TestTry

SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless

mB -

SteelSeries introduced a new headset. It is said it is the best one at this moment on the scene. Is it? I was thinking a lot about this headset and I had to put it into my Bad By Design series. Why? You should go on to see what flaws and compromises engineers introduced. Could this be the best headset ever? Yes, it could but failures during the design process and UX testing terminated its chances.

CONS

  1. Plastic cracking sound - at this price range? Really? Whyyyyy...
  2. Battery short life - yes you got another one... meh. Wireless headphones will be usable when a battery lasts 50 hrs or more. 10 hrs is not enough.
  3. Volume wheel - who could design the wheel here? Every time I put the headset on or off I rotate the wheel with my thumb. How this position could survive any testing??!
  4. All reviews say no sweating. Well because the headphones hold pretty firmly on the head then there is sweating. These headphones are closed so there is no chance of any ventilation.
  5. Turning headphones on takes 5 s holding button. Really?! Why it cannot be switched immediately? The button is small and you have to press it with strong force. No chance you can switch it on or off by accident. It´s like someone confused several things - the volume wheel and ON/OFF button. Turning on/off should be made by accelerometer. When you put it on head it should switch on by itself. If you put it off it should switch off.
  6. There should be a capacitor to bridge 10 s needed to replace the battery.

PROS

  1. No cable. Hurray. Anyway I am not sure the price is worth it.

Update after 10 months of usage

  1. Cracking sound - the build quality is horrible. The hinges make a lot of cracking sound.
  2. Battery poor performance - it´s quite annoying when headset beeps and you have to change the battery. Then you have to switch it on. If the battery lasts 72 hours or longer then the headset would be great. Standard usage is up to 6 or 8 hours. That´s pretty weak. Changing the battery during the game... noooo, I am dead.
  3. Switching the headset on takes 5s to push the button. Why so looooong?! It´s stupid. Why we cannot just switch it on? I cannot imagine the situation when I would switch the button on by mistake. The button has nice feeling so I do not understand this wrong UX.