Design and Features
The new ergonomic Rival Pro and ambidextrous Sensei Pro wireless gaming mice are some of the company’s most interesting models in years. They’re familiar designs that feel incredibly lightweight to hold (53 grams each in black, one gram more in white), and they ship with two signature SteelSeries features found in its other product categories: swappable batteries and a wireless base station to pair to.
SteelSeries’ new mice are super light, with ultra-wideband and swappable batteries
The Rival Pro and Sensei Pro (and their mini counterparts) launch October 13th for $179.99 each.
Each mouse is available in black, too.
Battery and Connectivity
The circular batteries are easy to use, unlocking and locking in place in the mouse and base station. The station can keep a spare charged — and you might need it sooner than you think, as each battery is rated to last for 16 hours in the 8,000Hz polling rate.
The battery pucks last up to 60 hours each in 1,000Hz polling mode, or 16 hours in 8,000Hz model.
Instead of using 2.4GHz like most wireless gaming accessories, these mice communicate with their base station via ultra-wideband (UWB) between 6.4GHz and 9.056GHz, giving them access to parts of the spectrum that aren’t cluttered by signals from other consumer electronics. SteelSeries says that this affords the mice 20 times the bandwidth and lower latency, delivering high polling rates with better consistency.
Software Updates
The mice launch alongside some new developments for the GG companion app. There’s SuperSync, a feature that decouples click and sensor polling, letting you have, for example, 8,000Hz click reporting and 4,000Hz sensor reporting to lessen the burden on your CPU. There’s also Smart DPI, which can automatically adjust DPI when transitioning from in-game to navigating through menus.
The GG companion app is now available as a browser-based web app in Chrome or Edge, allowing users to install firmware updates and adjust simple settings.
One thing each of them have in common: they’re super light.
Pricing and Availability
The Rival Pro and Sensei Pro cost $179 each and are available to preorder now, shipping on October 13th. SteelSeries is also releasing miniature versions of both form factors that weigh four grams less and cost the same price.
Swappable batteries and better connectivity via UWB prove that there are still plenty of appealing ways to improve on gaming mice.
