The Rival Range from SteelSeries has been hugely successful, and its’ current leader of the pack is no exception. The gadget-filled Rival 700 Gaming Mouse sets the bar extremely high for brand competitors due to it’s abundance of features.
Ergonomically designed for right-hand users, this mouse weighs in at 137g so a little heavier than usual, but it’s important to appreciate the attention-to-detail and craftsmanship that’s obviously present when evaluating the shape and design of this mouse. On initial looks, the Rival 700 gives off an effortless, sleek vibe, although upon closer inspection, we notice the various panels that prove the mouse’s exceptional craftsmanship and quality.
As far as customization options are concerned, the Rival 700 leaves no stone unturned. The mouse’s side panels are made from textured rubber to provide a more controlled grip for users whilst the original matte top cover, adorned with the SteelSeries logo, is removable and swappable, offering users an alternative look and feel. Additionally, if you’re unashamedly proud of a team you play for, you can 3D print your own rubber nameplate for the back of the mouse. .. Sweet! We just love those little perks!
The fun doesn’t end there - with two detachable cables of different lengths, gamers have an option of flexibility that will best suit their personal set-up space. And although Rival 700 includes the most up-to-date tracking experience with their in-built Pixart 3360 optical gaming sensor, SteelSeries allow you to substitute it with a laser sensor if you prefer.
Adding to the clear finesse that’s gone into the design of this mouse, the left and right click buttons are both made from a special reinforced plastic that helps to evenly distribute the force of each click. We experimented whilst filming our YouTube overview video of this mouse, and we were impressed that the mouse registered my click in every single area of each button, proving that the Rival 700 can fit to a range of hand sizes and not be compromised on functionality.
A strong contender of the mouse’s numerous impressive features is its OLED display which takes pride of place on the front left-hand side of the Rival 700. Powered by GameSense (a tab within the SteelSeries Engine 3 software), users can enjoy a world of customisation by creating logos, adding gifs and animations that add a fun and quirky aspect, or, if required, can even relate to users’ gameplay. Not only this, but SteelSeries’ Tactile Alerts is the cunning system that activates in-game notifications via LED illumination through the two RGB light-zones, intelligent timer-functions and, (my personal favourite), specifically designed in-built vibrations.
These functions enable gamers to track their cooldowns, health, ammo, mana, disables, headshots and stuns. As an example, you could set and alert to go off the moment you get stunned and to stop the instant the duration of the stun ends. I mean.. that is AWESOME, right?!?
We can’t help feel like a superhero with this champion piece of hardware in our command!
