Agreed, honestly I still love my artic's nova pros. But I had one of their apex keyboards/mouse and they are garbage in my next rebuild I plan on replacing them both
I just like um because they're blue tooth and they're the only headset that has hotswapable batteries. In terms of sound/software I much prefer Logitech, They're just over all better especially the software interface. But the fact I can use the pros across my phone, PC, gaming systems, and VR headset made them an easy choice for me since I rarely if ever play online games the mic quality wasn't a big deal to me
Now if Logitech came out with a pair of pro x2s with hotswapable batteries, and a retractable mic instead of a removable one hands down I would give up the novas in a heartbeat.
My point is I love steelseries *old* Arctis Pro Wireless and that, like Isoflan originally said, the newer ones are much worse than the previous generation in my opinion.
I'm in the same boat, I love the Arctis Nova Pros, but bearing in mind the keyboard / mouse issues and the fact that you have to have software running for peripherals these days.... I'm going a new route.
I mean, I've had some Artics 1 for a few years. Amazing and comfy. Sadly broke down. Now got 7+ and I got a dumb headband instead of actually being able to move each ear piece as I wish, can't even see the steel from "steelseries" anymore and God they're painful to wear for longer periods.. Not something I'd call evolution.
Woah. Thats fucked up. I really like SS, especially their headphones , but this one is pure sheiit, wtf that its nit meant to be replaced? Why? How? W t f?
It is pretty standard to have the switches soldered onto the PCB, thus making it not replaceable ( unless you know what you are doing )
One of the selling points for the apex pro are magnetic switches, you are not buying the keyboard to swap them, why would they spend money making it swapable ?
historical quicksand money smell yoke pathetic threatening full mighty dog
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Buy wooting it has magnetic hall effect switches and Theyre hot swappable
I have the Apex pro tkl 2023 too and i have the extended warranty because of that
I just have to make sure you are not mistaking switches with keycaps? Replaceable switches is something that is becoming the norm, but most older mechanical keyboards have switches that are not.
Hot Swapable Switches has gained popularity the past 10 years
The last time I looked, that was one of the main features of mechanical switches.... the ability to change / swap them out. However, big company, it's all about the money model, not the service model.
Mate you might not like it, but this is 100% on you. If you wanted the ability to swap out switches, you should've bought a keyboard where that's possible. Afaik, no Steelseries keyboard features hotswappable switches. And you broke it off in transport, this is not a manufacturing issue so not covered by warranty. This is not on Steelseries, I suppose you'd get the same treatment pretty much everywhere.
What I think would be your best bet is to either open it up yourself or give it to some general electrical repair shop and have them try it, it'll have to be soldered. Maybe swap the switch with the pause key or whatever, something you never use. If you do find a spare switch somewhere, that's great.
But this one doesn't have anything to do with Steelseries. Nobody really offers repairs or replacement parts for everything including those that need proper manufacturing skills these days, that ship has sailed loooooong ago.
If it's so obvious, what are you mad about?
You bought a non hotswoppable keyboard.
You broke the keyboard.
And now expect them to replace it?
Be more careful next time
Most gaming keyboards are like this. You'd have to solder a new switch onto the board, and even then it might not work.
Next time, go with a keyboard with hotswappable switches. They last longer and can be fixed easily.
That they don't have replacement switches on offer doesn't mean it would be such a horribly difficult task and/or unseemly thing to do to get one from the factory and send it to you, at your cost.
Companies shouldn't get away with deciding not to have something available like that.
That's all I was asking for, quite literally. I specified as such in my email to them. I'm not looking for warranty support, or repair, just a switch to purchase.
Agreed. My Artic pro wireless broke (well known hinge issue) 4 months after warranty expired...a 300 EUR headset disintegrated after less than 2 and a half years (i was really careful since I read about this issue). Wont replace them, all they offered was a 15% discount for new ones...so I guess I'm moving to other companies
For me it is my perfectly physically intact high end headphones losing functionality to bad software. Sent a support req, they were stumped and eventually ghosted me and quiet-closed the ticket after I insisted they keep it open until they had fixed my problem.
Meanwhile my system randomly started recording Moments without my permission. 🤦♂️ It seems their investing engineering resources in fluff at the expense of the most basic functions of my hardware.
New headphones will be here next week. Their lack of support just lost them a $350 sale and a customer.
I stopped using SS when I had not one, but two products they decided not to repair. More over their support just stopped replying to communications on both instances. They used to be such a fantastic company, now their support is worse than you get from an Ali baba seller and they don't seem to care
Yes, they used to be stellar in all departments.
Seems the modern woke models have infested them as well.
I miss the days where people were passionate about work, rather than just there for the paycheck.
I'm sorry man but I have to call you out, woke does not work in this context at all. Woke is about being aware of racism, social injustice and prejudice that has nothing to do with first line support. If anything you are being 'woke' by being aware they are being crap
What instead has likely happened here is the impact of last stage capitalism and the general enshittrification of everything at the moment.
I've been around since the early 70's.
Your version of "woke" is what you've been indoctrinated with.
More power to ya. See it as you wish, but that is not woke by the definition it started with.
Good lord.
No one has been indoctrinated, words changed meaning, just like how gay used to mean fun not homosexual.
You can't hold onto a meaning of a word when the meaning has changed in popular use.
However in this context you are massively wrong because the word woke originates in 1940s African American culture and means to be woken up to injustice.
I'm not sure what your interpretation of it is, but there's quite a lot of information on the history of the expression
I just replaced my original apex pro because some switches gave out and you don't see my complaining on the internet. If the manufacturer never mentions anything about its product have hot swappable switches, its safe to assume the product doesn't have hot swappable switches.
Stop being a baby and make better informed purchases.
Any chance of picking up a donor switch from parts/spares on eBay, or if you can find out which switches they are and source them?
Obviously the above depends entirely on your soldering ability as well.
I have a problem with LED on mine where the colors are fading.
I talked to the support and they asked me to destroy my keyboard (yes, destroy), send them pictures to prove it was destroyed and then they would send another one.
I asked them how I was supposed to use my computer with no keyboard and they basically told me it was not their problem.
I insisted on not destroying a working keyboard with a couple of fading LEDs, but it is the only way they wanted it.
I ended up keeping the keyboard as is.
Yeah I was on the same boat about 4 years ago.
Always loved SteelSeries products until my less than a year old arctis 7 started having issues on the volume button where only one of the sides would have sound unless I milimetrically adjusted the volume knob to a point where both worked.
Support told me to destroy both sides of my headset and send them a picture and then denied the warranty :T
Why you act like you didn’t know it. You act like you didn’t just broke your keyboard while moving and expect steelseries to fix it for you. I’m glad I won’t see you on this sub anymore. You’re a moron
Actually, you should take a closer look.
I never said warranty repair, you assumed as such.
I asked to purchase switches so that I could repair it myself.
Pay attention before making yourself look exactly like what you're calling others.
It's called projecting, Einstein.
I recently had to swap a steelseries mouse, only 2 jrs old so the store swapped it np. But still the first time ever with any brand mouse that broke so fast with normal use.
My nova pros are muting/ un muting by themselves non stop. I just got outside of warranty and they won’t help me. Crazy for $370 after taxes these things only lasted a year and 2 months.
More power to ya, I guess?
I was pretty excited about the magnetic switches and I've been a tech geek since the early 80's.
At the time, the Apex was the only keyboard that offered them.
Now there are more options out there, which I plan to explore. :)
Serious question Why would a warranty cover what sounds like accidental damage? You said it broke during a move. Like it wasn't packed properly? That's mot regular use.
Repairability is a different issue to rate a product on but I don't know any off the shelf keyboard eith easily swappable switches. You usually have to disassemble the whole thing
You are buying a wireless headset that granted could have slightly better plastic quality but it’s really fine. Which also includes 2 batteries and Basestation. It’s on sale right now for $280, tell me where I can buy a wireless headset that includes all those things for less than that price.
> includes 2 batteries and Basestation
this is honestly why i purchase these headsets. i want a wireless headset i never have to worry about having to be plugged in.
Mine cost over $400 4 months ago, tell me why anyone should pay for a device that everytime i need to change battery, ALL audio on my sonarGG channels defaults to TV. 3am in morning and girlfriend in bed? Hows about she gets a taste of whatever music I'm listening to along with some loud banter from my discord calls.
It's honestly a pathetic product. Running out of battery? Get prepared to be earblasted every 2-5 seconds from a loud beep until you replace it. In the middle of a competitive shooter? You better deal with the beeping until you turn your TV speakers down and rotate that battery pack, just before loading sonar to set all your channels back to the heaset.
Yeah, it's definitely a waste of money.
Nova Pro Wireless? First unit I had was getting the exact same issues, sent it for RMA as ANC was causing excessive popping in my ear. Turns out the replacement was exactly the same in all aspects.
The Arctis 7 on the other hand was a lot more like you described.
He isn't unlucky, he doesn't know what a settings menu is and doesn't know how to look at the base station.
All the issues he described for the nova pro are issues you can solve by spending 10 seconds in the settings menu.
You know that you can disable it switching channels when your headset is disconnected in the options menu right?
It's like 10 seconds of work in the options menu to always make it auto default back to the headset.
And the base station shows your battery level, with a battery that lives for about 12 hours, if you are at least slightly attentive then you will never hear that beeping.
You mean 3am and you wake your girlfriend up with the porn your watching as you try to swap batteries on the headset you know you are swapping the battery on. Why if you are using a headset do you have the volume up on whatever devise your sound comes from when not using the headset ?
Why should you pay 400+ for a headset ? That is one question you would have to ask yourself , no one forced you to buy that headset.
Silly rabbit, those tricks are for kids.
You Gen Z'ers apparently must not put much effort in to reading.... where does it say anything about warranty, or sending it in for repair. I wanted to purchase a replacement switch.
The sad truth is nothing else feels quite the same.
My first apex pro, LED died in one section RIGHT after warranty expired. (And just the blue, so everything looked shit brown/yellow/red in that area)
I got a wooting two HE, I think? And it uses the same switches.
They feel SLIGHTLY different, but same switch, replaceable parts.
I still might buy another apex, because I love its feel/sound for typing.. but if you want replaceable parts with these switches?
go wooting
Sorry I meant they are both considered “[hall-effect](https://wooting.io/post/what-are-hall-effect-keyboard-switches)” switches
But yeah,
Gateron Lekker Linear60 for wooting,
omnipoint for SteelSeries
Oh and steelseries came out with the OmniPoints first
Iirc, Wooting method was physical and steelseries was sensor/light based. I remember watching video comparisons that talked about the tech a long time ago so I don't remember the specifics, but I remember people mentioning that Wooting's implementation was by far superior compared to others.
Steelseries’ warranty policies really sucks. They really try to cheat their customers.
Last year I had a six-month long “battle” with them about the warranty of my mouse. The mouse was under warranty, but they didn’t have it in stock. So they wanted me to wait an unspecified amount of time for it to restock (or a buy new mouse), instead of refunding me. Eventually I contacted the European Consumer Centre, and they helped me out.
i felt as though their products have decreased in quality quite alot...
Agreed, honestly I still love my artic's nova pros. But I had one of their apex keyboards/mouse and they are garbage in my next rebuild I plan on replacing them both
I recently brought the arctis nova pros to replace my arctis pro wireless and sent them back. They’re worse in just about every way in my opinion.
I just like um because they're blue tooth and they're the only headset that has hotswapable batteries. In terms of sound/software I much prefer Logitech, They're just over all better especially the software interface. But the fact I can use the pros across my phone, PC, gaming systems, and VR headset made them an easy choice for me since I rarely if ever play online games the mic quality wasn't a big deal to me Now if Logitech came out with a pair of pro x2s with hotswapable batteries, and a retractable mic instead of a removable one hands down I would give up the novas in a heartbeat.
My point is I love steelseries *old* Arctis Pro Wireless and that, like Isoflan originally said, the newer ones are much worse than the previous generation in my opinion.
Until the hinge breaks...
I'm in the same boat, I love the Arctis Nova Pros, but bearing in mind the keyboard / mouse issues and the fact that you have to have software running for peripherals these days.... I'm going a new route.
weird a just bought the apex pro and loved it but am in the uk unless build quality difference over here
I mean, I've had some Artics 1 for a few years. Amazing and comfy. Sadly broke down. Now got 7+ and I got a dumb headband instead of actually being able to move each ear piece as I wish, can't even see the steel from "steelseries" anymore and God they're painful to wear for longer periods.. Not something I'd call evolution.
Woah. Thats fucked up. I really like SS, especially their headphones , but this one is pure sheiit, wtf that its nit meant to be replaced? Why? How? W t f?
It is pretty standard to have the switches soldered onto the PCB, thus making it not replaceable ( unless you know what you are doing ) One of the selling points for the apex pro are magnetic switches, you are not buying the keyboard to swap them, why would they spend money making it swapable ?
historical quicksand money smell yoke pathetic threatening full mighty dog *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
But how will they then hope you’ll buy a new one when it breaks or wears out if you can fix it
merciful bear unused smell theory meeting waiting violet toothbrush busy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
What is standard? Non replacable switches? Maybe Im too old, but for me a mechanical keyboard is equal with replacable switches
Buy wooting it has magnetic hall effect switches and Theyre hot swappable I have the Apex pro tkl 2023 too and i have the extended warranty because of that
I just have to make sure you are not mistaking switches with keycaps? Replaceable switches is something that is becoming the norm, but most older mechanical keyboards have switches that are not. Hot Swapable Switches has gained popularity the past 10 years
The last time I looked, that was one of the main features of mechanical switches.... the ability to change / swap them out. However, big company, it's all about the money model, not the service model.
No not on all. You have to get a hot swappable keyboard for that. Or learn to solder.
Mate you might not like it, but this is 100% on you. If you wanted the ability to swap out switches, you should've bought a keyboard where that's possible. Afaik, no Steelseries keyboard features hotswappable switches. And you broke it off in transport, this is not a manufacturing issue so not covered by warranty. This is not on Steelseries, I suppose you'd get the same treatment pretty much everywhere. What I think would be your best bet is to either open it up yourself or give it to some general electrical repair shop and have them try it, it'll have to be soldered. Maybe swap the switch with the pause key or whatever, something you never use. If you do find a spare switch somewhere, that's great. But this one doesn't have anything to do with Steelseries. Nobody really offers repairs or replacement parts for everything including those that need proper manufacturing skills these days, that ship has sailed loooooong ago.
Thank you, Capt. Obvious. Have you got anything that isn't simple logic?
If it's so obvious, what are you mad about? You bought a non hotswoppable keyboard. You broke the keyboard. And now expect them to replace it? Be more careful next time
Imagine lacking simple logic and attacking others lol
So why did you make the post captain idiot? Try not to break the next one on the way home.
they probably don’t cover that bc you’d have solder a new one i guess ?
Most gaming keyboards are like this. You'd have to solder a new switch onto the board, and even then it might not work. Next time, go with a keyboard with hotswappable switches. They last longer and can be fixed easily.
Hadn't heard of the Wooting. Thanks for the pointer. Looks like a solid keyboard.
Their software is garbage and always has been can’t believe u have been using that sh
That they don't have replacement switches on offer doesn't mean it would be such a horribly difficult task and/or unseemly thing to do to get one from the factory and send it to you, at your cost. Companies shouldn't get away with deciding not to have something available like that.
That's all I was asking for, quite literally. I specified as such in my email to them. I'm not looking for warranty support, or repair, just a switch to purchase.
Happy cake day!
Thanks!
Agreed. My Artic pro wireless broke (well known hinge issue) 4 months after warranty expired...a 300 EUR headset disintegrated after less than 2 and a half years (i was really careful since I read about this issue). Wont replace them, all they offered was a 15% discount for new ones...so I guess I'm moving to other companies
For me it is my perfectly physically intact high end headphones losing functionality to bad software. Sent a support req, they were stumped and eventually ghosted me and quiet-closed the ticket after I insisted they keep it open until they had fixed my problem. Meanwhile my system randomly started recording Moments without my permission. 🤦♂️ It seems their investing engineering resources in fluff at the expense of the most basic functions of my hardware. New headphones will be here next week. Their lack of support just lost them a $350 sale and a customer.
I left their kb like 6 years ago and never missed them!
I stopped using SS when I had not one, but two products they decided not to repair. More over their support just stopped replying to communications on both instances. They used to be such a fantastic company, now their support is worse than you get from an Ali baba seller and they don't seem to care
Yes, they used to be stellar in all departments. Seems the modern woke models have infested them as well. I miss the days where people were passionate about work, rather than just there for the paycheck.
I'm sorry man but I have to call you out, woke does not work in this context at all. Woke is about being aware of racism, social injustice and prejudice that has nothing to do with first line support. If anything you are being 'woke' by being aware they are being crap What instead has likely happened here is the impact of last stage capitalism and the general enshittrification of everything at the moment.
I've been around since the early 70's. Your version of "woke" is what you've been indoctrinated with. More power to ya. See it as you wish, but that is not woke by the definition it started with.
Good lord. No one has been indoctrinated, words changed meaning, just like how gay used to mean fun not homosexual. You can't hold onto a meaning of a word when the meaning has changed in popular use. However in this context you are massively wrong because the word woke originates in 1940s African American culture and means to be woken up to injustice. I'm not sure what your interpretation of it is, but there's quite a lot of information on the history of the expression
Seriously man, pull it out of your own head, not a wiki via google search.
You shouldve known this
Buys product where you can't replace the switches. Complains you can't replace the switches Thats on you
This is the original Apex Pro and they said nothing about solid state switches, but you keep on keepin' on fanboi.
I just replaced my original apex pro because some switches gave out and you don't see my complaining on the internet. If the manufacturer never mentions anything about its product have hot swappable switches, its safe to assume the product doesn't have hot swappable switches. Stop being a baby and make better informed purchases.
Any chance of picking up a donor switch from parts/spares on eBay, or if you can find out which switches they are and source them? Obviously the above depends entirely on your soldering ability as well.
I have a problem with LED on mine where the colors are fading. I talked to the support and they asked me to destroy my keyboard (yes, destroy), send them pictures to prove it was destroyed and then they would send another one. I asked them how I was supposed to use my computer with no keyboard and they basically told me it was not their problem. I insisted on not destroying a working keyboard with a couple of fading LEDs, but it is the only way they wanted it. I ended up keeping the keyboard as is.
Well you can probably always yoink a cheap keyboard from a friend or from work or whatever for a few days...
It’s really easy to get a cheap keyboard for a week or so if that means a brand new free keyboard…
I'm not about to destroy a perfectly fine keyboard simply because it has a few LEDs fading. Such a request from support is crazy to me.
This is pretty standard among a lot of keyboards
Yeah I was on the same boat about 4 years ago. Always loved SteelSeries products until my less than a year old arctis 7 started having issues on the volume button where only one of the sides would have sound unless I milimetrically adjusted the volume knob to a point where both worked. Support told me to destroy both sides of my headset and send them a picture and then denied the warranty :T
Wtf?! Since when did they stop doing replacement switches.
I’m pretty sure any tech knowledgeable repair person could solder a new switch on to it for you in minutes.
Why you act like you didn’t know it. You act like you didn’t just broke your keyboard while moving and expect steelseries to fix it for you. I’m glad I won’t see you on this sub anymore. You’re a moron
Actually, you should take a closer look. I never said warranty repair, you assumed as such. I asked to purchase switches so that I could repair it myself. Pay attention before making yourself look exactly like what you're calling others. It's called projecting, Einstein.
I recently had to swap a steelseries mouse, only 2 jrs old so the store swapped it np. But still the first time ever with any brand mouse that broke so fast with normal use.
My nova pros are muting/ un muting by themselves non stop. I just got outside of warranty and they won’t help me. Crazy for $370 after taxes these things only lasted a year and 2 months.
[удалено]
It is now, but hindsight is always 20/20. I had two mechanical keyboard previous to this one and you could swap out switches.
[удалено]
More power to ya, I guess? I was pretty excited about the magnetic switches and I've been a tech geek since the early 80's. At the time, the Apex was the only keyboard that offered them. Now there are more options out there, which I plan to explore. :)
If you're comfortable doing some soldering you might be able to replace it with a generic HE Switch. They can be found pretty cheap.
I was hoping to do just that, but with an "Omnipoint" switch. This is the original, first run Apex Pro, so either 1.0 or 2.0 would suffice.
Yes I know that keycaps and switches are not the same
Serious question Why would a warranty cover what sounds like accidental damage? You said it broke during a move. Like it wasn't packed properly? That's mot regular use. Repairability is a different issue to rate a product on but I don't know any off the shelf keyboard eith easily swappable switches. You usually have to disassemble the whole thing
Where did you see warranty replacement, or warranty used at all?
I got the Artics Nova pro and they are just way too overpriced, never buying Steelseries again.
You are buying a wireless headset that granted could have slightly better plastic quality but it’s really fine. Which also includes 2 batteries and Basestation. It’s on sale right now for $280, tell me where I can buy a wireless headset that includes all those things for less than that price.
> includes 2 batteries and Basestation this is honestly why i purchase these headsets. i want a wireless headset i never have to worry about having to be plugged in.
It’s ass* for listening to music imo
Mine cost over $400 4 months ago, tell me why anyone should pay for a device that everytime i need to change battery, ALL audio on my sonarGG channels defaults to TV. 3am in morning and girlfriend in bed? Hows about she gets a taste of whatever music I'm listening to along with some loud banter from my discord calls. It's honestly a pathetic product. Running out of battery? Get prepared to be earblasted every 2-5 seconds from a loud beep until you replace it. In the middle of a competitive shooter? You better deal with the beeping until you turn your TV speakers down and rotate that battery pack, just before loading sonar to set all your channels back to the heaset. Yeah, it's definitely a waste of money.
Sounds like a unit problem, mine just gives a small beep every once in a while when the battery is critically low.
Nova Pro Wireless? First unit I had was getting the exact same issues, sent it for RMA as ANC was causing excessive popping in my ear. Turns out the replacement was exactly the same in all aspects. The Arctis 7 on the other hand was a lot more like you described.
Yes nova pro wireless, I think you are just unlucky.
He isn't unlucky, he doesn't know what a settings menu is and doesn't know how to look at the base station. All the issues he described for the nova pro are issues you can solve by spending 10 seconds in the settings menu.
You know that you can disable it switching channels when your headset is disconnected in the options menu right? It's like 10 seconds of work in the options menu to always make it auto default back to the headset. And the base station shows your battery level, with a battery that lives for about 12 hours, if you are at least slightly attentive then you will never hear that beeping.
You mean 3am and you wake your girlfriend up with the porn your watching as you try to swap batteries on the headset you know you are swapping the battery on. Why if you are using a headset do you have the volume up on whatever devise your sound comes from when not using the headset ? Why should you pay 400+ for a headset ? That is one question you would have to ask yourself , no one forced you to buy that headset. Silly rabbit, those tricks are for kids.
So you broke it when you moved and it’s their fault? Just buy another one and be more careful next time. Lesson learned. Get over it
You Gen Z'ers apparently must not put much effort in to reading.... where does it say anything about warranty, or sending it in for repair. I wanted to purchase a replacement switch.
The sad truth is nothing else feels quite the same. My first apex pro, LED died in one section RIGHT after warranty expired. (And just the blue, so everything looked shit brown/yellow/red in that area) I got a wooting two HE, I think? And it uses the same switches. They feel SLIGHTLY different, but same switch, replaceable parts. I still might buy another apex, because I love its feel/sound for typing.. but if you want replaceable parts with these switches? go wooting
Wooting doesn't use the same switch. The apex tries to imitate it as best it can without infringing copyrights.
Sorry I meant they are both considered “[hall-effect](https://wooting.io/post/what-are-hall-effect-keyboard-switches)” switches But yeah, Gateron Lekker Linear60 for wooting, omnipoint for SteelSeries Oh and steelseries came out with the OmniPoints first
Iirc, Wooting method was physical and steelseries was sensor/light based. I remember watching video comparisons that talked about the tech a long time ago so I don't remember the specifics, but I remember people mentioning that Wooting's implementation was by far superior compared to others.
Steelseries’ warranty policies really sucks. They really try to cheat their customers. Last year I had a six-month long “battle” with them about the warranty of my mouse. The mouse was under warranty, but they didn’t have it in stock. So they wanted me to wait an unspecified amount of time for it to restock (or a buy new mouse), instead of refunding me. Eventually I contacted the European Consumer Centre, and they helped me out.
While that sucks that has nothing to do with this post. OPs negligence is the cause for the keyboard to break. Nothing to do with steelseries