SteelSeries Rival

Gaming mice can be inordinately expensive, but the SteelSeries Rival is available for a surprisingly reasonable £39. It doesn’t have any kind of weight adjustment system, as used by some of its premium rivals. Beyond that, though, it’s got every feature we’d expect from a far more expensive mouse, including definable multi-coloured illumination and a massive maximum resolution of 6,500CPI: so fast that the movement of your cursor becomes invisible.

Most gamers won’t need that kind of super-responsiveness, but the convenient SteelSeries Engine 3 desktop interface for Windows and Mac OS X make it easy to set up both a general profile and specific ones for every game or application you use, if you want to. The settings let you set any two mouse resolutions to associate with a conveniently positioned toggle button at the top of the mouse, or any of the mouse’s other buttons if you prefer.

Although the mouse’s weight isn’t adjustable and it’s not as heavy as we’d necessarily choose for ourselves, it’s remarkably well balanced, with most of its weight towards the rear of your palm. It’s ergonomically shaped for right-handed gamers, and lends itself to a position that’ll help to keep you comfortably gaming for hours. Rubberised grips on either side of the mouse help you keep it in hand during even intense action and its low-friction feet glide effortlessly across the mat. These rather small raised glides attract their fair share of fluff and dirt, which can increase friction over time, so we’re hoping replacement feet packs become available.

The Rival has plenty of features but its best characteristic is its sheer comfort. Although it’s larger, it holds up well against our favourite Razer Deathadder for active gaming over an extended period, regardless of hand size.