Steelseries Sensei "Tournament Grade" Wireless Gaming Mouse
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,513 words · ~7 min read
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the easy way to do this video would be to explain that the Sensei Wireless is
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basically the Sensei with like an upgraded sensor that goes up to 8200 CPI
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natively and 50 CPI increments and up to 16,400 CPI with the steel series engine
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3 software and some fancy interpolation although I doubt any of that will be
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necessary since even on a 1440p monitor anything that high will be Beyond being
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able to control but they also removed a
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wire so I guess we'll need a full video for
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this
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with its Factory tuning and data center DNA an Intel 730 series SSD is an
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amazing choice for gamers and performance enthusiasts so let's open up
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with a physical tour of the mouse my IM median impression was one of relief that
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steel Series has ditched the glossy plastic of the Sensei and gone back to a
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soft touch finish like the zy in the akari series Bravo steel series hard
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plastic is sucky and I really like this implementation now a tour of the buttons
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they are all completely remappable with a pretty comprehensive list of
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individual commands or macros that can be set up with no delay a recorded delay
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or predetermined delay and starting on the top we've got your standard left and
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right click with a middle click scroll wheel that has a very satisfying resistance as you scroll and a great
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rubber texture some people will be turned off by the fact that that scroll
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wheel does not include tilt but personally I find til a little bit hard
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to use without accidentally clicking it anyway so I don't miss it and then
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finally the last button on top is a CPI toggle that you can use as a sniper mode
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if you want or reprogram it to whatever else if you want anyway on the sides the
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mouse is ambidextrous so there are two buttons on each side for your pinky or
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your thumb depending on whether you're a righty or a self paaw and then finally
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on the bottom you've got the sensor charging contacts for the internal battery a power switch a connect button
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that I never had to use and finally a cable lock for when you want to switch
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to wired mode a nice touch in terms of
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customizability the mouse has three different lightings zones Each of which
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can be used to indicate battery status with green yellow and red color codes or
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be configured to Glow any color you want with either a steady glow or a breathing
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effect the zones are on the sides of the scroll wheel the steel series logo at
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the back of the mouse and finally around the outside of the base station where
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the mouse goes on top of it speaking of the base station I actually really like
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the implementation here there's only so much you can do to make a mouse feel
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premium without making it heavy so wheel
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Series has thrown that premiumness into the base station it's a flat charging
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dock that has a really high-end you know nice heft to its construction with a
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thick aluminum top plate and then a great rubberized grippy bottom so it's
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not going to go anywhere it's flat so the mouse is very easy to put in place
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and have it be charging and the braided cable that plugs into it looks and feels
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nice and not only that but it acts as an auxiliary cord for the mouse as well now
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I would have preferred an additional
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cable that goes from the base station to the mouse so that you don't have to
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unplug and then replug the mouse in while switching and wait for it to be
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redetected but maybe we'll get a feature like that in revision two somewhere down
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the line back on the subject of the weight of the mouse though the Sensei
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Wireless is on the heavy side at about 117 G and considering that compared to
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other you know Competitive Gaming mice it needs a battery then I guess that
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weight seems pretty reasonable I mean it's almost exactly the same as the
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Logitech g502 without any added weights which is a Wired Mouse and only about 5
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G more than the old Sensei but as an old
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school aari laser user I might have liked something a bit lighter with an
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optional weight system if they could swing it again I understand the
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constraints given that it is wireless
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and that's about it for Hardware so let's move on to the software steel series engine has evolved a lot and
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supports an unlimited number of profiles now that you can trigger with application or game launches with the
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usual suspect adjustments such as lift distance angle snapping pulling rate and
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acceleration control in there as well that's all old stuff though the big new
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feature that's being introduced with the Sensei Wireless but actually works with
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other devices as well is steel series Cloud it basically just syncs your
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profiles across devices whenever you sign into steel seies engine 3 in much
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the same way that competing Solutions do with a big part of the pitch being that
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you aren't being forced to use it if you do decide to use it the sign up process
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takes a few seconds and they just ask for a name email address and password
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you can give them your birthday in gender if you want but if you don't feel like it you can just press skip neat
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final thoughts time since it weighs about the same and to the best of my
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ability to perceive it performs exactly the same as an equivalent wired gaming
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mouse there are only a couple of things to really discuss in this conclusion
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first is the convenience of being able to use it from the couch aside whether I
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think it's worth it to deal with the hassle of recharging versus the hassle
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of cord drag to start with the 16h hour battery life is not very impressive
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while it's enough for any but the most hardcore gaming sessions and a flat easy
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to align aesthetically pleasing charger is a heck of a lot better than a finicky
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one like the one that came with my first wireless mouse in the Logitech MX Duo
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hardcore Gamers will have to charge their Mouse every day or two or keep an
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eye on the colored battery indicator to avoid needing to switch to wired mode
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from time to time something that would bother me less if it wasn't for the
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whole red detection thing the second is
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the controversial continued use of laser
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sensors that boast massive DPI or CPI
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ratings but are known to have acceleration even if you turn it off
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compared to less expensive Optical sensors like the pixart 3090 and 3310
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that do not I understand that it puts steel Series in an awkward position
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since they'd be saving only a couple of bucks on the sensor so they'd be trying
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to Market a $150 wireless mouse that doesn't have top-of-the-line specs in
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every category against their competitors and I realize that a big part of the
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problem is the consumers who are mindlessly shopping by bigger numbers or
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whatever Mouse some Pro Player I think is cool uses but I would like to see
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steel series use the most appropriate Hardware rather than what sounds better
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I wouldn't ask this of just anyone but I think steel series leaders that they are
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in the gaming peripheral space have a responsibility to invest in educating
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Gamers about the real world gaming experience that a perfect sense delivers
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versus one with amped up CPI but maybe
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most people will think I'm just being a crusader over nothing here I mean if
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you're using a laser mouse already and it's not bothering you then this one
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won't bother you either so if you like everything else about it the overall
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performance of the Sensei Wireless can't be faulted enjoy your new gaming mouse
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if you've got the bling bling to afford one of them thank you for watching guys
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the link for where to find pricing for this product is in the video description
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