Steelseries Kana v2 review

The Crazed Child · July 2, 2014

This is my review of the Steelseries Kana v2. I wasn't able to get any pictures of my own mouse due to my terrible camera, so all of the images are sourced from various websites.

Enjoy!

According to Steelseries' website, the Kana v2 has new advanced sensor and improved tournament grade switches over the original Kana mouse. I have the white variant of the Kana v2 personally because it seemed glossier than the black variant.

As soon as I plugged it in, it worked perfectly. There was no drivers I needed to download and is basically "plug-and-play". It's quite simplistic compared to most other gaming mice, only having three extra buttons. By default, the centre orange button turns the scroll wheel backlight on and off. There is also a larger button on each side of the mouse. This makes it easier to navigate between webpages. For gaming, these are really useful if in the unlikely situation that you've run out of assignable keys on your keyboard. I found the click on these buttons quite deep but satisfying for some unknown reason.

I was previously using a small Logitech wireless mouse before I purchased this. It was incredibly small and I was forced to have my hand cramped over the mouse like a hunchback. With this mouse, I have no problems. My hand naturally sits on the mouse's gentle curve. It isn't too large as well - I have no trouble reaching the secondary buttons. It's just right.

I was pleased to know when I pulled the mouse out if it's box that it had a braided cord. While this is usually a feature you'd see on an expensive top-of-the-line mouse, this $45 AUD gaming mouse has one too. My only complaint is, while it might not get tangled, the cord seems stiff and will bend into place easily - similar to how wire bends.

While it looks like a clean, polished mouse from the outside, when you look on the underside of the mouse, there is an orange-tinted window that reveals the circuit board contained inside. I would prefer this to be covered up since it ruins the aesthetic of the peripheral. Note that this is only a minor complaint, you obviously won't see it unless you flip the mouse over.

Then there's the scroll wheel. As I said before, it is backlit which assists you if gaming or just browsing the web in a dark room. There's not much to say about this, but the resistance on the scroll wheel was relatively soft but not to the point where it will scroll with no resistance at all.

Moving onto the primary mouse buttons. Oh, how I loved these. It was quite a shallow click that somehow reminded me of the Mac Mouse that's bundled with iMacs, but with the right amount of resistance that it couldn't really be clicked by accident.

Inb4 the Apple h8

Conclusion: If you're looking for a gaming mouse on a budget and don't need any of the fancy features that more expensive mice might provide, then this should definitely get a look from you. But if you don't like visible circuit boards, look at something else.