Steelseries products

[RFlush]

Was wondering if anyone is currently using any steelseries products? My Razer deathadder mouse left click and thumb buttons crapped out on me and in the market for a new mouse. I claw grip for my games, and the deathadder wasn't that comfortable as it was quite big. I'm looking at the Sensei Raw and it seems smaller which is better for my grip style. Anyone else use this mouse?

Also thinking of the 6GV2 keyboard.

Seems like Steelseries isn't as popular as razer, but still offers reliable gaming products.
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[Brianrietta]

Sorry for the essay, hope this helps: My take is that Steelseries makes excellent quality products, many of which don't look like classic gaming products. This is of course good news when you aren't in your teens anymore and want a home desktop capable of gaming that looks more like a workstation than an led'd out F16 cockpit.

My first experience with Steelseries was probably 4 years ago when I purchased an Ikari Laser mouse which while only a 5 button is very sensitive, highly configurable and for my smallish hand is the most comfortable mouse I have ever draped my hand over. Despite being love by critics and users, it's unfortunately been discontinued (I reckon because it isn't an ambidextrous design). When I look for another mouse I'll happily/grudgingly try a different Steelseries (as only Amazon.ca still has two of my old Ikari Laser - starting at $171, double MSRP).

At some point after that I decided that I wanted a matching/upgraded keyboard. I picked up a Steelseries 7G which reviewers all praised the quality and comfort of, with the caveat that some didn't like the key layout. After my experience with the hyper comfortable Ikari I decided against the 6Gv2 and bought the 7G (USB Hub, headphone/mic, odd looking wrist wrest). Firstly - while unconventional looking, the rectangular wrist support is actually again a surprising plus. It is amazingly comfy and not in the 'fake' sense of oh hey this is plush or whatever but in the sense that I could spend 10-20 hours typing throughout the day and never once notice that my wrists, hands or arms become sore, and that was a new concept to me. It keeps your wrist in just the right position, assuming that you're otherwise in an ergonomicly friendly state (sitting at the appropriate height/distance from keyboard/etc). The fact that it wraps around the keyboard means that it can't shift and is always in just the right place. The common complaint from people that haven't used the keyboard much is that they don't like the short backspace key which is reduced to move -|\- from the lower row next to the right shift key. Since I almost exclusively use the right shift key, having that expanded on the 7G over the 6Gv2 is a non issue. While I admit it took a few days to get used to the small backspace, I posit that unless you can't type for shit or primarily shift with the left little finger you are better off with a larger Shift key than a larger Backspace key. Don't make mistakes as often and it's a non issue... I do wish that the USB hub was a 3.0 capable passthrough but considering 3.0 wasn't widely available when the keyboard was introduced and it would push the already high price higher I'll forgive it. There are no superfluous macro buttons or silly (ymmv) features on it, whether that is good or bad depends on just what games you play and how much you like a clean aesthetic with your system and peripherals. It's not backlit (I could in a panic still find every key on the keyboard blindfolded first try) and the left windows key is replaced by a Steelseries button that allows for use of the media controls on the first six function keys. After several years of heavy use the only real sign of wear is a slight discolouration on the W key and I credit that to me not cleaning the keyboard as often as I should as opposed to poor quality of the keys themselves. I don't foresee this breaking any time soon (or ever, really) but I would purchase another in a heartbeat.

Shortly after purchasing the keyboard I bought a 7H headphone with retractable mic. Sound quality while in no way studio level (obviously not studio priced either though) is very good. Fairly crisp bass and sharp mids. No complaints with the sound quality. Within a year or two the retracting microphone started to act up however. With it being flexible the contact points seem to have broken down and make it so that I have to play with the positioning just right to prevent crackling static while transmitting. Not really a big deal for me as I use the mic on my studio grade webcam now anyway but frustrating for the price and portability friendly design of the unit. The other issue that popped up after almost two years was that the main connection cable started to come apart inside making for inconsistent performance and therefore unusable. After one quick "I'm dissapointed" e-mail, Steelseries couriered out a new cable to me. While there was an obvious design flaw that necessitated that, customer service and followup while well out of warranty really isn't most consumer tech companies MO.

During the purchase of either the keyboard or the headphones I received a free QcK mousepad. Love it. It's seen a lot of use and I've flipped it around so that I'm wearing down a new patch of it now. One of these days I'll probably just buy another one so that I don't have to have the now upsidedown logo covered with a nearby piece of paper or something, lol.

Summary:
7G Keyboard - A
Ikari Laser Mouse - A+
7H Headset - C
QcK Mousepad - A+

I don't think you can really go wrong with their mice or keyboards. They look sharp and work very well. Quality is top notch and mine have already outlasted basically every other mouse/keyboard I've had over the years with no sign of stopping any time soon. Headphones? Save up for some Sennheisers or the like.

[ForbiddenX]

I really like their mouse pads.

For the 6GV2 the placement of the "| \" key gets a bit to get used to. I couldn't get used to it especially when doing programming work. That's the only thing I found bad about their keyboard.

I can't speak for any of their other products though I've never used them.

[twitchyzero]

I can also vouch for SteelSeries QcK pad
great quality for $10 on sale

dont buy razer...some of their new products now have always-on data mining/spyware

[RFlush]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. I'm going to pick up the raw mouse after work today. Such a pity that it's actually cheaper in Canada than in hk

[Dasani]

Upgraded from the MX5500 mouse and now I'm using the rubberized Sensei Raw. It's been great so far in terms of comfort, general usage, and light gaming. I picked up the rubberized one over the glossy only because it feels better to grasp imo.

[Purely]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

I can also vouch for SteelSeries QcK pad
great quality for $10 on sale

dont buy razer...some of their new products now have always-on data mining/spyware

Can you elaborate on the data-mining/spyware on Razor products? Just curious

[RFlush]

Ended up getting the Sensei Raw (rubber)and it's great. Feels nice with my grip. I was going get a 6gv2 keyboard since I really like the mouse, but ended up getting a Filco Majestouch 2 as it felt better.