Hands-On With SteelSeries Ikari Mouse and New 7G Gaming Keyboard

Engadget recently had the chance to review some high-end gear from SteelSeries. While they may be a little on the pricey side, it seems that both the Ikari laser mouse and the 7g keyboard received favorable reviews. "The Ikari laser mouse they announced last year is particularly great, with a built-in processor and sensitivity settings to allow for a customized and precise sensitivity setting in a plug-and-play setup particularly suited to professional gamers. Settings are easy to work, and the actual sensitivity and response of the mouse easily outclasses our prior mousing experiences. New to the market is the SteelSeries 7G keyboard, which is making its debut on Monday the 5th. The keyboard is fully mechanical, with no-click switches that give it a much stronger, smoother tactile feel, while simultaneously catering to gamers by registering half presses. The keyboard weighs a ton thanks to the heavy-duty iron-infused plastic and the gold electronics, and is quite capable of handling abuse. We grew up typing on heavy-duty keyboards, and this is easily the best one we've used this decade -- though the $150 pricetag also makes it the most expensive outside of the Optimus Maximus."

Comments

Professional gamers?

[a_nonamiss]

particularly suited to professional gamers Once they've sold to all 6 of them, then what?

Prior mousing experiences

[drquoz]

"...the actual sensitivity and response of the mouse easily outclasses our prior mousing experiences."

Well, that's a phrase you don't hear every day.

Not sure how this qualified as a review

[NeutronCowboy]

More like a cut and paste of a PR release. All I saw was short blurbs about "This rocks, you ought to buy it", along with some tech buzzwords thrown in. Not a single word breathed about ergonomics, how the programmable interface actually works, the details of the customizations and how effective they actually are. Really, the summary IS the article.

This is a slashvertisement if I've ever seen one.

L shape enter/return key and small backspace key

[tknd]

Just from looking at the keyboard I hate it already. An L shaped enter/return key and a tiny backspace key with the backslash next to it.

I've always hated the L shaped return key because it forces you to move the center of the key slightly higher...which is too high for a pinky. The large size you could say makes it easier to hit, except that most L shaped keys have terrible balancing so hitting it slightly lower or higher than the middle of the key can cause the key press not to register.

Now the tiny backspace key really gets me. I had a keyboard with a tiny backspace key and it pissed the hell out of me because I would often hit the key next to it since it was so small.

Model M

[Digi-John]

Get it, use it, annoy your roommates. Seriously, I have 3 or 4 of these things, use them all the time, and only had to pay for one ($1.50, the rest were free).