SteelSeries, a major purveyor of mechanical keyboards, had a big secret to share with us and it turns out the PC gaming peripheral maker had a new wireless mouse called the Sensei Wireless.

The mouse promises to deliver lag-free wireless gaming with a one-millisecond response time from dragging the device to whipping around in FPS games. What’s more the mouse has a maximum sensitivity of 8200 Counts-Per-Inch (SteelSeries’ version of DPI) to recognize every hand flick.

We got a quick couple of moment to manhandle SteelSeries new wireless addition based on the older, wired Sensei mouse models to see if it was just as quick as the tailed rodent.

Southpaw or not

Stats aside the ambidextrous mouse feels nice in hand. It’s nowhere nearly as ergonomic as a mouse specifically sculpted for right or left hands, but the top is lined with a soft, rubbery material to keep our palms glued to it.

For a gaming mouse, the Sensei Wireless is incredibly light and there aren’t included weight adding options. Similarly the mouse does not have any options to change the its shape, so gamers who want to customize exactly how their hand fits over the mouse down to a thumbrest will want to look towards other options like the Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 or Logitech G9x

On the top of the mouse and along its sides there are eight customizable buttons in the usual set up or right and left click as well as two side buttons on either side. There’s also one additional button in the middle just below the scroll wheel that changes the CPI sensitivity.

The mouse also features three sets of lights users can customize between the mouse’s SteelSeries logo, scroll wheel, and CPI switching light – although on the demo unit, the light seemed too dim to actually see. A SteelSeries told us the Sensei Wireless save up to one additional CPI setting, with software allowing for unlimited profiles, and all the personalized colors.

All these options can be changed in an accompanying PC application where we reassigned button functions and light profiles. Aside from creating a light show on their peripherals, we dove into some more technical aspects like tuning the mouse’s angle acceleration to turn rough mouse movements into smoother on-screen adjustments.

Twitch gaming

To test the mouse’s responsiveness we played a round of Counter Strike Go and had no problems quickly turning around and pinpointing some headshots into our foes with ease.

A SteelSeries representative touted that the wireless Sensei has a 14-hour battery life, but we won’t be able to confirm that until we get it in house for some marathon sessions of Dark Souls 2.

After some heavy gaming, the Sensei Wireless can be placed on the wired base station that recharges the mouse in two hours, along with its usual job of transfering all those mouse click over the air into onscreen actions.

SteelSeries plans to release the Sensei Wireless mouse by the end of January or running into early February for $159.99 (about £97.27/AUS $179.56).

Early verdict

The SteelSeries Sensei Wireless isn’t the most full featured gaming mouse on the market but it has a solid build without any noticable lag even compared to tethered pherpheirals. Gamers that want to fine tune everything about their mouse including the thumbrest and an easy button to lower the DPI, however, should look elsewhere.