At first I would like to thank SteelSeries for offering the Sensei Pro Grade Laser Mouse for testing and reviewing.

 

About SteelSeries:

"From day one, SteelSeries has been focused on making high performance gaming gear used by the most demanding, top professional gamers worldwide and peripherals that provide superior quality and a competitive edge to gamers of all skill levels. We believe, as most gamers do, in winning, not trying!

 

What originally began with two people who recognized the need for superior, high-quality/performance gaming gear that would give gamers a competitive edge, has grown into a global leader in gaming and entertainment gear sought after for their high performance capabilities.

 

Fast-forward to today, and we’ve come a long way since our first glass mousepad. We have global offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, providing an integrated portfolio of products designed specifically for gaming. Fueling our growth is you, the gamer!

 

While we are proud of our technology and product innovation, we are even more excited about how these products are developed to meet the needs of gamers. Many companies may claim to develop superior gaming products but few actually do. Instead, they spend countless hours with lab engineers trying to force fit a new technology with bells and whistles and mediocre functionality for the end-user.

 

At SteelSeries, we develop our products with a small internal team and a vast network of technology partners, channel partners, game publishers, and gaming communities around the globe. We aren’t afraid of being challenged and implementing new ideas. Our main goal is to always to listen to the collective feedback of our professional gaming community.

 

We won’t bore you with cheeky slogans, trying to underline our authenticity as gamers. We fully acknowledge that the best professional gamers in the world know more about what they want and what will make them better, than we do. We are proud to be working with our partners, but we can’t take credit for their invaluable input and feedback. Instead we tell it like it is: they help us. We want to know what works and what doesn’t. For this reason, SteelSeries creates innovative solutions that provide a competitive advantage for all gamers.

 

Critical to our company’s success is also our reinvestment in the gaming communities and the individuals who support them. As a result, our corporate philosophy is to take a substantial portion of our revenue and put it back into the gaming community to help spur industry growth. We support our community in numerous ways, ranging from co-hosting tournaments like Iron Lady and King of the Hill, and supporting gaming competitions of all sizes, to promoting the top and up-and-coming gaming teams/organizations.

 

Put simply, SteelSeries does not claim to invent or reinvent the gaming industry. Nor do we focus on one specific product, copy other companies or follow the crowd.

 

Instead we leave it to you, the gamer, our customer/partner/inspiration, to decide if we are deserving of such declarations and accolades. What we do promise, however, is to remain committed to you. We will continue to work with you and the gaming community to make the best products possible and give you that competitive edge. We will continue to do our best to support the growth of the professional gaming industry and give back to the gaming communities. By doing so, we don’t just talk a good game, we win!"

Product Features

DOUBLE SENSITIVITY

A powerful 32 bit ARM processor allows Sensei to reach up to 11,400 DCPI.

ADJUSTABLE LIFT DISTANCE

Get your own lift distance regardless of surface. Always. You have the authority now.

YOUR WAY

The most customizable mouse in the world. Whatever you want, however you want it.

LCD DISPLAY

Via the built-in menu, you can customize on the go - at the touch of your scroll wheel.

BUILT BY THE BEST

Fnatic, SK, EG, Na'Vi, EHOME, TyLoo. LoL, HoN, CS, SC2, DotA. They were all in on it.

POWERFUL

A mouse as powerful as a Pentium computer? Yes. Really.

ILLUMINATE

Light up your wheel, CPI indicator or SteelSeries logo. Or turn it all off.

BACKED BY ENGINE

PC gamers will benefit fully from the SteelSeries Engine software.

 

Product Specifications

Weight: 102 grams (0.22 lbs)

Height: 38,7 mm (1.5 in)

Width: 68,3 mm (2.7 in)

Length: 125,5 mm (4.9 in)

Buttons : 8 from which 7 are customizable

CPI Range: 1-11,400 CPI

Processor : 32 bit ARM equivalent to Pentium 75Mhz

 

 

The Sensei Pro Grade Laser Mouse from SteelSeries is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard box, with a photo of the main product on the front:

 

 

 

On the opposite side, we can find the product specifications listed, along with some product highlights, in different languages:

 

 

 

The frontal side opens like a book, only to reveal the product inside, a short description and what professional gamers think about the product:

 

 

 

On the top side the box is sealed for additional protection:

 

 

 

As a bundle, inside the box we also receive a small Product Catalog, along with a Quick Start Guide:

 

 

 

The Product Catalog informs us of the other products available from SteelSeries:

 

 

 

The Guide lets us know how to use the mouse really quickly, but we also get some instructions regarding firmware upgrade:

 

 

 

In the small Guide we can also find a SteelSeries sticker that we can use on our computer case:

 

 

 

The mouse shape is known by many of us from the Xai variant, but this time the top comes with a metallic, shiny and smooth surface:

 

 

 

On the back side, we can find the illuminated SteelSeries logo:

 

 

The mouse is ambidextrous and both left/right side look the same, with a total of 4 programmable buttons; the laterals also come with a rubber coating, for a better grip:

 

 

When looking at the front, besides the left/right buttons and the scroll wheel, we can find a button to change CPI values (high/low):

 

 

The bottom of the mouse comes with the product serial number, power rating, the Gaming Grade Laser Sensor, another debossed SS logo, a LCD screen and three UPE teflon covers:

 

 

The cable is braided and the USB connector is gold plated, to prevent data loss:

 

 

When the mouse is plugged in, the default Windows drivers will install automatically; we will see that besides the back of the mouse, the scroll wheel also lights up, along with the CPI high/low LED; these three different zones can be customized individually, so we can assign different colors for each:

 

 

The mouse LEDs can light up in one of the 16.8 million available colors, so here are some examples:

 

                               

                                      

After the mouse has been plugged in a spare USB port, we can go on and search for the latest drivers on the SteelSeries website:

 

 

 

During the driver installation procedure, we can see that a new firmware will be flashed to the mouse (if necessary):

 

 

 

 

 

SteelSeries Engine presents itself with a lot of configuration possibilities; we have some predefined profiles on the left, the ability to modify the functions of the mouse buttons (except CPI low/high one), or we can assign Macros, Single Key functions or Custom Actions on the right side:

 

 

 

Our newly defined profile will appear on the right, once its name has been entered:

 

 

 

In case we want to define a new function for the buttons, an additional menu will pop up on the bottom side, which allows us to select the action type, and we can also type in the succession of keys/actions (by allowing or disallowing the recording of the delays):

 

 

By clicking on the Advanced Macro Editor, we can define even more complicated Macros:

 

 

 

 

The mouse supports multiple profiles to be preloaded onto its memory and we can do this by using drag and drop:

 

 

 

In the next Settings menu, we can modify the mouse special features like ExactSens, Freemove, ExactAccel, ExactAim, ExactLift or Polling Rate. In the same menu we can modify the LED colors, LCD screen brightness/contrast, but we can also upload a new splash image for the LCD:

 

 

 

 

The colors can be adjusted from one of the 16.8 million available variants:

 

 

 

In the next menu, we can assign each profile to the desired application/game:

 

 

 

An interesting feature that I haven't seen at another model is the statistics menu, which shows us how much each button is used, in a specific time interval:

 

 

The LCD display underneath the Sensei can be controlled by using the available buttons; with its help we can fine-tune the mouse settings and there is no need for extra software or drivers for it to operate. In the first menu we can choose which profile we want to modify:

 

 

 

The same menu holds the “Load Defaults” option, so we can reset the mouse to its factory settings:

 

 

 

ExactSens helps us control the mouse sensivity, by allowing us to set the CPI value between 1 to 5,700. SteelSeries instructs us that it is better to disable any software cursor acceleration to benefit from this feature:

 

 

 

The values we set here for CPI1/CPI2 will be accessible by clicking the top button on the mouse:

 

 

 

 

FreeMove gives us the possibility to choose how accurate should the mouse reproduce our movement, by activating its prediction to correct our movement:

 

 

 

 

ExactAim is a feature like Precision Aim from the R.A.T. 7; as we slow down, the mouse will decelerate even more to increase precision (useful for example during sniping):

 

 

 

ExactAccel is the opposite of ExactAim and increases the mouse acceleration as we move faster:

 

 

 

 

The LCD menu also lets us adjust the polling rate, with its respective menu:

 

 

 

 

 

ExactLift lets us adjust the lift distance; this is usually useful when fine tuning the mouse for a specific surface:

 

 

 

 

The last options allow us to set the profile we have edited as current or we can reset it to the default settings:

 

 

 

When buying the SteelSeries Sensei you do not have to worry about product quality, its something that is valid for their other products too. The shape of the mouse is good for most people, by following the exact lines Xai had and the mouse clicks can be clearly heard compared to the previously reviewed models that were more silent; this should be no problem, especially at LAN parties or other competitions, because in those places it is expected to have a lot of background noise too.

 

The Sensei comes with the same Avago 9500 sensor as the Xai, but with the new model we can double the CPI thanks to the included powerful 32bit ARM Cortex M3 processor; this feature can bring the CPI up to 11.400, which should be sufficient for any hardcore gamer out there.

 

The lighting can be now customized with the Engine software, each zone individually, by choosing one of the 16.8 million available colors; talking about customization, now we can also put our own logo as a splash screen for the LCD underneath:

 

 

 

For making the logo creation much easier, SteelSeries have included on the product page a section where we can draw our own creation and download it as an image file:

 

 

The Sensei can be also utilized without installing the applications or extra drivers; by using the LCD underneath, we can fine-tune most of its available settings (ExactSens, ExactAim, ExactAccel, FreeMove) and can be applied to different profiles.

 

The SteelSeries Engine brings the mouse customization to a new level, so we can easily upload the new profiles to the mouse, assign other functions to the mouse buttons, record macros with or without delays, adjust the LCD settings, modify the LED colors, assign profiles to different applications/games and a statistics menu where we can see how much each button has been used in a specific time interval.

SteelSeries Sensei Pro Grade Laser Mouse Recommended For:

 

I would like to thank again to SteelSeries for making this review possible!