SteelSeries Rival 650 Wireless Gaming Mouse: Official GBAtemp review

review_banner_steelseries_rival_650_wireless_gaming_mouse.jpg
Our latest hardware review is here, this time featuring the Rival 650 mouse from SteelSeries. This is probably the most feature-packed mouse I've ever seen, with 12,000 CPI tracking, depth sensors, and most importantly, the RGB lights. Is it good enough, though, to be worth the asking price? Check out our review to find out!

:arrow:SteelSeries Rival 650 Wireless Gaming Mouse: Official GBAtemp Review
 

mezz0

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
66
Trophies
0
Location
::1
XP
601
Country
Belgium
no mouse is worth that kind of money. An MX-1000 (rip) maybe, but all this rgb, millions of cpi etc, it's all marketing and playing the young ones. A shell, buttons and a laser + chip shouldnt cost 120$ or euro. You don't need colors on a mouse.
/god I feel old :P
 
  • Like
Reactions: crea and Korma

guily6669

GbaTemp is my Drug
Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
Messages
2,291
Trophies
1
Age
34
Location
Doomed Island
XP
2,050
Country
United States
My mouse is not much amazing in precision and its very sensitive, but I still haven't found a replacement for it, all the known brands sell very expensive mouses with even less features...

Mine is this one (Revoltec FightMouse Elite):
51uhzSvZ5kL._SX355_.jpg
Elite(1).jpg
img2_c82a2fbd0b12693082496c5f3805a9da.jpg
I like that the speed DPI change is made as a click button that goes forward and backwards, also the mouse wheel not only presses down as it also presses to the sides to do a side scroll or use as another extra button.

It also have all the crapware different profiles and combos, but I don't care a single crap for it...

Just wished the mouse had way better precision and way less detection distance from the surface :(.
 
Last edited by guily6669,

blazingwolf

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
564
Trophies
1
XP
1,048
Country
United States
First one I owned failed on me in less than 24 hours, right click failed on me. I switched over to the G703 and while it did start to double click after a year of serious MOBA abuse, the second one has been chugging along. Just feels great in the hand.
 

crea

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
167
Trophies
1
XP
1,019
Country
Lesotho
They make excellent mice and distanced themselves from BullyHunters. If it's not regular behavior from their side I'm not sure I care.

*Edit: my sincerest apologies, I wrote a personal line that was somewhat out of place. Forgive me. :)

Rest of original post:
Shillseries never once made a good gaming mouse. It is overpriced garbage, touted with shills and lots of advertising. They had SO MANY failed products in the past with countless flaws, bugs and issues, but never admitted to any flaw and never fixed them. Just horrible.
Their only capable product is the Qck mousepad, but it wears out much too fast compared to the competition.

The worst company from a consumer standpoint. Even Razer is better by heaps and bounds, while being money grabbers with sub-par quality products themselfes.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

On the topic of a capable wireless gaming mouse I can recommend Logitech G305 or G Pro Wireless.
But don't take some writers word for it, read it up yourself and form your own opinion on expert forums like https://www.overclock.net/forum/375-mice/
 
Last edited by crea,

Chary

Never sleeps
Chief Editor
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
12,334
Trophies
4
Age
27
Website
opencritic.com
XP
128,049
Country
United States
But don't take some writers word for it, read it up yourself and form your own opinion on expert forums like https://www.overclock.net/forum/375-mice/
Don't take this forum writer's word for it, take this other forum writer's word for it!! What?

Can't say I've had much experience with Steelseries products, but everyone has their preferences when it comes to gaming mice. Public opinion seems to lean in favor of them being a decent company, at the very least. I'd be far more apt to trust Steelseries over my crappy Corsair mouse, too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scarlet and crea

crea

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
167
Trophies
1
XP
1,019
Country
Lesotho
Don't take this forum writer's word for it, take this other forum writer's word for it!! What?
Ok I will spell it out in the clearest way, just for you. Don't follow my opinion, form your own opinion by reading 1000's of gaming mouse enthusiasts findings, measurements, reviews on an expert forum.

Can't say I've had much experience with Steelseries products, but everyone has their preferences when it comes to gaming mice. Public opinion seems to lean in favor of them being a decent company, at the very least. I'd be far more apt to trust Steelseries over my crappy Corsair mouse, too.
"Public opinion" is in many cases awfully close to manipulation by payed shills. Enthusiast's opinions underlined with measurements of the actual performance, thorough explanations as to why one detail is superior to another, has a lot more weight to it.
 

Chary

Never sleeps
Chief Editor
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
12,334
Trophies
4
Age
27
Website
opencritic.com
XP
128,049
Country
United States
Ok I will spell it out in the clearest way, just for you. Don't follow my opinion, form your own opinion by reading 1000's of gaming mouse enthusiasts findings, measurements, reviews on an expert forum.
Let me spell it out for you. You're not really going to sway a lot of people's opinions by acting like an elitist jerk, I'm certain. Reviews are at their best when you read a lot of them, from multiple sources, and differing perspectives, so you can make an informed decision. That's entirely true. But you're trying to flippantly invalidate someone's review by linking to...another review. It's still just someone's opinion. Enthusiast reviews help towards consumers gathering information about their purchase, but that doesn't mean they're the only reviews you should trust.

EDIT: All it would have taken for you to have an ounce of respect, would have been instead of strutting in, calling someone clueless, and scoffing at someone's review while seemingly shilling some random link, you could have just offered that those serious about their gaming mice might want to look into if SteelSeries is a company worth your time, due to previous issues or QA problems. Dunno why you seem so irritated over everything.
 

crea

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
167
Trophies
1
XP
1,019
Country
Lesotho
"acting like an elitist jerk". I beg to differ, no need to get insulting.

I did not link to another review, what are you talking about. I linked, as I have repeatedly said, one of the expert forums on gaming mice, with the most knowledge and thorough testing.


You can have your personal opinion. Go buy steelseries all you want. I simply stated the fact there are much better products out there and shillseries sadly does not care much about making a great product, or the issues their customers experience.
 
Last edited by crea,

Minox

Thanks for the fish
Former Staff
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
6,992
Trophies
2
XP
6,138
Country
Japan
*Edit: my sincerest apologies, I wrote a personal line that was somewhat out of place. Forgive me. :)

Rest of original post:
Shillseries never once made a good gaming mouse. It is overpriced garbage, touted with shills and lots of advertising. They had SO MANY failed products in the past with countless flaws, bugs and issues, but never admitted to any flaw and never fixed them. Just horrible.

The worst company from a consumer standpoint. Even Razer is better by heaps and bounds, while being money grabbers with sub-par quality products themselfes.
Care to elaborate about these flaws and bugs? Personally I have not had any issues with my Steelseries mice other than the rubber on top wearing out after about 5 years of usage making for a somewhat nasty surface.

Continuing with personal anecdotes I once bought a Razer mouse that had a mechanical failure within two months. I got a free replacement, but that one also broke in the same way. It wasn't before I got the forth replacement in less than a year that I got a sample that lasted for more than the 3 year warranty period.
 

crea

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
167
Trophies
1
XP
1,019
Country
Lesotho
EDIT: All it would have taken for you to have an ounce of respect, would have been instead of strutting in, calling someone clueless, and scoffing at someone's review while seemingly shilling some random link, you could have just offered that those serious about their gaming mice might want to look into if SteelSeries is a company worth your time, due to previous issues or QA problems. Dunno why you seem so irritated over everything.

I just saw your edit. What a strange way of distorting a conversation. Also, I think this is a misunderstanding.
Just by clicking the link I offered, you would have realized I linked a whole FORUM full of information. Your accusation of being guilty of the same crime of shilling, which I insinuate regarding steelseries, could not be further from the truth...
 

crea

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
167
Trophies
1
XP
1,019
Country
Lesotho
Care to elaborate about these flaws and bugs? Personally I have not had any issues with my Steelseries mice other than the rubber on top wearing out after about 5 years of usage making for a somewhat nasty surface.

Continuing with personal anecdotes I once bought a Razer mouse that had a mechanical failure within two months. I got a free replacement, but that one also broke in the same way. It wasn't before I got the forth replacement in less than a year that I got a sample that lasted for more than the 3 year warranty period.

In the fps area of Quake 3 Arena I was pretty active. I became a real nerd for gaming mice, as for me it made a huge difference chosing good euippment, at a time when ball mice were still a thing and the first serious optical gaming mice began to surface.

So one day I gave the Steelseries Kinzu a try, as it was hugely advertised and was apparenty used by some very good players.
I was hugely disappointed with what I got. The Kinzu performed way worse that any optical mouse I used before, which were not even "gaming" grade (MS wheelmouse optical) and I could not figure out why. At the beginning I looked into possible software or driver issues. Did not fix it.
So I searched further and found forum entries that described what I was experiencing pretty well: for slow movements, the kinzu got positive acceleration, meaning it adds unwanted pointer movement to your mouse movement in an counter-intuitive way. But at faster movements, it would have negative acceleration, meaning the pointer was lagging behind your mouse movement. Then, there was an early malfunction speed which I would easily hit, where the optical sensor could not register movements faster then a certain speed at all.

I checked this myself with a mouse testing program called "Enotus mousetest", which was just released at the time by another mouse enthusiast.

So, I emailed steelseries support: Then began an oddysey over the span of a few month, of super slow, generic replies at first, then plain refusal to admit any issues with the kinzu mouse, then denial of giving my money back.
The offer they made was, I should send the mouse at my own expense to their nordic headquaters (which was like 20+ euro just shipping) and they would send me a replacement, basically the same mouse new. Which I was certain from other users also, would not fix anything, as the mouse firmware itself coupled with the optical sensor was the culprit.

I was young and naive then, I know now that it is common for companies to have such practices in the name of profit. Just that steelseries was the first to advertise as perfect and flawless and whatnot, with premium price, then delivering a really low quality product riddled with issues...

Funnily enough, similar happened with kinzu "v2" they released after, then "Xai" which also had issues. I continuously read the same complains, they never released a satisfactory mouse, did not admit or refund, but always charged premium price. It saddens me to this day I had opened pandoras box and had to understand what capitalism does to companies.

I never bought any steelseries product again, but to this day despise their dishonest approach.

The end. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Minox

Minox

Thanks for the fish
Former Staff
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
6,992
Trophies
2
XP
6,138
Country
Japan
In the fps area of Quake 3 Arena I was pretty active. I became a real nerd for gaming mice, as for me it made a huge difference chosing good euippment, at a time when ball mice were still a thing and the first serious optical gaming mice began to surface.

So one day I gave the Steelseries Kinzu a try, as it was hugely advertised and was apparenty used by some very good players.
I was hugely disappointed with what I got. The Kinzu performed way worse that any optical mouse I used before, which were not even "gaming" grade (MS wheelmouse optical) and I could not figure out why. At the beginning I looked into possible software or driver issues. Did not fix it.
So I searched further and found forum entries that described what I was experiencing pretty well: for slow movements, the kinzu got positive acceleration, meaning it adds unwanted pointer movement to your mouse movement in an counter-intuitive way. But at faster movements, it would have negative acceleration, meaning the pointer was lagging behind your mouse movement. Then, there was an early malfunction speed which I would easily hit, where the optical sensor could not register movements faster then a certain speed at all.

I checked this myself with a mouse testing program called "Enotus mousetest", which was just released at the time by another mouse enthusiast.

So, I emailed steelseries support: Then began an oddysey over the span of a few month, of super slow, generic replies at first, then plain refusal to admit any issues with the kinzu mouse, then denial of giving my money back.
The offer they made was, I should send the mouse at my own expense to their nordic headquaters (which was like 20+ euro just shipping) and they would send me a replacement, basically the same mouse new. Which I was certain from other users also, would not fix anything, as the mouse firmware itself coupled with the optical sensor was the culprit.

I was young and naive then, I know now that it is common for companies to have such practices in the name of profit. Just that steelseries was the first to advertise as perfect and flawless and whatnot, with premium price, then delivering a really low quality product riddled with issues...

Funnily enough, similar happened with kinzu "v2" they released after, then "Xai" which also had issues. I continuously read the same complains, they never released a satisfactory mouse, did not admit or refund, but always charged premium price. It saddens me to this day I had opened pandoras box and had to understand what capitalism does to companies.

I never bought any steelseries product again, but to this day despise their dishonest approach.

The end. :)
I see. I have not noticed any such issues with the Steelseries mice I've purchased the last 10 years or so, but that does indeed sound like a somewhat annoying experience. I have nice memories of the Microsoft mice of old even though they were never really intended for gaming :)
 

Kioku

猫。子猫です!
Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
11,987
Trophies
2
Location
In the Murderbox!
Website
www.twitch.tv
XP
16,075
Country
United States
Ok I will spell it out in the clearest way, just for you. Don't follow my opinion, form your own opinion by reading 1000's of gaming mouse enthusiasts findings, measurements, reviews on an expert forum.


"Public opinion" is in many cases awfully close to manipulation by payed shills. Enthusiast's opinions underlined with measurements of the actual performance, thorough explanations as to why one detail is superior to another, has a lot more weight to it.
It's a pretty elitist attitude you've got.. I don't like Steelseries personally, but I've heard more good than bad. Especially with their keyboards and headsets. Calling the people who advocate for them and like their products shills is toxic.
 

crea

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Messages
167
Trophies
1
XP
1,019
Country
Lesotho
Hmm. Why are so many posters in this thread trying to make this personal, using insults and strawman arguments...

I don't care about your opinion about me, Memoir.

What I care about is people supporting a gaming mouse maker that actually builds good products instead of using payed interest by marketing and leaving disappointed customers in the dust.

On the topic of wireless gaming mice, maybe this one isn't half bad for once. Just let me put it this way, you get an equal or better (probably better) wireless mouse for less then half the price. Just check overclock for recommendations.
 
Last edited by crea,

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    Veho @ Veho: