Today we are closely inspecting the ambidextrous Steelseries Sensei, and some of the features include: up to 11,000 dpi, excellent software, and customizable backlighting. Additionally, the Sensei was built and tested around the feedback of professional players – meaning every tiny detail has been created with the gamer in mind.
So how does the Steelseries Sensei feel during gaming sessions? Well, it fits firmly in your hand while also allowing you to either claw or palm grip it. We should also mention that this is a very rare mouse because it’s not only shaped for use by either left or right-handed players, but even features two standard thumb-buttons on each side of the mouse.
The mouse does not come with your standard rubbery plastic finish, but instead has a shiny paint that was an absolute bugger to photograph because it shows every single smudge or greasy mark! Overall the look and feel of the Sensei can be easily summed up in one word: Sexy!
You’ve got a total of 8 buttons, including 2 thumb buttons on each side. As a right-handed player, I actually found the left-handed thumb buttons reachable and useable while gaming, most likely because of my large hands/fingers. There is also a dpi switch located just below the mouse wheel that enables you to swap between a high dpi and low dpi. Other than that, the Sensei maintains a minimalistic approach to button layout, something I love to see, as some designers try to cram buttons over the entire mouse.
There is also a little secret located on the bottom of the mouse: a little LCD screen that can display almost any picture, and it looks pretty badass! I've thrown a few examples in the gallery below the main picture at the top.
Next up, the software is excellent. Just look at this picture:
At first glance, it looks a little overwhelming when compared to Razer's software, but don’t fret, Steelseries has your back. Simply hovering over any setting will show a complete and concise description of what it does. Now you’ve got a lovely range of settings that you can tweak, such as standard DPI control that goes up to 6,000 dpi or over 11,000 dpi when being boosted via the software. There is also the ability to completely control mouse acceleration, life-off distance and path correction/angle snapping.
The last few features I mentioned are important for the hardcore gamer that wants their mouse to perform at 120% during any game, especially during those down-to-the-wire moments when you can lose an entire game with a single mistake.
Overall, Steelseries has created the best software I’ve ever seen. Razer's software is lovely and easy to use, but if you want complete control over your mouse while also having easy to use software, I’d strongly recommend Steelseries.
One other thing to mention is the default profiles that come with the Sensei/Steelseries software are in fact the same settings that famous professional gamers use, such as IdrA, Shushei and cArn. (It's lovely to see them included, by the way.)
At the end of the day, the Steelseries Sensei combines the knowledge and experience of professional gamers and puts that into a mouse. On top of that, it provides a very clean and minimalistic approach to gaming mice by not including too many buttons, and it has my personal favorite software.
However, the icing on the top of the mouse-cake would be the ability to use this mouse whether you’re left- or right-handed. The bottom line: You should always consider this mouse when looking for an upgrade.
