It arrived SO quick! For 19.99 this mouse is great. I don’t really care that it’s much lighter to what i’m used to (i use a Logitech G502 wired) and i am so used to the weight of that mouse that i’m inclined to say i dislike how lightweight this RIVAL 3 is, (or hey, you might be different from me and you might dig that!) but maybe I’m just so used to the G502 i forgot what a normal mouse feels like lol. Take from that what you will. But honestly since I’m using this one for my 2nd setup I’m not too fussed about the intricacies.

All in all – I DEFINITELY recommend this if you’re just starting off and want something affordable but you don’t want to go for some random brand off Amazon. You can TRUST Steelseries. Can never go wrong with this brand!

 

Overall a very well rounded mouse with ample buttons and customisations.

The software which controls the lighting and mouse customisation is in early access mode so can be rather glitchy and buggy which made customisations a bit of a pain.

The palm area of the mouse is matt plastic which is a bit too rough for my liking but that’s subjective.

Overall, for the price (40) it’s a great buy.

 

Initially, I used the Logitech M720 Triathlon Multi-Device Wireless Mouse which I considered the best mouse I had ever used due to its handling, ergonomics, and battery life. It could connect to three devices, which was a plus. I had high expectations when I purchased this new mouse since it seemed similar. However, it seems a bit small for my large hand, though it should be perfect for a normal hand.

Advantages:
1. The appearance and feel of the mouse are great.
2. Sensitivity can be adjusted using the DPI button, which offers five levels.
3. It can be connected through Bluetooth or a 2.4 GHz dongle.
4. It automatically powers off to conserve battery life when not in use for an extended period.
5. It can work with a single battery cell as well.

Disadvantages:
1. It consumes a lot of battery power, and even 2 AAA Duracells only last for a month or a month and a half.
2. If not used for an extended period, it turns off and may take a second or two to reconnect after turning on (only in Bluetooth mode).

 

DATE OF PURCHASE: March 2018
TL; DR: It’s a great mouse. A great design that fits well in the hand, however it suffers from one or two unnecessary feeling shortcuts that keep it from being the last word in mouse peripheral design.

The Steelseries Rival 600 solves one major problem (for me at least) – a mouse that I can actually use with big hands while having my palm resting on the mouse. For many big handed people like myself who also opt to rest the palm of their hands on the mouse while using a PC, most mice on the market (even now after three years of use) are still designed for people to use the claw-grip, due to the smaller size of the mouse, or for people without the issue of large hands. The Rival 600 answers the call for more larger mice, the mice for the big handed. The mice I can actually lay my hands on without causing a first degree burn on my pinkie finger. At some stages this will sound like a love letter to the mouse (it is in some ways), but it will give an idea of just how much I love using this mouse, and why for me, this review is a solemn swan song.

FIRST LOOKS: From the box, it’s packaging to the software suite, Steelseries has done a very good job at keeping the experience nice and smooth. The box it came in was nicely packaged and the out of box experience was very good. The build quality was absolutely excellent on first look and use, and I was blown away at how much better it felt in my hands over the previous mouse (being a Logitech G502 HERO), even without the need of a thumb rest. The grips on the side were grippy, the feet on the bottom allowed the mouse to slide nice and cheerfully, and on a large mouse mat, it was a joy to use.

SOFTWARE: The Steelseries Engine 3 software has evolved nicely over the three years since I first got the mouse. The ability to be able to assign F13-F24 keys as native macros to the three macro buttons on the side of the mouse was a huge quality of life improvement that made (I imagine at least) many gamer’s lives easier. “No more setting Num Lock as my Push to Talk in games for me! I could use F13!”. It’s confusing why this approach wasn’t adopted earlier by the likes of Steelseries, Logitech etc. (Windows has had native support to recognise F13-F24 all the way since the beginning), but at least it’s here. The ability to set two discrete DPI settings based on a click of a button is very welcome (in case you need to use this mouse for multiple applications on the one machine), lift off distance adjustment is nice, the option for Acc./Dec. control, Angle Snapping (for mouse smoothing) and variable polling rate are all available to tweak the mouse to your liking. And I have made full use of all of them for various applications that may not have been the designer’s intended use case, but they’ve let me pull off some “bodging”. So that nets good marks in my books.

THE TODAY: Today the mouse core construction is still as strong as ever. The software, still very nice. However some of the long term use I’ve put to the mouse has unfortunately caused issues. On one aspect, not through the fault of the mouse itself, but in another, an oversight that did let me down. I’ll break it down into the two now:

NOT THE MOUSE’S FAULT: The reason why I’m writing this review today. As of today, I’ve had to make the heartbreaking decision to buy a competitor mouse. I do this every 2-3 years or so, to make sure that I don’t get anchored into one eco-system (or in other words, become a “fan boy”). But I *so* badly wanted this mouse to live forever. My extremely heavy use of the mouse has caused the Left Mouse Button to lose alignment with the mechanical sensor, and it has now unfortunately not 100% usable in a comfortable way. I let the mouse down. I doubt that many people would use it more than I do (this was my work AND play mouse, so it saw use for 12+ hours every single day).

ACTUALLY THE MOUSE’S FAULT: The grips. Many reviewers before me have already written about this extensively. The grips are usually the first thing that goes wrong with this mouse, and I can also join the line of people that make note of this. Steelseries really needs to fix their design choice of just simply cementing the grips on to a smooth plastic surface. It has only one little notch in the plastic indent on either side (one side for the plastic injection residue, the other to make room for the adjustable weight compartment), and the rest is smooth as you like plastic. After only a year and a half both the main grips for the left and right sides were gone. The glue had already started deteriorating only a year after I had owned it, and the grips were constantly moving around. This unfortunately has dragged back an otherwise great product from being the last word in mouse design. And it shouldn’t have to be – they could be replaced by some interchangeable part that fixes this issue and it would strive to first place, however the tire puncture has left it under threat from competitors. And from what I understand the problem still remains, so there’s still work to be done here.

While this mouse has to unfortunately go to e-recycling heaven, it is still worthy of five stars in my book. The fact the grips were the only thing I had an issue with (minus myself probably bricking the LMB on my own), should pay dividends to what a gem this mouse is. This review may be a silly little love letter, but it’s the only way I can convey how much I love it. And how sad I am to see it go.

 

Firstly I bought this at a discount and at it’s full price is pretty expensive.
The mouse has 4 zones that can be independently set for lighting and that is quite nice especially when you need to confirm what program or game you are playing and sometimes when you alt-tab out of that program and go back in it doesn’t kick the profile in so you instantly know by the lights.

The weights – well I do wonder if this is a gimmick frankly but some will appreciate the option to make it heavier however, I don’t use them but the storage or the fitting to the mouse is a monumental pain. The weights have a smaller squared key to insert into either the storage or mouse recess and this is not only non-positive but totally inadequate so you are fiddling for ages to put the weights in whilst dislodging the adjacent one that you spend a few mins trying to get in. There are 8 to do ..

The sensor in this is supposedly the best one they do but I had the sensai raw previously and don’t notice any difference however, it’s even less configurable since you can only set the sensitivity in steps of 100 whereas I can set my Sensai in steps of 10 I believe. That is a big downer for me and is a serious flaw when you consider that “oh best sensor ever” .. and “oh much less control over it” Duh!

There is an extra button on the left which many complain is hard to reach – yes it is a little hard to reach and I have big hands – you will not want to assign anything too critical for this button. Here I preferred my sensai as it was ambidextrous and so had 2 buttons either side -that was easier to get used to than this third button but having said that if you have reasonably medium / large hands it’s not a game breaker. Small hands will struggle without moving the positioning of the hand and making it a poor choice for gaming. … and this is really a gaming mouse after all.

I also see one of the major complaints is the side grips which appear to come off after a lot of use (possibly heat from hand loosening the adhesive?). This hasn’t happened to me and my hands don’t get that sweaty but I can see the potential for this to happen and if you are paying 80 for this mouse this is totally unacceptable.

This is a wired mouse so at that price it should be the bees knees – no premium has been spent on the wireless side so my recommendation is wait for this to appear on offer well under the full price and it will be worth the purchase.

So far I’ve been reasonably happy with it but if I’m honest I could have stuck with the Sensai without any downsides to actual play / sensitivity, I only bought it for the price and that my sensai is a bit old even though I’ve bought a full set of omron switches and replaced a couple on one of them already.

EDIT : Knocked down to 2 STARS as per so many other people, come summer the side pad adhesive just melted and I ended up with a sticky mess in my hands. This is atrocious for an 80 mouse

NOTE: I’m now rating this higher again because it’s such a damn good mouse IMO. With regard to the adhesive and the eventual failure of the side grips. Steelseries will give you a code to replace the grips if this happens within the 2 year warranty period and for however many times it happens. They are aware of this problem and are developing a better adhesive (so they say).

What I did after I got the replacement was to completely wipe off the adhesive from the rubber pads. This is not that easy but if you make a solution with White Vinegar and Bicarbinate of soda this will completely come of without too much elbow grease. I then used super glue to put them back and they are really solid now.

So I guess I’m saying here that the mouse is worth getting particularly if you wait till it’s reduced in price and if you don’t mind the mucking about that I describe above then go for it.

EDIT: I am downgrading my review because so far (not withstanding the rubber problems) I have had 2 replacements of the mouse due to the left button acting up (double fire or misfire). The second replacement lasted from August 2020 to Jan 2021 and it is not double firing, making it the 3rd one. None have lasted even a year before this happened.

Sadly I bought another one when I saw a sale and I’ve started using that – this will of course be viable for replacement for 2 years since I bought it in Aug 2020 but it’s a real pain and to me it proves that the buttons fitted to the mouse are substandard. I will report back each time the new one fails and each time I’ll drop a star.
For now it’s going to 3 with the express recommendation that you DO NOT pay the full price for this.
Please give this a thumbs up if it has helped you make up your mind.