SteelSeries - Aerox 3 Wireless Gen 2 RGB 26K Optical Gaming Mouse with AquaBarrier Protection - Dual 2.4GHz/Bluetooth for PC/Mac - Wireless - Shadow

I've tested a lot of mice over the years and this Aerox is definitely growing on me as an easy to use mouse with plenty of features added through their software. The basic setup is as easy as with any mouse. No matter what kind of connection you're going to use, it's pretty plug and play. The transmitter connects as soon as you flip the switch on the mouse to 2.4ghz mode. You can also connect via bluetooth or you can just use a USB-C cable to use it in wired mode. Surprisingly (to me), the wired option doesn't offer you the greatest polling frequency in the software. The mouse feels nice to use if you enjoy this style of mouse. It's very light weight and easy to move. All of the buttons have fairly firm clicks but without being hard to click by any means. Tracking is as you'd expect from a mouse in this price range in these days. Everything works great and is quite comfortable if you prefer lightweight, flatter style mice. The software does do a good job of setting this mouse apart from some others. It doesn't feel crazy bloated or anything. It allows you to use it without creating an account (by missing out on some non-mouse related features so no big deal). Lighting can set configured in 3 separate zones on the mouse with a lot of built in options and a good deal of customization. It's nothing incredible but I usually set my RGB to some fairly simple breathing animations so it's more than enough for me. There are a lot of other options you can customize in the software. As you'd expect, you can set each button to do whatever you want. Configure a macro for each button. Or set up a specific key you want to press. The only odd thing I could see was the inability to set a button as being held down while the mouse button was held down. The closest I could get was to toggle hold, otherwise all of the options involved repeatedly pressing the button instead. There are power management features to help save battery life. You can even enable them automatically when the battery gets low. Then there's more advanced options like being able to set the angle in which you hold the mouse to define what "up" means. Very cool stuff. One of the biggest downsides to the software (and something I hope gets improved in the future) is automatic profile switching depending on what app/game is in the foreground. It looks like the software is in a transitional period where they're retiring (or just retired) an older version of this for their newer "quickset". Navigating the options for this isn't very great. I tried to add a game by filename and I could never tell if it was fully added. It does do a good job detecting most of your games you have installed via Steam and such so you won't always have this issue. But I also found that the profiles just didn't switch automatically all the time. Battery life was pretty ok. Nothing spectacular but also nothing crazy bad. Things will obviously depend on your usage but I will say that at least once in my testing, my mouse died overnight while my computer was off, so they could probably stand to do some more work on sleeping the mouse when it's not connected to anything. I don't have an exact count on how many hours I got out of the battery but I could estimate that it lasted me 5 days of fairly heavy usage before completely dying. The great news is that it really doesn't take a long time to charge it back up to 100% again so as long as you remember to plug it in every so often, you should be good to go. All in all, I like the mouse. It's comfortable to use. The software is pretty good and doesn't feel like it's bloating up my system. There are a couple of smaller issues with the software I hope get resolved but nothing is a gamebreaker. If this style of mouse is your cup of tea and you're looking for a good lightweight option, give this one a try.

I’ve been using a SteelSeries mouse for years, and they never let me down. This new Aerox 3 Wireless mouse is fantastic! It has everything I love in a great gaming mouse. First off, the buttons are fantastic. The switches they use give a satisfying click and are super responsive. The combination of these switches with the optical sensor really makes this mouse super fast. With an 18,000 DPI, you’ll get the performance you need from a gaming mouse. What really ties everything together is the mouse’s design. The perforated shell isn’t just for looks. While the holes are great for letting the vibrant RGB lights shine, they also make the mouse feel lighter. Plus, the super smooth, virtually frictionless glide skates on the bottom make it very light and fast. You can connect to your rig in three ways: wired, Bluetooth, or the 2.4GHz adapter, and you’ll always get a fast response. The lightweight design, smooth glide skates, and fast switches and optical sensor make this a very fast mouse. It moves smoothly, and the RGB lighting through the holes is a nice design. Combine that with a very long 200-hour battery life and fast USB-C charging, and you’ve got a gaming mouse that’s hard to beat. I highly recommend this new SteelSeries offering!

this mouse is great for gaming. love the color options! coolest looking mouse i could have bought.

Opening the box and seeing the mouse for the first time, I was wondering if the openings and able to see the inside was going to be any good. After using it for a bit, I can say it helps to keep my hands from seating when playing games. And while you might think it makes the mouse easy to bend, it is surprisingly sturdy. It also has decent weight to it, not like a cheap office mouse I use at work, but some real weight but not too much so it stays light. There are RGB lights at the bottom, which are pretty bright for a mouse but I guess it helps you can see it from the opening. The hand feel is good, and playing with it is nice too. It reacts as I would expect, clicks are fast. You have the standard gaming mouse buttons, the two buttons, the back and forward, and the DPI settings along with the scroll wheel. You can also connect it using Bluetooth, directly with a USB C or through a dongle. The one thing I'm not a big fan of is the dongle, its USB C with a huge USB A adaptor, and there is no place for the dongle. If I am moving the mouse, I want to take the dongle with me and not have to think where to put it. The last part is the software, which does more then you need for just a mouse, but isn't as bad as some other ones I've used. You don't need to use it but its pretty easy to set the DPI and the lighting, plus update the firmware. Its not bad, especially if you have other Steel Series items, but it does way more if you only have a mouse. In the software, there is a bunch of customization you can do. There is also a practice mode for shooters and other games, which is interesting but I prefer to just play. Overall a really nice mouse that I'd recommend to anyone looking for a gaming mouse, especially if you have other Steel Series products already.

I am a casual gamer. I’ll play an FPS here and there, and some other days I’ll dive deep into a story-driven game. But when I do play, I enjoy being comfortable, and that starts with my peripherals. I have been using the Aerox 3 Gen 2 for a couple of days now, and it has seriously been one of the most comfortable mice I have used. This mouse also has a myriad of customizable features that any serious gamer would enjoy. I did find some minor downsides, and I will cover these in this review. This is my review of the SteelSeries - Aerox 3 Wireless Gen 2 Gaming Mouse. *TLDR at the bottom ====================== IN THE BOX/SET-UP In the box, you get a braided USB-C to USB-A cable, a USB-C extension adapter, and a 2.4GHz wireless dongle. Set up is all plug-and-play. I did go wired first to fully charge the mouse, but as soon as it was fully charged, I moved over to the wireless dongle. The SteelSeries GG software is optional, but I highly recommend it for a more granular control over the mouse’s settings. The software is also where firmware updates can be downloaded and installed. These updates can be installed wirelessly, which is something I don’t see very much. ====================== DESIGN: This Aerox 3 Gen 2 sports a honeycomb look. This is the first mouse of its kind that I have used, and while I thought it looked strange at first, it has quickly grown on me. I noticed that the honeycomb design has reduced my hand sweat, which is neat. The design also reduces the mouse’s weight. One of the design choices that I did not like was the size of the wireless dongle. It is on the larger side, but I understand that this was likely a design choice to keep the mouse lightweight. Still, it's not the most lightweight mouse I’ve used, but it’s lightweight enough for my liking. Finally, I do dislike that the lettering at the bottom is harder to see in certain lighting. Sometimes I find myself switching to the wrong input. ====================== STEELSERIES GG: GG is the software that is used to customize the Aerox 3 Gen 2. This is an app that needs to be installed, but it would be nice if this software were moved into a web app instance to allow customization without having to install the app. Regardless, the software is easy to use and navigate. GG offers granular control over the mouse’s settings from the polling rate, acceleration/deceleration tuning, precision tuning, etc. I didn’t get to play around with every single setting, but there were a couple of settings/features that I was intrigued by. The first one was the 3D Aim Trainer tool. It's currently in Beta as of 04/2026, but the tool assists you in finding the optimal mouse sensitivity setting for your mouse. This is done by putting you through these shooting trials where you need to hit targets in a specific order at different distances. This is only for shooter games. As a result, I decided to try this out with Battlefield 6. The trials are about 15 to 20 minutes or faster if you are great at shooters (I am decent). The initial result was not ideal. The recommended mouse sensitivity settings for BF6 were way too low for my liking. I decided to give the trainer another run, and this time, I used a higher DPI. It had still recommended a low mouse sensitivity, but it was closer to something I was more comfortable with. Anyways, while the tool is neat, I would use it as a recommendation, but not something you must abide by. The RGB lighting is also unique on this mouse, and it’s configurable in GG. Three layers can be configured: Active, Reactive, Idle. The Active RGB layer becomes active when your hand is off the mouse. The Reactive layer becomes active when the mouse is in use. Finally, the Idle layer becomes active when the mouse is sitting idle(timing can be configured). Overall, there are a myriad of customizable options with this mouse, which I love! ====================== COMFORT/USE/BATTERY: In terms of comfort, the Aerox 3 Gen 2 is extremely comfortable and ergonomic. I’ve gamed for hours at a time and did not feel an ounce of discomfort. On top of that, the honeycomb design has been great for reducing my hand sweat. One setting I played around with was the polling rate. I set the rate to 4000Hz. And honestly, the mouse did feel more responsive. I’m not sure if it was because I was playing better, but the subsequent BF6 matches after updating the setting felt great. I was winning more. The downside of setting the polling rate this high is the extremely high battery usage. Just keep that in mind. Battery life is highly dependent on the mouse’s settings. I did stress test the mouse these past couple of days. As a result, battery life wasn’t the greatest. I have had to charge the mouse once so far. But if you go light on the RGB settings, polling rate, etc., I am confident that this mouse’s battery can go for dozens of hours. ====================== CONCLUSION/TLDR: Overall, the Aerox 3 Gen 2 has been an excellent gaming mouse. I really enjoyed the granular level control that SteelSeries offers with the mouse’s settings. I found the mouse extremely comfortable and ergonomic. While it's not the lightest mouse I’ve used, I found that the weight was adequate for my liking. If you are serious about gaming and granular level control in a gaming mouse, I wholeheartedly recommend you give this one a try!