Steelseries has added a new mouse to their lineup. One that is supposed to revolutionize the eSports industry. They’re calling it, the Rival 310. Much like the rest of the Rival series of mice, it features the same design (-1% size reduction), RGB configuration on the logo and configuration via the SteelSeries Engine 3. The new stuff on the 310 includes: Omron 50 million rated mechanical switches, silicone side grips, split trigger design, matte finish, and the new TrueMove3 Optical sensor.
You’re probably wondering, what the heck is the TrueMove3 Optical sensor?! That’s what we’re here to talk about, my friends. SteelSeries is claiming that this sensor gives a true 1-to-1 tracking sensor. That means that the exact distance on a mousepad results in the same exact distance on the screen. For those of you that like to have your CPI’s in the 4k+ range, you’re out of luck. This tech works up to 3500 CPI. Once you pass that 3500, they make it as close as they can, but it’s 100% true 1-to-1.
Now, maybe it’s just me, but I found it hard to be able to feel the 1-to-1. I’m sure it’s there, but I couldn’t feel it consistently. I did notice it when it came to “switching” really quickly. What I mean by that, is when I would be going hard right and quick change it to go left. I felt that immediate feedback that it was moving exactly as I wanted, and wasn’t pushing just a bit too far to compensate. This is an FPS sensor through and through. I can see it being good for MOBA’s as well, but I didn’t feel the impact nearly as much as I did while shooting it up with my buds.
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I see this becoming a standard in CS:GO. Those guys have the lowest sensitivity so they can move it across the pad to get those small changes accurately. Give them this mouse and the small movements would be exact. As far as MOBA/RTS goes, I don’t see it being as big. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t need that exact movement when it comes to Starcraft 2. I need to get my commands in a general area for fighting, but because there’s so many units my exact location is not as important. The game generalizes where I say to give the most area.
If you’re into the RGB thing, SteelSeries’ Prismsync is in this new mouse. That means you can have your keyboard, headset, mousepad, and mouse all sync up together, much like Razer’s Synapse. I’m glad that this trend is keeping up, especially at this price point. The Rival 310 comes in at $59.99 and is exclusive to www.steelseries.com.
All in all, I am going to keep testing this mouse, past this article. I feel that it deserves some more time, and that’s more for me getting used to it. I feel that until I use this mouse for a month or two, I’m not going to completely “get” the true 1-to-1 that is offers. Once we, the gamers, get used to this mouse, I think it could be a game changer for the eSports industry. But, I do think it’s going to have a long learning curve to get used to it from what we’ve all been using for years now.
The product discussed in this article was provided by public relations for the purposes of review.
