SteelSeries is well known in the gaming community for offering hardware that is not only sleek and sexy, but also capable of withstanding the rigours of professional gaming. Little surprise that i jumped at the chance to get my paws on this amazing product. The SteelSeries XAI looked awesome even in its drab, standard issue SteelSeries box.

The first thing that jumped out at me upon its unboxing was the sturdiness of the XAI's construct. The firm "give" on the buttons, the comfortable yet steady weight of the mouse itself, all lent the XAI the overall feel of a miniature tank.

My original worry that its tankiness might make in ungainly in my inexperienced hands, but one smooth swipe of the mouse across the surface of my hardwood table quickly dispelled any unjustified fears i might have had. The giant mousefeet glided smoothly over the table with very little friction. SteelSeries : making iceskates for your hands since 2001.

The SteelSeries XAI comes with a total of 8 buttons, 1 triangular CPI toggle in the middle of the top side of the mouse, the obvious scroll wheel and 6 assignable buttons.

1. Left Click Primary
2. Scroll Wheel
3. Right Click Primary
4. Right Side Button A
5. Right Side Button B
6. CPI Changer
7. Left Side Button B
8. Left SIde Button A

The braided Mouse cord also was a feature i really appreciated, my  CPU is to the left side of my monitor, requiring me to string the cable along the back of my Hdmi monitor. With previous mice this tended to cause chaffing of the cord and considerable wear and tear. However, with the braided steelseries cord, mouse mobility is kept perfect even during frantic micro sessions. As the cord is moderately stiff, it always remains in the same general orientation to where it is plugged, this completely eliminated a previous problem i had experienced with other mice when the cable would sometimes loop or even get caught on the mouse itself.

The XAI's compact and simple shape makes it extremely ergonomic. The position of the 4 sidebuttons make them easily accessible to the thumb and ring finger and the CPI toggle switch is in a safe enough position that almost no amount of gamer panic hand movement will result in a misclick. The slight bevel in the rear base of XAI (the bit closest your wrist) allows it to be swiveled off whatever surface its on for quick repositioning. This has proven particularly useful in massive Heroes of Newerth team fights when quick screen scrolling was essential.

Even as my first Steelseries Mouse, the XAI felt comfortable the instant i held it, and it has never failed to perform.

One of the coolest functions of the XAI has got to be its CPI changer. Its main toggle switch in its central position on the top of the mouse allows the user to instantly toggle between two CPI setting profiles. These profiles in term can be customized and configured to your taste using the software downloadable from Steelseries or through the inbuilt LCD screen on the underside of the mouse.

The integrated software of the mouse allows you to easily choose settings that best suit the particular game you wish to play, on any computer, in any location without ever needing to download the software. This is particularly handy when going for lan tourneys or just playing ouside in shops with your friends. Its also useful when alternating between playing games like MassEffect2, Bioshock and Heroes of Newerth, all three games have different optimal CPIs.

As with any piece of equipment, there are downsides to the XAI as well.

The accessibility of the sidebuttons has on occasion become a problem. Their prime location under the thumb and the ring fingers tends to result in frequent misclicks during intense battles and is even a problem when web-browsing as misclicking either of the 4 side buttons scrolls backwards or forwards through pages browsed. If you're the type that is able to handle your mouse gently no matter the situation, then this won't affect you that much. But for an impulsive and knee-jerk reaction player like myself, i've chosen to skip aside the problem entirely by binding less important game functions to the side buttons, namely the taunt effect and activating voice chat. 

All in all, the SteelSeries XAI is an excellent product. It lacks all the fancy trimmings of a number of its competitors products, and some may nitpick about the location of the side buttons and their sensitivity, but what it lacks in flashiness it more than makes up for in utility and function. Its portable, customizable and fits like it was made for your hands.

The SteelSeries XAI gets 4/5 totems from me. :)