Our Verdict
The SteelSeries Rival 600 is a very good mouse for office use. It has an excellent build quality and a great degree of customization. Unfortunately, it isn't wireless, but this might not be that important in office environments. The ergonomics of this mouse are excellent, but it's primarily designed for use with the right hand. Finally, if you have small hands, this mouse isn't a good choice.
- Great for gaming.
- Excellent performance.
- Outstanding ergonomics.
- Excellent customization.
- Not great for traveling due to wired-only use.
- Not recommended for smaller hands.
- Rigid cable.
This is a great mouse for use with FPS video games. Although the mouse has excellent overall performance and is highly customizable with a large number of buttons, its on the heavier side. Nevertheless, it has a very low latency and has exceptional ergonomics, so you can customize it to your liking, and has excellent build quality. Unfortunately, this mouse isn't suitable if you have small hands.
- Great for gaming.
- Excellent performance.
- Outstanding ergonomics.
- Excellent customization.
- Not great for traveling due to wired-only use.
- Not recommended for smaller hands.
- Rigid cable.
The SteelSeries Rival 600 is an amazing mouse for playing MMO video games. It has a few programmable buttons and an excellent build quality. The accompanying software is very versatile, and the ergonomics allow you to customize it to your liking. Unfortunately, if you have small hands, this mouse isn't ideal as you won't be able to reach some buttons.
- Great for gaming.
- Excellent performance.
- Outstanding ergonomics.
- Excellent customization.
- Not great for traveling due to wired-only use.
- Not recommended for smaller hands.
- Rigid cable.
This mouse is decent for ultra-light gaming. You can reduce its heavy weight by getting rid of all the weights, but it's still heavier than most ultra-light gaming mice.
- Great for gaming.
- Excellent performance.
- Outstanding ergonomics.
- Excellent customization.
- Not great for traveling due to wired-only use.
- Not recommended for smaller hands.
- Rigid cable.
The SteelSeries Rival 600 is a poor mouse for those who travel a lot. It's an always-wired mouse that's not comfortable to carry around.
- Great for gaming.
- Excellent performance.
- Outstanding ergonomics.
- Excellent customization.
- Not great for traveling due to wired-only use.
- Not recommended for smaller hands.
- Rigid cable.
Changelog
- Updated Oct 28, 2020: We incorrectly indicated that there's a thumb wheel. It has been corrected.
- Updated Oct 06, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Sep 30, 2020: We've retested the Rival 600 and changed the hand size recommendations for claw and fingertip grips.
- Updated Dec 20, 2019: Converted to Test Bench 0.8.1.
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Popular Mouse Comparisons
The SteelSeries Rival 600 is a rather heavy gaming mouse and it sets itself apart by its satisfying click. It has superb performance with a great ergonomic design, but people with small hands might feel it's too big for them. You can also reduce the weight of the mouse tremendously, although this might affect the comfort of your grip. Also see our recommendations for the best gaming mouse, the best FPS mouse, and the best wired mouse.
The SteelSeries Rival 600 and the Logitech G502 HERO are great wired gaming mice. Both mice should be comfortable with any grip type for everyone except those with small hands, though medium-sized hands may have a hard time with fingertip grip on the Logitech. The Logitech has a slightly better cable, more programmable buttons, and a much better scroll wheel. On the other hand, the SteelSeries is lighter and has better ergonomics.
The SteelSeries Rival 600 is a precursor to the SteelSeries Rival 5. The Rival 5 is significantly lighter, has an upgraded cable, better mouse feet, and a toggle switch with up/down inputs in the side button cluster. It also has a somewhat lower click latency and a new sensor with a higher maximum CPI. On the other hand, the Rival 600 includes a set of eight 4-gram weights if you prefer a heavier mouse or want to change the center of gravity. Both mice are ideal for all grip types but only for larger hands.
The SteelSeries Rival 600 and the Razer Mamba Elite are both great wired gaming mice. While the CPI is very low on the Razer, the SteelSeries is still low enough that it shouldn't be noticeably unresponsive. The Razer has more programmable buttons and a more customizable CPI range, while you can install the SteelSeries' software on both macOS or Windows, which is nice. However, those with smaller hands will likely be better off with the Razer, as they should reach all the buttons more comfortably.
The SteelSeries Rival 600 and the Razer DeathAdder Elite are both great wired gaming mice. They feel equally well-made and are both designed for right-handed use. The Razer is better for people with small hands, as you can use it comfortably in a palm grip with any hand size. The SteelSeries will be hard to get a comfortable hold with any grip for people with small hands. You can adjust the Razer's CPI in increments of 1, which is outstanding, while the SteelSeries uses increments of 100.
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