Verdict
The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 is a brilliant wireless gaming keyboard that’s easily the best SteelSeries has made. It’s immensely sturdy, offers potent power with its new switches and comes with wonderfully clean software. Just watch out for its meagre battery life and high price tag.
Pros
- Seriously powerful switches
- Sturdy frame
- Vibrant RGB lighting
Cons
- Expensive
- Battery life not as strong as the competition
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OmniPoint 3.0 switches:The Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 has SteelSeries’ new switches inside that feature new tech such as Rapid Trigger. -
Dual modes of wireless connectivityIt can also connect using either the 2.4GHz receiver or Bluetooth. -
OLED display:The Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 also comes with a small, customisable display in the top corner.
Introduction
The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 takes every PC gamer’s wishlist for a top-class gaming keyboard and bungs it all into one product.
For starters, there are brand new OmniPoint 3.0 hall-effect switches as well as dual wireless connectivity, an OLED screen, solid build quality, extensive software customisation, and a whole lot more. The £259.99/$269.99 asking price is undoubtedly premium but is up there with other top-class powerhouses such as the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL and Wooting 60HE Plus, so isn’t wholly unreasonable for what’s on offer.
I’ve been testing the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 for the last few weeks to see if it truly is one of the best gaming keyboards we’ve tested.
Design
- Chunky, and sturdy frame
- Functional TKL layout
- Handy extras including an OLED display
The Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 doesn’t look all too different from previous iterations in the lineup, with a mean, all-black plastic casing and metal top plate. It’s a seriously sturdy and chunky board that doesn’t suffer from deck flex and carries a pleasing thud when placed on your desk.
That excellent build quality also extends into the lovely doubleshot PBT keycaps that SteelSeries has employed here. It’s a reflection of the premium price tag that the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 carries with keycaps made of a more durable plastic.
The TKL layout my sample came with is more standard than the other 60 percent option that SteelSeries has offered in the past, although that model lacks the improvements from this 2024 iteration. You can opt for a full-size Gen 3 model, too. It’s a handy middle ground between the two, offering most of the functionality with a function row, arrow keys and nav cluster alongside your normal alphanumeric keys. The only thing missing here is a dedicated number pad.
The top right corner of the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 is home to its signature OLED screen, which has been a staple feature of Apex Pro boards for several years, as well as a helpful button and dial combo. By default, they act as multimedia controls for volume and media playback, although with software, can be customised to control everything from lighting to the actuation point of switches.
SteelSeries also bundles in an excellent wristrest with this ‘board, as they have done with other Apex Pro models. The one here attaches magnetically, and comes with a lovely soft-touch coating on the top, which makes it grippy and comfortable to use.
The underside of the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 is home to dual-stage feet for setting a more comfortable typing angle, while the interface around the back is nice and simple. It comes with a USB-C port for charging or wired operation, and a selector switch for either Bluetooth or 2.4GHz connectivity.
Performance
- Immensely responsive switches
- Rapid Trigger offers instant inputs
- Battery life is disappointing
The big draw of the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 is what’s inside. This is largely because SteelSeries has bundled in their new OmniPoint 3.0 hall-effect switches. These switches add in new hall effect sensors to allow for more precise and consistent keystrokes, as well as adding Rapid Trigger functionality as a headline feature. It has actually been part of SteelSeries’ Apex Pro lineup of boards since mid-2023 as part of a software update, which is excellent.
The fun of Rapid Trigger functionality brings near-instant keypresses and a level of responsiveness that more standard keyswitches can’t compete with.
As opposed to having to wait for a switch to reset before you’re able to register the next input, you can set both the actuation and reset point to be as high as possible (in the case of these switches, that’s 0.1mm), so it takes barely any input for the switch to actuate. In my runs of Counter Strike 2 when setting it to the WASD and weapon select keys, it makes a difference in quick draw scenarios.
In addition, the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 also comes with a controversial feature known as Rapid Tap. This is, in essence, the same as Wooting’s Snappy Tappy or Razer’s Snap Tap. It’s known as SOCD, or Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions, and the tech works in a similar manner across the brands.
It allows for unnaturally quick movement without much effort, such as counter-strafing in Counter Strike 2 when bound to the A and D keys. It means you can activate one key at will while holding the other down for obscenely brisk side-to-side movement.
It’s been banned by Valve in CS2 so will get you a slap on the wrist in multiplayer play, but it seemingly worked in my single-player runs with bots. Even there I was able to prove the power of Rapid Tap without any real knowledge or experience in playing CS2 in a competitive manner. You still need to be accurate with aim and such, but for understanding tactics such as ‘jiggle strafing’, it’s clear how powerful Rapid Tap is. For those on older Apex Pro models, you too can take advantage of this thanks to a recent software update.
Another clever addition here is SteelSeries’ Protection Mode, which is a small but important software addition that protects against accidental keypresses from other keys around other important ones by automatically increasing their actuation point. You can also program two inputs to one key to save any unnecessary finger gymnastics, which is handy.
All of this combines in practice to make the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 an immensely powerful gaming keyboard with virtually instant and responsive keypresses, especially with these being hall effect switches that have such powers. They’re smooth thanks to being pre-lubed, while the acoustics are excellent with SteelSeries’ choice to add lots of sound-dampening features into this new model.
Besides these immensely powerful switches, the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 also comes with convenient dual wireless connectivity, working either by Bluetooth or the bundled 2.4GHz receiver. Using either on my main Windows gaming PC was as easy as usual, with both working via plug-and-play. I also had no qualms using the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 with my MacBook, given the receiver’s USB-C connection.
The only slight disappointment is the battery life of the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3. Over the USB receiver, it can run for up to 37.5 hours, while on Bluetooth, that increases to up to 45. That is with the RGB lighting at its default level, and lowering the brightness level will likely yield increased endurance.
Software and Lighting
- Clean, and powerful software
- Bright and consistent RGB lighting
As with a lot of other SteelSeries peripherals, the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 works with SteelSeries’ easy-to-navigate GG software, containing different windows for programming everything from key binds to actuation points and even the OLED screen. It’s a reasonably clean interface too, and even comes with game-specific presets thanks to SteelSeries’ GG Quickset, which sets everything from actuation points to Rapid Tap and the keyboard’s RGB lighting. In essence, it takes the hassle out of programming your keyboard for a specific game, so you can have the best settings virtually immediately.
Its RGB lighting is nice and bright, and is suitably excellent for one of SteelSeries’ more premium choices. Coverage beneath the PBT keycaps is fantastic, and it can get suitably vibrant. There is also a range of pleasant effects inside SteelSeries’ software, and you can choose which areas of the ‘board light up with convenient drag-and-dropping, which is useful.
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Should you buy it?
You want seriously powerful switches
SteelSeries’ new OmniPoint 3.0 switches add in some potent power with features such as Rapid Trigger and 2-in-1 actuation, making the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 a ‘board with a lot of oomph.
You want better battery life
The only metric where the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 falls down against the competition is with its meagre battery life figures. If top endurance is important to you, you may want to look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
SteelSeries has produced an excellent bit of kit with the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3. It’s easily one of the best options out there for pro-grade players who want an equally capable wireless keyboard with lots of customisation and some of the most powerful switches available.
The fact there’s now Rapid Trigger functionality brings SteelSeries’ latest candidate in line with other choices from the likes of the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL and Wooting 60HE Plus, and helps to justify its higher price tag. In addition, the presence of lubricated switches and lots of internal sound dampening also helps bring the Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 more in line with enthusiast-grade gaming ‘boards such as the Asus ROG Azoth.
The big barrier with this board is its meagre battery life against the competition, and although its price tag may seem high, it’s worth noting how expensive the competition can be. The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 is the best one SteelSeries has made though, and that’s good enough for me. For more options, check out our list of the best gaming keyboards we’ve tested.
How we test
We use every keyboard we test for at least a week. During that time, we’ll check it for ease of use and put it through its paces by playing a variety of different genres, including FPS, strategy and MOBAs.
We also check each keyboard’s software to see how easy it is to customise and set up.
Spent at least a week testing
Tested the performance on a variety of games
Compared the build quality with similar priced keyboards
FAQs
The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 weighs 1.03kg.
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