Customer Reviews

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] The product that I am using is Fantastic. The metal plate with hard plastic keys and a custom small display, to the RGB lights is very good. High quality and custom buttons used for playlists such as Spotify I highly recommend it

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] My son loves the keyboard he just can’t stop playing with it he likes how the keys light up in sequence it’s really cool and nice

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] If you are a gamer and stuck using a traditional boring keyboard, then this gaming keyboard is a massive upgrade. It has fancy sparkly lighting effects, powerful keys switches, and great sensors. The box includes the keyboard and its wrist rest. Attached is the USB cable, which is made solid heavy-duty and rubber-coated. When pressing the keys, it feels smooth and performs great. The OLED smart display screen has a media control on the side. It is cool because you can control your illumination, your profiles, lighting effects, is great for feedback. If you like more changes, there is the option to use the software. It has so many different options you do, as far each key illumination, set up different profiles, and you can even switch your profiles. Also, in the software, you can place a basic screen saver image to be displayed on the OLED Smart Display. The media control next to the display allows for the play, skip or pause of a track. I find amazing this hybrid and mechanical switch that feels exactly mechanical, which is the feeling of tactile and clicky. The key caps are boxed design and aver very stable and not scratchy within the switch. The removable wrist rest has a lovely soft touch, definitely not mushy, gushy, nor anything like that, just a nice soft-touch coating. When it is next to the bottom of the keyboard, it attaches itself with a super-strong magnetizer, and it does a good job keeping it in place and secure. There is an aluminum plate right underneath the key caps. The bottom of the keyboard is plastic, and it includes two pop-out feet to elevate the rear. There is plenty of rubber grips, so surely, the keyboard is not going to budge at all while using it. The attached cable can be routed to three different rear location/exits on the keyboard (left, middle and right side). The build is incredibly solid; no flexing whatsoever when you press on it. You can even try to twist it, and it still will not flex. The keyboard does not have an extra bezel on the top, a sleek design, beautiful curves on the side, and no excess lips on it. Overall, this keyboard lives up to its hype. It is excellent, feels nice, not overly loud, soft touch, and would satisfy most gamers.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] The SteelSeries - Apex 5 Wired Gaming Hybrid Mechanical Blue Switch Keyboard with RGB Back Lighting is a pleasure to use. The aluminum body gives the keyboard a nice heavy weight and sturdy premium feel. I've had no trouble with it moving around the desk while using it, unlike some of the lighter plastic keyboards I've used. The quality construction is consistent in all aspects including the body, keys, switches, underside feet, and the incredible customization software that is available for the keyboard on the Steel Series website. The magnetically detachable wrist rest is quite comfortable and has a satin finish feel to it. It also has a nice weight and quality feel to it. The magenetic bond is good and it even stays connected when I lift the keyboard off the desk. No issues with it moving around or coming detached while typing. It is prone to picking up anything oily on your hands, as I figured out after using some hand lotion, but I was able to wipe it down and remove most of the are where my palm had been resting. It might be pretty hard to keep this looking pristine over time, if that's something that concerns you. The hybrid switches in the keys provides a good amount of bounce and resistance to the keys, which is very nice. Some mechanical keyboards have very little resistance and it feels very strange after working on membrane keyboards for so many years now. I prefer this hybrid feel that gives the mechanical clicking satisfaction but has some of the membrane feel so I'm not accidentally pressing keys when my fingers are resting on them. Where this keyboard really shines in my opinion is the innovative reactive RGB effects that have to be seen to appreciate, and incredible customization software for fine tuning all aspects of the keyboard from key bindings to macro creation and editing to RGB effects. The reactive effects are something I have not seen on any of the other RGB gaming keyboards I've used, and are quite fun to experience and play with. When you press a key, the lights react to each key press, so you end up with a lightshow of colors flowing out from your fingers as you type. It's pretty darn cool! This can also be toned down so that only each key reacts to where it's just adjusting the lighting of an individual key and not creating wave patterns of colors moving across the keyboard. So, whatever you prefer for effects, this keyboard can provide! The macro editor is pretty slick too! They keyboard allows you to record on-the-fly macros by pressing the Steel Series function key and the macro record key for 3 seconds, and then turn off recording with the same combination when finished. This is great, but the real power is when you open the macro editor and see your macro vizualised in a UI editor that lets you adjust everything down to the millisecond for delays, mouse clicks, key presses and it's presented in a visual layout that's really easy to see exactly what is happening. Very impressed with this software. It's very polished, and quite nice for keyboard software I have to say! One thing to note: The keys are quite loud so this is definitely not for a place you need to keey the clicking sounds down :) But, I would say most people wanting a mechanical keyboard are well aware of the clicking sounds and are seeking that out, so just something to be aware of. It's got some click!! :) The keyboard also has a nice little display and control scroll wheel that allows you to cycle through the keyboard settings even when you don't have the software running on your desktop, which is quite nice! You can switch between profiles, adjust the illumination settings, change the lighting timeout, save new profiles. When not in setting edit mode, the scroll wheel and control button allow you to do some multimedia control like pause/play music or video and adjust the volume up or down, mute the sound, skip forward and back. This is a pretty handy feature that not all keyboards have, especially as a convenient scroll wheel setup. There is also an image editor in the Steel Series software that lets you customize the image that displays in the little lcd display window on the keyboard. I thought this was a nice touch. Oh, another very cool thing about this keyboard is the app platform that the software allows for. It's open for people to develop their own apps, so the list of available apps will most definitely be growing over time. Currently there are about 20 apps available. One app lets you turn the keyboard instantly into an RGB spectrum analyzer to the music / sound playing through your PC, another one integrates with Discord and lets you customize effects that happen when events in Discord happen. There is a Minecraft app, DOTA 2, CS GO, MK 11, Neverwinter, and several other games. Will be nice to see more games added to the list. You can also sync your lighting across multiple Steel Series devices using the PRISMSYNC app, and put animated GIF's so the play across the keyboard lighting using the IMAGESYNC app, or create your own! There is an app slot that takes you right to the Techblog site that has all the information for creating your own apps, if that's something you are interested in. The Library section of the Steel Series Engine software scans your game library and then allows you to pick or customize a profile for each game for each Steel Series device you are using. The options are limitless! So, overall I'm quite impressed with this keyboard! It's attention to detail and quality are quite nice, and the price is excellent! I've paid way more for other manufacturers keyboards that offer way less than this keyboard. Excellent job, Steel Series!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] TYPING/GAMING EXPERIENCE: It reminded me a lot of typing on a membrane keyboard but with a tactile bump and clicky sound. The keys seem closer together than other keyboards I’ve tried. I found myself making more mistakes than normal. I usually type around 100 – 130 wpm. I’m not sure if this was due to the switch itself or because I wasn’t allowing the switch to fully reset since I’m used to switches resetting at a different point. It does have 24 key rollover which is good for gaming. Meaning you can press multiple keys (up to 24 of them) and they will still register. For gaming it did a good job. I did not like it nearly as much as my mechanical keyboards as I felt that the problems that I was having with making more mistakes in my typing bled over into my gameplay as well. I didn’t feel like I had the same amount of control as I usually do. I’ve also found that for me personally that I prefer linear key switches when I am gaming because they feel more responsive than clicky/tactile. But it’s the opposite for when I am typing. Where I prefer to have tactile/clicky. Honestly, for the mass majority of people this will do the job just fine. Especially, if you are coming from a membrane switch. If you’re trying to become a Pro Gamer, or are a crazy fast typist, then buy a true mechanical keyboard. You won’t regret it. For everyone else this should be a consideration. KEYBOARD AETHETICS/FEEL: The font itself is very nice. It is not gamer like. It is big and easy to read. One of my favorites that I have seen. However, for certain keys such as the Caps Lock, Shift, Tab, and Enter it just shows an arrow instead of the word which looks cool but could be difficult for first time gamers trying to get used to keyboard controls (see picture). Interestingly the insert, home, page up, page down, and delete key are labeled as macro keys first with their normal function listed below (see picture). The keyboard’s frame is made of aircraft aluminum which obviously feels high quality. Normally you don’t see this at this price range. The keys themselves are your normal ABS plastic which attract finger oil easily. You can easily replace them as the switch itself is the usual. I would worry about the spacing between the keys if you were to replace them with PBT keycaps. On the bottom of the keyboard there is great cable management which you also usually don’t see even on more expensive keyboards. That allows you to either put it to the top left, top middle, or the top right. The cable itself is covered in a malleable plastic which leads to a single USB. There is no USB passthrough. The keyboard legs themselves are huge and solid. The absolute biggest I’ve ever seen which isn’t a complaint. They only go up one level. The small volume rocker is 10/10. It takes a moderate amount of pressure to move, doesn’t wobble at all, and is made of metal with a nice texture. You can press it which produces a nice click. As does the multimedia key. The shift and other long keys have stabilizers. Which makes the pressure feel even no matter where you hit. Last, the magnetic wrist rest feels high quality with a matte rubber feel to it. It attracts oil easily. Doesn’t provide a lot of support. But attaches seamlessly via magnets. Which you usually only get on more expensive keyboards. SOFTWARE: When I first downloaded the software, I was met with an immediate firmware update. It was simple to install. The software itself is very basic and easy to figure out and learn. It works, and it works well. You can upload your own custom stuff to the OLED which is actually awesome. Such as your gamertag or name. It’s a small thing but makes this product so much more personable than any other keyboard out there. SteelSeries is the only company that I know of that has OLED displays no their keyboards. As for the RGB lighting. For this price point it is excellent as it competes with keyboards that are a lot more expensive. But is not equal to more expensive keyboards. But you really aren’t missing out on anything unless you are over the top about your lighting. Most keyboards at this price range will either not be backlit, be a single color, or a handful of colors. With this one you can adjust all the keys individually (except for the multimedia key) between 16.7 million colors and they also have some effects you can choose from. Such as base effect, reactive layer, AFK effect, and lock key color. The colors themselves are quite accurate which a lot of keyboards struggle with. Even white. The keys are not completely balanced when lit. Especially, the num pad as they are left of center. The LED has a thick piece of plastic right through the middle of the light which is what I think is taking a lot of that brightness away. If you press the SteelSeries key it will change the F9 – F12 to red. Which are used for switching profile, on the fly macro, and brightness down and up. They keyboard itself also has no LED other than the key. Which means when Caps or Num Lock are on it will change they key LED color to notify you if it is on or not. CONCLUSION: This keyboard for its price is fantastic. You can find other keyboards around this same price, but they won’t give you all the features this one does. You have hybrid mechanical keys, full RGB lighting, can create different profiles, can create on the fly macros, and can fully adjust what each key does on the keyboard which is then saved to onboard memory. It also comes with a wrist rest and is made of aluminum which means it isn’t going to break easily. If you need a new keyboard this should be among the considerations. HYBRID BLUE MECHANICAL GAMING SWITCHES: *This is a high-level overview. This combines two common key switches: 1. Membrane Switch. Which is soft, squishy, long travel time, and quiet. Cheap to make, wears out faster, not as accurate. 2. Blue Switch. Which has a tactile bump felt when typing, with an audible “click” per press, shorter travel time, and loud. More expensive, lasts longer, more accurate. 3. This leads to a hybrid mix. Leading to a key that takes a. 50 grams of actuation force, b. with a total travel of 4 mm, c. actuation point of 2 mm, d. with a lifespan of 20 million keypresses. 4. A normal Cherry MX Blue switch is clickly/tactile, a. requires 60 grams of actuation force, b. with total travel of 4 mm, c. actuation point of 2 mm, d. and lifespan of 50 million keypresses. 5. So, enough of the fancy talk. What does that mean? That you are getting a switch that feels almost exactly like a Blue Switch but just doesn’t last as long and isn’t quite as accurate, but you are saving money doing it.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] The SteelSeries Apex 5 is an absolute joy to use as a gaming keyboard. While I have always been a big fan of mechanical keyboards, I do tend to get a little tired of the impact feel of these keyboards. Since the Apex 5 is a "Hybrid" keyboard, with a mix of mechanical switches and a membrane, this has a satisfying feel. The keyboard has a solid feel with the Aluminum alloy body. I especially like the comfortable wrist rest bar that magnetically attaches to the keyboard. Aside from gaming, I find that Apex 5 also works well as a "work" keyboard for writing and programming. I love the spacing of the keys and the footprint of the keyboard itself. I like using the adjustable legs for putting the keyboard at an angle, and I didn't notice any movement of the keyboard on my desk during use. I am especially impressed with the built-in LED screen in the keyboard and the scroll wheel. The display can be customized with game info and incoming Discord messages, which is very handy during intense gaming. What makes all of this work well is the SteelSeries Engine 3 software. The program provides the ability to customize the colors of the keys, custom macros, and control of the LED display. If you want a nice mix of gaming and working keyboard, this is a perfect match. If you're expecting the same experience of a full mechanical keyboard, you're going to be a little disappointed. For me, I like the hybrid feel. With the extra features of the software, the LED display, the scroll wheel, and the solid feel - this is a pretty fantastic keyboard for a very reasonable price.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I’ve been really enjoying this SteelSeries Gaming Keyboard. The light effects are stunning and add a great ambience to my set up, and the built-in wrist support makes long gaming and typing sessions much more comfortable. The keys are noticeably more spread apart than a typical keyboard, which was tricky to adjust to at first, but I’ve grown to like the layout overtime. One thing worth mentioning is that the keys are very loud when typing so it’s something to consider if you share a space with others. Overall, it’s a stylish comfortable keyboard that’s one me over despite the small learning curve. 

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] One of the NICEST keyboards I’ve ever used! The magnetic wrist pad is super comfortable! The key clicks remind me of an old type writer and I love it! So so happy with the key board I bought a 2nd one for my work computer! Its value is right at the perfect balance not too expensive and definitely not cheaply made!

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I knew SteelSeries products were good, but did not expect the Apex 5 keyboard to be THIS great. My husband commandeered this heavy, high quality keyboard almost immediately. Before long the colors were going and there was a “customized” logo on the display. The Apex 5 is very well made and I expect it will last a long time. The keys are so satisfying to type on. This reminds me so much of the keyboards I’ve missed for so long - the old school ones we USED to type on. One drawback is the board does not have a USB pass through. Otherwise, I highly recommend the Apex 5 keyboard.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] He love it he use it he share it with his brother loves the light on the keyboard