Steelseries WoW mouse not so wow-worthy?

How has your experience with the Steelseries mouse been? Are you one of the lucky Europeans who won one in Blizzard's Holiday giveaway or managed to snag one of these lately? There aren't too many reviews over the web by players who actually play World of Warcraft, so it's interesting to see if Richie's is an isolated case (although a couple of posters on his blog concur with his findings). The mouse doesn't have a driver for the Mac, and Steelseries doesn't seem to be producing one soon, so I haven't popped out the $99.99 (or more expensive 89.99 EUR) for it. After reading Richie's review -- or rant, rather -- I'm not certain I still want to, either.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware
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Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Nic Lake Jan 18th 2009 10:38AM
Laptop trackpad and craploads of keybindings ftw!!!
Corey Jan 18th 2009 4:26PM
Ok, I read the first page of comments and it seems like nobody has this mouse and the consensus is that Logitech and MS are the ruling mouse superpowers.
Well, I got one of these for Christmas. It came in a little late but I really like it. Now. The finger rests on the side took some getting used to; I had to change my holding style. And, the left button used to stick. I did the manufacturer suggested 'pull the button up, like you're going to break it until you hear a loud crack' trick and it worked like a charm.
Those were the cons. The pros are that there are a lot of buttons. I love buttons. The more the merrier. My main is a mage and has about 30 buttons (including shift and ctrl modifiers) mapped and another 15 available to me without moving my hands was very attractive. Being able to choose the nearest hostile or assist the tank without losing the auto run functionality, or popping up the map and char screens (default button assignments) while running... well, I love it.
10 different char profiles with their own color lighting is nice icing and the only improvement I can think of is for the software to directly communicate to WoW, so that automatic char profile switching could occur. Security concerns would prohibit that I'm sure.
I would wait until the second wave comes out so that the known issue of the sticking button is fixed. Other than that, it is a great mouse and works great with WoW.
Tomas Jan 19th 2009 1:16PM
Razer Deathadder, There are 2 versions: One for Mac (white LED) and one for PC (blue LED). The drivers are fast, and the mouse is the most comfortable I've ever used without paying an arm and a leg.
JohnE2x Jan 19th 2009 3:38PM
I bought one didn't like it at all. Just took it back.
main reason was it feels like its constantly trying to slip out of your hand.
seemed like the mouse buttons responded slow
looked awesome but just wasn't worth the price
N8 Jan 23rd 2009 9:17PM
Worst software ever. It's useless with the crap software. Nothing binds correctly making this mouse an epic fail.
Action bar spells won't work with a crap. Improperly named action bars in software.
FAIL FAIL FAIL DO NOT BUY THIS CRAP UNTIL SOFTWARE IS FIXED.
Ben Feb 12th 2009 6:33AM
Finnaly got my mouse about 8 days ago. I agree with most that the mouse was awkward to hold, but i got use to it and fell in love being able to use my mouse for 90% of my actions.
So far havn't heard a squeak from it or a hint of a the buttons stickinkg (YAY!). So I thought i was in the clear and missed the bad first shipment. Of course as of yesterday the mouse would randomly lose power (shut off) and i would have to unplug the usb and replug it in to get it to work agian. Okay i can live with that, it only happened once a day. Then this evening the mouse lost power agian and no amount of replugging restored it.
Just to make sure it wasnt my computer or its USB ports I tried the mouse on my laptop and a friends computer. The computer doesnt even register the mouse as being plugged in and it still isnt getting power. So while i missed the sticky button generation i seem to have fallen into the "Just up and dying" generation which seems to be the new fashion with this mouse.
Grandjury Feb 20th 2009 11:18PM
I bought one of these and I too have MAJOR issues wit the performance. After a couple of days the left click button started sticking and the only way to get it to function correctly is to "snap" or "tap" the button so it will unstick. I am highly dissapointed with this mouse. I love the idea of all the buttons and the functionality it COULD have if the damn thing would stick. Also the buttons are super flimsy and sometimes the mouse just dies and I have to unplug and replug it back in for it to work again. I will most likely be going back to my Razor mouse or get one of those logitech G11 mouse I used at Blizzcon. Sent an emial to their support 5 days ago and no reponse still.
Kukri Mar 17th 2009 5:45PM
I have been using a Logitech G5 for well over a year now, and I love the thing, never had a problem and it did a fantastic job. That being said, when I picked up my Steelseries mouse today I about gasmed. 15 buttons, where it may seem like it wouldn't be, is really nice. One would think that the mouse would be cluttered, but it is nicely executed and truly works. On top of that the lights are as Bad ass and awesome as they are over the top epic. My only real complaint is that windows and thus WoW only recognizes the first 5 buttons, so in order to utilize the full effect of the mouse you need to tinker with the macros in the custom software. Overall I would call this a great buy.
Gloom Apr 6th 2009 5:36AM
Now I have a good reason for never buying steel series products. The mouse is murderously uncomfortable, straining my hand within 3 minutes of just moving around and trying to reach out for the buttons. The buttons themselves scream of cheap plastic and sloppy design, and the left side's activate at the slightest provocation, making it impossible to play without constantly worrying about pressing on them.
Weight wise, the mouse is overly light and sits poorly on the table, something that would probably have been different had anyone actually sat down with prototypes and ran down tests with a focus group.
Visually the mouse is stunning, however 99$ is a steep price to pay for useless desktop furniture.