Taking from our Rival 310 review…
SteelSeries recently teamed up with experienced mouse sensor developer PixArt to develop something new. In the world of gaming mice, touting DPI and CPI tracking up to and beyond 20,000, one wonders if it is even worth it if tracking at such ridiculous rates leads to sporadic or delayed results, at even the lowest of settings. SteelSeries and Pixart combined to create their answer to this in the form of the TrueMove3 optical mouse sensor. The TrueMove3 was engineered to provide “true 1-to-1” tracking where the distance a mouse travels on a surface is matched by the distance traveled on screen.
The TrueMove3 is a 12,000 CPI, 350 IPS optical sensor designed to avoid latency, jitter or the need of interpolation. The 1 to 1 tracking accuracy is mentioned to be in affect between 100 and 3500 CPI (counts per inch). Most importantly here, the TrueMove3 sensor is now available in two of SteelSeries’ latest gaming mice, the Sensei 310 and the Rival 310. The Rival 310 is a right-handed mouse while the Sensei 310 is of an ambidextrous make.
The first word that comes to mind when using the Sensei 310 is adaptability. It is well-made and well-designed with its smooth flowing lines, but has more in the specs department than most could ever need. At the low CPI ranges, the Sensei 310’s TrueMove3 sensor offers 1:1 tracking with jitter reduction, while on the other end you have a fairly high cap at 12,000 CPI.
From that to the customization options provided by the SteelSeries Engine, to the excessive number of buttons on the mouse, the Sensei 310 possesses wide ranging capabilities. Fortunately, it doesn’t get in the way of performance if you choose not to use all of its features. It allows you to scale up, which makes it perfect for normal users and casual gamers who need the majority of the features, while the comparatively few pros who actually need the higher capabilities will enjoy the higher specs.
The mouse itself is light and comfortable, while still retaining a good heft. It has eight programmable buttons, as opposed to the Rival 310‘s six. Two of those buttons are duplicated in order to balance out the design so that the Sensei 310 can be truly ambidextrous. What that means, however, is that you’re going to probably wind up with two superfluous buttons. That is unless you feel like they actually fit into your gaming flow, in which case they end up being a convenient extra.
The button designated for CPI switching at the top seemed a little superficial since once I customized my CPI settings and loaded them permanently onto the Sensei 310, I tended not to change them in game. However, other gamers who play shooters or at a higher level of play may opt to change it on the fly.
SteelSeries is clearly looking to appeal to as many people as possible. The nice part though is that none of the Sensei 310 ‘s design or features get in the way if you don’t want to use them. It did fit my hand well despite it being on the smaller end of mice that I’d use since I personally have larger hands. Even still, it was comfortable. After spending most of the day playing League of Legends with friends, I didn’t feel any strain in my hand.
On the topic of flexibility, as I’ve mentioned before, adjustability and customization is a huge plus. I spent quite a while trying to get the CPI perfect and my ideal color scheme going. Eventually I shut down my impromptu rave party, while the color and CPI settings remained saved on the Sensei 310‘s onboard processor. So, you can do like I do if you want – just set it and forget it.
The Sensei 310 and Rival 310 are SteelSeries‘ next steps in attempting to stake out a claim to a broad swathe of gamers in the general market. The Sensei 310 is a mouse that has the ability to adapt to either a casual or pro gamer’s style. And for the most part it seems like they have succeeded. I definitely noticed a difference in my gameplay once I found the perfect CPI and settings for the Sensei 310.
Overall, I think that the $59.99 price reflects the quality and features they put in. If you play a lot of different genres or simply like changing up your play style on the fly, the Sensei 310 is the mouse for you.
You can check out the Sensei 310 for yourself here…
Or you can check out our Rival 310 review here…
†SteelSeries Sensei 310 review unit provided by SteelSeries PR.