SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless keyboard review: An expensive let-down

Price When Reviewed

199.99

Best Prices Today: Apex Pro TKL Wireless keyboard

SteelSeries makes a variety of gaming keyboards, and has accomplished so for a very long time. And but the corporate actually isn’t identified for them — the boards have by no means attained the identical type of acclaim as their well-loved headsets or mousepads. And regardless of some spectacular expertise crammed into its case, the Apex Pro TKL Wireless isn’t altering that established order. The capabilities of the keyboard are fascinating, however not particularly compelling, and its greatest technical tips are carried out higher elsewhere.

With chattery keys which might be unsatisfying for each typing and gaming, corners lower on supplies, poor battery life, and yet one more OLED display screen with utility that’s questionable at greatest, the Apex Pro TKL Wireless simply isn’t price consideration, even when you’re within the very small area of interest of avid gamers who need selectively actuated key switches.

Further studying: See our roundup of the best wireless gaming keyboards to study competing merchandise.

Apex Pro TKL Wireless design and specs

The Apex Pro TKL Wireless — which I’ll simply name the Apex Pro any further — seems to be like a reasonably unremarkable board, till you notice the OLED display screen hanging out within the prime layer. The “TKL” moniker describes a full-sized structure minus the 10-key quantity pad (“tenkeyless”), however it additionally deletes the Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause buttons in favor of the display screen and a quantity wheel. It additionally has magnetic actuation switches that may be adjusted or sure to double features, which places it in uncommon firm with the Corsair K70 Max, Razer’s Huntsman Analog sequence, and the Wooting Two HE. We’ll focus on these particular switches later, however SteelSeries distinguishes this specific board as the one one with manually adjustable switches that’s additionally wi-fi.

Unfortunately, the Apex Pro falls brief on match and end in comparison with these different boards, to not point out its personal very hefty $250 price ticket. The case has an aluminum plate beneath the switches, however the remainder of the physique is plastic and low-cost, together with the magnetic wrist relaxation. The USB cable is braided, however flimsy, and on a number of events merely didn’t plug in, leaving the juice-hungry keyboard on its final legs after I got here again to my desk within the morning. The quantity wheel is extraordinarily small and tough to hit beneath the keys, to the purpose that I merely stopped utilizing it.

But essentially the most damning factor in regards to the keyboard is that it’s simply not very gratifying to make use of. Magnetic actuation switches are a technical marvel, however the ones on the Apex Pro are rickety and chattery as you press down on the linear switches. Even with fairly good PBT keycaps (nonetheless you for that omission, Razer!), it feels unsatisfying to kind and to recreation. The rattling, clacky sound of the board in use is one thing I’d anticipate from a finances whitebox construct at a fraction of this value. After coming off the finely-tuned switches of the BlackWidow V4 75%, which lack the actuation magic however simply really feel good, the SteelSeries was an enormous let-down.

Michael Crider/Foundry

As with different optical and magnetic swap keyboards, these switches aren’t hot-swap, so customization is proscribed to the usual keycaps. An comprehensible technical limitation, however a disgrace nonetheless, contemplating the poor typing on these specific switches.

What in regards to the Apex Pro’s OLED and wi-fi?

Sadly the poor points of this keyboard don’t cease there. Once once more, I discover the inclusion of an OLED display screen principally ineffective for my fashion of typing and gaming. I can see somebody who has dozens of particular person profiles with meticulously tuned settings making use of it, however for me it was principally only a fancy battery meter. And for the reason that keyboard helpfully shows the remaining battery in a inexperienced bar by way of the backlights of the quantity bar (a function that’s fairly slick by itself), I didn’t even want that.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Sure, you may load the display screen up with customized black-and-white graphics, and even animations. But why would you need to? And presumably extra pertinently, why would you need to pay for the privilege? The display screen can present system info like your CPU load or temperature, however once more, these are issues I’m already monitoring on my PC display screen if I’m involved about them. And they’re a lot simpler to see there anyway.

The Apex Pro is missing as a wi-fi board, too. The battery life is sort of poor, with the board really fizzling out in simply a few days of standard work use. I’m no electrical engineer, however I believe the additional complexity of the switches may be contributing to fast battery drain…which might clarify why no different keyboard producer provides these switches in a wi-fi board. Having an always-on display screen, even on the lowest illumination, actually doesn’t assist. At least the wi-fi connection was rock-solid.

Michael Crider/Foundry

I’d be tempted to say that the board would possibly journey effectively resulting from its low weight, however I can’t see myself going for that possibility because of its lack of consolation and its noisy profile. Trying to make use of this factor in a espresso store will certainly get you some disapproving glances, although a busy gaming meetup may be extra forgiving.

Adjustable switches with too many limitations

The headline function of the Apex Pro is these magnetic switches, which SteelSeries calls “Omnipoint.” They’re not fairly limitless when it comes to actuation, however you may manually set their sensitivity from simply 0.1mm right down to a full-length 4.0mm press. In layman’s phrases, you may determine how laborious it’s important to press the keys to get them to register. That functionality additionally unlocks the potential of binding two separate features to the identical key. So for instance, in a taking pictures recreation you may set it as much as flippantly faucet the Q button to throw a flash-bang grenade, or jab the Q button laborious to toss a full explosive.

Michael Crider/Foundry

But the Apex Pro proves restricted even on this signature function. Only the first alphanumeric keys and modifiers have adjustable magnetic actuation; the Function row, arrow cluster, and the six keys above it don’t. You can see this within the SteelSeries GG software program suite, however it’s additionally seen on the switches themselves, which have crimson stems as an alternative of white. That in itself wouldn’t be an enormous downside (besides presumably the arrow cluster), however there’s a secondary limitation. Only eight keys could be sure with a twin actuation binding per profile, with a most of 5 profiles loaded on the keyboard’s reminiscence.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Now in all equity, that is an especially small nit to select. I can’t think about too many individuals will actually dive into the twin actuation operate itself, and even fewer will probably be delay by this restriction. But in proscribing our comparability to gaming keyboards with guide actuation switches, we’re already speaking a few group of customers searching for an especially particular function, and presumably eager to make the most of it to the fullest. Not solely that, they’re paying for the privilege with one of the crucial costly boards on this class. That being the case, these limitations transfer from a molehill to a mountain.

SteelSeries’ GG software program is competent and appealingly designed, and I loved the various coloration presets and integration with third-party instruments like Discord. I discovered the twin bindings simpler to navigate than on Corsair’s iCue software program. But nonetheless straightforward it’s to make use of, the {hardware} limitations sink it for a suggestion over equally outfitted keyboards.

Is the Apex Pro TKL Wireless price it?

At $250, the Apex Pro TKL Wireless is each SteelSeries’ most costly keyboard and tied with Razer for the most costly gaming keyboard with adjustable actuation switches. The Hunstamn V2 Analog (currently $195 street price) lacks an OLED display screen and wi-fi functionality, however as I’ve demonstrated, neither of these are massive factors in SteelSeries’ favor on this board, because of an absence of utility and brief battery life respectively. The Huntsman additionally has extra comfortable switches and a much better wrist relaxation.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Corsair’s K70 Max is our present choose on this very area of interest class, coming in at $20 cheaper (once more, wired solely) with a greater typing and gaming expertise, extra twin actuation choices throughout the whole board, and only a significantly better general construct. There’s additionally the Wooting Two HE, which lacks gaming aptitude and a wrist relaxation, however is much cheaper at simply $195.

Any method you take a look at it, the Apex Pro is a foul deal. Unless you merely can’t reside with out an adjustable actuation keyboard that additionally has a teeny-tiny, almost unreadable black-and-white display screen, and wi-fi operation with a battery life that may disappear quicker than a field of Oreos at a middle-school sleepover, go for one thing else.