So today we're gonna be checking out a brand new lightweight budget gaming mouse that is actually very impressive for the price or to take a look at the new SteelSeries rival 3 Mouse.
so if you're in the market for a new gaming mouse, so you just don't want to break the bank got you guys covered. so first up in this trend of lightweight mice this doesn't really even advertise itself as such however coming in at just 77 grams.
I'd say it still falls under that category, so it's nice to see SteelSeries was able to cut down a new overall weight without actually putting holes in the shell now the fact it's only $30 is just a big win for consumers because a budget-friendly Mouse that its light on the wallet and in the hands, it's only gonna push the rest of the market forward
SteelSeries Rival 3 Design
so when you get it in you get it unboxed my first impression was that it's just really sleek and it is smaller than I thought it would be the body is matte black plastic and it consists of six total buttons - its ambidextrous design and although we have two side buttons it's obviously more suited for right-handed users.
SteelSeries Rival 3 Dimensions
Talking its dimensions comes in at 120 points 6 millimeters long 58.3 millimeters wide at the front and 67 millimeters at its widest point at the butt stands 37.9 millimeters tall at its highest point and is 21.5 millimeters tall at the front of the scroll wheel.
I think keeping that in mind it's gonna be best suited for claw or fingertip grips also depending on your hand size but long-time steel serious fans are gonna be pretty familiar with the company's design language over the years.
Other Lightweight Mice
then for a quick visual comparison here's how it stacks up to other popular lightweight and B mice out there like the mm 710 models Oh - G wolves haughty and the Viper ultimate.
Shape & Impression on SteelSeries Rival 3
my first impression was that its sleek all the grooves are economic by definition and even though we use the term ergo when talking about the actual shape by a literal definition of the word it fits this mouse to a tee the side buttons do sit flush against the side
which did take me a while to get used to moving on the textured scroll wheel here does have noticeable tactile steps and it is pretty silent overall and muted I'd say when it comes to the sound it doesn't feel mushy or anything like that but it's also that these sharp is feeling click either.
SteelSeries Rival 3 Sensor & Belly side grip
now you can and see it but inside the mouse is a new SteelSeries and Pixar optical sensor which is their true move core this is the first SteelSeries mouse that features this particular sensor but it's pretty much their version of the PMW 3331 the sensor does also help save some money in terms of production cost and it's a 100 to 8,500 CPI range.
so we don't have those unnecessary options set this to like 20,000 dpi 8500 should be you know more than enough for most people as for the feet here nothing like hyper glides or anything it is your traditional Teflon material.
they have these kinds of cutouts underneath the fees you can see what you can use to easier you know pry those feet off if you want to swap them out or place them in the future we're also just removed than to have access to the screws if you want to do some internal modding on my mad cats glide 38,
which is a rubberized hybrid mousepad as you'd expect this makes anything feels like it's on ice very little resistance overall which is good feels nice on here and then to your traditional cloth mousepad pretty much the same story it's a very smooth glide without a hiccup but this obviously would benefit from hyper glides.
SteelSeries Rival 3 Mouse Cable
I think is more important here is the cable it doesn't have a fancy name it's not a paracord it's not braided it's rubber as you can see but it still offers a lot of flexibility when you hold the cable near the tip of the mouse you want to see the level of resistance or if it budges or pushes back.
so when holding the cable say 4-5 inches away from the tip of the mouse and you push it and the mass itself doesn't move that's a good thing that means when you're gaming the cable itself isn't gonna push back or offer any negative resistance again would this benefit from a paracord or something lighter if you wanted to maybe swap this out in the future yes of course but the fact that it's still very flexible on a mouse at this price point is very impressive.
SteelSeries Rival 3 Mouse Gaming Experience
so when gaming it just feels very natural in the hand it doesn't feel cheap it doesn't feel like a cheap Mouse. which is the overall big takeaway I'd say as 77 grams it's pretty much on par with my main Mouse the Viper ultimate so there wasn't a big transition period or anything to get used to it I play that 600 dpi. I mean CPISteelSeries Rival 3 Software
Steel series 3 software it's pretty straightforward and all laid out right which I like there's not an endless amount of tabs where things are hidden here you can reassign the mouse buttons to macros you create you can adjust the pulling rate angle snapping which I wouldn't touch acceleration/deceleration and your CPI levels by default there are two saved to the mass but you could obviously add more up to 5 levels.
it actually has onboard storage you can just keep them all saved to the mass itself again ranging from 100 to 8500. the increments are also adjustable in levels of 100 so keep that in mind you can't have like 550 for example.
then yes illumination for the RGB lights because as you saw it has RGB built-in there are three different zones technically
so you can just select them to pick what kind of colors you want for some of the presets or determine your own colors you want you can add to the color wheel up top is bigger pretty much just a regular gradient effect that you would see transitions through the three depending on the zones you have selected it'll all change accordingly, there are also some other things you can pick from are pretty limited in terms of the effects.
but it's really not a big deal you also have my breathing mode which is you know color is breathing from color to black also can change up what that color is obviously, if you want you could just disable the color altogether if you don't want any lights on or you can pick it to be a steady color just for you know one static effect.
it's gonna be there pretty much the same thing in terms of these zones say you want the front half of the top two zones to be one color and the other zone a different color you can do that to kind of make it a pretty unique transition again it's static,
so it's not gonna be distracting or anything but you can then assign the zone to a different effect if you want so you could have just the front of the mouse a certain color the middle zone doing some RGB effect and then a different color for the third zone so you have that customization which is pretty cool.
the lights are actually decently bright here but as far as I can tell the software and there is no brightness level adjustment so if you want it to be dimmer you just have to go to the color wheel and pick a darker gradient of that color.
Conclusion
so all things considered for at that price this is very impressive can I nitpick some things yes I would have loved some type of glass or taffy or something. I would recommend possibly you know swapping the cable out even though it's very flexible and stuff obviously it would benefit from a lighter cable and stuff I do wish the clicks were a little bit more tactile but in the grand scheme of things for $30 none of those is a deal-breaker.
when you're talking budget gaming mice there's a lot of options out there are a lot of knockoff options on Amazon but you really cannot beat this everything that they're offering here is really unparalleled on the market we saw a model Oh kind of you know break the ground than in the summertime and put out a $50 lightweight mouse.
so for here a $30 mouse that is you know a bit setback in terms of features and stuff for anybody looking to save money pick up a brain and give me a mouse and you're on a budget don't have a lot to spend $30 is uh it's hard to say no to this,
so really impressive what's SteelSeries did here with the rival 3 kits are recommended enough if you're on a budget if you want to check it out like so check the below link of Amazon
Amazon Link👇
SteelSeries Rival 3 - Buy from Amazon
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