We seem to be replacing wires with rechargeable batteries in more and more devices. The problem with that is, those batteries need recharging, which can take hours. Fast charging is changing the situation, and SteelSeries just put the feature to very good use in its latest gaming mouse.
The SteelSeries Rival 650 wireless mouse uses a TrueMove3+ dual sensor system. You may remember this dual optical sensor from the Rival 600 unveiled back at CES 2018 in January. It uses the second sensor to detect mouse liftoffs and stops the cursor from moving on-screen until the mouse is resting on a surface again. That was a wired mouse, though, where as the Rival 650 is wireless.
Wireless mice are fine, but inevitably become wired again when they need recharging. You are then presented with a choice: keep using the mouse while it recharges meaning a longer charge time, or step away for what could be hours while it recharges more quickly. The Rival 650 solves this problem by reducing charge time to just 15 minutes.
Recommended by Our Editors
The fast charging system integrated into the mouse allows a five minute charge to give you three hours of battery life. However, let the mouse charge for 15 minutes and you get over 10 hours of battery life. Just make sure you have a USB port that supports fast charging!
In terms of features, SteelSeries is positioning the Rival 650 as the perfect gaming mouse for someone who likes to tweak. It uses a side-loaded weight system allowing you to adjust the center of gravity of the mouse using 256 weight combinations. To support this, the mouse ships with eight 4 gram weights.
Connectivity is achieved using a Quantum Wireless 2.4GHz system offering 1ms polling. That's combined with a 12,000CPI main optical tracking sensor SteelSeries developed in partnership with PixArt. As well as adjusting weights, the sensor can be tweaked to track from 100 right through to 12,000CPI.
The SteelSeries Rival 650 is already available to order for $119.99, with stock expected to reach retailers by Oct. 5.