SteelSeries has been focusing a lot more on the eSports gamer recently with M500 keyboard that has been designed to be eSports friendly in size but still pack a punch when needed in game. You could also look at the Rival 700 with its OLED screen designed to show you CS:GO ingame information and tactile feedback.
However, the next in line for eSports gamers is the SteelSeries Rival 500, priced at £80 it has gained the more than usual plethora of buttons for competitive gamers and a bucket load of customisation options for a reasonable price to anyone looking at breaking into the professional tournament scene.
From a design perspective it’s a slightly bigger mouse than the older brother, Rival 700 measuring 118mm x 78mm x 43mm, so it is best suited for those with bigger hands. The number of buttons are useful, more so to those who favour the claw grip but, the mouse is broad enough without the buttons getting in the way for those who use a palm grip and still want access to them. It weighs 129g which is quite light really for a gaming mouse when you compare it to the G602 which can weigh upto 152g.
An unusual new feature on the 500 is a button slider on the underneath that changes the thumb rest on the left hand side of the mouse into actual buttons. The slider allows you to either lock or unlock the buttons to use them as your standard resting place or additional macro buttons. For gamers who don’t want to use all 14 buttons dotted around the mouse, this is a great idea as it gives you a comfortable place to rest your thumb without accidentally pressing them.
