Written By Tom "Hucky" Fairbairn
17 December, 2009 04:11 PM

Xai: An Overview

As part of the new range of SteelSeries hardware, I'm delighted to herald the arrival of the Xai Laser Mouse to Australia. Leaving inferior products such as the Ikari in its wake, SteelSeries' new flagship mouse stands proudly amongst an already comprehensive range of gaming peripherals. The Xai improves on its predecessors by offering countless customisable settings, innovative features such as ExactRate and ExactSens and a deceptively simple, driver-free method of saving and accessing your mouse settings.

Through rigorous playtesting both at home and away I've been able to experience all the Xai has to offer. On a whole I was very impressed; at least, enough to convince me to ditch my much loved MX518 and embrace the Xai as my primary mouse. Apart from a couple of inconsequential niggles I think the Xai is excellent for CS and is the best general purpose gaming mouse on the market. The balls-out basic design is deceptively functional, the tracking and handling have been finely tuned and SteelSeries' new software features make life exceptionally easy when moving between computers or going to LAN.

Most people will readily agree that the Xai has striking similarities in visual appearance to some earlier Microsoft mice. Luckily for Xai users the build quality rates above and beyond anything Microsoft has ever produced and the mouse is a pleasure to handle and operate. It's also important to note that the Xai is not a "redesigned Ikari" or a modification of an existing SteelSeries product - it's a brand new mouse with a brand new design and feature set. Let's look at the design first.

There were three things I noticed instantly about the Xai's design - it is basic, ergonomic and ambidextrous. It fits nicely into the hand because there are no obtrusive buttons or curves to fit your fingers around. After speaking to professional gamers who use all types of different grips (including the common Claw, Palm and Swipe grips) SteelSeries have settled on a design to suit everyone's needs.

The Xai's build is completely solid, with no detachable or moving parts. Unlike other mice which use insertable weights to tailor the "feel" of the mouse to the user's personal preference, the Xai is moderately weighted with a perfectly distributed centre of gravity. Unlike custom weighted mice such as the G5, the Xai feels heavy everywhere rather than just in the middle of the mouse or where weights are inserted. I think it's ever so slightly heavier than most comparable mice at their default weight although I couldn't be sure after a week's worth of use.

As you can see the Xai incorporates a number of additional buttons - 2 on the left side, 2 on the right side, one mousewheel button and one CPI toggle button. I've never liked buttons on the side of mice - in fact, I've hated them ever since I purchased my first MX518. I still don't like them, but the Xai's side buttons are essentially unnoticeable during gameplay and general use. I haven't yet had a moment where I've accidentally navigated backwards while browsing the web or using Windows Explorer. This used to happen daily with my last mouse and I'm grateful for the well positioned and streamlined buttons on the Xai. They're there if you want them but you won't notice them if you don't.

The LCD display really is the Xai's ace in the hole. Completely invisible during regular play, the LCD is viewable under any lighting conditions and easily controllable from the regular mouse buttons. At 128x32 pixels the screen has great clarity, and navigating through menu options using the mousewheel is exceedingly easy. This is the kind of feature that will set a precedent for future mice because it makes going to LAN a breeze, it makes switching between home computers quick and simple, and it completely eliminates the need for drivers. The Xai doesn't even come with a driver disc - just an instruction manual.