The SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless is a lightweight honeycomb gaming mouse. Unlike Master Chiller MM710, the Aerox 3 Wireless is comfortable to hold and quite pretty to look at, thanks to a set of RGB lights. However, in an era of ultralight mice that don’t rely on unconventional honeycomb designs, I wonder if this mouse offers many tangible advantages over, say, a SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless half-price.
While the design is a matter of love or hate, the Aerox 3 Wireless also suffers from a slow activation time, a high price, and a weight that borders on insubstantial. Esports fans may want to check it out, because it’s the lightest wireless mouse you can get from a major manufacturer. However, whether it’s worth the asking price depends almost entirely on how much you like the pisive honeycomb design and whether you can live without it.
The Aerox 3 Wireless is not necessarily the best gaming mouse for every gamer, but if you want a wireless honeycomb mouse from a major manufacturer, it could be a decent option for you. Read our full SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless review to learn more.
SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless Review: Design
If the word “honeycomb” means anything to you in terms of gaming mice, you probably have a good idea of what the SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless looks like. This small, lightweight mouse is covered from buttons to palm rest with diamond-shaped holes that allow you to see directly into the inner workings of the device. This makes the device lighter, of course, but also potentially more aerodynamic, as there is less resistance when moving it from side to side.
Having used all types of mice in both competitive and single-player situations, I personally have some doubts about whether honeycomb mice confer any sort of significant advantage. Sure, a 2.3-ounce mouse is technically easier to start and stop than a 4.0-ounce mouse (the Logitech G502 Light Speed, for example), but not necessarily faster, due to the mechanics of momentum. A difference of 1.7 ounces is also not a significant weight difference, even for the most spaghetti-armed among us.
Personally, I find honeycomb designs to be flashy and trivial, but your mileage may vary. The RGB lighting on the Aerox 3 Wireless is very pretty, at least, with a bottom plate that fully lights up to create beautiful rainbow patterns on the front, back, and sides of the mouse. It’s much more impressive than most gaming mice, which tout full RGB lighting and then limit it to a single logo on the palm rest.
As noted above, the mouse weighs only 2.3 ounces. The only mouse I could find from a major manufacturer that weighs less is the HyperX Pulsefire Haste (which we’re also currently testing) at 2.1 ounces. The SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless, which is almost the same size, weighs 3.4 ounces, so Aerox managed to shave more than 1/3 off its overall weight. This is impressive for such a small device.
There are six buttons in total: a left-click button, a right-click button, a textured clickable scroll wheel, and a dots per inch (DPI) sensitivity dial on the face, with two buttons for thumb on the side. At the bottom of the mouse, there is also an input selector, where you can set the mouse to 2.4GHz wireless or Bluetooth modes, or turn it off completely. You’ll also find a USB-C charging port on top.
SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless Review: Features
While the most striking feature of the SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless is its honeycomb design, it also has other features you’d expect from a high-end wireless mouse. For one, it works with SteelSeries Engine 3 software, which allows you to reprogram buttons, create profiles, adjust lighting, etc. Unfortunately, this functionality was not available when we wrote the review, but assuming everything works correctly, it is a robust and easy-to-use software. A SteelSeries representative informed us that Engine 3 support will be ready when the Aerox 3 Wireless ships to consumers.
There’s also the wireless functionality, which works very well for the most part. Both the 2.4GHz and Bluetooth functionality work well, with no lag or connection drops during my few days of testing, both in games and productivity software. SteelSeries estimates the battery can last up to 80 hours on 2.4GHz and 200 hours on Bluetooth, but since we didn’t have access to the software, we can’t measure either of these claims. The battery stayed strong for at least three working days of testing, for what it’s worth.
The mouse’s quick and cheerful movements made it especially easy to kill demons in Doom, where speed and precision are paramount.
On the other hand, the Aerox 3 Wireless fails on an important point of comfort in wireless mice. After it goes to sleep (about 10 minutes of inactivity, although you can adjust this in the software), it takes a long time to restart again: between five and 10 seconds, in my experience. All other wireless mice I’ve used tend to reboot instantly, returning you to whatever you were working or playing on. It seems like a minor problem, but it starts to get worse every time you walk away from your desk.
SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless Review: Performance
Like most other SteelSeries mice, the Aerox 3 Wireless works great with almost any genre of gaming. I tested the device with Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, Doom Eternal, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Final Fantasy XIV, and it performed well across the board. The mouse’s quick and cheerful movements made it especially easy to kill demons in Doom, where speed and precision are paramount.
As for whether I felt faster or more in control with the Aerox 3 Wireless than with any other high-end gaming mouse, not especially so. Hardcore esports enthusiasts may disagree, but for everyday gaming, I found no evidence that the Aerox 3 Wireless performs better than any other gaming mouse from a major company. If you choose one, do it because you like the design, not because you think it will give you a major advantage in the tournament scene.
SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless Review: Verdict
Our review of the SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless looked at the mouse’s pisive design, as well as its solid overall functionality. This is as close as I get to a honeycomb mouse, with its semi-comfortable grip and pretty lighting. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s a big step up from more traditional wireless gaming mice, especially since you can get designs like the Rival 3 Wireless and the Corsair Harpoon RGB Wireless for half the price.
If you are not married to a wireless honeycomb mouse, you can also get the SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wired version for $60, but still pretty expensive for such a small mouse. For most users, the Rival 3, whether wired or wireless, is probably the way to go.
