SteelSeries Sensei Gaming Mouse Review (PC)

Question. Can a mouse make you better at games. Answer. No, of course not. But some can certainly smooth out a few of the rough edges!

Before the SteelSeries Sensei was around, I reviewed the rather lovely SteelSeries Xai. It was a very clever little rodent, that boasted more features than an a 1980s games system. Now, I have my hands on its new sibling – the Sensei and whilst it may look similar, in reality it ups the game in nearly every way. But where to start!

I am at a loss when trying to talk about faults.

On the outside, the shape is the same as the Xai. it maintains the balance, ambidextrous contours. Comfortable and practical. you will feel at home instantly with the Sensei. Rather than the black soft grip coating of previous SteelSeries outings, we have a smooth silver metal coating. I will admit, I was dubious about this. I like the soft grip stuff. But after a few hours, I was totally used to the new coating. It feels cool to the touch and never seems to slip from your hand, even in the most intense and sweaty fire fights. On the top, you have the usual left and right buttons and the clickable scroll buttons. You also have a small button, hidden away behind the scroll wheel that lets you switch between two predefined CPI (like DPI but different) settings. On the sides you have a mirrored pair of buttons. It is hard to talk about how it looks, without mentioning one of the Sensei’s biggest departures from previous Steelseries mice – the lighting schemes. You can set the colour of the scroll wheel, the DIP switch and the Steelseries logo at the back. I know, I know – it doesn’t improve your ability to play. But, most other pro mice have it, so it is kind of nice to see that Steelseries have added it. It also serves a practical use. It is a quick way to see which of the five on board profiles you are currently using. So basically it looks really nice and is comfortable. Inside it has also had some pretty big updates. Steelseries are pretty keen to point out that the processor (yes processor – like in your PC), is as powerful as a Pentium 75 PC. That may not mean much to some, but my first PC was a Pentium 75 and that seemed pretty powerful at the time!! Why the hell, I hear you scream, would you need a 32bit ARM processor in a mouse. Well dear reader, let me explain. Like the Xai before it and several other mice (The CM Storm Sentinel springs to mine), the Sensei is meant to be a driverless mouse. Plug it in to any PC (or Mac) and it will work, with all of your profiles and settings intact. Now, to start with there are five separate profiles that can be stored on the mouse. All of them can be totally unique, with unique macros, CPI settings, button maps etc. However, there is more to it than just storage here. The Sensei needs the processing power to handle all of the ‘helping hands’ that the Sensei can offer, as well as a few clever resolution tricks that it has up it’s sleeve. First off we have EXECTSENSE. This is the system for setting the sensitivity of the mouse. SteelSeries measure things in CPI (Counts Per Inch) rather than the standard DPI. It is just a number, one that they feel is a more accurate representation of accuracy. Basically the higher the number the faster the cursor will move on the screen. The Sensei has a little more to offer with its high processing power, it can double the CPI of the mouse. SO rather than the standard 5,700 CPI you can digitally and magically up this to 11,400 CPI. Now, this won’t make it any more accurate – but it will make it faster for people using multiple monitor setups. Essentially it will decrease the distance you need to move the mouse to go from one side of the screen to the other! Next we have FREEMOVE. This is my favourite bit of help on the mouse. It smoothes the path for you, making it much easier to aim that perfect head shot. You can choose how much smoothing there is – or of course turn it off entirely. EXACTAIM can help this even further, adding an extra level of deceleration as you slow down to aim. Again, this can be adjusted as much as you like. EXACTACCEL, as the FAQ says, does the exact opposite. It adds extra acceleration to the mouse – handy for turning quickly in a fight. Finally on the EXACT front is EXACTLIFT. This lets you accurately set the lift distance for the mouse. This is the distance from the surface you are using, that the mouse will still respond to movements. This is a very personal taste and it is great to be able to set this. As you can see, there is a lot of tech in there. However, none of that is much use if it is difficult to manage. Luckily the Sensei has two different ways of managing the settings. First is on the mouse its self. On the base of the mouse is a small LCD screen. Pressing and holding the CPI switch puts you into edit mode. Once you have selected from the five onboard profiles, you can edit almost every major setting straight there. This is very handy for on the fly adjustments, especially if you are not on you main machine. The second way is with the Steelseries Engine software. This is a simple to use, graphical interface for every setting available, from the CPI settings to the Logo that is shown on the Sensei’s LCS screen. Again, you can edit the onboard profiles as well as create new ones that are just held in the Engine software. Transferring between the mouse and your computer is as simple as Drag and Drop. The engine software also allows you to create Macros for your mouse buttons. These can be as simple or as complex as you like all done with an easy to use recording facility. Another neat little feature is the Engines ability to record your use of the mouse and then display statistics based on this. Hand for tracking down repeated actions that could just as easily be a macro. The job of a reviewer is quite simple. Look at something and tell people what you think of it. You make sure that you are as objective as possible – giving facts and opinions based on those facts. It is even easier if the product is rubbish. You get to have fun politely slagging it off. However, it is much harder when you are presented with a product like the Sensei. I am at a loss when trying to talk about faults. It is comfortable, it is accurate, it has worked on every surface I have tried, it has some great features that have genuinely helped my game playing. You can personalise it in every way. It is ambidextrous. The only two things that I can fault are both very subjective in nature. The first is price. At present it will set you back about £60 if you look around (£89.99 RRP). This is a lot for a mouse. I can’t deny that. However this brings me on to the second thing. Do you really need it? If you are serious about gaming or you want to be serious then a good mouse is very important. As I have said before, these ar
e tools of the trade – not toys. It is the difference between buying a Bosch drill and a Tesco value drill. They will both do the job, but if you are serious and want to do the job exceptionally and reliably you will choose the Bosch even though it is more expensive. Now of course, this is not going to make you a god like player of Counter Strike. It will however help take you to the next level, if you are willing to spend some time getting the settings just right. If you have the money and you want to get a mouse that will satisfy your every need, from work to play, then I cannot recommend the Sensei highly enough. I feel that it deserves our highest accolade, the Diamond Y. Now get saving! Some tech specs