SteelSeries Rival 100

Not a broad mouse, but it has broad appeal.

This is a good basic mouse, with only two additional buttons, and a sensitivity switch on top. With a smooth matte plain black finish, it fits well in our palm — although claw grippers will get on well with it too — and the programmable lighting is kept to just the wheel and the logo on the rear.

There’s a lot to like about this budget offering but it doesn’t feel like it’s built to a budget. There’s a good rubbery grip at the side, bobbled for extra pleasure, and it’s light, although with no option to increase the weight. The shape is ambidextrous, but there are only buttons on the lefthand side, catering to the righties. The buttons have new switches, and are lighter and easier to press than the original Rival.

The wheel rotates much as you’d expect, with no clicking left and right. It feels a little less solid than on pricier models, but still works perfectly in general use. There’s a hint of the Microsoft mouse about the body, and it’s likely to appeal to a broad range of users.

Underneath, SteelSeries has splashed out on a home-grown optical sensor and it performs well. The maximum resolution is 2,000dpi, but this can be doubled in software. Just like using the digital zoom on your cellphone camera, though, noise creeps in and the quality is degraded, so we still don’t recommend doing this.

Overall, this is a great budget offering. It may not have the extras that other devices in this test have, but it also doesn’t suffer from their price tags. It’s hard to go wrong with something this well made for this kind of price.