Steelseries Rival 700 Elite Performance Gaming Mouse Review

I started my testing of the SteelSeries Rival 700 Elite with a lengthy Battlefield session lasting about 6 hours.  The shape felt immediately familiar and even my defaults carried over from the game settings.  The weight was pretty easy to get used to and pretty evenly balanced. Tracking was predictable on both my glass pad and the laminate surface of my desk.  I quickly forgot about the additional bells and whistles and got to fragging.  That’s a pretty solid recommend right there.  I simply forgot it was a new mouse just an hour or so in.  I settled in with sensitivity set at 1100 and 4200 but would set it much lower for sniping and precision play.

To test the Rival in the work environment I took it in and ran it for a couple of day without the supporting software.  This mouse is so much better than my typical work mouse.  I do wonder if all the bling makes it a target for a hostile takeover, if you get my drift!  No issues or hand fatigue to report here.

There is no doubt the SteelSeries team checked every box when creating the SteelSeries Rival 700 Elite Performance Gaming Mouse. Then they penciled in a few more boxes, grabbed a sharpie and added a few exclamation points just to be safe.  The OLED screen and tactile feedback may be limited but it is clear the Rival 700 is still a comfortable and capable gaming mouse at the core.  More important may be the option to upgrade or change the shape if you desire.

If you are the type of enthusiast that springs for matching fans, windows and even custom paint the Rival 700’s massive customization are exactly what you need.  Gaming purists will shrug off the options as gimmicks and move on but that’s ok too. SteelSeries has other mice for you.

Overall I found the SteelSeries Rival 700 Elite one of the most comfortable mice I have used and confident enough to jump into my favorite FPS right out of the box.

Dual Cable lengths included
Customizable hardware
Pixart 16,000 CPI sensor
Tactile feedback
3D printing support
Comfortable shape

Proprietary cable and connectors
135g weight is not adjustable
RGB not easily visible in use
Limited game support for OLED and Tactile feedback