Steelseries Prime Mini Review: A mini mouse that stands up
Steelseries continues its streak of producing some of the best gaming mice with the Prime Mini, which will be a breath of fresh air for gamers with larger hands who have felt left out by other mice with small footprints. The shape of the Prime Mini allows it to sit comfortably in hands of different sizes, which isn’t always the case in ultralight offerings.
The Prime Mini is aimed squarely at competitive gamers with an extremely lightweight detachable cable for easy portability and ultra-smooth mouse feet for nearly frictionless movement. Button placement is spot on, too – everything is within easy reach, no matter the size of your hands, and it feels like care has been taken to prevent accidental clicks.
While not a true “one size fits all” mouse, the Prime Mini comes pretty close. Some players with very large hands may need to make some adjustments to their preferred grip, and not all of the design choices present in the Prime Mini will be to everyone’s taste. Read on to find out if the Prime Mini is right for you.
Steelseries Prime Mini Specifications
Sensor type | SteelSeries TrueMove Pro |
Sensitivity | Up to 18,000 dpi |
Polling rate | 125, 250, 500, 1000Hz |
Programmable buttons | 5 |
LED zones and colors | 1 zone RGB |
Cable length | 2m / 6.6ft |
Weight | 61g |
Design and comfort of the Steelseries Prime Mini
The Steelseries Prime Mini stays true to the Prime Series mission to deliver a pro-grade gaming mouse in a small, lightweight package, and it’s even smaller and lighter than previous models. The Prime Mini weighs 61 grams (0.13 pounds) compared to its bigger sibling’s 69g (0.15 pounds), and it’s 12g lighter than its wireless counterpart. The design is understated, opting for sleek curvature on sharp angles, and the finish is an attractive matte black with the Steelseries logo in gray at the base of the mouse. The scroll wheel features the only RGB lighting on the entire mouse.
Ultralight gaming mice are primarily aimed at serious competitive gamers and esports professionals, as the reduced weight and small bulk promote economy of movement. This not only provides a direct competitive advantage, but can also reduce strain and fatigue.
The button layout is simple and should look familiar to anyone who’s ever used a Steelseries mouse. There are two main right and left click buttons slightly offset with a notched scroll wheel in the center and two side buttons on the left side of the mouse body. In place of a typical thumb rest is an indentation on the side of the body below the side buttons – not only was this comfortable, but it also helped me avoid accidentally clicking the side buttons. There is a button that governs the DPI switching and the polling rate setting is under the mouse above the sensor – a short press of this button cycles through the DPI settings and a long press cycles through the polling rates. questioning. All five easily accessible buttons (including the scroll wheel click) are programmable, which can make up for the lack of an accessible DPI toggle button.
The underside of the mouse features what Steelseries calls “100% pure virgin PTFE” glide pads, and they do a great job of keeping the mouse stable while adding minimal friction to movement. The feel of the skates takes some getting used to, as they make the mouse glide so smoothly it seems like things could go off the rails at any moment. After a short period of adaptation, the movement seemed natural.
The Prime Mini’s buttons are very responsive, supported by Prime Prestige Optical Magnetic switches. The mechanism is quite different from more common switch types in that the spring is held in place with a magnet, so every application of force and release is consistent. The click is registered when the spring breaks a beam of infrared light. I didn’t notice a significant difference in actuation speed, but the action was more consistent. The trade-off is that the more common Omron switches are less stiff and “snapper”, more tactile.
The overall design of the Prime Mini emphasizes simplicity and addresses some common issues with low profile mice in that the front of the mouse sits a bit higher than most similarly sized, tiny mice. The rear of the mouse slopes downward at a more gradual angle than you’d normally see elsewhere, making the Prime Mini more comfortable for larger hands. As a gamer with fairly large paws, I was pleasantly surprised by this; here is a small mouse that I could comfortably use for long periods of time. The Prime Mini is still too small for me to comfortably use my preferred palm grip, a finger grip being much more appropriate, but I suspect only players with larger mitts will face similar issues.
The wiring is long (2m/6.6ft), braided and detachable. Despite its length, the microfiber material keeps the cable lightweight.
Gaming performance with the Steelseries Prime Mini
The Prime Mini performs admirably in games, and the Pixart-developed TrueMove Pro gaming sensor is on par with Logitech’s Hero sensor and Razer’s Focus+ sensor in terms of accuracy. Movement was as close to one-on-one as possible, and despite the adaptation period required to acclimate to the mouse’s smoothly gliding feet, I never felt like I was overshooting my target.
The Prime Mini is particularly well suited for competitive FPS titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, so that’s where I use it the most. Despite my affinity for heavier pointers, I found the precise pickup and smooth action of the Prime Mini made me less adept at over-correcting and stopping short due to the sheer weight difference between it- ci and my beloved G502. Before long, I was lining up and executing headshots with ease.
The Prime Mini also performed well in MOBA titles like DOTA 2 – I was able to perform movements with extreme precision and cover the map smoothly. Much of this freedom of movement is due to the extremely lightweight microfiber mesh cable that Steelseries has used for the Prime series. The mouse’s lightweight feel is complemented by a cable that doesn’t weigh it down or create drag – a common problem with super-lightweight gaming mice.
I found the default DPI settings worked well for these titles, although it would have been beneficial to have a DPI toggle button easily accessible during gameplay rather than on the underside of the mouse. Remapping the side mouse buttons to reflect these adjustments fixes this issue, but some MOBA players are going to want more buttons. Personally, I didn’t see this as a problem as I prefer traditional keyboard bindings for abilities. This ease of movement has also benefited me in RTS titles like Total War: Warhammer.
As good as the Prime Mini is, I always missed having a dedicated DPI or “Sniper” downshift button to make fine aiming adjustments while held down. This is a common gaming mouse feature that I’ve come to rely on over the years. Its omission is somewhat understandable, given the limited real estate supply on the Prime Mini and the desire to keep things light. Despite this, I didn’t notice any significant performance degradation on my part when using the Prime Mini, and that’s significant given my general dislike of ultra-lightweight gaming mice.
Features and software with the Steelseries Prime Mini
The Prime Mini uses the Steelseries GG suite, with the main point of interest being the Steelseries Engine software. From the software, you can remap mouse button functions, create and assign macros, adjust acceleration, deceleration, angle snap and sensitivity levels, change polling rate, and play around with it. unique RGB zone lighting on the Prime Mini’s scroll wheel.
Angle capture effectively “smooths” the line that the mouse pointer moves over by predicting straight line motion. This can be very useful for design and productivity tasks, but is best left alone for gaming applications.
The sensitivity setting can be changed in five increments, by default it is set to a minimum of 400 DPI and a maximum of 3200 DPI. The absolute minimum is 50 DPI and the absolute maximum is 18,000 DPI.
There aren’t a whole host of lighting options available, but the other customization tools at your disposal more than make up for that. It certainly helps that Engine is extremely easy to use, with a clean, clutter-free user interface.
Conclusion
The Steelseries Prime Mini is a minimalist, well-designed, and ultra-lightweight gaming mouse offered at a very affordable price ($59.99 at press time) that stands out from more expensive competitors like the Razer Viper. The Prime Mini also has a slight advantage for having superior ergonomics – it’s a rare little mouse that feels great in large hands, although some compromises still need to be made to grab the style (a palm grip just won’t work if you’ve got big hands).
Thoughtful touches like super-lightweight microfiber cabling and a recessed thumb grip under the side buttons help make the Prime Mini comfortable and efficient for long sessions by eliminating cable drag and ensuring you don’t slip and slip. wrong click by accident. These may seem like small quality of life considerations, but in the context of passionate, competitive gaming, they really matter.
While the Prime Mini is a great mouse, there are a few design choices that may not suit your tastes. By default, the DPI toggle is mapped to a button below the mouse, so in-game accessibility isn’t really possible without remapping the buttons. smooth if you are used to movement with a little more resistance. Finally, the mouse buttons aren’t as fast as the more typical Omron mechanical switch-backed buttons found in many competing gaming mice. Most of these issues are a matter of taste, but since the overall feel is extremely important, they are worth mentioning.
Steelseries has created an ultralight gaming mouse that still feels comfortable in large hands with very little compromise. As a gamer with monster paws, this won’t replace the bigger, heavier mice I generally prefer, but it was a very pleasant surprise. Accurate, fast, comfortable, well-designed and affordable, the Prime Mini has earned its place among the best ultralight gaming mice available today.