With our LAN events and early on with our reviews we worked with SteelSeries back when they introduced their first full mouse with their Ikari and after that, I tried to keep up with their launches. But over the last few years, I haven’t had the chance to check out what they have been up to. The last SteelSeries mouse we had in the office was the Sensei Ten. So we are due to catch up on what they have been up to and today I’m going to do just that. I have had the SteelSeries Prime, Prime Wireless, and the new 2022 edition of the Aerox 3 Wireless to get a look at part of their current lineup. Let’s check them out!

Article Name: Checking out the latest mice from SteelSeries

Product Names: SteelSeries Prime, Prime Wireless, and Aerox 3 Wireless

Review Samples Provided by: SteelSeries

Written by: Wes Compton

Amazon Affiliate Links:

SteelSeries Prime

SteelSeries Prime Wireless

SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless

 

SteelSeries Prime Specifications

Sensor

SteelSeries TrueMove Pro

Sensor Type

Optical

CPI

18000 CPI

IPS

450, on SteelSeries QcK surfaces

Acceleration

50G

Hardware Acceleration

None (Zero Hardware Acceleration)

Back Cover Material

Black Matte Finish

Core Construction

ABS Plastic

Shape

Ergonomic, Right-Handed

Grip Style

Claw, Fingertip, or Palm

Number of Buttons

6

Illumination

1 RGB Zones

Weight

69g

Length

125.3 mm / 4.93 inches

Width

59 mm / 2.32 inches (front), 67.9 mm / 2.67 inches (back)

Height

23 mm / 0.9 inches (front), 42.4 mm / 1.67 inches (back)

Super Mesh Cable Length

2m / 6.6 feet

Switch Type

Prestige OM™ mechanical switches

Switch Rating

100 million clicks

Switch Actuation

Primary mouse buttons have magnetic optical switches

OS

Windows, Mac, Xbox, and Linux. USB port required.

Software

SteelSeries Engine 3.18.4+, for Windows (7 or newer) and Mac OSX (10.12 or newer)

Package Contents

Product Information Guide

Prime Gaming Mouse

Micro-USB to USB Type-A Super Mesh Data Cable

Warranty

The United States and countries in Asia: 1-year warranty on all products.

EU countries and Australia: 2-year warranty on all products.

 

SteelSeries Prime Wireless Specifications

Sensor

SteelSeries TrueMove Air

Sensor Type

Optical

CPI

100–18,000 in 100 CPI Increments

IPS

400, on SteelSeries QcK surfaces

Acceleration

40G

Hardware Acceleration

None (Zero Hardware Acceleration)

Back Cover Material

Black Matte Finish

Core Construction

ABS Plastic

Shape

Ergonomic, Right-Handed

Grip Style

Claw, Fingertip, or Palm

Number of Buttons

6

Illumination

1 RGB Zones

Weight

80g

Length

125.3 mm / 4.93 inches

Width

59 mm / 2.32 inches (front), 67.9 mm / 2.67 inches (back)

Height

23 mm / 0.9 inches (front), 42.4 mm / 1.67 inches (back)

Connection

2.4GHz / Wireless

Battery Life

100 Hours

Switch Type

Prestige OM™ mechanical switches

Switch Rating

100 million clicks

Switch Actuation

Primary mouse buttons have magnetic optical switches

OS

Windows, Mac, Xbox, and Linux. USB port required.

Software

SteelSeries Engine 3.18.4+, for Windows (7 or newer) and Mac OSX (10.12 or newer)

Package Contents

Product Information Guide

Prime Wireless Gaming Mouse

USB Type-C Dongle

Dongle Extender

USB-C to USB-A Cable

Warranty

The United States and countries in Asia: 1-year warranty on all products.

EU countries and Australia: 2-year warranty on all products.

 

SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless 2022 Edition Specifications

Sensor

SteelSeries TrueMove Air

Sensor Type

Optical

CPI

100–18,000 in 100 CPI Increments

IPS

400, on SteelSeries QcK surfaces

Acceleration

40G

Polling Rate

1000Hz / 1 ms

Hardware Acceleration

None (Zero Hardware Acceleration)

Back Cover Material

Black Matte Finish (Onyx) | White Matte Finish (Snow)

Core Construction

ABS Plastic

Shape

Ergonomic, Right-Handed

Grip Style

Claw, Fingertip, or Palm

Number of Buttons

6

Switch Type

SteelSeries mechanical switches, rated for 80 million clicks

Illumination

3 RGB Zones

Weight

68g

Length

120.55mm / 4.75 inches

Width

57.91mm / 2.28 inches (front), 67.03mm / 2.64 inches (back)

Height

21.53mm / 0.85 inches (front), 37.98mm / 1.50 inches (back)

Connection

2.4GHz / Bluetooth 5.0

Battery Life

Up to 80 hours 2.4GHz

Up to 200 hours Bluetooth

OS

Windows, Mac, Xbox, and Linux. USB port required.

Software

SteelSeries Engine 3.18.4+, for Windows (7 or newer) and Mac OSX (10.12 or newer)

Package Contents

Product Information Guide

Aerox 3 2022 Wireless Gaming Mouse

USB Type-C Dongle

USB Type-C to USB Type-A Super Mesh Data/Charging Cable

Extension Adapter

Warranty

The United States and countries in Asia: 1-year warranty on all products.

EU countries and Australia: 2-year warranty on all products.

 

image 99

 

image 100

 

 


SteelSeries Prime

First up I wanted to check out the Prime which isn’t to be confused with the Prime+ or the Prime Wireless. The Prime mouse was introduced mid 2021 as a new lineup with a focus on performance and nothing else. The packaging for the Prime didn’t change from what SteelSeries has been doing for a while now. The box has a large picture of the mouse across the front which I love and then for the background it sits on a grey with an orange stripe. All of the branding is done in white with the SteelSeries name up top in the biggest font then Prime down below with a short description that calls this a “precision esports gaming mouse”. Around on the back of the box, they have another large mouse photo, but this time of the bottom of the mouse. Below that they mention crispy clicks, onboard settings, and the 69-gram weight. In a tiny font, they also mention that this has been co-developed with pro players and that is repeated over and over in other languages. The side of the box is trimmed out in bright orange and has a full specification listing except for the mouse dimensions.

image 15

image 16

image 17

Once you open the box up there is a second inner box which is also decked out in that bright orange and on top they have “for glory”. This opens up to a plastic tray with the mouse in it and a small foam pad on the top side of the box that helps keep it from moving around. The plastic tray comes out and the cord for the Prime is wrapped around the bottom. Below that it also has a small information guide to the mouse as well for documentation.

image 18

image 19

image 20

image 21

The Prime comes in at a length of 125.3 mm and is 59 mm wide at the front and wider at 67.9mm at the rear. For height, it is 42.4 mm at the back and 23 mm at the front. Lengthwise that is almost the exact same size as the Sensei. But it is skinnier for width in the front but matches the Sensei in the rear. For height, it is taller on both the front and the back. I use the Sensei for comparison because for me at least, the Sensei and the Xai before it is the best mouse size and shape I’ve ever used. SteelSeries didn’t venture too far away from that size other than being taller. But this is of course not an ambidextrous mouse either, the Prime is an ergonomic shape, shaped to the right hand. With that you get a shape that tilts to the right slightly and the design and look of the Prime is a lot closer to the Rivel, especially the Rival 3 design.

image 36

image 37

What I mean by it sharing some of the shape of the Rival can be seen with the raised area in the middle of the two triggers that wraps around the scroll wheel and the end of the mouse has more of a pointed shape with the peak being that same raised area. Sticking to the Prime name, the design doesn’t have nearly as much RGB lighting with just the scroll wheel having a ring of light around it. They haven’t bothered to light up the SteelSeries logo on top of the mouse which is good. I hate that everything RGB seems to focus on just lighting up company branding and more importantly, the logo is under your hand, you don’t need to see it lit up. This also goes back to how SteelSeries was in the early days when they were one of the last holdouts for RGB lighting on mice. They also skipped out on the old rubberized coating thankfully and the entire mouse has a slightly textured finish on the base plastic. They went with ABS which long-term will wear and smooth out, I would love to see PBT used here, but the finish is going to hold up a lot longer than any coatings, paint, or grips would ever hold up. Then for the scroll wheel, it does have a rubber finish on it with groves for traction cut into it. I think for overall durability, the rubber on the scroll wheel would be my only concern. For the two triggers, they are using Prestige OM which are magnetic optical switches which are SteelSeries's own switches and are rated at 100 million clicks.

image 26

image 27

image 28

The side profile views of the Prime give some insight on how they were able to get away with just the ABS finish and no additional grips or coatings. The left side of the mouse shares a lot with the sensei. The side has an arch on it that stands out more than the rest of the side and then below that it is sunken in. This gives you a ledge to hold on to and then at the peak are the two side buttons. The side buttons are shorter in length than I would have expected but they also have a ridge on them as well to help continue that area for grip. But unlike the Sensei the right side bulges out at the rear of the mouse, this is where the Prime gets that extra width but then at the halfway point that shape sucks in and has a less visible overhang. This is right where you would put your ring finger and is the other half of giving the mouse grip for people who lift. One other thing that this side profile helps show is that the front of the mouse has an interesting rounded shape on the trigger end of the mouse. Most mice including past SteelSeries mice have the triggers overhanging on the end, it gives a weird look. Kind of like when you are using safety scissors.

image 22

image 23

The front and back view of the Prime shows how the Prime is an ergonomic design with the left side of the mount having the tallest point but curving down for the right side. The same can be seen from the front as well and I was surprised how much of the tilt was also in the triggers. The front view also gives us a look at where the cable connects. The Prime isn’t wireless, at least this version isn’t. It comes with a detachable cable that plugs in the usual spot. It uses a Micro-USB connection which is interesting because the Prime Wireless and the Aerox 3 both have type-C connections. The plug area is recessed and has a triangle shape to it as well for the proprietary cable to lock into place and to prevent that connection from being damaged.

image 24

image 25

The bottom of the Prime is of course where all of the certification logos and manufacturing information is hidden away. But beyond that the Prime has four feet, one large U-shaped foot around the bottom then there are two ovals in the front corners. All three of these have small cutouts next to them for easy removal and replacement and SteelSeries sells the replacement feet as well as PTFE if you would prefer those. There is also a glider/foot that wraps around the sensor in the middle to keep that area from dragging. For the sensor, the Prime has the TrueMove Pro which from what I can tell is their version of the PWM 3360 and is the same sensor they use in the last SteelSeries mouse I took a look at, the Sensei Ten. It has an IPS of 450 and can run up to 18,000 CPI.

image 29

So a lot of the previous pictures may make the Prime look like a wireless mouse, it is not. This is a wired mouse, but with a detachable cable. The cable they include with the Prime is 2 meters or 6.6 feet long with the PC end having a traditional type-a connection and the other end having a micro-USB plug. The cable and that micro-USB connection are proprietary and from what I can tell not all standard cables would fit in the hole. The reason for the proprietary design is to lock the cable in place when it is plugged in to keep the mouse movement over time from damaging the sensitive USB connection. The cable design is surprisingly flexible and the black sleeving installed over it is soft and flexible as well. This helps protect the cable but being flexible means when you move the mouse you are less likely to feel the cable push back at all. The goal is to get the wireless feel, with a wired connection. SteelSeries also sells the replacement cables for just $7.99, which is good to hear and means that if you do damage your cord later on that you aren’t out of luck and they aren’t going to scalp you to get it.

image 30

image 31

image 34

image 35

I did also get the Prime up on the scale. SteelSeries has the Prime listed with a weight of 69 grams and without the cord that is exactly what it weighed on our scale as well. Some mice are pushing crazy low weight numbers at this point, but for one with a full housing without holes in it, 69 grams isn’t too bad. I also tossed the cord on the scale just because I was curious and it was 31 grams as well, not that it matters.

image 32

image 33

 


SteelSeries Prime Wireless

The box for the Prime Wireless is the same exact size as the standard Prime. It has the same large picture across the front with a grey background and the bright orange stripe. In fact, there are only two differences in the front of the box at all. The RGB lighting on the scroll wheel is more of a blue than a green-blue and at the bottom, the model name has Wireless added to it. The box has a specification listing around on the side like before but it is a much larger listing with more about the battery life, the mouse skates, and the wireless connection. Then around on the back has the same picture of the bottom of the mouse but has the changes that the Prime Wireless has like the different skates and power switch. They have a few key features highlighted again here like the crispy clicks, on-board settings, 100-hour battery life, low latency, and the 80g weight.

image 38

image 39

image 40

Even though the box is the same size, this box is doesn’t have an inner box. It is a thicker material and the top slides off to show the mouse sitting in its formed plastic tray. You can pull the mouse out of the tray then the tray can be lifted up which exposes two sections in the bottom. One has the cord with the information guide sitting on top of it. The other has the wireless dongle and an adapter for the dongle.

image 41

image 42

image 43

image 44

So beyond the documentation and the mouse itself here is the three accessories that the Prime Wireless comes with. It has a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable. This can be used to hook the Prime Wireless up direction for wired use and charging. It also pulls double duty when combined with the two other accessories to move your wireless receiver closer to you. This card comes with a nice Velcro strap to bundle everything up and the cord has the same black sleeving that the standard Prime has. The cable is the same other than the end with the Type-C connection on it. SO it is flexible and soft which is nice if you end up needing to use the mouse while charging or if you need to run in wired mode at a LAN for example.

image 45

image 46

image 47

The wireless receiver or what I prefer to call the dongle is 25mm long without the type-c plug on its end. I was surprised that SteelSeries went with Type-C for the dongle, most desktop PCs have just one plug maybe two if you have a front panel as well. But when you combine that with the dongle extender you can adapt this to standard a type-a plug.

 

image 48

image 49

image 50

The extender is a bigger box with some weight to it and a rubber foot across the bottom. The idea with this is that you can plug your dongle into this and using the cable have it up on your desk for a better signal, then when you need to charge you just unplug the cord and plug it into the mouse.

image 51

image 52

image 53

image 54

The Prime Wireless, just like its wired brother comes in at 125.3 mm long which is similar in length to the Sensei. It is 59mm wide at the front of the mouse and 67.9mm wide at the rear, the rear is the same width as the sensei but the front is smaller. Then for the height, it is taller at 42.4 mm tall at the back of the mouse and 23 mm at the front. This extra height reminds me of an older Deathadder. Overall the Prime Wireless is designed to be used with multiple grip types but for me, that height pushes it to a palm style grip. The mouse comes in black and the entire housing has a slight texture to it but it is pure ABS, they didn’t use any coatings or paints. Being ABS I would expect it to wear smooth in the future, I would have preferred PBT for its longer life. But not using paint or a rubberized coating also means that those won't break down or wear through in the future which is great for longevity. The SteelSeries logo at the back isn’t lit up, they just have it printed on in a darker grey. A cool gloss black would have looked better in my opinion but it will be under your hand either way.

 

image 61

image 62

image 66

The two triggers on the Prime Wireless are fully independent of the mouse shell, meaning they don’t connect at the back and have to flex like some mice including the Sensei do. SteelSeries went with the same Prestige OM mechanical switches that they used on the Prime for the Prime Wireless. These are magnetic optical switches and I’m looking forward to seeing how they work in our testing. They are rated at 100 million clicks, so they should hold up well. The scroll wheel doesn’t have any side click options, just the bottom click with a traditional mouse switch. The scroll wheel itself has the only RGB on the entire mouse with its light-up right then on the outside they have a rubber ring with groves in it for extra traction.

image 59

image 60

The front and back view of the Prime Wireless rally help highlight the ergonomic shape. You can see from the back of the mouse how the shape peaks on the left side and then curves down. The front shows that same heavy lean on the triggers as well. The front of the mouse does show the one difference between the Prime and the Prime Wireless. At the point in the front, they both have a USB connection. For the Prime, it was for the wired cable. But for the Prime Wireless, this is where the charging cable plugs in. The connection here is a Type-C connection, not a Type-A like on the Prime. Because of that it also doesn’t need the oddly shaped end to help protect the cable as well. This is a good time to talk about the wireless part of the Prime Wireless. Unlike the Aerox 3 which I’m also going to check out today, the Prime Wireless doesn’t include Bluetooth as a connection option. The Prime Wireless uses the 2.4GHz wireless connection provided by SteelSeries with their dongle. To keep things running, the Prime Wireless has 100 hours of battery life listed, which is really important for me because I am really bad about remembering to plug my wireless devices in. This is why I hope SteelSeries considers a wireless charging option like Logitech and Corsair currently have. It is also a good way to be able to cut the battery size down, even more, to keep the weight down.

image 57

image 58

The side view of the Prime Wireless shows off the same shape of the Prime which features an arch on the left side of the mouse that slowly pulls in and gets skinnier under the arch to give a small ledge and area to grip the mouse without the use of any special surfaces or grips. The arch also features the two side buttons which are both on the one side at the top of the arch. Both can be reprogrammed to do whatever you want in the software. The right side of the Prime Wireless on the other hand doesn’t have anything like the arched area. Most of the right side is much lower to the ground and bulges out. Especially at the rear of the mouse where the Prime Wireless is its widest. Towards the front, from the center point on they do pull in some to give the right side near where you would put your ring finger a small ledge as well for people like me who pick up their mouse when using it.

image 55

image 56

image 65

The bottom of the Prime Wireless is actually where almost all of the differences between the Prime and the Prime Wireless. The Prime Wireless has the same glider/skate layout but it has been upgraded to PTFE which you can buy as an accessory for the Prime but it doesn’t come with it. There are four skates in total. The two ovals in the front, one ring that goes around the sensor in the middle, then a U-shaped one at the heel. There is a button on the bottom just like with the Prime but it has moved to next to the sensor. This button lets you flip between the profiles and if you hole it you can flip between the polling rates as well if you are having any trouble. The bottom of the mouse still has all of the model information, your serial number, and all of the certification logos all printed on the bottom. Then for the sensor, the Prime Wireless does use a different sensor than the Prime. It has the TrueMove Air which I believe to be based on the PAW 3335. This is an optical sensor like the TrueMove Pro on the Prime and it matches the same CPI but drops in IPS from 450 down to 400 and has an acceleration of 40g. It’s speculation but I would guess that this sensor is used for its battery life over the TrueMove Pro.

image 63

image 64

If I haven’t hammered in just how close the Prime and the Prime Wireless are I did get a few pictures of them next to each other. The two mice look the same when the Prime doesn’t have its cord attached except for the black plastic being a lightly different tone between the two. The USB connections on the front for the cord on the Prime and the charging cable for the Prime Wireless are different, but that doesn’t change the rest of the front at all.

image 67

image 68

Another interesting aspect with the Prime Wireless is we get to see a direct comparison between the same mouse design with a wired setup and a wireless one. The original Prime was 69 grams and the Prime Wireless was listed as being 80 grams but ours did come in one gram higher at 81 grams. This puts the Prime Wireless right with Logitech’s G Pro Wireless which was also 80 grams and is a full cover wireless mouse. The G Pro Wireless has been out for a while now and they do have a lighter weight version out now as well so while I think the 80/81 grams that the Prime Wireless weighs isn’t bad, it is still catching up with what has been around for a while now.

image 69

 


SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless 2022 Edition

The third mouse that SteelSeries sent over is their Aerox 3 Wireless 2022 Edition and it is the snow model which is the white model. The Aerox 3 original launched back in 2020 but received an update in November 2021 to the 2022 model we have today. They do have a wired version of it as well. For the packaging, the Aerox 3 Wireless has the same packaging style as what we saw on the two Prime mice. SteelSeries branding up on top with a huge picture of the mouse on the front and for this one the RGB is all lit up. The background is grey with an orange stripe behind the mouse. The back of the packaging is a little different. There is a picture of the bottom of the mouse, but it isn’t angled like on the Prime packaging to look like it is looking at the back of the front picture. They highlight the lightweight, the battery life, the sensor, and aquashield on the back. Then on the side, the Aerox does have a specification listing and wire drawings of what comes in the box.

image 70

image 71

image 72

The box lifts off just like on the Prime Wireless and you have the Aerox 3 features in its tray and a small foam pad up on the underside of the box top that holds everything tight. Under the tray, they have the documentation which is a product guide that covered up the charging cord. There is also the compartment that says “open this for glory” which has the dongle and extension adapter inside of it.

image 73

image 74

image 76

The Aerox 3 Wireless comes with the same cord as the Prime Wireless that I liked so much. It is USB Type-A on one end and Type-C on the mouse end. It comes with a Velcro strap to bundle any extra cord up. Then it has the soft sleeving that moves around really well on the chance that you need to use the Aerox 3 while charging or if you can’t use wireless like in a LAN with a lot of interference.

image 76

image 77

The wireless receiver or dongle that comes with the Aerox 3 is the same as the Prime Wireless which is a short black adapter with a type-c connection on the end. As far as using this plugged directly into your PC, I think it is mostly for laptops. Most desktop PCs have one sometimes two type-c connections if you have one on your front panel and those are normally dedicated to extra bandwidth so using one for this seems like a waste. It has the SteelSeries logo embossed into the end and the bottom has the certification and wireless information on a sticker on the bottom.

image 78

image 79

image 80

The extender included is used with the type-c cable to adapter down to a standard type-a connection or to move the dongle up on to your desk. It has type-c cables on both ends. Then the top has a large rubber foot to keep things from moving around. 

image 81

image 82

image 83

image 84

Now the Aerox 3 Wireless is a completely different design from the two Prime mice. For starters, while SteelSeries officially has this listed as an ergonomic shape. As far as I’m concerned this is an ambidextrous shape, only with the two side buttons on the left side for right handers. It obviously has a weight-focused design with the entire housing being honeycombed and along with that, it is also a smaller mouse than the Prime. It is 120.55 mm long where the prime mice were 125.3 mm long. It is 57.91 mm wide at the front and 67.03 mm wide at the rear which is a few mm less than the Prime at the front and similar in the rear. Then for height, we are back down to 21.53 in the front and 37.98 mm in the rear which is 1.5 mm less in the front and 4.5 mm shorter in the rear. The overall shape reminds me a lot of the Sensei 310 only this is a little shorter on the backside and a little shorter on length. It is available in both black and white or as SteelSeries calls it Onyx and Snow. They also have a Ghost edition that I am completely in love with that has translucent plastic. All versions of it have avoided using paint or rubber coatings that will wear out in the future and the design also avoids rubber grips as well. I think SteelSeries learned a lot from past mice that used those finishes that were great at first but break down over time, especially from hand oils. So what you have your hands on is a lightly textured ABS plastic. ABS does wear over time, so there is a good chance that long-term the texture will wear smooth, PBT would be nice to see to keep that fresher for longer. But beyond that, I love the material choices for long-term use and the almost ambidextrous design.

image 96

image 97

The entire housing on the Aerox 3 is covered in squared-off holes. SteelSeries calls this their Holey shell and says the design cuts 18 grams off the overall weight. You can see that the housing does still have a lot of strength though, looking from the ends of the mouse you can see the thickness of it. The holes carry up on to the triggers where the Aerox 3 has one tiny SteelSeries logo printed on it and a small wiggle line. The Aerox 3 also has a small button between the triggers which is black here. This flips through the CPI settings and the location is another reason this design reminds me of the Sensei 310. The Holey design does open up the mouse to the elements, namely anything on your hand, anything spilled, and dust and dirt even when sitting idle. They have what they are calling an AquaBarrier which they have given the Aerox 3 enough water resistance for an IP54 rating. This means it is completely protected from dust and is protected from water splashed in all directions. That isn’t water PROOF so don’t dunk it or spray water directly on it, however.

image 90

For the triggers, the Aerox 3 Wireless is using Golden Micro IP54 Switches which are rated for 80 million clicks and this is where they have the dust and water resistance. The scroll wheel is the same design as the Sensei Ten, at least as far as the rubber grip is concerned it has a hockey stick design on the groves where the Prime mice both had straight lines. The scroll wheel doesn’t have any lighting in it, all of that is placed inside/around the shell. The scroll wheel has a push down switch but no side-to-side switches.

image 94

image 95

The front and back views of the Aerox 3 Wireless give a much better look at what I mean when I say that this is an ambidextrous design in all but the side buttons. There is no “ergonomic” tilt to the shape, it is even on both sides. The triggers both have a nice grove shaped into them that keeps your fingers centered there, that beyond the overall size is one of the big changes from this to the Sensei 310 which didn’t have those.

image 88

image 89

For the side view, you can see how the overall mouse shape is less “peaky” than the Prime design which had a big hill behind the triggers. The Aerox doesn’t go much higher once you get past the endpoint on the triggers. Both sides do have an arch built-in with it sucked in below the arch to help with grip when lifting. Then on the left side, the two side buttons are in that arch. These are longer than the Prime which had two short buttons at the peak of the arch. The front button here is longer and favors the front a little bit. The black for the buttons on the white mouse is a nice touch, though I think that all white would also look good as well. Down at the bottom on both sides, you can see a small light bar that wraps around from one side to the other. This is the main external lighting.

image 85

image 86

image 87

Here is a better look at that light bar.

image 93

The “Holey” design is on the bottom of the mouse as well. I wasn’t surprised by this, but I was surprised at just how far they went with it even being under the rear skate/glider. Speaking of which, the Aerox 3 Wireless has two skates/gliders, one at the rear and one at the front. I’m surprised there isn’t also one around the sensor in the rear but the side of the two is nice at least. They are also both 100% pure PTFE which glides smoother and is a favorite upgrade for mouse enthusiasts. The bottom uses all of the non-holey space to print all of the normal required certifications, warnings, and things like your model information and serial number.

Then for the sensor, this has the same TrueMove Air sensor used in the Prime Wireless which I think going off the specs is based on the PAW 3335. It goes from 100 up to 18000 CPI in 100 CPI increments and has an IPS of 400 and 40G acceleration. Here on the bottom, there is also a small switch. This lets you turn the mouse off completely and you can switch between two wireless modes. The 2.4 GHz mode that uses the included dongle with their Quantum 2.0 wireless tech or standard Bluetooth. This is a nice touch because you can take the Aerox 3 Wireless with you from your PC to your laptop or switch between two devices using the switch. Speaking of wireless, the battery life is important as well and the Aerox is listed to have a 200-hour battery life of continuous use.

image 91

image 92

Of course, I did also get the Aerox 3 Wireless on our scale and it came in at 69 grams, SteelSeries has the weight at 68 grams. This is a nice improvement over the Prime Wireless which was 80/81 grams. Like the Prime this is still a little behind the curve for weight compared to come of the competition, especially considering this has the honeycomb shell on the top and bottom. The Logitech Superlight which has a full shell is at 63 grams but it is better than the Razer Viper Ultimate. The Glorious Model O and Model D Wireless are also 69 grams as well.

image 98

 


Performance

Before jumping into how the Prime, Prime Wireless, and Aerox 3 Wireless all performed. Let's check out what SteelSeries has going on for their software. They are still using the SteelSeries Engine, but now it downloads inside of a larger program that they call GG that adds integrations with games and a few other features. GG does ask you to sign in and there wasn’t any way to avoid it. I don’t mind having the option, but I do think that there should be at least a small option available to not have to create an account. Some people don’t like giving out their email, don’t like having to trust people with a password, and try to avoid cloud syncing.

software 1

So GG has four pages with the main one being the SteelSeries Engine that controls your mice. Its main feature beyond the Engine is the moments tab. You can set up clip capturing using a hotkey and then moments has integrated editing and quick sharing to youtube, discord, or Reddit to be able to post it up. While part of me would prefer to not have to use the full GG software to get to the Engine for changing things on my mouse. The software is cool, especially if you set up a hotkey to clip things AFTER they happen. GG also has a page where you can signup for giveaways. They currently have one that gives you a weapon wrap on Splitgate and one for Payday 2. There is also free Discord Nitro for 3 months if you use moments.

software 4

software 5

The SteelSeries Engine page does still have some of the features specific to that software in the past. They have a page where you can add apps to integrate with your devices. For example with the discord app, it can notify you of people joining and leaving. Then there is the library page. This is where you can scan for games that you have installed and set up custom profiles specific to those games. All three of these mice only have the two side buttons, but you may prefer a different CPI for some games or you can even have different lighting.

software 6

software 7

So once you get GG installed and have your new mouse hooked up, there is a good chance that it will need a firmware update. Engine will show that with a red bar under the device on the home page. They make the updates smooth. For the wireless mice, you will normally need to plug them in, but they will tell you.

software 2

software 3

If you are running more than one SteelSeries product like headphones, keyboard, and mouse it will all show up listed on this man page. It also lists devices that you previously have had hooked up. Like below I have all three mice listed when I had the Prime wired plugged in and just one of the two wireless mice at the time but you can see the Prime Wireless was turned off at the mouse itself. When you click on a device it opens up a new window altogether which takes some getting used to. But this is how SteelSeries has always done it. I would love it if it stayed inside the one window.

software 18

Here is the page for the Aerox 3 Wireless. SteelSeries fits almost everything on to just one page. If you have it set too short it will create a scroll on the side, but for this one, we can see everything except for the bar for angle snapping. So on the far left, they have each of the mouse buttons and you can click on any of them and set what you want that button to do. If you prefer you can also just use the picture which has each labeled and you can select them from there. They can all be programmed to do anything from macros, opening programs, keyboard functions, media controls, and anything else you can think of.

Then over on the far right are all of the mouse sensor and wireless settings. You can set your CPI for each level which they default to 5 or you can remove all of those and just have one which is what I prefer. Being wireless you can set the sleep timer and also the lighting dim timer. There is also a smart mode that turns the lighting off when you are moving the mouse which I think is useful and will save a lot of battery life. They of course have acceleration and deceleration settings, angle snapping, and the polling rate. The only thing missing is liftoff distance. 

For lighting controls above the mouse picture, there is a tab for illumination. You can drag your mouse here and lighting the three lighting zones. Then from there, you can set the color or the brightness. Or there is a dropdown with some of the effect options. With those, there are more settings like setting the colors that you want to shift through. There is also the option to turn the lighting off completely.

software 8

software 9

software 10

software 11

Next up is a look at the settings page for the Prime Wireless. For this one, all of the settings to the right are exactly the same as what we saw with the Aerox 3 Wireless. This means you can set your CPI for each level which they default to 5 or you can remove all of those and just have one which is what I prefer. Being wireless you can set the sleep timer and also the lighting dim timer. There is also a smart mode that turns the lighting off when you are moving the mouse which I think is useful and will save a lot of battery life. They of course have acceleration and deceleration settings, angle snapping, and the polling rate. The only thing missing is liftoff distance. 

On the left or around the mouse you can select all of the buttons to reprogram them, like on the Aerox and there is the macro editor as well. The only big difference here is there is one less button with the Prime not having the top-mounted CPI button and they don’t let you reprogram that on the Prime. The illumination page has all of the same effect options as well, only the Prime Wireless just has the scroll wheel that lights up so there is only one zone.  

software 12

software 13

software 14  software 15

Last up is the Prime which because of this being a wired mouse has a much shorter setting page over on the right side. You still have acceleration and deceleration and the CPI settings. You also have angle snapping and polling rate, but without the wireless settings, this area looks bare. The lighting for the Prime is done differently as well. Rather than having a lighting page, they went back to the way it was done in the past with just a color box right next to the B3 button aka the scroll wheel. This opens up an effect page when has the color options for a single color or the effects just like the other mice. I’m only unsure why they did this for the Prime but the Prime Wireless has the new way when they both have the same single RGB zone.

software 16

software 17

For testing, I have been flipping between the three mice for about a month now and I do have a few things to note. Starting with the Prime I like the overall shape but it is a few mm taller than I would prefer. The hump at the back is tall enough the back of my wrist is up off of the mouse pad and when I relax my hand it pushes the mouse forward. The old Deathadder shape that this reminds me of gave me a similar feeling. That said I like the all ABS plastic housing, the texture feels nice, and even without any coatings or extra grips, I can hold on to the mouse even when lifting it. Lifting does bring me to one issue though. The TrueMove Pro sensor performs extremely well, I don’t have any issues with angle snapping or tracking. But because I do lift my mouse to move around, I notice that the liftoff distance is WAY too high. The standard gliders are fine, though the PTFE on the other two mice are of course better. Being the one wired mouse, I have to say that it wasn’t noticeable to switch back to it. The soft sleeving and flexible cord used does a good job of making you forget it's there. The other big area I was curious about when going into testing were the precision OM switches and I will say that they are different, but I did like them. They have a deeper click sound and a solid feel when you do it. They end up being a little quieter as well.

The Prime Wireless carries over most of the pros and cons from the standard Prime. That means the overall size is still a little tall for me but I like the shape for an ergonomic design. The switches are solid but have a unique sound and the ABS housing feels good and should last a very long time. But being wireless the Prime Wireless did end up with a more battery-efficient sensor and frankly, I’m glad. The TrueMove Air does have a 50 lower IPS rating, but it also doesn’t have as much of a liftoff issue. For reference the Logitech Superlight stopped working with 2 credit cards or 1.75 mm, the Prime Wireless and the Aerox 3 with the TrueMove Air sensor did it in 3 credit cards or 2.5 mm and the Prime stopped with 4 for 3.25 mm. All three are a little high, but the Prime for whatever reason was just enough that it would send my curser all over the place when I move the mouse in normal use. As for battery life, I did run the battery down one time on the Prime Wireless but I didn’t have it charged all the way up before starting. I can’t confirm if it will reach the 100 hours that they say it will. But I can say that it runs days without having to be charged and the red warning lights were enough to let me know it needed to be plugged in before it died in the middle of anything important. If that is a concern, you should avoid using red as the lighting color.

As for the Aerox 3 Wireless, I preferred this over the other two for its overall shape. The original Sensei is still my favorite shape, but the Aerox is a lot like the Sensei 310 redesign only smaller so it isn’t too far off. The Holey Shell didn’t bother me at all, if anything it feels like it gives more grip to the mouse. The Aerox 3 has the same long-term durability due to the no coatings being used and with its longer side button I found it a little easier to reach but the back button was still a reach back. What is most impressive to me is that SteelSeries is saying that the Aerox 3 Wireless will have a 200-hour battery life which even with the length of my testing I wasn’t able to end up killing it so I can’t confirm if it will reach that. Especially with it being the mouse with the most lighting. Its sensor performed well and for the switches, it has a more standard switch which is louder but has a standard click sound. The only other issue I ran into with this one was that without the glider around the sensor, I did have the sensor area rub on my mouse pad a few times.

I did also want to check out the lighting on all three mice. For the Prime and Prime Wireless, this was as simple as checking out the scroll wheel. This is the same ring diffuser that SteelSeries has used before. No surprised there. I did notice that with the lighting on you could see through the bottom of the mouse, however. I put a light to the rest of the Prime and you can’t see through any other section. Much like the Ghost version of the Aerox 3, translucent plastic for the entire Prime, especially with a little more lighting inside could have been really cool.

image 1

image 2

image 14

Then for the Aerox 3 Wireless, I snapped a bunch of photos to give a look at some of the effects in action. The Three lighting zones are enough to give a wrapping around effect and I like how it all looks coming up through the “Holey Shell”.

image 3

image 4

image 5

image 6

image 7

image 8

image 9

image 10

The lighting through the bottom looks good as well, it even goes right through the PTFE glider on the back. Not that there is any reason to see this when using the mouse.

image 11

image 12

 

 


Overall and Final Verdict

The first thing I thought about when I got these three mice in, specifically the Prime and Prime Wireless was that SteelSeries pick out an epic name. It is simple but has multiple meanings that all convey that this is the end all be all for SteelSeries and in a lot of ways those two mice lived up to that. In fact, a lot of what I liked carried over across all three mice. All three mice show that SteelSeries learned a lot from some of their older mice. Issues that I never thought to even consider in the past but I now know after using some of them for so long. Specifically the use of coatings like the rubberized coating. I loved it when it was new and fresh, but even when sitting in my LAN bag over time those coatings break down with hand oils and wear off or get sticky. Paint is the same way. So I am glad that SteelSeries is finding ways to keep the outside design simple by not using those or even grips. The ABS finish feels good and should last a very long time. I would love to see them try PBT which should keep the texture for longer, but the idea still stands. They have also stepped things up as far as sensors go. Both the TrueMove Pro and TrueMove Air are solid optical sensors, they could use a little liftoff distance tuning (especially the Pro on the basic Prime) but overall you can expect them to work well.

Another area where all three mice excelled is with their cables. The Prime has a great soft-sleeved cable that most of the time wasn’t noticeable at all and both of the wireless mice have the same cable type used for their charging cables as well. Speaking of I love that the Prime Wireless and the Aerox 3 Wireless both use Type-C for their charging port, you can use a standard phone cord to give your mouse a boost at any point if you want. I wish the Prime had the same connection type, it for some reason has the older Micro-USB connection. I do however think that having the wireless dongles with a Type-C connection is a little more troublesome, a lot of PCs are very limited on type-c connections. They do at least include the extender that when combined with the charging cord lets you still have a type-a connection.

Wireless performance on both the Aerox 3 Wireless and the Prime Wireless was great, I didn’t have any connection issues. The Aerox 3 Wireless also has Bluetooth which is a nice addition, especially if you might want to share the mouse with another device or take it with you on your laptop. I wish the Prime Wireless would have had it as well. Then for battery life, the Prime Wireless lists 100 hours of battery life and the Aerox 3 Wireless has a crazy 200 hours of life which are both more than enough to keep you from having to charge every day.

The overall shape of the Prime and the Prime Wireless was good for an ergonomic shape, I would love to see it be a little shorter. I suspect I would prefer the Prime Mini which SteelSeries does also make wired and wireless because it is 2mm shorter. The stock gliders for the Prime worked well but I did really like that the Prime Wireless includes PTFE gliders, which is a nice touch. All three mice are a big improvement from past SteelSeries mice, but when compared with some of the current competition they are still a touch heavy in comparison.

The Aerox 3 Wireless was my favorite of the three when it comes to its shape. They have it listed as an ergonomic mouse just like the Primes, but its shape is ambidextrous with the exception that the side buttons are only on the left side. It is also smaller and height wise I didn’t have any issues with it.

For pricing, these three mice end up covering a wide range. The base Prime has an MSRP of $59.99 but it is available for $36.94 on amazon and even less at $35.99 on the SteelSeries website making it a great deal. The Aerox 3 Wireless on the other hand has an MSRP of $99.99 and for the Ghost and Onyx colors they are still at that price, but the white Snow edition we have here can be found for a little less at $77.52 on Amazon currently however you might want to make sure that is the new 2022 edition. Then the Prime Wireless is the most expensive of the three when it comes to MSRP which is $129.99 but it is on sale like the base Prime for $89.99. All three aren’t a bad deal at the sale prices.

fv5primevalue

Live Pricing: HERE

fv5primewirelessrecommended

Live Pricing: HERE

fv5aerox3recommended

Live Pricing: HERE

Author Bio
garfi3ld
Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org
Editor-in-chief
You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.

Log in to comment

We have 1864 guests and no members online

supportus