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SteelSeries Aerox 5 Wired Gaming Mouse Review
Last year, SteelSeries added a couple of new models to their lightweight Aerox mouse lineup. Alongside the existing and somewhat polarizing Aerox 3, they launched the MMO-focused Aerox 9 Wireless and the “multi-genre” Aerox 5 in both wired and wireless variants.
The Aerox 9 makes some amount of sense to me. MMO mice aren’t that common these days, and most of them are quite heavy rather than leaning into the current lightweight trend. The Aerox 5 is much more confusing at first glance, as it sure looks like it recycled the design of the older Rival 5 alongside a big price bump. The presence of a wireless version is nice, but I sort of expected a sensor upgrade. Both the wireless Aerox 5 and 9 models sell for flagship-level ~$150 price points in spite of using fairly standard hardware inside, which made me write this rant article instead of any true coverage of the products.
Well, on a whim I decided to finally put my money where my mouth is, so I dipped my toe in and bought the $79 wired Aerox 5 to see whether it truly is just a Rival 5 with some holes in it that costs more money.
I wasn’t asked to write this or compensated in any way by SteelSeries.
The SteelSeries Aerox 5 wired edition sells for $79.99 (official site here), and it comes in such exciting color variants as black or also black. That already puts it on the back foot compared to something like the Aerox 3, which comes in a few different stock colors with even more available through the SteelSeries web site.
If you want to step up to the wireless model, you’re going to pay an extra $70 for the privilege. This is a bummer, since the average premium for a wireless mouse is still only around fifty bucks across the rest of the market. The wireless version is currently available in a Destiny 2 colorway on top of the usual black, so I guess if you really love that game you could maybe think of getting it — but I wouldn’t, personally.
