SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless evaluation: A premium, function-packed video gaming mouse

At a look

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• 18 quickly programmable buttons
• Weighs just 89 grams
• Quick and responsive
• Dual Bluetooth 5.0 and 2.4 Ghz cordless

Cons

• Some buttons on the side grid are difficult to reach

Our Verdict

The SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless is light-weight and fast, and consists of a lot of personalized choices for severe MMO/MOBA players. It’s one of the very best mice we’ve evaluated.

The SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless is an uncommon discover amongst video gaming mice because it has 18 programmable buttons however weighs simply 89 grams. These 2 elements alone must thrill players– specifically MOBA and MMO gamers searching for more buttons to release commands and macros. Even much better, the Aerox 9 Wireless backs this up with a fast 18,000 CPI sensing unit and double Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection.

The secret sauce to its light-weight style is a honeycomb-mesh covering that runs nearly the whole length of the mouse. Apart from keeping its weight in check, this style likewise offers the Aerox 9 Wireless a futuristic appearance, and offers a fantastic birds-eye view of the fancy RGB lighting inside.

The Aerox 9 Wireless is likewise very comfy– as long as you utilize a palm or fingertip grip. If you’re more of a claw-grip gamer, this mouse most likely isn’t for you, considering that its stressed top can be a little uncomfortable versus your fingertips.

S teelSeries Aerox 9 style and construct

Opening package, my impression was that the mouse is relatively big, however has a minimalist profile. There are no elegant curves, flaps or flares like you may see in other video gaming mice.

The 18 buttons appear extremely well put for one’s fingers. Apart from the 2 primary ones on the top, there’s a button that’s quickly obtainable by your middle finger at the top-center behind the mouse wheel. This button lets you cycle through 5 various CPI profiles that change the mouse’s level of sensitivity levels.

The mouse wheel itself has 3 buttons in one, consisting of both left and ideal tilt buttons, however the primary body of buttons is a grid of 12 situated on the left-hand side. This grid is available through your thumb and is colored gray, which contrasts well with the mouse’s black matte visual.

The Aerox 9’s leading mesh style will recognize to players who’ve utilized the likewise created SteelSeries Aerox 5. If you have not, you ‘d be forgiven for believing it jeopardizes performance. This is merely not the case. Regardless of its plenitude of holes, the mouse is extremely durable. The leading mesh didn’t move an iota when I checked it, holding its type throughout extreme gameplay.

Dominic Bayley/IDG

The RBG lighting is likewise a winner. It’s internalized in the mouse body, however it’s no less remarkable than in mice that have external RGB lighting. It’s divided into 3 pyramidal zones, which produce some amazing results as the light ripples around the mouse’s inner circuitry.

Being able to peer within and see all that circuitry unnerved me a little in the beginning, given that I typically keep a cup of coffee simply inches far from my mouse pad and was a little worried about spillage. According to SteelSeries, the internals are safeguarded by an IP54- ranked Aquabarrier, which assisted put my mind at ease.

One unexpected advantage of the distinct “open top” style was that my hand got less sweaty on hot days. Without a strong swelling of plastic underneath it, the additional aeration showed extremely comfy in prolonged video gaming sessions.

SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless Performance

SteelSeries has actually equipped the Aerox 9 Wireless with its extremely capable proprietary 18,000 CPI TrueMove Air sensing unit, that includes 400 IPS tracking and 40 G velocity. Undoubtedly, it isn’t as fast as the Razer Naga Pro’s 20,000 DPI optical sensing unit. Still, it’s shown itself deserving in other competitive SteelSeries video gaming mice and it carried out well in my tests.

Trying out the Aerox 9 Wireless in Call of Duty: Black Ops, it felt light and simple to move. The sensing unit had no issues staying up to date with my fast hand motions, be they long or short. The mouse’s tracking likewise appeared extremely precise, and determining targets was a breeze. Plus, the strong, high-shaped leading offered a lot of stability in my palm grip when I required to make repeated motions.

Helping the Aerox 9 move efficiently throughout my desk are PTFE move skates on the underside. There’s one in the front and back, along with one around the mouse’s sensing unit. These worked like a dream, even when I wasn’t utilizing a mouse mat.

Dominic Bayley/IDG

The primary buttons felt comfy, too. They have a contoured center that nestled my fingers completely in a natural grip. They aren’t the largest of buttons, and players with big fingers might choose a little bit more space here.

While the majority of superior video gaming mice include comparably quick switches, there can be subtle variations in how they react and in their resilience. SteelSeries has actually offered the Aerox 9’s Golden Micro IP54 mechanical switches an 80 million click sturdiness ranking, which is 10 million clicks more than the Razer Naga Pro. To me, they felt soft and clicky. They likewise had very little travel, which was perfect for video games in which I required to click quickly.

To evaluate the side grid of buttons (which lack mechanical switches), I mapped commands in an old preferred MMORPG, Gloria Victis On the whole, the grid was an enjoyment to utilize and significantly streamlined my gameplay. Most of buttons were simple to discover and responsive. I did discover myself having to extend my thumb out to reach for buttons 3 and 6– this in spite of SteelSeries having nicely organized the buttons in 3 plainly specified lines. Still, this was never ever a significant issue that impacted my gameplay.

On the advantage, the grid buttons are rather firm, so you’re not likely to activate them by error when you do not wish to.

Aerox 9’s double connection consists of both Bluetooth 5.0 and 2.4 Ghz cordless choices. As a laptop computer customer, I discovered this performance exceptionally helpful for leaping in between laptop computers. I might keep the dongle placed for video gaming in one rig and utilize Bluetooth while composing an evaluation on another. You will require to make sure your laptop computer has a USB-C port to plug in the Wi-Fi dongle.

The SteelSeries Aerox 9 is ranked for 150 hours of battery life, which is a good quantity of time that will not see you hurrying to plug it in whenever you play. The caution is that battery life is the optimum when RGB lighting is turned off, so anticipate it to drain pipes down a lot quicker when lighting is triggered.

SteelSeries GG Software

If you normally discover yourself hanging around personalizing a video gaming mouse, make it this one. With numerous buttons to map, the Aerox 9 Wireless can be a video game changer in MMO/MOBA video games where you rarely have enough. Easily, the 18 buttons can be appointed commands or macros at the level of the SteelSeries GG app, instead of needing to fiddle around within each video game’s controls menu. This will conserve you a stack of time.

For Gloria Victis I drew up commands for Interact, Kick, Display Map, Sheathe/Unsheathe Weapon and Bandage Ally, and I still had a lot more buttons left over that I might have set in. This took simply 2 minutes however made a world of distinction to my gameplay.

Dominic Bayley/IDG

RGB lighting zones, mouse level of sensitivity and responsiveness can likewise be rapidly altered in SteelSeries GG. For mouse responsiveness, you can tweak and change the ballot rate and the mouse’s velocity or deceleration to discover a wanted setting.

Once you’ve set things precisely the method you desire, you can then just merely conserve the profiles in the “setup” column on the left-hand side of the app. Changing mouse profiles prior to video games is as easy as clicking the best profile– it truly could not be more simple.

SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless: Should you purchase it?

The SteelSeries Aerox 9 Wireless is an ingeniously developed cordless video gaming mouse that includes 18 programmable buttons however weighs simply 89 g. The mouse’s comprehensive button choices, fast sensing unit and double connection ought to make it an extremely appealing mouse for both competitive and casual players, specifically MMO and MOBA players who can map commands and macros all day. We can’t suggest it extremely enough.