Price When Reviewed

199.99

Best Prices Today: Apex Pro TKL Wireless keyboard

SteelSeries makes a variety of gaming keyboards, and has achieved so for a very long time. And but the corporate actually isn’t recognized 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 establishment. The capabilities of the keyboard are attention-grabbing, however not particularly compelling, and its finest technical tips are carried out higher elsewhere.

With chattery keys which might be unsatisfying for each typing and gaming, corners reduce on supplies, poor battery life, and one more OLED display screen with utility that’s questionable at finest, the Apex Pro TKL Wireless simply isn’t value consideration, even in case 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 find out about competing merchandise.

Apex Pro TKL Wireless design and specs

The Apex Pro TKL Wireless — which I’ll simply name the Apex Pro any longer — appears to be like like a reasonably unremarkable board, till you see 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”), but it surely 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 certain to double capabilities, which places it in uncommon firm with the Corsair K70 Max, Razer’s Huntsman Analog collection, and the Wooting Two HE. We’ll focus on these particular switches later, however SteelSeries distinguishes this explicit board as the one one with manually adjustable switches that’s additionally wi-fi.

Michael Crider/Foundry

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 once 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 concerning the keyboard is that it’s simply not very fulfilling 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 moderately good PBT keycaps (nonetheless taking a look at you for that omission, Razer!), it feels unsatisfying to sort and to sport. 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 change keyboards, these switches usually are not hot-swap, so customization is proscribed to the usual keycaps. An comprehensible technical limitation, however a disgrace nonetheless, contemplating the poor typing on these explicit switches.

What concerning 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 because the keyboard helpfully shows the remaining battery in a inexperienced bar through 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 possibly can load the display screen up with customized black-and-white graphics, and even animations. But why would you wish to? And probably extra pertinently, why would you wish 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 feel the additional complexity of the switches is perhaps contributing to speedy battery drain…which might clarify why no different keyboard producer presents these switches in a wi-fi board. Having an always-on display screen, even on the lowest illumination, definitely doesn’t assist. At least the wi-fi connection was rock-solid.

Michael Crider/Foundry

I’d be tempted to say that the board may journey nicely as a result of its low weight, however I can’t see myself going for that choice due to 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 is perhaps 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 possibly can manually set their sensitivity from simply 0.1mm all the way down to a full-length 4.0mm press. In layman’s phrases, you possibly can resolve how exhausting you must press the keys to get them to register. That functionality additionally unlocks the potential of binding two separate capabilities to the identical key. So for instance, in a capturing sport you possibly can set it as much as frivolously faucet the Q button to throw a flash-bang grenade, or jab the Q button exhausting 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, but it surely’s additionally seen on the switches themselves, which have purple stems as a substitute of white. That in itself wouldn’t be an enormous drawback (besides probably the arrow cluster), however there’s a secondary limitation. Only eight keys could be certain 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 a particularly small nit to choose. I can’t think about too many individuals will actually dive into the twin actuation operate itself, and even fewer might be postpone by this restriction. But in proscribing our comparability to gaming keyboards with guide actuation switches, we’re already speaking a couple of group of customers on the lookout for a particularly particular function, and presumably desirous to make the most of it to the fullest. Not solely that, they’re paying for the privilege with one of the 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 colour 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 geared up keyboards.

Is the Apex Pro TKL Wireless value it?

At $250, the Apex Pro TKL Wireless is each SteelSeries’ most costly keyboard and tied with Razer for the costliest 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, due to a scarcity 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 decide 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 your entire board, and only a a lot better total construct. There’s additionally the Wooting Two HE, which lacks gaming aptitude and a wrist relaxation, however is way cheaper at simply $195.

Any means you take a look at it, the Apex Pro is a nasty deal. Unless you merely can’t dwell 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 sooner than a field of Oreos at a middle-school sleepover, go for one thing else.