforced left and right mouse buttons rated for 30 million clicks. The sensor itself is considered one of the best in the business, with zero hardware acceleration, a CPI range of 100 to 16,000, 50g acceleration, 1,000Hz polling rate, and a 1:1 tracking accuracy.
This 159g, 7-button mouse will retail for $99 later this year, alongside the swappable mouse covers and sensors. For more information, check out the official product page.
(Source: Steelseries)
