Software

Recently, SteelSeries Engine has been integrated into an overarching software suite called SteelSeries GG. As of now, GG only provides access to two different applications: Engine and "Moments," which can be used to clip worthwhile in-game moments. Moments requires a SteelSeries account to work, which is why one is prompted to create one upon first launching GG. If one doesn't intend to use Moments, account creation can be safely skipped and Engine used without any restrictions. However, when using GG at all, SteelSeries reserves the right to collect anonymous data about user behavior without the option to opt out. Luckily, said data collection is tied to an account, so as long as no account is created, no data will be collected.

Engine works the same as it always has. All available options are accessible on a single page. All buttons can be remapped to mouse, keyboard, media, OS, or macro functions. The corresponding macro editor can be found right below the button selection. CPI adjustment is possible from 100 to 18,000 CPI, in increments of 100, and for up to five color-coded levels; i.e., a non-user-configurable color will light up upon switching CPI steps. Furthermore, a basic acceleration function, angle snapping (on/off), and polling rate adjustment (125, 250, 500, or 1000 Hz) are available. Lighting settings are detailed below.

Additionally, several further settings related to wireless functionality are available. "Sleep Timer" controls how much time has to pass before the mouse enters sleep mode. "Illumination Dim Timer" is for setting the idle time before illumination is dimmed. "High-Efficiency Mode" automatically disables all illumination, sets the polling rate to 125 Hz, and puts the sensor into a low-power mode. I've tested this mode in terms of latency, and the results aren't good—roughly 6 ms of motion delay make this mode rather pointless for pretty much any sort of gaming. "Illumination Smart Mode" automatically turns off any illumination whenever the mouse is not stationary.

When applied, all settings are saved to the on-board memory, so the software does not need to be running (or be installed) all the time. On my system, GG running without Engine results in a RAM footprint of 200 MB when in the foreground, which doesn't change when minimized. With Engine running on top, the RAM footprint increases to 262 MB on average, which again doesn't change when minimized. Upon closing GG, the application is effectively minimized to the system tray, which has two processes with a RAM footprint of 64 MB running. Upon exiting the application altogether, all processes are terminated, as they should be. However, upon restarting the system, and for whatever reason, a single process with a footprint of 6 MB is running despite GG being set not to auto-run. And even more weirdly, I need to kill that process before starting GG as it otherwise refuses to launch. Upon disabling GG within the Task Manager altogether, this process no longer runs and GG can once again be launched without issue.

Lighting

The Prime Wireless has but a single physical zone for RGB lighting, which is the scroll wheel. Three pre-defined lighting effects in total are available in the software. These are Steady (single color), Color Shift, and Multi Color Breathe. All effects can be further customized in terms of speed and colors. Of course, it is also possible to disable the lighting altogether.

Color accuracy and vibrancy are excellent throughout. Here's a short demonstration video in which I go through the ColorShift and Multi Color Breathe lighting effects:

Battery Life

SteelSeries states a maximum battery life of more than 100 hours. No details are given under which conditions this figure applies, though it is fair to assume that it refers to default settings: 1000 Hz and RGB lighting enabled with all RGB power-saving measures. On the Aerox 3 Wireless, disabling those reduced battery life to no more than 10 hours. While the very basic battery indicator doesn't allow me to gauge anything precisely, I can at least report that this isn't the case on the Prime Wireless. After 12 hours of continuous use with the RGB lighting permanently enabled, battery life had gone down by just a single notch. Accordingly, and considering that the battery has more than twice the capacity than that of the Aerox 3 Wireless, we can at least assume that battery life is nowhere near as low as on the Aerox 3 Wireless with RGB fully enabled.

Within SteelSeries Engine, one can determine the time required to pass before sleep mode is entered. Unlike on the Aerox 3 or Rival 3 Wireless, waking the Prime Wireless merely requires moving the mouse instead of pressing a button.

Using the included USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable, I also measured the charging speed during the constant current stage, which sits at around 0.445 A. This is just short of the USB current limit. The battery has a capacity of 550 mAh.