Sensor and Performance

The SteelSeries Sensei Ten is equipped with the TrueMove Pro. According to specifications, the TrueMove Pro is capable of up to 18,000 CPI as well as a maximum tracking speed of 450 IPS, which equals 11.43 m/s. Judging from the package as well as its tracking and performance traits, I am fairly confident that the TrueMove Pro is based off the PixArt PMW3389. Whether the TrueMove Pro merely features a custom SROM (much like the TrueMove 3) or whether there have been any changes on the silicone level, I do not know (although I'm leaning towards the former). Out of the box, five pre-defined CPI steps are available: 400, 800, 1200, 2400, and 3200 CPI.

Disclaimer: All testing has been done with the most recent firmware. Performance with any prior firmware will differ from the results shown here.

CPI Accuracy

"CPI" (short for counts per inch) describes the amount of counts registered by the mouse if it is moved exactly one inch. There are several factors (firmware, mounting height of the sensor not meeting specifications, mouse feet thickness, mousing surface, among others) which may contribute to nominal CPI not matching actual CPI. It is impossible to always achieve a perfect match, but ideally nominal and actual CPI should differ as little as possible. In this test I'm determining whether this is the case or not. However, please keep in mind that said variance will still vary from unit to unit, so your mileage may vary.


I've restricted my testing to the four most common CPI steps, which are 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. As you can see, the deviation is neither high nor low (and mostly consistent), which is an average result. In order to achieve accurate values I've used corrected steps of 400/800/1550/3100 to account for the measured CPI deviation.

Motion Delay

"Motion delay" encompasses all kinds of sensor lag. Any further sources of input delay will not be recorded in this test. The main thing I'll be looking for in this test is sensor smoothing, which describes an averaging of motion data across several capture frames in order to reduce jitter at higher CPI values, increasing motion delay along with it. The goal here is to have as little smoothing as possible. As there is no way to accurately measure motion delay absolutely, it can only be done by comparison with a control subject that has been determined to have the lowest possible motion delay. In this case the control subject is a G403, whose 3366 has no visible smoothing across the entire CPI range.


First I'm looking at an xCounts plot to quickly gauge whether there is any smoothing present, which would be indicated by any "kinks" being visible. SteelSeries claims that the TrueMove Pro does not have any visible smoothing up until 5000 CPI. In order to test this I've plotted 4950 and 5000 CPI. While the 4950 CPI plot does not show any such kinks, the 5000 CPI plot does, which confirms that smoothing kicks in at that exact value. We can also see that SPI timing has little jitter, resulting in a clean graph.


In order to verify the results from the xCount plots from above, I'm looking at xSum plots generated at 4950, 5000, and 18000 CPI. The line further to the left denotes the sensor with less motion delay. At 4950 CPI, motion delay is identical. At 5000 CPI, motion delay is roughly 4 ms. And finally, at 18000 CPI, motion delay is still 4 ms. The ramp-up in terms of smoothing normally seen on a 3389 is therefore absent on the TrueMove Pro. To sum it up: no visible smoothing up to 4950 CPI and 32 frames of smoothing at and above 5000 CPI, all the way up to 18,000 CPI.

Speed-Related Accuracy Variance (SRAV)

What people typically mean when they talk about "acceleration" is speed-related accuracy variance (or SRAV for short). It's not about the mouse having a set amount of inherent positive or negative acceleration but about the cursor not traveling the same distance if the mouse is moved the same physical distance at different speeds. The easiest way to test this is by comparison with a control subject that is known to have very low SRAV, which in this case is the G403. As you can see from the plot, no displacement between the two cursor paths can be observed, which confirms that SRAV is very low.

Perfect Control Speed

Perfect Control Speed (or PCS for short) is the maximum speed up to which the mouse and its sensor can be moved without the sensor malfunctioning in any way. I've only managed to hit a measly 4 m/s (which is within the proclaimed PCS range), at which speed no sign of the sensor malfunctioning can be observed.

Polling Rate Stability

All four possible settings (125 Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, 1000Hz) look nice and stable.

Paint Test

This test is used to indicate any potential issues with angle snapping (non-native straightening of linear motion) and jitter, along with any sensor lens rattle. This time around, I'm testing four CPI values: 1600 CPI, as a general use baseline. 4950 CPI, as the highest non-smoothing CPI step. 5000 CPI, as the first CPI step with smoothing. 18,000 CPI, as the highest CPI step with smoothing. As you can see, no issues with angle snapping can be observed at any of the tested CPI steps. Interestingly, despite the lack of smoothing, 4950 CPI barely shows more jitter than 5000 CPI. 18,000 CPI then shows very high amounts of jitter, which is expected considering the rather moderate degree of smoothing applied at that step. I'd consider the level of jitter at the latter step to be unusably high. That having been said, I struggle to see practical applications of such high CPI anyway. Furthermore, minor sensor lens rattle can be observed. This is partly due to the test being done at the highest possible CPI, which is 18,000.

Lift-off Distance

The SteelSeries Sensei Ten does not support adjusting LOD. This is unfortunate as the 3389 (which the TrueMove Pro is based on) is fully capable of this. The only available (default) setting is low as it barely tracks at a height of 1 DVD. It should be kept in mind, however, that LOD may vary slightly depending on the mousing surface (pad) it is being used on.

Click Latency

Since mechanical switches are being used for the buttons in most computer mice, debouncing is required in order to avoid unintended double clicks. Debouncing typically adds a delay (along with any potential processing delay), which shall be referred to as click latency. As there is no way to measure said delay directly, it has to be done by comparing it to a control subject, which in this case is the Logitech G203. Click latency has been measured to be roughly +7.8 ms when compared to the SteelSeries Ikari, which is considered as the baseline with 0 ms. Please keep in mind that the measured value is not the absolute click latency. Comparison data comes from this thread as well as my own testing, using qsxcv's program.