A few months ago the Sensei mouse showed up here at funkykit and took the highest honors that an item can take, the Editors Choice award. Well, Steelseries is back again with a new version of the Sensei, the MLG edition. Supposedly it is even better than ever and has showed up to try and take the top honors again.
For those who are not familiar with Steelseries, here is a little info taken from their website:
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“From day one, SteelSeries has been focused on making professional gaming gear that provide meaningful benefits to gamers of all skill-level, with the most demanding being those gamers whose lively hood depends on the performance of our products. We believe, as most gamers do, in winning, not trying! What originally began as a small two-person operation in Copenhagen back in 2001 has become a global leader in professional gaming products. SteelSeries recognized the need for superior, high-quality professional gaming gear that would give players a competitive edge. Fast-forward to today, and we’ve come a long way since our first glass mousepad. We have global offices in North America, Europe, and Asia, providing an integrated portfolio of products designed specifically for gaming. Fueling our growth is you, the gamer! “
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Lets see how the MLG edition Sensei does throughout testing, but first lets go ahead and take a look at the specifications of the mouse.
Specifications
Taken from Steelseries page
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MLG EDITION The SteelSeries Sensei MLG Edition is the most award winning gaming mouse in history armed to the teeth. With upgraded armaments like a more powerful laser sensor and tournament grade button switches, we made no compromise when building a mouse for professional gamers looking to dominate the Major League Gaming circuit. On-board memory means that no matter what championship you travel to, your profiles are loaded directly onto your mouse and ready to use. The black gun metal casing provides a bad ass look and a non-slip grip. Illuminated MLG logo lets the world know that you don’t just compete, but you support eSports, Major League Gaming, and the competitive spirit.
MEET THE SENSEI Since the release of our first mouse, we have been using Japanese-inspiration in our naming of them. Our mice are built for performance and tournament-style play; Ikari means anger, Xai means talent, and the list of product names goes on. The Sensei is our version of the grand-master in our Do Jo. It is the teacher. The one everyone bows to, the one who knows tricks and secret moves that everyone wants to learn – but so very few can ever hope to master. It’s a fitting name. Master your game. Meet the Sensei.
WINNING, IT’S THE WAY OF THE SENSEI The name fits because everything we ever learned about mice, everything we ever researched, everything we ever discovered, everything that makes a mouse great, is exactly what we built the SteelSeries Sensei around. The DNA of Sensei is programmed to win. It is one of those rare hardware products forged by love and science, trial and error, passion from professional gamers and a desire to push the envelope. SteelSeries Sensei was born for tournament victory; it was built to help you win.
SIZE AND WEIGHT
DOUBLE YOUR SPEED SteelSeries Sensei MLG Edition can be fast, like really light-speed fast, like faster than the original Sensei for the real speed freaks out there… if you need that kind of speed. Because we use a 32 bit ARM processor in the mouse, we can double (x2) your mouse sensitivity. Our default CPI range: 1 to 8200 CPI. This feature is particularly useful for people using multiple monitor and similar environments.
GLIDE LIKE THE WIND Material: High performance UPE material covers 16 % of mouse bottom to ensure maximum glide. We recommend changing glides regularly as they will eventually be worn down.
BEST-IN-CLASS TECHNOLOGY Featuring an improved state of the art laser sensor that offers a consistent and reliable performance, the SteelSeries Sensei MLG Edition boasts 10.8 megapixel HD image correlation at up to 12,000 frames per second and the ability to handle tracking movements of up to 150 inches per second.
TO CORRECT OR NOT CORRECT? SteelSeries FreeMove eliminates path correction, which makes the mouse predict, correct and make your movement straight. With the SteelSeries Sensei, you can adjust the amount of path correction or completely disable it for 100% control of your movement.
32 BIT ARM PROCESSOR The processor in SteelSeries Sensei MLG Edition is a 32 bit ARM processor and it is as fast as the original Pentium 75 MHz processor released by Intel in 1994. That is fast, incredibly fast. This reference may sound like overkill, but it’s this type of power that allows us to do sophisticated calculations directly on the mouse – without the need for software drivers and without having to rely on the user’s computer. Our industry leading ExactTech settings, like ExactSens, ExactRate, ExactAim and more, are calculated directly on the mouse providing the user with a mouse movement that is completely free of any interpolation or extrapolation, without any delay, filtering and without using up memory or resources on the user’s computer. ON-MOUSE LCD MENU With the LCD display on the backside of the SteelSeries Sensei, you can customize all settings to fit your specific needs. The LCD menu offers setup of even the most advanced ExactTech settings described on this page.
MAKE IT YOUR OWN It also allows you to upload your own bitmap picture, offering a great way to personalize your mouse – and help prevent theft at LAN-events, gaming cafes and other public places. Design your own unique picture for the Sensei LCD display, download to your computer and upload to your Sensei via the SteelSeries Engine software.
LIGHT ‘EM UP 3 different zones on the Sensei (the wheel, the CPI indicator and the back) can be programmed individually – in 16.8 million different colors. It’s another way for you to personalize your mouse. It also brings a very real benefit to users who utilize multiple profiles: by giving them different colors, you can quickly switch between profiles and also ways know which profile is active. For those of you who don’t like glowing shiny stuff on your desktop, you can completely switch off all illumination.
WHY YOU’LL WIN Will a Sensei make you a badass 1337 n00b-owning gaming hero? Probably not, sorry. A mouse is a tool, like any other tool. Even the very best, most expensive, most amazing tennis racket in the world will not make you a better user of the tennis racket. Nothing, except your own talent and dedication will do that for you. Any company or product promising that is full of it. Period. But will a Sensei help you win? Yes, for sure. And that is our promise to you. That is why we built the Sensei line of mice. With second-to-none accuracy during movements, it will give you precision down to the level of a single pixel. A 32 bit ARM processor powers the most sophisticated gaming mouse ever built, enabling advanced on-mouse calculations allowing unprecedented personalized setup and extra functionality for all 7 buttons. The comfortable shape with the slick non-slip metal coating and the ergonomic button placements will help reduce wrist strain, allowing you to be faster, more accurate and play longer.
And the numbers Frames per second: 12000 |
First Impressions
At first glance the box does not have anything very special about it. Nothing really reaches out to grab your attention like other Steelseries boxes. Sure, you get the MLG (Major League Gaming) logo and the Sensei mouse itself on the box. But aside from that the colors are relatively bland and just feature the mouse itself. Not that it is really a bad thing.
Closer Look
Once the mouse was out of the box I quickly noticed the shiny surface covering the mouse. Unfortunately if you like your mouse to remain clean, it most likely will not. This type of surface is prone to getting dirty so remember to clean the mouse off every couple of days otherwise it will build up whatever is on your hands.
Just like the original Sensei, the MLG edition has an LCD screen on the bottom of the mouse. Out of the box it uses the MLG logo and of course you can customize it if you so choose to. Steelseries even has a nice little drawing pad on their website to allow you to create images to fit onto the Sensei. This is a nice feature.
The pads on the bottom of the mouse are a nice white color. This contrasts nicely with the rest of the mouse. After testing for a week they did not discolor which is always good. But keep in mind that since they are white that sooner or later there is a good chance they might get dirty depending on the mouse surface that you are using.
Lights on this mouse are pretty cool. You can customize the glowing color of the scroll wheel, as well as the MLG logo. Out of the box the scroll is blue and the MLG logo is red. Want a hot pink scroll wheel with a lime green MLG logo? No problem, you can put pretty much any color on each of those lights.
When it comes to buttons on this mouse, Steelseries has decided to go with a higher quality switch. They feel very light and crisp on mouse clicks and side button presses. Both righties and lefties should feel right at home with this mouse since the side buttons are in the same positions on both sides of the mouse. Two buttons on each side help during gaming and simple web browsing. Out of the box the two left buttons are set to go forward and backward on web pages, while the right buttons go up and down. Of course you can always customize those buttons to do anything under the sun. Including macros.
Testing
Testing was done over a week long period and gaming as well as daily use were taken into account. With that being said, I really enjoyed this mouse throughout testing. While I was not more accurate in games than my previous mouse, I did not get any worse which can sometimes happen when switching mice. Movements are very fluid with this mouse and tracking is fantastic. Cloth, black glass and plastic mouse pads all tracked great. The clicking switches on this mouse are top-notch as well. Every click was crisp and felt like it took just the right amount of pressure to click. While I did not take advantage of the button on the top to change DPI on the fly, people that do will find that it works great. Instantly you can go from one DPI to another.
Verdict and Conclusion
When the Sensei came to town it came and kicked some butt. I have to say the MLG edition mouse came and did the same.
While the improved switches are there, you likely won’t take notice of them until it is a few years down the road and the mouse is still kicking, where as mice with lesser switches would have failed.
Gaming performance was great as always with Steelseries mice.
Laser precision is very good and you should be able to use this mouse on pretty much any mouse surface under the sun.
Shopping around the internet, the MLG edition Sensei can be found for $110-120 to your door in the US. On the other hand the normal Sensei for $85-100.
I’ve got to say, if you are buying the original Sensei for near one of the highest prices I would spend the extra $10-15 for the better switches since it is only around a 10% bump in price. Now if you can find the original Sensei for the lowest price it can become a bit of a harder choice.
Pros:
- Dual buttons on both sides of the mouse
- Great buttons and switches
- Able to track on almost any surface
- ARM processor
- LCD screen
- Braided cable
Cons:
- 10-15% price premium over original Sensei
- Glossy surface gets dirty
- White pads on mouse get dirty
Final words
The Sensei MLG edition is a very good mouse. Its got tons of overkill features and at times can feel like an extension of your arm. If you can get over the price premium for the extra features, it will do whatever you need it to.
SCORE
9.4/10
