SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2 Overview: Good Budget Gaming Mice

Over the years, pc mice have turn into costly. Everything has turn into costly. It could be irritating to have a look at an inventory of gaming mice and see even the most cost effective choices approaching $80, particularly when video games now value $80 and new graphics playing cards commonly cross the $1,000 mark.

This is the place budget-oriented mice are good. Most high-end mice are previous the purpose of diminishing returns for the common gamer, with most by no means needing the precision of a wonderfully balanced, ultra-lightweight, 8,000-Hz esports-level mouse. Those are all nice-to-have options, however they aren’t needed for on a regular basis gaming, the place lag, latency, and body fee drops will possible have extra of an impression in your sport than your mouse lacking a millisecond of motion.

Among price range mice, the SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2 shines. It doesn’t prioritize excessive lightness, unnecessarily excessive polling charges, or different eye-catching metrics. Instead, this mouse focuses on delivering rock-solid specs which are ok for the common gamer. I examined each the wired and wi-fi variants of the Rival 3 Gen 2, which retail for $35 and $60, respectively.

Budget Performance

Photograph: Henri Robbins

Both fashions come geared up with Pixart optical sensors able to as much as 18,000 dots per inch (DPI) and 400 inches per second—way more succesful than the common workplace mouse, and greater than sufficient for normal gaming. The mouse operates at a 1,000-Hz polling fee, which is just about normal for gaming mice in the present day. The sensor feels snappy and responsive, and I didn’t discover both mannequin to lag or miss inputs throughout common use.

The wired and wi-fi fashions have practically an identical sizes and styles—the one important distinction between the 2 is the panel seams on the wi-fi mannequin. The measurement of the Rival 3 Gen 2 finds an important center floor, very best for average-size fingers however usable for practically any measurement. The mouse’s form is normal however efficient, and whereas it doesn’t have fairly the refined and clean sculpt of Razer’s Viper line, it’s serviceable, has intuitive button placements, and feels comfy throughout extended use. The two thumb buttons are sized effectively for straightforward entry, and the middle button behind the scroll wheel is brief sufficient that I by no means by chance press it, however tall sufficient that it may be pressed simply and rapidly.

The wired mannequin weighs round 80 grams with out together with the cable (and round 100 with it), and the comfortable braided cable doesn’t get caught or create friction throughout common use. While it’s nonetheless not as handy as a wi-fi mouse, equipment like mouse bungees aren’t needed in any respect. The largest purposeful distinction between the wired and wi-fi fashions is the load: The wi-fi mannequin weighs 110 grams with batteries, which is considerably extra mass to maneuver round.

Despite the added weight, the Rival 3 Gen 2 wi-fi nonetheless feels nimble and straightforward to maneuver; the big, clean ft on the underside glide effortlessly throughout each desks and mousepads. The added weight from the batteries is noticeable, however they’re positioned greater up within the mouse as an alternative of the very backside. This makes it really feel much less such as you’re dragging across the additional weight, because the batteries are nearer to your hand and positioned extra centrally to the mouse.