steelseries rival (300) review

background: bought this mouse in early 2015 and writing this review in jan 2016. i play csgo and my aim is the best aspect of my play ( https://twitter.com/tiburonCS/status/679147402792599552 ). i have small baby hands (17.75cm from wrist to tip of middle finger, 8cm across knuckle crease)

sensor: Avago 3310, same as any other high-end gaming mouse, there's rly nothing to worry about wrt tracking with this sensor. super low lift off distance which is good. moving on
shape: 'ergonomic' shape, similar to zowie ec line. it has a narrower front end than back and my fingers feel good on it but the wide base makes it feel stable as well. the hump is less pronounced than a razer deathadder. definitely on the large side. i do a sort of relaxed claw grip, and my hand is only 17.75cm long, i can't even imagine of palm gripping this mouse, butt is way too wide for my palm. basically my fingers reach to about the scroll wheel.
weight: a bit heavy compared to most mice. bc the weight is distributed towards the back, it's a bit more difficult to pick up than i would like -- basically when you pick it up with your thumb and pinky, it will tip towards the back. another reason i don't palm grip this. good if you have big hands tho
build quality: it's pretty good in most respects. nitpicks follow. occasionally the scroll wheel will throw random inputs (scrolling up in the middle of a scroll down, or scrolling once when it's not touched). since i have scroll wheel set to jump this can be annoying. the rubber on the left+right sides feels great, but wears down over time. apparently on the old model this was much worse. on my early 2015 model, i have been using it for ~9 months, it has developed a groove near the thumb buttons and an indent where my pinky goes. this groove can sometimes lead to pressing the side mouse button closest to me, which i have set to push to talk. idc about this one but the rubbery finish 'glosses' easily (gets shiny) from skin oils. the middle mouse button is a bit spongy with some travel distance, as are the side buttons, but this is expected in most mice.

main pros:
+ stable
+ same gr8 sensor as many modern mice
+ awesomely low lift off distance
+ good shape with tall sides, thumb, ring pinky finger are all comfortable resting on the sides
main cons:
- inertia due to weight, so it has some resistance to get moving
- heavy so difficult to pick up when swiping at low sensitivity
- hard to spam click (maybe due to size, small hands +buttons stiffer than razer da)
conclusion: good ergo mouse if you have larger hands and are looking for a stable mouse that feels solid and glides well. feels a bit like sliding a mini paperweight around your desk when in fingertip grip. i will probably get something with a similar style but hopefully a bit smaller and much lighter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cyr4b9uK6o