SteelSeries is revisiting the design of its budget gaming mouse, the Rival 3, and giving it a much-needed update. The Rival 3 Gen 2 stays true to the budget appeal, but is introducing new wireless models and a new range of colors.
For gamers who are looking to keep down costs, the best gaming mouse options in of pure value. Thankfully, despite this second generation bringing some improvements to the performance of the Rival 3, the cost is still extremely reasonable.
The SteelSeries Rival 3 isn't designed to wow you with a long list of features, but when cost is taken into consideration, it's hard to find a gaming mouse as reliable as the Rival 3 for a similar sub-$40 price.
With the Rival 3 Gen 2, rather than trying to push an ultralight weight or giant 35K optical sensor, SteelSeries instead highlights the reliability of its new clicker.
You're getting a 1.35ms response time, an updated TrueMove Core 8.5K optical sensor, and a 60-million-click guarantee, so even though you're spending less than $40 on this new gaming mouse, you know it's going to last.
As for the Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2, many of the same features carry over from the wired model, just with the addition of wireless connection modes. The click latency, however, is increased to 1.9ms, ing for the wireless connection.
You can choose between 2.4GHz wireless or Bluetooth 5.0, with the former offering a 200-hour battery life and the latter extending this figure to 450 hours, SteelSeries claims.
If you want to make the Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 lighter than its 106g default weight, you can also power it with just one AAA battery rather than two, removing approximately 11g from the total weight while halving the expected battery life.
The SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2 costs $34.99 / £34.99 and is available in black or white, while the Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 costs $59.99 / £54.99 and also comes in black or white, but also aqua and lavender colorways.
For more peripheral news, check out this new Noctua gaming mouse, which claims to have solved the issue of sweaty palms with an ingenious new design.
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