Steelseries XAI — Sits At My Right Hand
My first impression of the Steelseries XAI mouse was unabashedly gushing fandom and love. You know better than to trust those “I got a new gadget” first impressions! Well, now that I’ve lived with the Steelseries XAI for three months, I’d like to retract my previous statements and post a scathing rant about how I was wrong, and much I hate it–but I can’t. Ranting is so much fun, but I’m afraid it’s simply a great mouse. I’ll quickly compare my first impressions with current feelings.
The flashy display gimmick
The first thing that hits you about the mouse is that it has a florescent display on the bottom, and that all of the speed, acceleration, and other settings are in firmware inside the mouse. This seems like a very strong positive or negative (depending on whether you are a geeky hardcore gamer or sane normal person, respectively) at first. But in actual use I find that I set up a few presets for the games I’m playing at the time, and never open the control panel program again. I almost never look at the display on the bottom, so the mouse is about as spartan and purely functional as it can be, and the display itself is just a tool used to select a configuration. So, while it seems like the display is a feature, it isn’t.
My biggest complaint in this area is that it *always* boots with the same default configuration, and not the last one used. When you switch configurations, the mouse tracks at 5000 CPI until you toggle the top button once. Support tells me that is normal, so I guess there’s a “normal” bug in the firmware. :)
Whatever quirks there are in the firmware, they are a small price to pay for a mouse that requires no third-party drivers whatsoever. Anyone who has owned a Logitech keyboard or mouse knows what I’m talking about. So while I definitely think the onboard software could be improved from a convenience standpoint, it isn’t a show-stopper.
The rubbery scroll wheel
I don’t mind it now, but my first impression of the scroll wheel was that it feels weird. It has that modern “rubberized” non-stick coating that reminds me of my first experience with microfiber cloth. And at first that was a bit of a putoff. In actual use, though, the scroll wheel performs beautifully. The “middle button” has exactly the right amount of resistance, and the scroll wheel detents match. The end result of this is that the middle button doesn’t click when I’m scrolling, and the scroll wheel doesn’t scroll when I click the middle button. This is the first mouse I’ve found that has the balance right. I still find myself checking out of paranoia. An added bonus: the scroll wheel does not tilt sideways, so it doesn’t feel loose. (Does anybody every use that feature?)
Shape and button locations
The mouse is shaped exactly like… a mouse. It does not try to have a strange asymmetrical shape that pretends to be ergonomic, and for this I am grateful.
The nonslip texture is perfect, so much so that the screened-on silver “steelseries” logo on the back of the mouse stands out as an imperfection under the palm of my hand. Certainly this is a very minor irritation, but the finish is so nice that I notice. And now that I’ve started noticing, I notice every time I rub my palm on the back of the mouse.
The glides on the bottom slip nicely — I am using an S&S Steel mousepad, and the combination is much smoother than silk. I suspect that the mouse is tuned to work with the newer S&S mouse pads, so that combination may be even better. The glides are very thin, so I suspect they would wear out quickly if you used them on a rough surface–I hope anyone using this mouse is going to pair it with a good mouse pad, because it deserves one.
It slides so well and is so light that I really have to be sure the cord is not grabbing any obstructions. I’d love to have this mouse as a cordless mouse, but I wouldn’t pay extra for the hassle and extra weight of batteries, so maybe I wouldn’t love it so much after all.
The side buttons are perfectly located to be reached with the thumb, and a very light touch, which is perfect when you are playing a game, but I do tend to press them when I pick up the mouse to turn it over to adjust settings or twist/untwist the cord while getting set up. (This is not a problem while working or playing.) I suppose if the buttons were positioned where I did not accidentally press them, they would be in the wrong location when playing.
5000000 CPI
The XAI tracks at up to 5000 CPI, but I have only one games that play well at 3000 CPI, and most are best between 350-500. Games that could benefit from the extra resolution (FPS games) tend to use the Unreal Engine 3, which acts really funky when used with a high resolution mouse, so I end up running those at 250–even lower resolution! And it doesn’t really make much difference in-game; the real difference between mice is in the mechanical design, software, and firmware, and in how it tracks. And the XAI is pretty much perfect on all of those counts.
