I have an important question for readers out there, have you even used an actual “gaming mouse”? If your answer is no and you play games more than casually, you can greatly improve your gaming experience with one. You see, most standard mice aren’t built to handle the rigors of constant clicking and use that are associated with real gaming. You may not notice this immediately, I sure as hell didn’t before getting my hands on SteelSeries’ Diablo 3 mouse. After I received the mouse that SteelSeries sent me, I put it through months of heavy use. Here is what I encountered:
At an aesthetic level, the D3 Mouse is a slick looking peripheral. While it almost resembles a standardized mouse without super fancy curves and over sized elements, it still has the amazing functionality of a gaming mouse. Just like it’s Diablo 3 Headset counterpart, the D3 Mouse has some great lighting effects that will allow the mouse appear to pulsate with an ominous red glow. The additional buttons are also flush with the side of the mouse, meaning that there isn’t a chance of accidentally hitting a button if you move your hand.
As a laser mouse, I was able to use the mouse on every service I was able to try it out on. Glass tables, glossy books, mirrors, cereal boxes and dogs were all appropriate surfaces for the mouse. SteelSeries also provided us with a Diablo 3 Mouse pad, which ultimately turned out to be one of the best surfaces for the mouse due to size and functionality. The braided cable is quite flexible and doesn’t get kinked like a traditional wired mouse. I did notice that the mouse handles faster than the wireless mouse I was using. It took some getting used to but it I have seen a definite improvement in gameplay as well. I ran a click test with both mice, testing the number of clicks over 10 seconds. The D3 Mouse registered more clicks when tested before AND after testing my Microsoft wireless mouse.
A few areas of note, the mouse is VERY sensitive, if you get any dust or hair on the laser sensor the mouse will become almost unusable. Make sure you keep your playing area free of any outside debris as you will find yourself blowing out the sensor like an old school NES game. Another issue I encountered was getting used to the cable itself. During testing, I used the mouse in a rather confined area that fit my laptop, mouse pad and room for cables. Without room to extend the cord fully, I noticed mice movement as soon as a removed my hand from the mouse. Coiling the cable above the mouse or just below the USB connector helped but it did take a little troubleshooting to find the “sweet spot” when I used this strategy.
The SteelSeries Engine allows you to fine tune the mouse to an ideal setting as well. The basics, such as button mapping and left or right hand modes are set from this location, as well as the more detailed features. 2 different CPI (counts per inch) can be assigned to the mouse and switched on the fly with a small button that is located just behind the wheel. I liked to keep a low setting as well as a high setting, this way if I needed to change my play style, I could do it easily. The engine also shows statistics of your usage as well, which can be informative as well as amusing. At the time of this review, I have right clicked over 500,000 times and left clicked about 300,000 times and the mouse is still functioning like it just came out of the box.
All in all, the mouse is a snazzy piece of the SteelSeries lineup that should be a must have for anyone that enjoys a good mouse. Of course, Diablo 3 fans will get that added kick of the super cool theme, maybe that’ll compensate for the lack of gameplay after about 100 hours.