Recently, I took advantage of some of the Black Friday deals on gaming hardware websites and picked up a new SteelSeries keyboard, mouse, and headset. After a week and a half of shipping updates and disappointed front-stoop checks, my packages finally arrived. 

Regardless of the growing number of assignments I really needed to get done, I hooked up my equipment and tried it out. 

After a few hours of playing over the span of about a week, I came to some interesting conclusions about SteelSeries gear. 

The “Arctis 3” Bluetooth headset looks great and feels great, but the audio quality when you aren’t connected using a cable doesn’t really compare to when you plug it in. I was pretty disappointed in this product overall.

The “Aerox 3 Wireless 2022 edition” mouse was my favorite product out of the three products that I bought. With a cool design structure and impressive customization software, it’s lightweight and easy to use. I also really like the aesthetic design of the mouse.

The “Apex 3” tenkeyless keyboard, which is a more compact version of a regular keyboard, is simply decent. In comparison to Razer keyboards around this price point, Razer definitely had better hardware and software for their keyboards. One thing I will say about this product is that it has a really nice feel when typing documents and essays, but loses that feeling when it comes to actually playing games. 

One thing that was disappointing to me was the “SteelSeries GG” application that accompanies any hardware that you purchase. While it covers the basics of what people need to customize their personal gaming experiences, it lacks any remarkable features and at times feels clunky and outdated. In terms of “bang for your buck,” SteelSeries doesn’t appear to be any different than any other ordinary company, but if you find value in the visual appeal of your products, SteelSeries is definitely the way to go. 

So should you buy these products at full price? Probably not. However, when discounts come around, this equipment is perfect for PC gaming beginners looking for an introduction to the rather comprehensive and expensive world of gaming hardware.