FRONTPAGE SteelSeries Sensei: MLG Edition Mouse Review

[Overclockers.com]

SteelSeries is one of the premier gaming peripheral manufacturers in the world, with products ranging from keyboards and headphones to mice and mouse pads. As one of the prominent sponsors for E-Sports (video games being held at a professional/tournament-level), SteelSeries brought in two dozen professional gamers to weigh-in on what features of a mouse are the most important. SteelSeries used this feedback to craft the SteelSeries Sensei -- in this article we will see if it's able to reach its lofty expectations.

... Return to article to continue reading.

 

[wagex]

dang thats a pretty awsome mouse! if i ever replace my mx-518 or my g-400 i know where il be looking nice review janus

 

[txus.palacios]

Can we have your wife's art? I don't know if the Xai's LCD supports this function, but your wife did a superb work anyway.

 

[Janus67]

absolutely, I will upload the image shortly.

you may need to convert to .BMP to upload into the steelseries engine software.

 

[djscrew]

I have the Steelseries Xai which this mouse is largely based off of.

I spent hours toiling to find a suitable mouse - Razors drive me nuts (they suck so much its not even funny), other mice are too plain or are one handed which I find annoying. I finally ended up on the Xai because it was literally the only mouse I could find that met my qualifications.

The shape of this mouse is fantastic, and combined with their $20 mouse pad, it makes all the world of difference in games.

The only issues I have with Steelseries is the quality of the materials they use, the springs in my first Xai died and I had to RMA it. Steelseries initially balked at my RMA request which is my second gripe with them. They give 2 year warranty in all countries except the USA which is only 1 year (my mouse was a month or two over a year old). I advised this is a poor way to treat a large portion of their customer base and they relented and shipped me a new mouse.

The price is also a tad high but hey until they get competition, they can charge it.

I would recommend this mouse to anyone.

Edit: I did have problems with the xai in an older amd rig during boot it would lock up until I unplugged the mouse , replace with POS old Razor and problem solved. I suspect the Sensai might have the same issue.

 

[Pierre3400]

I have to ask, what is the point in the lcd on the bottom of the mouse?

 

[txus.palacios]

Settings on the fly (say, CPIs, ExactAim and such), swapping profiles, and bragging rights.

 

[wagex]

I have to ask, what is the point in the lcd on the bottom of the mouse?

It also allows you to upload your own bitmap picture, offering a great way to personalize your mouse – and help prevent theft at LAN-events, gaming cafes and other public places. Design your own unique picture for the Sensei LCD display, download to your computer and upload to your Sensei via the SteelSeries Engine software.

- http://www.overclockers.com/steelseries-sensei-mlg-mouse

 

[txus.palacios]

Sadly, my Xai does not support it, and, sadly too, it just died today. Well, time to take the dust off of my G500.

EDIT: That is not a retail Sensei, right? I am missing the stickers, the one with the S/N and such, and the one around the laser sensor. And, speaking of the driver bugs, have you tested it on a Linux box? If it is choppy when running penguins, I will not buy it.

 

[Janus67]

The mouse came in what looked to.be a retail box but it did come directly from SS so it is possible that it won't have any serial numbers for that reason.

I haven't tested it on any Linux computers as I don't have any available to me... minus running from a live CD but I'm not sure how effective that would be.

 

[djscrew]

Settings on the fly (say, CPIs, ExactAim and such), swapping profiles, and bragging rights.

or in other words: nothing really

 

[txus.palacios]

The mouse came in what looked to.be a retail box but it did come directly from SS so it is possible that it won't have any serial numbers for that reason.

I haven't tested it on any Linux computers as I don't have any available to me... minus running from a live CD but I'm not sure how effective that would be.

Running from a live CD would do.

 

[Janus67]

or in other words: nothing really

The screen is helpful for changing to different profiles so you can see which you switched to. To switch them you hold down the button behind the mouse wheel for a few seconds then you use the moue wheel to select. As you scroll it shows the different profiles you can select from. Not exactly how I would have implemented it but it does work.

If you only use one profile for all of your games it doesn't do much for you.