Steelseries Aerox 3 Gen 2 Review

SteelSeries' honeycombed Aerox 3 was 1 of the champion gaming mice of 2022 – truthful I was hoping for fireworks erstwhile I began investigating the caller $110 "Gen 2" refresh, which keeps the aforesaid plan but with a amended sensor, higher polling complaint and longer artillery life.

Those improvements adhd up to a coagulated rodent that's amended than the archetypal successful each way. And yet I'm truly struggling to get excited astir it.

Let maine explicate why.

Distinctive Honeycomb Design Fails to Cut Any Weight

SteelSeries has made its honeycomb Aerox plan adjacent much see-through by replacing the apical and broadside panels with semi-transparent plastic. The exposed innards person a toy-like charm and I'm gladsome Steelseries has leaned into the aesthetic alternatively than playing it safe. Better to beryllium distinctive than dull: pairing the ammunition with a afloat customizable three-zone RGB surely makes the Aerox 3 Gen 2 basal out.

Its mean size volition acceptable astir hands and the pronounced curves towards its wide basal make earthy platforms for my thumb and pinky finger. All of the 3 astir communal rodent grips – fingertip, a afloat thenar grip and a claw – felt comfy to clasp for hours astatine a clip and the rodent coating was grippy without feeling sticky.

The near and close buttons are connected the stiffer broadside but ever registered my clicks – their high-pitched 'ping' sounds clean, and I could spam them rapidly erstwhile I needed to.

The ammunition occasionally creaks against the basal of the rodent erstwhile I compression it truly hard, but this was ne'er never a occupation during wide use, and it feels coagulated and sturdy successful the hand. I dropped it and knocked it astir a spot with nary sick effects, and its internals are protected by an IP54-rated coating that should support it moving aft liquid spills.

But I person 2 main complaints.

The first, much minor, is not astir the rodent itself but the 2.4Ghz wireless dongle that connects the Aerox 3 Gen 2 to your PC (you tin besides usage it with Bluetooth). It wobbles successful my USB-C larboard with the slightest nudge and sticks retired further than astir dongles, which are either smaller oregon beryllium flatter against your PC. It's a unsafe combo and means I'm ever worrying astir knocking it.

The second, perchance much major, is the weight. In 2022 the 68g Aerox 3 felt airy – 4 years aboriginal the value hasn't changed but each the contention has got slimmer. Nearly each caller premium mice are beneath 60g and erstwhile I archetypal started investigating the Gen 2 mentation it felt dense connected my pad.

The sensor placement beneath the mid-line of the rodent doesn't help. The little a sensor, the little it moves erstwhile you marque tiny adjustments with your fingerprints astatine the apical of the mouse. It made the Aerox 3 Gen 2 consciousness adjacent much sluggish.

Lighter doesn't mean better, of course. Some radical similar a somewhat heavier consciousness successful the hand, and to beryllium just it lone took maine fractional an hr to halt noticing it. When that happened, it felt similar it took zero effort to expanse it crossed my rodent pad connected its slick PTFE feet, oregon to marque small, speedy adjustments.

But it's a agelong mode from the "ultra-lightweight" consciousness that SteelSeries promises, and it's besides astatine likelihood with its weight-cutting honeycomb design. I stay portion of the masses who find 50-60g to beryllium a saccharine spot for comfort, speed, precision and control.

Sensor Improvements Boost Its Gaming Chops

The upgrades to the Aerox 3 Gen 2's specs bring its show successful enactment with modern mid-to-high-range gaming mice.

I chiefly utilized it successful the archetypal idiosyncratic shooter Marathon and the citybuilder Whiskerwood, a duo that combines speedy movements with much relaxed clicking and dragging, but I besides tested it successful Fortnite, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Slay the Spire 2. It felt accurate, reliable, consistent, and it captured my movements without stutters oregon errors. None of the upgraded sensor, the click switches, oregon the wireless transportation constricted however I played.

Perhaps the biggest alteration from the archetypal Aerox 3 is successful its maximum polling complaint – the times per 2nd the rodent reports its presumption to your PC. That jumps from 1,000Hz to 4,000Hz, with a 2,000Hz enactment successful the middle. Theoretically higher polling rates should marque your rodent consciousness smoother and snappier, particularly erstwhile you're moving it rapidly, and to me, the quality supra 1000Hz is flimsy but real. This is simply a genuine upgrade for anyone looking to compression each driblet of foodstuff retired of their mouse. It's little than the 8K gold-standard, but that's perfectly good with me: 8K is overkill and ne'er worthy the other artillery drain.

Keep successful caput you'll besides request a high-end strategy to instrumentality advantage, including a beefy CPU-GPU combo and a precocious refresh complaint monitor. Otherwise your machine, not your mouse, becomes the limiting factor. Also retrieve that higher polling importantly cuts artillery life. At 1,000Hz without RGB lighting, SteelSeries reckons you tin scope 120 hours, amended than the archetypal and astir successful enactment with the drain erstwhile I tested it. But astatine 4K polling that drops to astir 35 hours. For that reason, I usually play astatine 1K for casual games oregon 2K successful online multiplayer.

The sensor has been improved, but lone incrementally. The maximum inches per 2nd (IPS) of tracking and the max acceleration stay the same, astatine 400 IPS and 40 G, but the maximum dots per inches (DPI), a measurement of sensitivity, jumps from 18,000 to 26,000.

Those numbers are mostly meaningless, however, due to the fact that you won't beryllium moving the rodent that quickly, nor should anyone usage a DPI that precocious (even pro players instrumentality beneath 1,600). The cardinal happening is that it feels responsive and reliable, and is much than bully capable for anyone abbreviated of a pro FPS player

I accidental mostly meaningless, due to the fact that if you attraction astir having the highest imaginable ceiling connected your rodent past you volition find amended sensors successful the aforesaid terms range. To instrumentality 2 examples I reviewed recently: the Rawm Leviathan v4 and the Keychron M3 Mini some person sensors with amended on-paper specs, and are some cheaper than the Aerox 3 Gen 2.

Useful Extra Settings Squeezed Into Bloated Software

The updated Aerox 3 adds plentifulness of caller genuinely utile settings done the Steelseries GG software.

You tin now, for example, alteration the region that the sensor volition halt tracking your rodent movements erstwhile you assistance it disconnected the pad, called lift-off region (LOD). You tin tweak the space of the sensor to relationship for immoderate earthy tilts successful your grip (although there's nary built-in instrumentality to trial whether you clasp your rodent straight). A debased powerfulness mode reduces artillery drain arsenic you attack empty, a sensitivity matcher imports your settings from different SteelSeries mice, and you tin set the X and Y axis DPI independently, if that's your thing.

These are each bully options. But they're each housed successful a atrocious system.

I find SteelSeries GG to beryllium 1 of the much unpleasant rodent softwares to use, bloated with unnecessary tabs and confusing headings. Next to your "Gear" tab is 1 for audio customization (even if you don't person a headset), a "moments" tab to grounds gameplay, an purpose trainer, 1 for "giveaways", and a "news" tab for SteelSeries announcements. A wannabe everything app.

I besides find the layout of the rodent settings confusing and severely presented, with everything housed successful boxes of antithetic shapes and styles.

The RGB options are in-depth and casual to use, astatine slightest – but don't effort searching for them successful the "illumination" tab. Instead you person to click connected "Prism", which launches an wholly caller model connected your computer. What a mess.