Verdict
Pros
- Class-leading performance
- Light and comfortable design
- Responsive buttons
Cons
- No weight adjustment
- Cheap plastic body and non-braided cable
- So-so software
Key Specifications
- Review Price: £60
- 100-12,000dpi range
- 1ms polling rate
- Two-zone RGB lighting
- Weight: 88g
What is the SteelSeries Rival 310?
The Rival 310 is SteelSeries’ latest performance mouse to grace the gaming market. It’s packed with a brand new sensor, an ultra-lightweight design and syncable RGB lighting.
There are definitely shortcomings, with the Rival having a slightly plasticky shell and lacking any weight adjustment. But if you can look past this, this is a great-value gaming mouse with unmatched performance.
SteelSeries Rival 310 – Design, Build and Features
Despite its larger-than-average size, the Rival 310 is surprisingly lightweight. At 88g, it’s one of the lightest I’ve tested, with a nimble figure that happily darts around your desk. The body is made from textured plastic, which does a fantastic job of reducing weight, but this does come at the cost of reducing that luxury feeling you’ll find on metallic mice such as Corsair M65 Pro. There’s no way to customise the weight of the 310, so if you prefer a heavier mouse – you’re out of luck.
The top of the mouse arcs sharply upwards, with an illuminated SteelSeries logo prominently on display, along with a DPI toggle switch and scroll wheel. The wheel flows nicely, and forms the second customisable RGB zone. The mouse connects over a standard USB cable, but unfortunately this is non-detachable, and non-braided so it’ll be more tangle-prone than the average gaming mouse.
Both sides of the Rival 310 are rubberised, with large pads engraved with a star pattern. It’s a material choice that I love, as while its durability may not live up to some other finishes, it makes it far more comfortable in use, and makes flick shots that much easier.
There are also two large buttons on the left side in the traditional backward and forwards layout, but that’s your lot. If you’re after a wider variety of buttons, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
The underside of the mouse has three Teflon pads for a smooth glide, and houses the sensor. It’s optical, and exclusive to SteelSeries. And, boy, it performs well.
Related: Best gaming mice
SteelSeries Rival 310 – Performance & Software
The performance of the Rival 310 is second to none at this price point. From the moment I started using the 310, I was genuinely blown away with how it felt – I’ve covered almost all the new mouse releases this year, but nothing has felt smoother or more natural. The DPI range of the mouse is 100-12,000, and while this is lower than some of the competition, it’s more than most people will ever need, with my personal preference sitting at 1800.
The mouse is right at home in gaming scenarios, with my testing primarily consisting of first-person shooter action. In Call Of Duty, the flicky nature of the Rival really helps to nail down those rapid fire kills, with smooth and controlled handling that’s very easy to predict. Swapping over to Star Wars Battlefront, the good news continued, with both soldier and vehicular gameplay feeling natural and accurate. My only gripe is that there currently isn’t a way to assign a ‘sniper button’ (where DPI is temporarily dropped in order to increase precision) in software, though this is unlikely to concern the majority of people.
If you want to tweak the mouse’s performance, you’ll boot up SteelSeries Engine. The software suite works fine, but it’s still not the easiest to use when compared to Corsair Cue, and Razer’s new Synapse suite. You can change the DPI setting, adjust the button configuration and customise the RGB lighting. Profiling different settings is straightforward, and you can of course synchronise the lighting to any other Prism Sync SteelSeries peripherals you already own.
Related: Best mechanical gaming keyboards
Should I buy the SteelSeries Rival 310?
The Rival 310 is a fabulous gaming mouse. It’s the best mouse I’ve used to date in terms of raw performance, with the design proving pretty sharp too. Costing £59.99, the price is fair – I have to say, there really is a lot to like here.
Admittedly, it feels a little rough around the edges in terms of that premium feel, with the plastic design looking a little sad when compared with metallic rivals. But if you’re after a lightweight gaming mouse that’s geared for performance, the SteelSeries Rival 310 is hard to beat.
Verdict
A no-frills gaming mouse that nails down performance.
Trusted Score
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
