At first we would like to thank SteelSeries for offering the Rival 310 Ergonomic Gaming 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:

 

The world's first true 1 to 1 esports sensor

Exclusive split-trigger mouse button design

Omron 50-million click mechanical switches

Ergonomic right-handed design with pure silicone side grips

 

 

Product Specifications:

 

 

Besides the Rival 300 and the Sensei 310, SteelSeries has included another member to the mix: the Rival 310 mouse. These Sensei 310 and Rival 310 do not differ a lot in terms of features/specifications, Sensei coming with an ambidextrous shape, while the Rival being designed for right-handers. Same SteelSeries TrueMove3 sensor comes with both models and Rival does also have two less programmable buttons. The product is shipped inside a small cardboard enclosure, which comes with some of the product highlights listed:

 

 

 

The full list of features is available on the back, in multiple languages:

 

 

 

On the side of the packaging, we will learn of some internal product codes, but also the power rating:

 

 

 

After removing the top packaging layer, we will end up with an all-black cardboard enclosure, that features the SteelSeries logo and the “Rise Up” motto:

 

 

 

The mouse is carefully protected inside with lots of foam material, so it won’t move during transit:

 

 

 

We will also receive a Product Information Guide with instructions on how to operate the product:

 

 

 

 

Let’s take an in-depth look at the Rival 310 too! This particular model is even lighter than the Sensei at about 88.3g, and has a length of 127.6mm. It can fit both palm and claw grip types and does sport two separate RGB programmable areas. Thanks to the matte top plastic shell, the Rival 310 does not collect fingerprints, while the top central button is mapped for CPI switching:

 

 

 

The nice LED-enabled SteelSeries logo can be spotted in the back area of the mouse shell:

 

 

 

On the left side of the mouse, we can spot two programmable buttons that have about the same size (on the Sensei they were pretty different) along with a thick pure silicone side grip with a nice pattern:

 

 

 

The right side does only come with another thick silicon layer:

 

 

 

In the front, we’ve got the two-usual left/right click buttons which do feature split-trigger switches (Omron, rated for 50 million clicks), meaning that they are separated from the rest of the back shell. This type of design is meant to provide an optimal experience during rapid clicks, button holds or burst firing. Also, we need to mention of the rubberized scroll wheel, which is silent when actuated and is also RGB-enabled:

 

 

 

On the bottom area of the mouse, we can see the PTFE feet in the corners, along with the central TrueMove3 optical sensor lens. The new sensor was built upon the base of the Pixart 3360 and now does feature 1:1 true tracking capabilities, very low latency, advanced jitter reduction but also a custom firmware for increasing the sensor accuracy timing. The sensor DPI can be adjusted from 100 to 12000, in 100 DPI increments:

 

 

 

Unlike many other high-end mice, SteelSeries saw fit not to include a braided cable:

 

 

 

The USB connector does feature a thin design and we can also spot a sticker attached to it that informs the user to download the dedicated software in order to be able to control all the Rival 310 features:

 

 

 

Right after downloading and installing the latest version of SteelSeries Engine 3, we will get to see the compatible connected products listed in the main screen; we need to mention that the software required us to update the firmware of the Rival 310 and this operation was completed in just about 10 seconds:

 

 

For the Rival 310, we do have the ability to set a different function for each programmable button, adjust the lighting scheme but also fine-tune its performance. Regarding the performance aspects, we can configure the CPI/DPI steps, adjust the Acceleration/Deceleration, Angle Snapping but also the Polling Rate:

 

 

 

Here is the list of functions we can assign to the buttons:

 

 

 

Keyboard Buttons

Mouse Buttons

Macros

 

The Macros are really easy to record and the configuration window does open in a separate area; some other macro-related options are available when we do click the small gear button:

 

Media Buttons

Launch Application

Launch Configuration

 

Launch Engine Apps

OS Shortcuts

Macro Recording On-the-Fly

The buttons can also be disabled when not needed:

 

The two RGB-enabled area do come with some preset effects we can customize; each of these do come with different configuration options:

 

Steady

ColorShift

Multi Color Breathe

Trigger

Disable Ilumination

 

The UI does also allow the user to view the mouse chassis from the left side:

 

 

 

Back Logo

Scroll Wheel

 

Given the fact that we are dealing with the exact same sensor as on the Sensei 310, the Rival 310 delivers the same overall experience. Built in cooperation with PixArt, the optical TrueMove3 sensor allows CPI up to 12000 in increments of 100, an acceleration of 50G and polling rate of 1ms. We’ve also got zero hardware acceleration, a feature which recommends it for eSports, while the mouse is able to correct imprecise hand movement thanks to the advanced jitter reduction. Implicitly, the mouse does also perform great when doing productivity work or browsing multimedia content and is lighter even when compared to the Sensei 310 (88.3g vs 92.1g).

 

The Rival 310 mouse does fully support SteelSeries Engine 3 for advanced configuration options; we are able to adjust different sensitivity values for the CPI selector, set Acceleration/Deceleration values, Angle Snapping but also a custom Polling Rate value. As we have seen with many other gaming mice, we are not missing the button remapping feature, but also different LED lighting effects for the two separate RGB segments.

 

The Rival 310 gaming mouse from SteelSeries is available online for just about 60 Euros, which is great considering the features and good quality components.

SteelSeries Rival 310 Ergonomic Gaming Mouse is Recommended for:

 

 

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