SteelSeries has provided us with a
couple products from their lineup, which includes the Siberia 200, a headset
for the PC and PS4, and the Rival 100, a mouse loaded with options that supports
both PC and Mac. While I have not had any hands on experience with SteelSeries’
products, I was looking forward to seeing how they compare to the likes of
Roccat or Razer, especially being a more affordable option. With headphones and
mouse unboxed, drivers downloaded, and configured for specific games, it’s time
to see how the hold up.
I will begin with the Rival 100, a
wired optical gaming mouse with six programmable buttons and a user friendly.
The setup was easy, I just downloaded SteelSeries Engine 3 and I was ready to
setup individual profiles for my preferred game or application. There is a
unique feature called GameSense which provides different illumination for in
game actions, the downside was that only three games support this feature, none
of which I play. This mouse has smooth movement and easy to locate buttons, my
only complaint is with the weight, being lighter than I prefer, and the side
grips really didn’t provide much if any grip, but the performance customization
is where it really shined.
Next up is the Siberia 200
headset, which is based on their best selling Siberia V2 with updates. This
headset on top of providing great sound quality and voice chat was very
comfortable to wear for long periods of time. This comfort comes not only from
the over the ear design, but the suspension headband that eliminates the
pressure found wearing other headsets.
Another unique feature is the mic as it retracts and extends from the
earcup for those times using just to listen to music. I mentioned the sound
quality and it provided a great range of sound in explosions and motor noises
in games and much easier to hear teammates at high volume during online play,
which is my biggest issue with most of the headsets I have used on the PS4.
Once again, like my complaint with the mouse is with the build quality and
while they performed well, better than expected, they just didn’t provide a
sturdy feel when handling.
