Best SteelSeries Rival 650 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

The first wireless mouse in the SteelSeries gaming range, the Rival 650 intends to offer as good performance as its predecessor. The Rival 600, from which it incorporates the design and all the features. What to compete with the latest high-end models from competitors (Logitech, Corsair and Razer

Presentation

The Rival 650 is none other than a wireless Rival 600 with 2.4 GHz radio link, battery and detachable cable. This is done at the cost of a logical increase in its total mass, SteelSeries not having seen the other components and materials of its mouse. However, it costs € 40 more for this 650 which thus appears at € 129.99.

Best SteelSeries Rival 650 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. SteelSeries Rival 650 Quantum Wireless Gaming Mouse – Rapid Charging Battery – 12, 000 Cpi Truemove3. Dual Optical Sensor – Low 0.5 Lift-Off Distance – 256 Weight Configurations – 8 Zone RGB Lighting

2. SteelSeries Rival 600 Gaming Mouse – 12,000 CPI TrueMove3+ Dual Optical Sensor – 0.5 Lift-off Distance – Weight System – RGB Lighting (Renewed)

3. SteelSeries Sensei Wireless Laser Gaming Mouse

4. SteelSeries Rival 3 Gaming Mouse – 8,500 CPI TrueMove Core Optical Sensor – 6 Programmable Buttons. Split Trigger Buttons – Brilliant Prism RGB Lighting

5. SteelSeries Rival 710 Gaming Mouse – 16,000 CPI TrueMove3 Optical Sensor – OLED Display – Tactile Alerts – RGB Lighting, Black

Ergonomics

SteelSeries has therefore chosen to keep the design of its Rival 600 identical and we cannot blame it. On the aesthetic level, we take advantage of a mouse with modern lines, which elegantly combines different plastics: smooth metallic on the edges, soft touch coating on the top and main buttons, slightly grainy on the rest of the chassis. The finishes are neat and the SteelSeries Rival 650 thus leaves a good impression.

The grip is in any case comfortable and large hands will appreciate the beautiful length of the mouse (131 x 69 x 43 mm). The size comparable to that of a Logitech G502 (132 x 75 x 40 mm). If the latter is wider, it is however only because of the profile of its left edge, designed to support the thumb, when the Rival 650 leaves it lying on the carpet.

In practice, the two mice in any case invite a similar grip and are easy to grasp thanks to their slices covered with elastomer. Quite rough, the rubbery inserts of the Rival 650 ensure in any case a good grip and the concave shape of the left edge helps to lift the mouse during recentering on the carpet. Too bad, however, that the right edge is not hollowed out too, since the fingers that land there tend to slip more easily.

An even more pronounced trend on this Rival 650 compared to the Rival 600, due to its higher mass. The battery of this new wireless version has indeed a considerable impact. Since it adds almost 25 g to it, increasing it to 120.5 g. At a time when wireless mice are getting lighter and lighter, the Rival 650 thus gives the impression of having stayed with the previous generation

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So, certainly, we still welcome the performance in the sense that a Logitech G502 displays the same weight on the scale despite its purely wired operation, but we could have hoped for better today. Especially since the 650 still benefits from the mass adjustment system enabled by the 8 small metal parts of 4 g each that can be inserted under its edges. What change the balance of the mouse and weigh it down if you prefer a little more inertia. We would therefore have appreciated being able to start from a lower minimum mass … precisely what the Rival 600 offered, with its 97 g empty. As it stands, the SteelSeries Rival 650 is therefore aimed more at players who appreciate fairly heavy mice. Not enough to penalize it excessively for this mass, after all, still reasonable,

Fortunately, the three large PTFE pads glued under the mouse ensure good glide and in use the Rival 650 remains very pleasant to handle. The absence of wire indeed makes the movements more free, there is no risk of being embarrassed by a possible tension and the front of the mouse thus remains very agile. Only players using very low sensitivities may be hampered in their movements – by definition quite large – in which the inertia of the mouse can be disabling.

At the buttons, point of change compared to the Rival 600. We always appreciate the curvature of the main buttons, concave, which allows good positioning of the fingers and prevents them from sliding outwards.

The associated switches are reactive at will and fairly sensitive, as shown by our measurement of the force necessary to activate them , which is around 40 cN. It’s more than a G Pro Wireless (30 cN), but it’s still quite satisfactory.

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Same observation on the side of the edge buttons which, if they do not benefit from as good switches as the two main ones, keep for them a good reactivity. On the other hand, if the two usual buttons – associated by default with the functions “next page” and “previous page” – are ideally positioned, this is not at all the case of the third, located further forward and that the it’s hard to reach with the tip of the thumb. 

We will reserve for it an additional function that we will not need to use in the heat of the moment. Too bad, because it could have been very useful in the role of “sniper button”, as found on other mice such as Corsair’s Elite M65 or even the Logitech G502. To compensate for this somewhat missed button placement, you can always use the button located above the mouse, used to switch on the fly between two sensor sensitivity levels. However, although it can be activated fairly easily with the middle of the index. It cannot logically be held down in this way while using the left click button.

For its part, the wheel offers a fairly fluid scrolling while remaining well notched. Very good for video games and also good for office automation. However, you have to do without side scrolling with this wheel

Nothing new on the backlight side and we won’t complain about it as it turns out to be successful. The light variations are fluid between the 8 different illuminated areas, several effects are available in the software and it is even possible to synchronize them with certain games and applications that support the proprietary backlight system of SteelSeries. Too bad however that the compatible software is not very numerous.

Precision

In electronics, SteelSeries keeps here its duo of TrueMove3 + sensors, consisting of an optical sensor signed PixArt and another optical sensor specifically dedicated to the measurement of lifting height. The latter allows you to choose a cut -off height ( lift-off) extremely low, only 0.5 mm, in order to stop the movement of the pointer (or the camera, in a game) as soon as possible when the mouse is lifted. Enough to suppress a maximum of parasitic movements when you center your mouse on the carpet, which you do constantly if you use a fairly low sensor sensitivity. 

Note however that SteelSeries seems to have corrected the concerns that we may have encountered when adjusting the lifting height with certain surfaces during our test of the Rival 600. A counter allows anyway to automatically return to the initial setting after 10 seconds in case setting too low which would cause an unexpected cut.

Apart from this specificity of a second optical sensor, the SteelSeries Rival 650 can rely on its excellent main sensor (TrueMove3 which is also found in the Rival 310 and Sensei 310 ), capable of absorbing accelerations of 50  g and operating up to at speeds of 8.9 m / s. Unless you have a bionic arm, there is no risk of it dropping out. The 1: 1 optical tracking also ensures faithful capture without acceleration. 

If it is possible to use very high sensitivities, up to 12,000 dpi, note with satisfaction that SteelSeries itself recommends to be content with a much more reasonable level (under 3500 dpi, which is already very high for our current monitors, as 4K Ultra HD they are), since this setting has nothing to do with the intrinsic precision of the sensor. 

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Let’s finish with a key point for this SteelSeries Rival 650: the quality of its wireless connection. We simply noted no latency or interference with this 2.4 GHz radio transmission which is done with the same frequency of 1000 Hz as wired. Whether you connect the wire or not, you benefit from the same performance, without loss of information. However, who says high performance often says relatively high energy consumption. This is true here since the autonomy is limited to 24 hours of use. In comparison, Logitech achieves double with its G Pro. Wireless thanks to a fine management of consumption up to the sensor level. But we can imagine that with two. SteelSeries sensors was going to have a hard time matching the Swiss mouse in the matter . 

Plenty of things to play until exhaustion. However, especially as any reasonable player can choose to charge their mouse for a short break. The Rival 650 regaining no less than 10 h of autonomy after a charge of only. 15 minutes thanks to its fast charge capacity. Finally, when it comes to saving energy, the mouse goes to sleep automatically and you can activate an option of “intelligent illumination mode” which turns off the backlight when the mouse is moving.

STRONG POINTS

  • Excellent performance, with as well as wireless.
  • Comfort of handling.
  • Good build quality.
  • Adjustable mass and balance.
  • The second sensor is not a gadget, although it will not be useful to everyone.

WEAK POINTS

  • 121 g empty, this is much more than other last generation wireless mice.
  • Only 2 configurable sensitivity levels.
  • Third slice button not very accessible.
  • Slightly slippery straight edge.

CONCLUSION

If one might be tempted to write that the. SteelSeries Rival 650 is only a Rival 600 that can operate wirelessly. The 25 g that separate the two mice undermines this claim. Nevertheless, the 650 manages to retain the first-rate performance of its wired counterpart. We can therefore only advise it in the same way … if we are not particularly looking for lightness.

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