SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless Gen 2 gaming mouse and QcK Heavy mousepad review

8K polling rate has become the norm these days with gaming mice. Whether or not gamers use it is a separate conversation. Maxing out at 4K, the SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless Gen 2 places itself in the middle of the pack, which makes the $100+ price point hard to digest. It is a solid mouse overall with a lightweight form factor, good battery life, and solid performance, but nothing to stand out amongst fierce competition.

The Aerox 3 Wireless Gen 2 is priced at $110 and is available in Shadow, Ghost, and Magenta Haze colors via Amazon and the official website. The QcK Heavy mousepad comes in medium, large, and XXL sizes, with only the large and XXL available in black, white, and magenta colors. They are priced at $20, $30, and $35, respectively. At the time of publishing, both are slightly discounted. 

In line with the rest of the Aerox gaming mice, the Aerox 3 Wireless Gen 2 does little to differentiate itself visually from its predecessor. It has the same shape, dimensions, and perforations on the ABS plastic shell. The new semi-transparent body, however, diffuses the RGB lighting, which makes the whole mouse seem like it's glowing. Besides that, it retains the 68-gram weight, IP54 rating, and mechanical switches.

SteelSeries has upgraded the sensor to the TrueMove Optical from the TrueMove Air, and it is now capable of up to 26,000 DPI/CPI. Another upgrade is the 4K polling rate, up from 1K on the original Aerox 3. Interestingly, this is the only gaming mouse in SteelSeries’ arsenal that goes over 1K polling up to 4K, when 8K is becoming the industry norm.

For some objective testing, we used MouseTester and Razer’s polling rate testing tool to get data on different key points:

DPI variation

To measure variation in measured versus set DPI, the Aerox 3 Wireless Gen 2 was moved 10 cm horizontally at a consistent speed across different DPI settings. All tests were done with the 2.4 GHz wireless connection at 1,000 Hz and then at 4,000 Hz polling rate. An average from three readings was used for each DPI test. We found that the measured DPI was higher than the set DPI in all ranges, but by just over 6%, indicating negligible DPI variation.

At 1K polling rate

At 4K polling rate

Speed-related Accuracy Variance (SRAV)

This test helps identify if there is any acceleration or deceleration baked into the mouse. The associated setting in SteelSeries GG was turned off, and the mouse was rapidly accelerated horizontally, then slowly brought back to the starting position. There was no inherent acceleration or deceleration at any of the DPI settings.

As for the QcK Heavy mousepad, it is meant for control/accuracy and not speed, due to its fine-textured surface. Especially coming from the NZXT Zone Elite mousepad that has an ultra-smooth surface, the difference is night and day. Those who prefer the relatively higher friction will find the QcK Heavy to be ideal. Regardless, it is very comfortable and doesn’t eat into the wrist, as some other mousepads that have stitched edges do. Despite its 4 mm thickness, it's soft enough not to feel too thick.

SteelSeries GG is the one-stop shop for all customization. The ‘Engine’ handles the performance settings while ‘Prism’ handles the lighting. Engine has an industrial design, but it is easy to use and shows real-time results. It also features global settings for lighting, which can be customized per zone via Prism.

SteelSeries advertises up to 120 hours at 1K polling rate and 200 hours on Bluetooth with RGB turned off. We used the Aerox 3 with a combination of the two and found that it lasted about a week before dropping to below 5%. Switching to 4K polling will drain the battery in less than two days. It does charge back up to full very quickly.