SteelSeries unveils Rival Pro and Sensei Pro gaming mice with UWB and swappable batteries

The mice weigh 53 grams each in black and one gram more in white. They use circular batteries that unlock and lock into place in both the mouse and the wireless base station. The base station can keep a spare battery charged. Each battery is rated to last 16 hours at an 8,000Hz polling rate, though reducing the polling rate to 1,000Hz extends that to 60 hours per battery. The Verge said its reviewer swapped the batteries at least six times during a few weeks of testing.

Instead of the 2.4GHz wireless used by most gaming accessories, the Rival Pro and Sensei Pro communicate with their base station over ultra-wideband between 6.4GHz and 9.056GHz. SteelSeries says the mice gain access to spectrum that is not cluttered by signals from nearby consumer electronics. The company says this provides 20 times the bandwidth and lower latency, and supports high polling rates with better consistency than other brands, according to The Verge.

The launch adds features to SteelSeries’ GG companion app. SuperSync decouples click and sensor polling, allowing settings such as 8,000Hz click reporting and 4,000Hz sensor reporting. SteelSeries says decoupling them should reduce CPU load when 8,000Hz is enabled and may work better in games that have incompatibility issues with high polling rates. Smart DPI automatically adjusts DPI when a player moves from a game to menus, slowing when it is time to make a menu selection and returning to the preferred sensitivity when the game resumes.

GG is also available as a browser-based web app in Chrome or Edge, rather than only as a download. The Verge said the feature-reduced web version can install firmware updates and adjust simple settings, and described it as useful in a pinch.

The Rival Pro and Sensei Pro are available to preorder now and will ship on October 13, The Verge reported. SteelSeries is also releasing miniature versions of both form factors; the mini versions weigh four grams less and cost the same price.

The Verge’s reviewer said they had expected more gaming companies to challenge Logitech’s X2 and X3 Superstrike with haptics-based mice. They added that swappable batteries and better connectivity through UWB show there are still appealing ways to improve gaming mice before the industry moves on from mechanical switches.