SteelSeries Aerox 5 Wired Gaming Mouse Review

Want to pay an extra $20 for less plastic?

Photo taken by the author.

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.