SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] Gaming Mouse Review

[siopao1984]

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Steelseries is a Danish maker of gaming-grade computer peripherals founded in 2001, initially selling headsets and mousepads before moving on to keyboards, mice and other accessories. They also have a long history of being at the forefront of the professional Esports scene, with world-class teams like Evil Geniuses, SK-Gaming and Fnatic under their sponsorship umbrella.

Today we have the opportunity to review the company's latest offering - Sensei RAW, a no-frills ambidextrous laser mouse targeted at the upper echelons of dicerning gamers. This newcomer is identical to the original Sensei minus gratuitous features like the 32-bit ARM processor, LCD menu screen and onboard memory. There is also a choice of a glossy or rubberized surface.

Specifications wise the Sensei Raw is no slouch, featuring a 5670DCPI-12000fps laser sensor augmented by industry leading Omron gaming-grade switches for the buttons.

Sensei is not the only ambidextrous model that SteelSeries sells, with physically smaller offerings like Kinzu and Kana at more affordable price ranges with less buttons and a cheaper infrared sensor.

Read more: SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] Gaming Mouse Review by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

As with any computer peripheral or accessory, personal preferences and taste come into play. Ambidextrous (i.e usable by both hands) mice are naturally preferred by left-handed users in a right-handed society that we live in, but also the symmetrical shape gives perfect weight distribution and balance that a serious FPS gamer demands.

There is a attractive looking white Steelseries logo on the body which is illuminated during operation. Other than the obvious drawback of being a fingerprint magnet (not so obvious in this case because its black), the glossy version has the advantage over the traditional rubberized surface of not being stripped off by friction and sweat, keeping the original look intact even after months of intensive use.



On both sides of the mouse, we get two strategically placed side buttons for your thumb, reminiscent of the famous Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 design that is still the de facto choice of many old-school gamers today.



On top, there is a middle button which is configured by default to be a CPI high-low toggle, and a partially illuminated scoll-wheel. The latter has just the right pressure and distance between each step to prevent accidental scrolling mishaps. Most importantly, the primary left and right click buttons takes an equal amount of force to actuate and responds quickly in rapid fire tapping scenarios for those soul gratifying headshots.



Below, we see a trio of teflon feet taking up 16% of the transparent base. The Avago ADNS-9500 laser sensor is mounted right smack in the middle, which is a good thing as it avoids unwanted Z-axis liftoff issues.



The USB cable attached to the Sensei Raw is stylishly braided (prevents tangles and improves durability) but not gold-plated at the connector end.

[siopao1984]

Software

By default, the Sensei Raw works brilliantly out of the box but there is an additional downloadable utility to customize it. As the mouse does not have onboard memory, any profiles created will not be carried over to the next PC, which can be quite a bummer for LAN gamers. There are adjustments options for CPI, Polling Rate and Logo illumination behaviour







There is also a nifty benchmark tool to calculate your ARM (actions per minute).





Testing Impressions



Ergonomics: Sensei Raw is one of the few mices in the market that gets the size, height and the arc elevation of the body just right to maximize muscle strength/reaction of the fingers and avoid hand fatigue/carpal tunnel syndrome. The best compliment that can be afforded to it is that its almost identical to the shape of the legendary Microsoft Intellimouse Optical 1.1, which is considered by many as the best mouse ever.

Buttons: Omron D2FC-F-7N(10M) switches, nuff said.





Tracking: We tested the Sensei Raw on a variety of cloth (QCK Mass, Razer Goliathus) and hard surfaces (table, Steelseries SX, Razer Scarab), and the sensor performed flawlessly without skipping from as low as 400 to 5670CPI. There was no noticable jitter, positive/negative acceleration behaviour or angle snapping/prediction as we can see from the tests above.





Actual gameplay: (see screenshot above) - owned everybody on the Battlefield



Conclusion



To be absolutely fair, not everybody is going to become a professional gamer overnight by using a brilliant mouse. Steelseries' Sensei Raw is undoubtedly one of the all-time greats (this is the opinion of someone who plays a lot of FPS and has owned: IE3, IO 1.1, DeathAdder, MX518, G5, Zowie AM, Kinzu, Boomslang and a dozen other assorted crap). With a price tag of USD$59.99, it is not prohibitively priced and is quite competitive with similar-speced mice from other brands. If you are put off by the USD$89.99 price tag of the original Sensei and do not require the extra (frankly, gratuitous) features, look no further than the (legitimate) aimbot known as the Sensei Raw.

Now we must go back to owning on the Battlefield...

[akomao]

boss siomike, dad.i ko ani ^_^ haha

[acronis]

kung multi-color palang iyang LED lighting.... this would have been the perfect mouse for me.... but I still want one!!!

[akomao]

boss! kani nlng https://www.istorya.net/forums/comput...ei-review.html

[acronis]

boss! kani nlng https://www.istorya.net/forums/comput...ei-review.html

metallic man iyang top finish (sensei original).... d nako type... mas ganahan ko sa sensei raw kay all black.