SteelSeries Rival 700 Gaming Mouse Review

Released just in time for Overwatch and the slate of new PC games, SteelSeries has a new gaming mouse that ups the ante with solid performance and a few additional features I haven’t seen anywhere else.

SteelSeries’ new Rival 700 comes with the usual host features geared towards gaming, including 16,000 CPI optics and a sensor with zero hardware acceleration for maximum precision. What this means is that your mouse will always move to where you want it to, and with the distance unaffected by how fast you flick your wrist.

In addition to the expected features, the Rival 700 comes with a customizable tactile alert system that alerts you to in-game events, like the cooldowns of your abilities in Dota 2 or when you have low health in Counter-Strike Global Offensive. The alerts can be customized with a wide range of patterns with buzzes, heartbeats and others. They’re nowhere as distracting as the rumble on a gamepad, so I didn’t mind keeping them on. The feature shouldn’t completely sell the mouse for you, but it’s a nice little plus to have. For now, the alerts only support the aforementioned titles and Minecraft, but I hope to see support for other games, like Overwatch, League of Legends and Fallout 4 added—it’d be nice to know when my VATS meter is full or when my Ultimate is ready.

The other feature unique to the Rival 700 is the OLED display on the left side of the mouse. You can set it to display your sensitivity settings, in-game statistics, or a customized animated logo of your own. Yes, it’s a gimmick, but it’s worth it alone to be able to tell what your CPI is set to while you’re in the middle of a game. Like the lights and button assignments, the OLED display is fully customizable through the downloadable SteelSeries Engine 3 software. You won’t need to install it to get the mouse to work, but you’ll need to have it running to get the most out of it, especially if you intend to run an animated GIF on the OLED display.

The SteelSeries Engine 3 software lets you customize the CPI (sensitivity), polling rate (how often the computer communicates with the mouse), lift off distance, and macros. If you have a tendency to lift your mouse off while playing games, the lift off distance setting will allow the mouse’s powerful optical sensor to keep track of your movement to compensate for that habit.

Weighing at 159 grams, the Rival 700 is heavier than other mice, but I had no problem getting used to its weight. Beyond that, you can swap out the Rival 700’s cover plate and sensor, should you prefer laser over optical. It also has two cables—a 1m long non-braided cable and a 2m long braided cable. If you own a 3D printer, you can download 3D files and print your own replacement nameplate for added personalization.

The Rival 700 is well-built, offers an accurate sensor, and a plethora of bells and whistles that make it a complete, well-designed product.

The SteelSeries Rival 700 sells for $99 or €109. A single unit was provided by SteelSeries for the purpose of this review.