SteelSeries Ikari Laser Gaming Mouse

Gaming peripherals have come a long way with hardcore gamers always looking for the perfect device to master those kills. Be it a headset, surface or mouse, gamers are always on the lookout for the best hardware available in the market to fit their gaming needs.

Steel Series is slowly making its mark in manufacturing quality professional gaming gear. Initially, Steel Series created state of the art gaming headphones and gaming surfaces (mouse pads). Of late they have stepped up to create gaming mice. The company based in Denmark, boasts creating hardware from the inputs of professional gamers.

With their latest entry in the gaming mice category, Steel series claims that the Ikari laser gaming mouse was a result of 15 months of extensive research of ergonomics, motion, grip and player styles. And along with the inputs and suggestions of professional gamers from SK gaming, Fnatic and mibr, they developed, what is now known as the best gaming mouse available.

So does the Ikari live up to what went into its making? Let’s take a look.

Body and Feel

To start off with, I must say, the Steel Series Ikari looks super cool. Shaped like any other gaming mouse, the Ikari packs a five button layout and the smooth matte finish gives the mouse a comfortable feel and grip. The left, right and the centre scroll buttons are accompanied by two thumb buttons and an additional button to adjust the CPI/sensitivity. The two thumb buttons are perfectly placed, the scroll feels smooth and the scroll button has an excellent response. The left and right buttons too are very sensitive.

Considering that the shape and specifications were made with inputs from professional gamers, I was a bit uncomfortable with the right button (right click). The right button is a bit longer than the left button due to its inverted curve and has a marginally raised end. Personally, I found this very uncomfortable for long use. My finger didn’t rest properly on the right button, though the mouse fit perfectly in my palm. The mouse is designed only for the right handed.

Features

The Ikari has four large feet/skates under the mouse. Smooth and evenly balanced, they make the mouse feel fluid on any surface. It also features an LCD screen at the bottom for CPI settings. Ikari is a simple plug and play mouse weighing a mere 400g.

Ikari senses up to 3,200 CPI and lets you store two CPI values in the mouse, which you can toggle with a single click of the CPI button. CPI stands for Counts per inch, which basically has the same functionality as DPI or Dots per inch. The two profiles, High and Low can be toggled by simply pressing the CPI button. The mouse indicates which value you are on through two LEDs found on the left side of the mouse.

Changing the CPI value of high and low is very easy. Press and hold the CPI button until the LCD at the bottom reads Low: xxxx or high: xxxx. Using the scroll wheel so can set the desired CPI value and once again press the CPI button to save. All this can be done without installing the software.
So is this feature useful? Definitely YES.