SteelSeries Aeon Pro review: Taking the fight to Razer

The SteelSeries Aeon Pro is aptly named. See, I’ve been waiting for what seems like aeons for the Danish manufacturer to bring out a proper gaming controller for PC and consoles (well, one console anyway). Up until now, SteelSeries’ gamepad offerings have been confined essentially to mobile gaming. The Aeon Pro is where things get serious.

The Aeon Pro features Hall Effect sticks and triggers for longevity and customizability. There are four rear paddles and an OLED display which, among other things, facilitates quick switching between Xbox, PC and Bluetooth. There’s a charging dock and interchangeable batteries with SteelSeries headsets, plus GG app compatibility — as a SteelSeries user already, that makes it a very compelling offer for me.

So, can the Aeon Pro do enough to coax me away from my hitherto ride-or-die, the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro? And should you buy it? Find out in my full SteelSeries Aeon Pro review.

SteelSeries Aeon Pro review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A premium gaming controller from SteelSeries
• Who is it for? Xbox and PC players
• What does it cost? Rather a lot, now you ask: $259 / £229
• What do I like? The triggers, sticks and paddles, the customization, and the battery system
• What don’t I like? The price, the grips and no PS5 variant (although that’s not surprising)

SteelSeries Aeon Pro review: Specs

SteelSeries Aeon Pro review: The ups

The SteelSeries Aeon Pro packs plenty of awesome gaming features, including Hall Effect sticks and triggers, easy multi-platform connectivity, onboard controls and a zero-downtime battery system.

Responsive Hall Effect sticks

Interestingly, SteelSeries has decided to fit the Aeon with Hall Effect sticks. I say “interestingly” because at $259 and with technically unlimited battery life, I kinda expected to see the more accurate (and power hungry) TMR technology, but I’ll get onto that later. The Asus ROG Raikiri II ($189) and Gamesir G7 Pro ($79) both feature TMR sticks, for context.

Nevertheless, the sticks aren’t analog, unlike the ageing Xbox Elite Series 2 ($179, although a lot cheaper these days), which means no stick drift over time, better accuracy and more customization. They’re also fantastic to use, proving responsive and accurate in the FPS games I played — Hell Let Loose and Isonzo.

You can tweak the sensitivity response and deadzones of each stick in the GG app, which I appreciate. I usually use a mouse in FPS games, so I like my sticks super sensitive to replicate the rapid, accurate movement of mice. I say sensitivity “response” as you can only switch between different behaviors including linear (1:1 input to movement), dynamic (moves faster the further out from center you go), and exponential (very slow in the center and fast at the peripheries).

I like dynamic the most for FPS gaming, as I’m a run-and-gun kinda player. However, if you’re a sniper, exponential will be awesome for switching rapidly between fine control in the center when ADS, to faster movements when changing position or responding to a nearby enemy.

Included in the box are replacement sticks. You get one longer and one domed stick if you prefer those for fine control.

Snappy paddles and triggers

The Aeon Pro packs Hall Effect triggers, as well as mechanical hair triggers, just like the Wolverine V3 Pro ($199). In full range mode, they’re completely smooth, but with a decent amount of tension and lots of travel — more so than the Wolverine. I found this gave me slightly more control of and precision with throttling in Forza Horizon 5. You can also set deadzones in GG for each trigger as per your needs, and set custom configs for switching between games (but I’ll cover this later).

Of course, when you need ultra fast action in FPS games, simply flick the switches on the controller’s rear to swap into hair trigger mode, whereby the pad uses mechanical switches with super short travel distance. That means rapid ADS and firing. I really like the feel of the Aeon Pro’s hair trigger switches — I’m a fan of tactile switches in general, and the Aeon’s give a more textured, satisfying and affirmative feel than the linear ones in my Wolverine V3 Pro.

The face buttons are mechanical and have a really nice, clicky feel with no mushiness whatsoever. At the back you’ll find four paddles, also using snappy short-travel mechanical switches. I’m not a huge fan of their placement, but I’ll discuss this more in 'The downs' section below.

Loads of onboard control

SteelSeries loves a USB hub these days, having implemented them on its upper-tier Arctis Nova headsets for a while now. The Aeon Pro features a charging dock with dual USB-C ports at the rear, which means you can be hooked up to your Xbox and PC over 2.4G simultaneously. When you want to switch, it takes a few seconds via the OLED display on the controller itself.

Yes, that does mean you need to have your PC and Xbox in the same place, which undermines the usefulness a little. Your Xbox is probably in your lounge, while your PC probably isn’t. It would’ve been cool to have a secondary 2.4G dongle, keeping one plugged into your PC and one your Xbox.

That OLED display also allows you to customize the controller on the fly — something you can’t do on the Wolverine V3 Pro or Xbox Elite Series 2, although you can on the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra ($200), which also has a screen. On the Aeon Pro, the OLED lets you switch between onboard configs (loaded via GG), plus adjust mapping, haptics and stick circularity. It also gives you a readout of your battery, as well as the battery charging in the dock. And that brings me onto my favorite feature…

Handy battery system

Another thing SteelSeries loves these days is a zero downtime battery system. I’m a huge fan of the Aeon Pro’s, and any existing users of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni ($399), Nova Pro or Nova Elite headsets will be too. That’s because the Aeon Pro uses the same battery as those headsets, meaning you can swap between them.

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While the Aeon and my Nova Pro headset each ship with two batteries, meaning I had four on my desk, I realistically now only need three. One in the controller, one in the headset, and one spare on charge in either the Nova USB hub or the Aeon base station. The controller and headset each consume power at different rates meaning one spare is always enough. It’s just super handy for swapping out when the need arises and means zero downtime.

Now, admittedly there are some downsides to the battery dock — indirectly anyway. The Aeon and Nova use separate USB hubs, so Nova Pro/Elite users will now have two base stations on their desk. At the Aeon pre-launch briefing, another journalist asked SteelSeries whether there’d be a universal docking station at some point soon. The answer was no, as that kind of thing rarely sells well as a standalone product, making it financially unviable for SteelSeries. Shame.

Anyway, while the battery nets around 30 hours in a Nova headset, it’ll achieve around 12 hours in the controller. The whole ‘zero downtime’ thing renders per-battery longevity a moot point at your desk, but it’s nice to know you’ve got a healthy amount of playtime if taking the pad to game at a friend’s house. And you can always pack a spare battery if needed.

Personally, I think the replaceable batteries are a big deal, and they’re what sways me towards using the Aeon Pro as my primary pad. Obviously there’s the fact that I use the Arctis Nova Pro Omni as my main headset, so I now have double the batteries and control everything through GG. But that’s not all: although my Wolverine V3 Pro has better per-battery life (20 hours), its cell is built in and takes a while to charge back fully. I’ve had numerous instances of downtime after it’s run out of charge. With the Aeon Pro, that’s no more.

GG compatibility (obviously)

I deal with a lot of companion software in my job. Some terrible (hey Armoury Crate!); some middling (yo Synapse!); and some really good (hiya GG!). Obviously, GG compatibility is a given with all SteelSeries gear these days, but it’s still a major bonus for all users, whether you’ve got one or many compatible products.

I use several SteelSeries products daily, so I’m always on GG. It’s slick, reliable and (most importantly) useful. You can customize virtually every necessary aspect of the Aeon Pro, and I especially love the configs. The controller can store eight configs onboard so you can switch between them via the OLED screen. I ran custom configs for Isonzo and Hell Let Loose, as I needed the rear paddles to behave differently, and could just flick between the two when changing game.

There are eight presets (which are customizable), but you can replace these with whatever custom configs you like. While eight can be stored onboard, you won’t lose the others, and moving them back onboard is simply a case of dragging and dropping.

SteelSeries Aeon Pro review: The downs

My main beef with the Aeon Pro is its price. I also experienced a few issues with the ergonomics, but mileage will vary. Oh, and while this isn’t surprising or that big of a deal, SteelSeries hasn’t announced any PS5 variant.

Fairly unpalatable price

SteelSeries is no stranger to steep pricing these days, with its Arctis Nova Pro Omni headset costing $399 and its Arctis Nova Elite headset costing a whopping $599. Admittedly, while expensive at $259 / £229, the Aeon Pro isn’t wholly beyond the pale. The Razer Wolverine V3 Pro retails at $199, as does the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra, while the ROG Raikiri II costs $189. At MSRP, then, the Aeon Pro is only $60 pricier than the Wolverine and Stealth Ultra — that’s not a ridiculous delta.

The thing is, for all its pros, I’m still not sure this pad justifies $259. The OLED screen, while handy, is kinda blocky and pixelated. TMR thumbsticks have been foregone in favor of cheaper Hall Effect sensors. And there’s not much you can do in the way of hardware customization either, save swapping the sticks — the Turtle Beach Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded costs $209 and is highly modular, so you can customize the layout to your needs. The Xbox Elite Series 2 also comes with a wide array of spares, and you can remove its back paddles.

Really, the unique selling point of the Aeon Pro is its battery and docking system. And I’m not sure that’s enough to warrant such a premium over rivals.

Ergos a little tiring

I’ll caveat this point by first saying that your mileage will probably vary here. I have large hands, so I didn’t get on too well with the Aeon Pro’s grips. They’re very grippy and covered in a comfortable material, but it’s the shaping I’m not keen on.

My issue is that the grips are quite thin. The large, low-slung paddles forced my middle fingers down more than usual, which meant I had to wrap my pinky more around the grips for support. With the grips being thin, my pinky had to wrap further, putting my hand into a slightly unnatural position that ached a little after a couple of hours. Nothing major, but enough to be annoying.

While stubbier, the grips on my Wolverine V3 Pro are fatter, which puts my pinky in a more comfortable position. The paddles are also much smaller and less invasive on the Razer pad, and you can kinda forget about them. I’d have liked the option to remove the Aeon Pro’s paddles, but no such luck.

No PS5 variant, just FYI

SteelSeries is primarily a PC peripheral manufacturer, so it isn’t surprising that the Aeon Pro is a PC/Xbox exclusive, at least for now. There’s no word on whether that will change for the future.

The brand is no stranger to making PlayStation-compatible gear, having launched PS variants of most of its headsets. The recent Nova Pro Omni headset has all-device compatibility baked into its very ethos, too. So it wouldn’t surprise me if a PS5 Aeon Pro variant came along at some point.

For now, though, nada. So I’d advise checking out the Razer Raiju V3 Pro ($219) or Turtle Beach Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded if you need a PlayStation pad.

SteelSeries Aeon Pro review: Verdict

If price is your main concern, the Aeon Pro might not be it. It’s a fantastic controller, but the Wolverine V3 Pro and Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra are cheaper and offer just as much performance (although the Razer lacks a screen). Heck, you can pick up a Gamesir G7 Pro for like a third of the price and probably have no complaints.

If price isn’t your concern, and especially if you’re an existing SteelSeries headset user, the Aeon Pro is an excellent choice. Being able to integrate the Aeon into my existing gear’s ecosystem is a big win. And remember, the Aeon Pro is no slouch: it offers bags of performance and lots of software customization. Sometimes it’s the quality of life features that decide a choice, so for me, it’s going to be the Aeon Pro.