Steelseries Rival 700 Elite Performance Gaming Mouse Review

SteelSeries made quite the impression this year at CES with their latest mouse, the SteelSeries Rival 700 Elite Performance Gaming Mouse. It’s a pretty bold statement to claim Elite Performance but the Rival 700 lays claim to some impressive features including the world’s first onboard OLED display and tactile feedback.

The SteelSeries Rival 700 Elite defiantly checks all the boxes and then some.  SteelSeries even took home the best gaming mouse award from CES. We had to know if the performance could back up the hype.  Let’s take a look!

The Rival 700 is based on the popular Rival 300 gaming mouse used successfully by some of the top teams in eSports. The shape remains pretty consistent and fells like it would be best used in a palm grip and right handed only.  As for color, there is only black.  Fortunately Rival 700 offers many ways to make it your own.  More on that in a minute!

Let’s take a look at what this mouse has to offer.

• Material: Matte Top Cover
• Ergonomic, Right-Handed
• Grip Style: Palm, Claw, and Fingertip
• Number of Buttons: 7
• SteelSeries Switches: Rated for 30 Million Clicks
• Reinforced Left and Right Clicks
• Weight: 135g, 0.3lbs
• Height: 124.85mm, 4.92in
• Width: 68.46mm, 2.70 in
• Depth: 41.97mm, 1.65in
• Short cable length (non-braided): 1m, 3.28 ft
• Long cable length (braided): 2m, 6.5 ft

• Sensor Name: PixArt PMW3360
• Sensor Type: Optical
• CPI: 100 to 16,000
• IPS: 300
• Acceleration: 50g
• Polling Rate: 1 ms (1000 Hz)
• Zero Hardware Acceleration
• Tracking Accuracy: 1:1

At Hardware asylum we don’t normally talk about packaging as it isn't a deciding factor when making an informed purchase for most enthusiasts.  This is one exception due to the simple but attractive way the Rival 700 is packaged.  A standard slip sheet surrounds this angled carry box.  The mouse is offered up with a single small box containing the two cable options, stickers and a quick start guide. Points for presentation!

SteelSeries has been designing high end gaming peripherals since 2001 when the company was formed around the legendary Icemat mouse pad. Since that original innovation, Steelseries has created the first mechanical gaming keyboard, the first suspended headband for gaming headsets, the first World of Warcraft mouse among other top products.