SteelSeries is about ‘For Glory’ and since 2001, this Danish peripheral developer and designer has been glorified through the many Esports teams that have won tournaments under their sponsorships. Starting from a mousepad they have grown their empire to what it is today; a fierce competitor in the peripheral business. With an extensive catalogue of mice for the casual and pro-gamer, the ‘Prime’ range has caught the attention of the MKAU office. Let’s take a dive into the SteelSeries Prime gaming mouse.

The SteelSeries Prime is a silky matte black mouse with a wheel accented by RGB lighting. This 69gram lightweight mouse comes with two broad frontal buttons and two mini side buttons within thumb reach on the right.

Wired in, this USB mouse comes with plenty of cable length so you will never find yourself snagged in a sticky situation and if you do it will unplug in an instant. Three slider feet underneath ensures that you have no drag and glide flawlessly around any mousepad. The design is very simple with not many visually appealing flairs of design but definitely is built to be sturdy.

Also underneath, you will find a CPI button. The SteelSeries Prime has a CPI range of up to 18,000 when using the supplied software. Not the highest CPI available, but realistically, no one needs their pointer phasing across the screen like it is on acid.

For even the pros, 18,000 is MORE than reasonable. The underside button, however, does have 5 preset CPI levels represented by colours just in case you do need to change on the fly. Long presses will also adjust the polling rate on the fly. We love convenience at MKAU, and that button is all about it.

The first thing you will notice functionality-wise is that the frontal trigger buttons are very, umm, clicky. Probably the loudest I have had in a long time. While people like me enjoy that as I already run a mechanical keyboard and I am naturally loud by nature, others will definitely be deterred by this. This sound is due to their different designed switches (MO switches) underneath that act more like a springboard than a button. I actually felt that these were indeed very responsive and you can feel the push back from the bounce.

The SteelSeries GG software means I can program my mouse to meet all my needs; whether it be for gaming or everyday home office. Here, you can map out 4 buttons and the scroll wheel’s functionality, macros, and a complete must for mice, your CPI levels. Fabulously, you can further tweak your CPI, essentially, the speed of your mouse, by adjusting the acceleration, deceleration, and polling rates. The polling rate reaches 1000Hz, meaning your inputs are processed in a jiffy if your rig is up to it. I have reviewed a lot of peripherals but it needs to be said that SteelSeries has built some of the most user-friendly and functional software to pair with their devices.

As a final positive, the SteelSeries Prime is compatible with Apple, Microsoft, and Xbox, meaning more and more plug-and-play options across multiple platforms.

Is the SteelSeries Prime an extravagant mouse? No. If you are looking for a stylish piece for your setup, perhaps look elsewhere on their website, but if you want a good mouse for the reasonable price of US$69.99, a lightweight mouse that glides across your mousepad and has preset and customisable settings, then the SteelSeries Prime is definitely your mouse. A sturdy mouse, SteelSeries have you covered for the simplest and most exciting computing needs.

Written by: Stacey