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Steelseries Prime Mini Wireless Mouse Review – Mini Device, Max Performance

Steelseries offered us the opportunity to review one of their latest additions to its 2021 mouse lineup – The Steelseries Prime Mini Wireless.

This tiny little device is their brand new, esports focused “innovative” gaming mouse. What exactly makes it innovative though? Let’s get into it shall we.

First up, the technical specs of this mouse are nothing to scoff at. It features pretty much every single thing you’d want from a lightweight wireless gaming mouse in 2021.

The SteelSeries Prime Mini Wireless is the smaller version of the Prime Wireless.

The Prime Wireless comes in at 80 grams while the Prime Mini Wireless is only 73 grams. Shaving off those seven grams seems insignificant, but in reality it makes a world of difference to some gamers. Especially those that want the lightest mouse possible for their precision headshot flicks and 360 no-scope snipes.

Prime Mini x Prime Comparison

Steelseries Prime Mini Wireless Box

While we’re on the topic of weight though, it should be noted that Steelseries have also somehow managed to drop the weight of the non-wireless version of this mouse all the way down to 61 grams so if you don’t mind being tied down by a cable, that’s the one to eyeball for the lowest weight. Nevertheless, at 73 grams, this is still quite light, especially for a wireless mouse.

The official spec sheet is as follows:

Sensor – SteelSeries TrueMove Air

Sensor Type – Optical

CPI – 100–18 000 in 100 CPI Increments

IPS – 400, on SteelSeries QcK surfaces

Acceleration – 40G

Hardware Acceleration – None (Zero Hardware Acceleration)

Back Cover Material – Black Matte Finish

Core Construction – ABS Plastic

Shape – Ergonomic, Right-Handed

Grip Style: Claw, Fingertip or Palm

Number of Buttons – Five

Illumination – One RGB Zone

Weight – 73g

Length – 120.3mm / 4.73inches

Width – 66.2mm / 2.60inches

Height – 40.7mm / 1.60inches

Connection – 2.4GHz / Wireless

Battery Life – 100 Hours

Switch Type – Prestige OM optical magnetic switches

Switch Rating – 100 million clicks

OS – Windows, Mac, Xbox, and Linux. USB port required.

Software – SteelSeries Engine 3.18.4+, for Windows (7 or newer) and Mac OSX (10.12 or newer)

What truly makes the Steelseries Prime range innovative is the fact that these mice all use Steelseries’s new Prestige OM Switches.

The Prestige OM Switches are “Optical Magnetic” switches. Steelseries claim that these switches will last you around 100 million clicks and will remain as fresh as ever throughout the entire lifespan of the device. While obviously we were unable to sit around clicking a mouse button 100 million times, in the time we spent with the mouse, each and every single click truly did feel as great as the first time we unboxed it.

Two weeks into using the mouse and it still felt the same so we’re inclined to believe the marketing hype here.

The Prestige OM switch in the mouse uses a steel torsion spring which is held in place by a specially milled neodymium magnet. Using the neodymium’s magnetic force, each click of the mouse button actuates with the same amount of release force. The Steelseries Prime Mini Wireless and its Prestige OM switches felt great to use because of this fact.

SteelSeries Prime_Prestige OM Switches 01

Each click of the mouse buttons, either left or right, registered immediately with zero lag or problems. There’s no double clicking issues here either since it’s a magnetic optical switch which works ridiculously well, every single time.

These are definitely great switches and you can feel the difference when comparing it to a traditional mechanical switch mouse.

The only caveat to them being the fact that they are somewhat loud. This isn’t exactly a massive problem but the “crispy” sounding click might annoy those who prefer their mice to be quieter or silent. Steelseries clearly thought about this too and put up a recording of what the clicks sound like for you to compare to your own mouse or to a more traditional mechanical switch mouse.

If you click here, you’ll be able to hear what the Prime Mini Wireless mouse’s clicks sound like. We can confirm that this is accurate to what the mouse sounds like in real life so it’ll give you a general idea of what you’re getting yourself into if you purchase this mouse.

Moving on to the mouse’s shape, the Prime Mini Wireless is designed for gamers with smaller hands or those that prefer smaller sized mice.

At 120.3mm long and 66.2mm wide, this is a fairly small mouse but not absolutely mindblowingly tiny like some that we’ve seen from competing brands. It’s the perfect size for us and we loved every second of using it because it fit our hands perfectly.

Steelseries Prime Mini Wireless

The mouse’s shape, while looking fairly standard, has been contoured and shaped for optimal Claw and Finger grip usage. You can still use a Palm style grip with this mouse but the smaller size will have you automatically shifting into using either a Claw or Finger grip without you even noticing it.

The mouse’s surface is an easy to clean textured matte black high grade polymer which doesn’t show fingerprints easily and feels extremely comfortable in your hand. Steelseries have done a great job here with the mouse’s surface and other brands should take note. This doesn’t feel like cheap plastic at all.

The mouse wheel has just the right amount of traction to it and the the left side buttons, which are more traditional switches, are in the perfect position. Unfortunately there isn’t a detachable left side thumbgrip but since the mouse’s surface is matte, you don’t really need one. Your thumb will automatically slip into place and feels right at home on the textured surface.

Steelseries Prime Mini Wireless Image 2

The Prime Mini Wireless’s bottom section features PTFE glide skates at key points on the mouse. These are located where the most pressure would be exerted and users can therefore effortlessly move the mouse across a surface with maximum control. Using the mouse on a cloth mousepad surface, it could be moved with the bare minimum of effort and thanks to the Steelseries TrueMove Air sensor, it responds amazingly well.

Steelseries Prime Mini PTFE Skates

The sensor used in this mouse is a high-end optical sensor custom made by PixArt for Steelseries and it features some impressive stats. The sensor is rated for 18 000 CPI, 400 IPS and 40G acceleration and this means that you’ll have excellent performance when using the mouse even if you’re one of those gamers that love to flick their mouse around.

The Prime Mini Wireless has five default on-board profiles which users can cycle through by pressing the CPI button on the underside of the mouse.

Steelseries GG

Alternatively if you download the latest version of the Steelseries Engine, you’ll be able to do a lot of far more in-depth customisation.

The options available here are quite extensive with users being able to set up 5 custom profiles, change the polling rate (four options available (125, 250, 500 and 1000), enable angle snapping, adjust your acceleration and deceleration sensitivity and enable a “High-Efficiency Mode” which extends the battery life of the mouse.

You can also quite easily set up macros and re-assign mouse buttons as well as change the lighting settings for the only RGB LED on the mouse which is located within the mouse wheel (Sorry RGB fans, there aren’t hundreds of lights on this mouse unfortunately).

Steelseries Engine Screenshot 1

For some strange reason though, Steelseries have decided to only let you change your CPI in increments of 100. Competing brands such as Corsair let you adjust your CPI down to even increments of one and this is something that Steelseries needs to look at for a future product version.

If you opt into using the “High-Efficiency Mode”, you will also lose out on the higher polling rate as it drops down to 125. Other than this, Steelseries’ wireless Quantum 2.0 technology ensures that the Prime Mini Wireless never has any hiccups or issues while it’s paired with the USB Type C dongle it ships with.

Steelseries Engine Screenshot 2

Rounding off the package, Steelseries have included a rather lengthy microfibre “Super Mesh” USB-C to USB-A Cable which plugs into the mouse for quick charging and a handy dongle extender.

It’s nice to see that they put effort into the cable and didn’t just include a standard solid plastic wrapped one. The dongle extender also doubles as an easy USB-A converter in case you don’t have an open USB-C slot on your device.

Steelseries Prime Mini Wireless Dongle

One major gripe that I do have with the Prime Wireless Mini is that there isn’t an easy way to tell how much battery life is left exactly. The Steelseries Engine software displays a battery meter with bars but doesn’t tell you the exact percentage of battery power left.

This is a huge misstep because you could be down to 1 bar and think you have enough charge but in reality it might not be enough for a full day’s worth of usage. The battery in the Prime Wireless Mini is rated for 100 hours of full usage at the 1000Hz polling rate and this can be extended if you opt into using the “High Efficiency Mode” but that’s not recommended if you plan to use this for gaming.

Steelseries Engine Screenshot 3

Using the mouse for extended periods of time for both gaming and doing general work, we never encountered any issues. Everything works as intended, perfectly fine from the day it was unboxed.

The mouse is extremely responsive and there isn’t any noticeable lag, delay or stutter at all. Steelseries’ Quantum 2.0 technology clearly works and works incredibly well. If you’re a competitive gamer, this mouse will indeed, serve you well.

Final Verdict

Overall, the Steelseries Prime Mini Wireless is a slightly pricey wireless mouse with stellar performance.

Don’t let its subdued looks fool you. This is a ridiculously good product with the only flaw being that Steelseries’ software doesn’t tell you the exact battery percentage left on the device.

If you’re in the market for a mini, wireless mouse that will not disappoint you, this is it. Highly recommended from us if you can stomach the €139.99 (~ R2 399) price tag.

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