Build Quality

Overall build quality is very solid. There is no rattle when shaking the mouse. When applying lateral pressure, no creaking or flexing of the shell can be observed. Activating the side buttons by squeezing the sides is impossible. Lastly, no accidental clicks occur when slamming down the mouse.

Buttons

Main buttons on the Rival 5 are excellent. Both pre and post-travel are low, resulting in a very firm and snappy click response. Button stiffness is light. Despite being visually separated from the shell, lateral button movement is low and needs to be provoked; i.e., is not noticeable during typical use. A pair of TTC Golden Micro Dustproof (80 M) switches is used. For the record, the switches themselves say 60 M, but SteelSeries is adamant they're 80 M, so we have to assume they have been binned at 80 M by either TTC or SteelSeries.


Side buttons are excellent. First the layout: In the middle are the two traditional forward and back side buttons. Above is a rocker that can be pressed up or down. Lastly, an additional button is placed in front of the thumb position. Both pre and post-travel are minimal on the forward and back side buttons, and the actuation point is even across the entirety of these, resulting in a firm and satisfying button response. The same goes for the rocker, which is surprisingly solid despite being, well, a rocker. That said, when pressing the rocker upwards, the left side of the mouse typically lifts up a bit as well, which isn't ideal. The front-thumb button is positioned fairly well: It's entirely out of the way, but due to its angled shape still readily in reach if needed. In fact, all side buttons are easily reached, and easily told apart by feel alone due to shape. Several seemingly unbranded tactile switches are used here.

At the top of the mouse is a single button for cycling through the set CPI steps, which works just fine. A switch from Kailh (gray shell, black plunger) is used for this one.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is very good. Scrolling up is a bit noisy, but tactility is on point, with clearly discernible steps and a matching tactile feel when scrolling. The encoder comes from TTC. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires medium to low force for actuation. A seemingly unbranded tactile switch is used here.

Coating

The Rival 5 has a rougher matte surface all over. Highly reminiscent of the Rival 3 Wireless coating, it doesn't attract fingerprints, dirt, or the likes too much. However, the dirt that does build up can be difficult to get rid of, though there aren't many signs of wear left after doing so. All in all, good materials.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Disassembling the Rival 5 is somewhat difficult. The screws are found beneath the two big skates. Once those are taken off, top and bottom shell are easily separated, though one needs to pay attention not to rip any cables when doing so. In addition to that, there is a good chance the pin securing the side-button rocker may fall out during disassembly. Getting it back in can get quite finicky.

The design is of above average complexity. First off all, the two side panels are screwed in with a single screw at their back and can be taken off with ease. Two ribbon cables connect the two LED stripes within the top shell to the main PCB. Furthermore, a small PCB carrying the CPI button is screwed into the top shell and connected through a 2-pin connector. An auxiliary PCB next to the scroll wheel provides wheel illumination, and an additional PCB elevates the scroll wheel to the appropriate height. Due to said PCB taking up the space, the main buttons are rotated by 90 degrees. Finally, the side-button PCB is screwed into the left-side panel and connected to the main PCB with a 6-pin JST connector. An encasing protects the sensor assembly. All PCBs are of moderate thickness. Four screws in total are used to directly affix the main PCB to the bottom shell. The MCU is an STM32F072C8T6, whose datasheet can be found here.


As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws.