[Hardware]SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Review: Budget Quality

[Revo]

 

In my SteelSeries Rival 3 review in January, I said the mouse was easy-to-recommend to  anyone on a budget (you can find it for $29). In fact, the rat landed itself on our Best Gaming Mouse page as the standout budget option. My primary complaint about the mouse was its cable--a 6-foot-long rubber monstrosity that had a tendency to tangle and a texture that provided more traction than I’d like.

SteelSeries has addressed that complaint with the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless (MSRP $50). It has some of the hallmarks of the best wireless mouse, like excellent battery life. But SteelSeries also changed a lot of what I liked about the original Rival 3.
SteelSeries didn’t reinvent the wheel with Rival 3 Wireless. Its shape closely resembles that of its wired predecessor, with the exception of a detachable top plate, which houses the two AAA batteries used to power the mouse. (We’ll talk more about the wireless functionality in a bit.) The company describes the Rival 3 Wireless as a right-handed ergonomic mouse, but that’s only because it only has buttons on its left side. Otherwise, it’s shaped like an ambidextrous mouse, and SteelSeries targets it toward fingertip and claw grippers.

The Rival 3 Wireless is also ever-so-slightly smaller than the original Rival 3. It’s 4.74 inches long, 2.3 inches wide at the front, 2.64 inches wide at the back, 0.85 inches tall at the front and 1.49 inches tall at its peak. The wired Rival 3 measures 4.75 x 2.3-2.64 x 0.85-1.49 inches.

Unfortunately, the Rival 3 Wireless, which is mostly ABS plastic, is also quite a bit heavier than the Rival 3, weighing between 3.38 and 3.73 ounces, depending on if you opt to use one AAA battery or two for longer battery life. That’s up to 1.01 ounce heavier than its predecessor, which feels more significant than it sounds.

Some weight gain is to be expected when making a wired mouse wireless, however, because of the additional hardware requirements. The Rival 3 Wireless finds itself in good company at this weight: it’s similar to the Logitech G305 Lightspeed for example, as well as the Corsair Harpoon RGB Wireless (3.49 ounces each). Lighter wireless mice, such as the Logitech G Pro Wireless (2.82 ounces) and Razer Viper Ultimate (2.56 ounces) cost significantly more than the Rival 3 Wireless.

Luckily, that added weight also makes the Rival 3 Wireless feel a bit sturdier than its predecessor. Other aspects of the mouse feel mighty familiar. The scroll wheel texturing is typical SteelSeries, the matte coating is grippy without being too rough and the buttons all feel satisfying to press. On the other hand, there is some wobble on the primary mouse buttons, as well as a bit of pre-travel. But in daily use, these issues weren’t distracting.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a mass-market gaming mouse without some form of RGB backlighting, but the approach here is a bit different. The Rival 3 had RGB backlighting along the bottom of its case and via the SteelSeries logo but not on the scroll wheel. The Rival 3 Wireless only features lighting on the scroll wheel, however, likely helping to keep cost and weight down.

Gaming Performance
I’ll be upfront: I would probably like the Rival 3 Wireless a lot more if I hadn’t started using the HK Gaming Mira-M a few months ago. I’ve grown so accustomed to using an ultra-lightweight mouse (the wired rat is only 2.22 ounces) that using a ‘normal’ mouse feels strange. I’ve started to adapt, and this won’t be a negative for people who have yet to hop on the ultra-lightweight bandwagon.

That said, the Rival 3 Wireless mostly performed as expected. It debuts the SteelSeries’ TrueMove Air optical sensor, an upgrade over the wired version’s 8,500-CPI TrueMove Core. The new sensor has a CPI range from 100 to 18,000 that feels like every other modern sensor, as well as a max velocity of up to over 400 IPS if you’re using one of SteelSeries’ best RGB mouse pads and 400 IPS otherwise. The sensor can handle up to 40g of acceleration.

I didn’t have any sensor-related problems flicking on to heads in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, cutting down guards in the demo for Ghostrunner or absently clicking my way through Divinity: Original Sin 2. This is a modern gaming mouse with modern gaming performance.

Going wireless also benefited my game. I appreciated the lack of a cable that can get caught on my desk -- or pounced upon by my cat -- which automatically gives the Rival 3 Wireless an advantage over the Rival 3.

Nothing else about the Rival 3 Wireless truly stood out.The mouse neither astounds nor confounds; it simply meets my expectations for a modern gaming mouse. SteelSeries used mechanical switches for the left and right buttons, but they felt pretty typical. The two side buttons were positioned in a way that felt just right in my hand, so even if there will be some natural variance between users, I’m comfortable saying their placement is fine.

Wireless Performance
The Rival 3 Wireless offers your choice of connecting via Bluetooth 5.0, which should give you longer battery life and save you a USB port, or via a USB Type-A dongle. But for gaming, you’re encouraged to use the dongle.

Because seemingly every gaming brand has its own wireless tech these days, the dongle uses SteelSeries’ Quantum 2.0 Wireless technology. It operates on the 2.4 GHz band, broadcasts on two wireless channels across 40 frequencies to fight data packet loss during potential wireless interference and is also built for long battery life (more on that below).

Due to my setup, I did suffer interference issues with the Rival 3 Wireless and its Quantum 2.0 dongle at first. My PC usually sits under the left side of my desk, and I typically notice connection issues when a wireless mouse is on the far-right of my somewhat large mouse pad, which is roughly 2.5 feet away from my gaming PC. With this setup, I encountered some problems with my crosshair jumping about and button presses being lost, which is frustrating in single-player games and a deal-breaker in competitive titles.

Clearing any clutter from my desk (my phone, any beverages, etc.) and bringing the hardware closer together addressed those problems. Since modifying my setup, the mouse’s dongle connection has been reliable. Some products just have to be met halfway; the Rival 3 Wireless is one of them.