PC & Console Peripherals

SteelSeries Apex 3 – water-resistant gaming keyboard under test

SteelSeries offers some exciting gaming keyboards, such as the Apex Pro or the Apex 7. However, these are in price ranges that some gamers simply don’t want to invest in their setup. With the Apex 3, however, the manufacturer also offers a gaming keyboard that is considerably cheaper and is thus aimed at budget-oriented gamers.

The SteelSeries Apex 3 offers no mechanical switches and is “only” equipped with a 10-zone RGB illumination. However, it is water-resistant and thus survives even a small accident on the gaming table. For improved ergonomics, it is also equipped with a handball tray. Is that enough to justify the price of € 59.99 *? You’ll find out in our review.

Technical details

Material Polymer housing, ABS plastic keycaps
N-key rollover 24 keys
Anti-Ghosting yes
Lighting RGB lighting with 10 zones
Weight 816 g
Size (HxWxD) 39.69 x 444.7 x 151.62 mm
Switch Rubberdome (20 million keystrokes)
Cable 1.9 m, USB 2.0
Extras media control, macros, palm rest
Price € 59.99 *

Design and workmanship

With dimensions of 39.69 x 444.7 x 151.62 millimeters, the keyboard is average in size for a full-size keyboard. The solid, magnetic palm rest adds another eight centimeters to the keyboard as needed.

The housing of the Apex 3 is made of plastic, no metal elements are used. Nevertheless it does not look cheap. The plastic feels pleasant to the touch and the keyboard isn’t extremely light with 816 grams, so that it still feels high-quality. It also has a secure stand due to the rubberized and adjustable feet on the bottom.

There are also cable ducts at the bottom so that you can route the connection cable away from the keyboard according to your preferences.

The ABS plastic keys are translucent, so that the letters and numbers are illuminated. But the keyboard rather becomes an eye-catcher by the illumination underneath and/or beside the keys, as the complete key surface is lined with a milky plastic that is illuminated. This looks really great, despite the RGB lighting limited to 10 zones.

Features

As already mentioned, SteelSeries does not use mechanical switches for the buttons, but rubber domes. These are much quieter than mechanical switches, but usually not as precise and durable. At least one of the criticism points of rubber dome keyboards can be overcome by SteelSeries: the durability is stated with 20 million keystrokes. This is still significantly lower than mechanical switches, e.g. from Cherry, but more than sufficient. Even hardcore gamers should be able to get by for years.

Switch of the SteelSeries Apex 3

The precision of the Rubberdome keys, on the other hand, is not quite as good. They don’t wobble back and forth, but are well guided, but in my opinion they have a less than optimal stroke path. More about this in the later practical test section.

One of the keyboard’s features is the IP32 water resistance. This should prevent spilled liquids from destroying the electronics inside. This certainly works well, as key guides protrude slightly and above them are the keycaps. So, water will hardly be able to penetrate there. At the bottom of the apex 3 there are also holes through which the liquids can immediately come out again.

But what does IP32 actually mean? The 3 stands for protection against solid foreign objects with a diameter of more than 2.5 millimeters – which is quite large. The 2 stands for protection against falling dripping water when the housing is tilted up to 15 degrees. The protection class isn’t particularly high, but should be more than sufficient for spills.

Media control

In addition to the standard keys, the keyboard is equipped with a media key that has several functions. It can not only start and stop playback, but also fast forward and rewind. The keyboard is also equipped with a volume wheel that can be clicked and then mutes the sound. I especially like the media key, because you don’t have to search for one out of several keys, but can find the right key directly. And you’ll have learned how to use it within a few minutes.

By pressing the SteelSeries button in combination with the keys F9 to F12, you can change profiles, among other things. But macros can also be recorded easily without software.

Of course, the features also include the magnetic wrist-rest and RGB lighting.

Software

SteelSeries’ software, SteelSeries Engine 3, has already impressed us with everyone. Right at the start it offered us a firmware update for the keyboard and executed it.

In the software you can find several functions. Of course, you can reassign the keys and supply them with macros as well as control the RGB lighting of the keyboard. But these are the basics.

It already starts with changing the keyboard layout. But the interaction with other devices and applications is particularly successful. For example, there is a program library that automatically recognizes games to which profiles can then be assigned. So you no longer have to change the profiles manually – the SteelSeries Engine 3 does it automatically.

The lighting can also be synchronized with various games and via Prismsync it is of course also possible to synchronize with other devices. The change of colour on certain CS:GO events? No problem. A rainbow effect that moves across the mouse, keyboard and mouse pad? That also works perfectly. SteelSeries Engine 3 has never let us down.

Practical test

Thus, the resistance when pressing the keys is at first a little stronger, but after 1-2 millimetres it becomes significantly lower, so that one has the feeling that the key is “sucked in”. I don’t find the feeling so pleasant compared to mechanical keyboards. Probably also due to the change from a mechanical keyboard, I found the feeling tiring.

Nevertheless the keyboard executes all commands without delay and I had no problems to write on it without errors.

Unfortunately there is no game mode on the SteelSeries Apex 3, for example to disable the Windows key or the Alt+Tab combination.

Even if I don’t like the typing feel of the keyboard that much, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s just different than I’m used to. The best thing is to try it out before you buy it to get an impression of it for yourself

Sumething

Now the final question: Is the SteelSeries Apex 3 a good or recommendable keyboard? I like the keyboard both visually, as well as the workmanship and the range of features. However, it has to be said that you can also get mechanical keyboards for the price of about 80 Euros – or some with single key RGB illumination. If you are a bit clumsy and often spill something on your keyboard or set a super software as a purchase criterion, you should consider the SteelSeries Apex 3, though.

SteelSeries Apex 3

Workmanship
Features
Ergonomics
Software
Value for money

90/100

A super keyboard, which should be a bit cheaper due to the lack of mechanical switches and single key RGB illumination, in order to be really attractive.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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