SteelSeriesAerox 9 Wireless - Holey RGB Gaming Mouse - Ultra-lightweight Water Resistant Design - 18 Buttons – Bluetooth/2.4 GHz - 18K DPI TrueMove Air Optical Sensor

I wanted to update my aging and discontinued mid level multi-side button Logitech mouse for my living room and bedroom PC's, where I do all my gaming.. it didn't work on just the bare recliner arm very well, so I needed to use a small wooden circle with an attached bean bag (for stability) sitting on the arm for smooth tracking.. I also wanted a mouse with a rechargeable battery and that could do wired, wifi, AND bluetooth as I have a second Mini PC in my living room and could use the mouse itself to switch between controlling either one... (and it works well for that actually, I have it connected via Bluetooth to the mini PC and Wifi and wired to the gaming PC and just flip the switch on the mouse to the appropriate position).I generally use a PS5 controller for more action oriented fps games (tho heartily agree that mouse and keyboard is the superior aiming control, I'm just a more casual single player game type). I'm usually in a recliner when gaming, so prefer to have a mouse with extra buttons so that i don't have to rely on a keyboard in my lap unless absolutely necessary..tho not usually this many buttons as I at first thought this mouse was going to be unwieldy due to having SO many side buttons.. but I was pleasantly surprised upon trying the mouse and finding it fit my medium sized hands just right and all those side buttons (3 rows of 4) were actually easy to find and use with my thumb... no issues there at all thankfully.it's a really light mouse, which really isn't a detriment for me but I could see someone wanting one that perhaps feels a bit more substantial for more competitive play maybe.. and really, that's my only thing I can critique it for really.. of the two I bought, one just stopped being recognized as a usb device by any PC.. I suspect it was a manufacturing issue, bad chip.. havent had any issue with the replacement or the second mouse at all..so, there's a lot really good about this mouse.. I don't usually leave reviews unless it's really deserved as I'm admittedly lazy, lol. let's go over the good...first, the software works great. Pairing and firmware updates can be a bit specific as they want you to plug the wifi dongle into the provided usb-c adapter via a usb-c cable rather than put the dongle directly into a usb-c port.. but it's a small inconvenience and only for initial or repairing or rare firmware updates.. and I wished the program opened up directly to the programming screen rather than the marketing page.. but it's super powerful software with tons of features, used for all their products.. you can have game profiles that automatically switch when you launch a game and as many as you like.. and any type of setting you can think of is there.. all buttons are programmable aside from the connection switch of course.. and tons of commands, windows shortcuts and combos, macros.. etc.. same for the LED lighting, which has three zones and tons of choices.. (tho I have it minimally set to a quick light up when a button is pressed to save battery life). but it works and has zero issues.. (unlike the awful Armoury Crate crap which is a slow memory hog that caused crashes on my beefy gaming pc)the mouse can be used via bluetooth, usb-c (recharged, wired), and wifi.. now with bluetooth, you can't do any programming or profiles and it eats a bit more battery life than the low power wifi.. but not much. battery life is really great. It's been maybe two weeks since my last charge for my living room mouseand i've got the minimal led and switching between bluetooth and wifi to control different PC's.. i use it almost daily and it's only at 55% at two weeks! it also charges fast..so yeah, I do lose some extra functionality like changing profiles and such if using bluetooth but I personally don't need it, just basic regular functionality, for the second mini PC as that's just for media like youtube or plex while I'm gaming on the living room tv.another great thing about it is the sensor.. I can use this on any surface.. I think it's a proprietary one, not sure.. just know I now can just use my pants leg or recliner arm as my mouse pad where my last laser mouse still needed a separate surface for smooth tracking...so I highly recommend this mouse.. it's well built.. it's not at all huge but everything fits my medium sized hands great and the side buttons are not an issue at all and easy to find and use.. it's got great battery life and I really like the software as well.. it's got a use anywhere sensor and the worst thing I can possibly say about it is that it might be a little too lightweight for some is all. that's it. I also bought an Apex pro tkl wireless that was on sale for the living room (as it also has the same bluetooth/wifi/wired/recharge functionality) and i love that too and there are features in the software where you can co-ordinate the LED lighting if you want.. or have a game control it.. I just use the lighting for more practical low light reasons over any flashy ones and to help preserve battery life but both have excellent marks on that..it's a bit pricey but for what ya get, it's fairly worth it and you can always wait for a sale as well.I've been using the Aerox 9 for[laying Baulder's Gate 3 and never need to use the keyboard.. love it!cheers!

2nd unit updateThis 2nd unit of mine Aerox 9 Mouse, after 7 months of use, failed on scroll up and down again. I bought Aerox 9 the first one failed the scroll up and down in 10 months, there was zero dirtiness inside no hair no dust whatsoever, they gave me a new mouse for free that one lasted about 10 months, which then ran out of service period and had to buy the second one. Now the second unit also kept clean failed on the scroll up and down again. This is the third time I had this issue. I hate this mouse and would have been much happier without it.24 month updateThe scroll up and down failed again. The replacement mouse I got from warranty did not hold up long enough. Funny it's middle, left and right click works, but the scrolling up and down does not. Exact same problem I had in 10 month update. Therefore, I put 1 less star for review from 4 stars to 2 stars. Do something about it Steelseries. You guys do realize it is 2025? how a simple scroll up down can fail so frequently and repeatedly? Great mouse, not the most ergonomic but not an issue for me, but scroll wheel just made this mouse a big regret for me.10 month updateThe wheel scroll died. It took me 3 weeks to get a new mouse off warranty. Funny thing is that Ive been using a faulty mouse all along. When using 2 applications, say a browser and a game, you can have 2 functionality from the mouse. For example left wheel scroll click for previous page while using a browser and f1 key for game. But the first mouse did not work properly in this regard. The one i got for replacement works seamlessly. All in all i dont have such a great impession on the steel series products and the customer service . The people working there are not alert and dont do their best to help tue customers or describe the procedure. I had to ask same question over and over because they copy paste not very detailed answers and even unclear answers to what I ask from their respond. So i go from 4 stars to 3 stars. Nice product, bad quality control, and laughable customer service.one tip!If you want to use this mouse for longer period of time, I suggest you clean the inside of mouse with air blower. My mouse upon destruction for warranty activation showed some dusts and short hairs inside, which could have caused the problem. I dont think the air blower will completely clean up the inside, but I believe it is worth maintained that way because this mouse has holes everywhere making it susceptible to dust and debris gathering inside.Original reviewAfter about a month of use, I can confirm this mouse is legit except for the battery life that lasts only about 40 hours of heavy MMO use in 2.4Hz connection without RGB. If RGB is turned on, I think this mouse will last only about 12 hours. I’ve had one other MMO mouse before, G600, and I like the Aerox 9 a lot more though G600 had angled buttons to allow users to find the buttons easier in the beginning. Side button positions and layout is just as good on both mouse. It’s about the same difficulty of pushing side buttons. In the most comfortable grip, my thumb finds 4-9 naturally, but 1-3 and 10-12 is not a problem to push. Since Aerox 9 is much lighter than the G600 and has no cable connection, it is easier to maneuver in my hand and find those 1-3 and 10-12. The mouse also is not humongous like some people make it out to be. I am 5ft 9 and have a fair sized hand. My hand is definitely not big for my size. When I put the mouse under my hand in natural comfortable grip, I have a small wiggle room between my wrist and the end tail of the mouse. I don't play game in this comfy grip tho. I put my wrist as close to the tip of the mouse tail so thumb is close to side button 1,2,3 as it allows moving the mouse around more accurately. However, like I said, the mouse is so light, it is easy to tilt/move inside my hand so finding numbers 7-12 isn't a problem. The click sensation is very nice and there is no latency issue at all. Zero.The real problem of this mouse is the Steelseries Engine software and the customer service. One time, I asked a few questions to the company and it took them 10+ days to reply. The DPI adjustment is only available in 100 increment. A 50 increment up and down would have made a world of difference for me, but the software can only do 100 plus or minus, so fine tuning is not the best. The mouse also does not go back to normal button configuration setup once you engage a game connected to the Engine software. If you start a game bind to the custom button configuration via Engine, the button configuration will stay in a game setup even after the PC turned off and turned back on. I had to open the Engine software to go back to my normal web browser button setup.One tip. Get a magnetic USB-C connector + cable for charging. It’s much easier to connect the charger that way. The charging port is positioned a little hard to connect, but with magnetic dongle and cable snaps right in.