Page 3 - Subjective Performance Tests
After plugging the SteelSeries Sensei 710 in and setting up the software, I drove the mouse through our series of revised standard tracking performance tests. This includes normal office usage in the Windows environment as well as gaming. Some graphics work and testing is done with Adobe Photoshop. Games used in this test primarily include Overwatch and League of Legends. This spans multiple genres and allows us to get a feel as to how the mouse responds in different situations. All testing was completed on a cloth surface, primarily the XTracGear Carbonic XXL. Please note these are subjective tests, but we will attempt to make it as objective as possible with our cross reference testing methods.
For myself, I held the right-handed SteelSeries Rival 710 with a hybrid claw and palm grip, with my palm resting on the back of the mouse but my fingertips touching the front. Its side walls meant it was wide enough to support all my fingers -- even my ring finger and pinky -- but those with larger hands may say otherwise, or employ a different grip altogether. Weighting wise, I generally like a lighter mouse, as most of my daily mice have been closer to the 90 to 100g mark. While this is the preference for a lot of pro FPS gamers, I also know some who like heavier mice for more stability. It would have been nice to see some custom weights, but we do not have this here. As for the sensitivity range, I only jumped between my two settings of 800 and 1600CPI, despite this TrueMove3 sensor being capable of 12000CPI. Most experienced gamers keep their mice at low sensitivity and instead adjust it in their games, but this flexibility is nice.
As for button presses, I really have enjoyed the past SteelSeries mice I have used and thankfully the Rival 710 feels solid. The primary buttons offer a good amount of resistance and feedback without being too easy or hard to press. The secondary buttons were a bit harder to press, but they still offered a good amount of feedback. In terms of layout, I found most of the primary and secondary buttons to be where my fingers could reach, with the exception of the front most side button. It seems like people with larger hands should reach it comfortably, but I could not reach it without readjusting my grip. I do however like the side grips that contrast in texture from the rest of the mouse. This makes the Rival 710 easy to keep in your hands. The top smooth rubber-like surface also makes for a nice feel, though it does show off some more oily prints.
The SteelSeries Rival 710 is marketed as a performance gaming mouse, so it only makes sense to test it with games like Overwatch and League of Legends. Diving into the shooter, the Rival 710 felt noticeably heavier than my other mice, though this is not always a bad thing. Sharing the same base sensor with practically all the recent mice I have looked at, this variant of the PMW3360 sensor held up nicely in first person shooters. Generally speaking, FPS gamers will look for mice that are easy to hold and quick to respond without having much heft. I still think some may want a lighter mouse, though SteelSeries obviously has other mice in their lineup to fit this criteria. Otherwise, the mouse was very responsive without any flaws like spinning out. It also provided smooth tracking, especially at lower sensitivity settings. In games like League of Legends, the tracking was top notch. The cursor did not skip or jump and I was able to control the mouse easily. Button clicks felt responsive throughout the game.
When checking for more technical flaws, the SteelSeries Rival 710 performed about as well as you can expect. Firstly, I did some lasso testing in Photoshop to see if the mouse was capable of selecting predetermined elements in an image. This allowed me to check for not only tracking and precision, but also for jitter while moving about. Secondly, I performed the straight line test by trying to draw a straight line with the brush. This allowed me to test for mouse prediction. Some cheaper mice will "autocorrect" itself by predicting and drawing a flat line, which hides the intended smaller movements. For the Rival 310, there were no issues in either tests. Small details were picked up when I was off from creating a flat line, showing zero signs of prediction. No input lag was noticed and response time was consistently excellent, even when testing at the maximum settings. There was a bit of jitter at maximum sensitivity, though this could easily just be my hand or the mouse itself.
As for some of the additional features, I did not end up using the tactile alert system or the OLED screen a whole lot. While I like the idea of tactile alerts, these timings are not always consistent. For example, in MOBAs like League of Legends, cooldowns can change during a game, and these cooldown times will also change between each champion you choose. For the OLED screen, I only found it distracting because looking at things like game stats would mean I have to take my eyes off the actual game. However, for things like Discord notifications, I did like that it was capable of showing the message on the screen itself, even if it is a bit small.
Overall performance of the SteelSeries Rival 710 was excellent. Gaming was made easy with accurate and smooth tracking. The Rival 710 performed extremely well with no lag and handled nicely. I really liked the overall low lift off distance. In addition, these extras like the vibration alerts and OLED screen can be useful in certain situations, but do not affect the mouse adversely if they are left unused.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
