SteelSeries recently launched the Xai gaming mouse, adding to their growing list of gaming mice available. The Xai is SteelSeries? flagship mouse and naturally, the most expensive. Strangely the second generation laser sensor has been used here instead of the new 3.5 generation laser used in the Deathadder 3.5G. It will be interesting to see how it performs.

The build quality of the Xai is quite high with the body covered in slip resistant coating, allowing it to be comfortable to hold even after long gaming sessions. The mouse cable has been braided while the USB port is gold plated. The mouse feet are quite durable and will last a long time. Strangely, the packaging is quite sparse including only the SteelSeries sticker, pamphlets and the mouse. The driver has to be downloaded since there is no driver CD inside the box, a bit of a downer, considering the high price of the mouse. A small LCD display at the bottom shows the current profile which has been selected.

The Xai is an ambidextrous mouse meaning it can be used by both left and right handed gamers with ease. While it won?t win any awards for design, it works well and looks nice. The mouse buttons are integrated into the mouse shell giving precise clicks with good tactile feedback. The rubberised scroll wheel works well and the click is adequate although there is no horizontal scroll available, while the triangular button below it serves to change between two configured profiles on the fly. The symmetric design means that there are two thumb buttons available on either side which would be a relief for left handed users. The teflon feet are so smooth that the mouse glides even without a mousepad on the desk.

The second generation laser performs extremely well and in some cases beats other mice which contain the newer 3.5G sensors. The tracking never feels bumpy and is very precise, working on both high and low sensitivities. The DPI, or rather the CPI (counts per inch), is the same and relates to the amount of increments that can be read by the mouse in one inch of movement. While gaming, it boils down to how fast you can turn or move your mouse which makes the extremely high 5001CPI pointless. The 10.8 MP sensor at 12,000FPS over 150 inches per second sounds good in theory but practically no one moves the mouse that fast so take the specs as the limit to how fast the mouse can actually move. The bundled software is no-nonsense and can configure all the buttons and macros quickly. The mouse would work well for users with a dual or more monitor setup requiring the mouse to traverse over large distances with very little movement on the users part.

There are other inexpensive mice out there but if your requirements include high sensitivity usage with large DPI requirements then look no further than the Xai.

? CyberMedia www.LD2.in

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