INTRODUCTION

   Happy New Year everyone! 2018 may finally be here but we still haven't been unable to play and enjoy Playerunknown's Battlegrounds due to several memory error bugs on both of our systems (hopefully they will fix them soon). So in order to test a large number of keyboards and mice (mostly anyways) we decided to spend a large portion of the holidays playing several other titles including Need For Speed Payback, Star Citizen, Destiny 2, Armored Warfare, Project Cars 2, Dreadnought and Warframe. Now as I’ve pointed out quite a few times in the past two of the best gaming mice to ever pass from our lab are the Sensei MLG and RIVAL 700 manufactured by SteelSeries so i had very high hopes for their latest RIVAL 310 Ergonomic Esports Mouse which we ended up testing for almost two weeks.

   SteelSeries has fueled the gaming industry by creating innovative new products, designed specifically for eSports and passionate gamers everywhere. Here at SteelSeries, we are obsessed with “firsts”. Dating back to 2001, our company was formed to meet the surface needs of hardcore gamers by introducing the first glass mousepad, the Icemat. Since that original innovation, we created the first mechanical gaming keyboard, the first suspended headband for gaming headsets, the first World of Warcraft mouse and endless other innovations. SteelSeries is dedicated to building products that push professional gaming further than anyone dreamed. Those innovations make gaming more competitive and more fun for gamers everywhere.

 Since the RIVAL 310 Ergonomic Esports Mouse is a step down compared to the 700 model (always in terms of available features) it's quite lighter (approximately 88g vs 135g) making it far more ideal for right handed people looking to get their hands on a mid-sized gaming mouse. Now although the RIVAL 310 lacks the modular sensor, OLED screen, 3D nameplate, removable backplate and the detachable cable found on the RIVAL 700 and features a total of 6 programmable buttons (instead of the 7 on the RIVAL 700) it still has a 2-zone RGB illumination system, 32-bit ARM CPU and also brings higher durability/endurance thanks to the new split-trigger switches by OMRON which are rated for up to 50 million clicks (compared to the 30 million of the RIVAL 700). The most important aspect however is perhaps the brand new TrueMove3 optical sensor which SteelSeries co-developed with the help of Pixart. This sensor features zero-hardware acceleration, resolution of up to 12000CPI (counts per inch), tracking speed of up to 350IPS (inches per second) and acceleration of up to 50G. If these numbers ring any bells to you that's because the brand new TrueMove3 sensor is actually a modified (improved for some) PMW3360 sensor with differences only in its firmware/ROM (it features "substantial" jitter-reduction up to 3500CPI while the PMW3360 features jitter-reduction above 2100CPI).