Build Quality

Overall build quality is very solid. There is no rattle when shaking the mouse. When applying lateral pressure, minor creaking but no flexing of the shell can be observed. Activating the side buttons by squeezing the sides is impossible. Lastly, accidental clicks when slamming down the mouse do not occur.

Buttons

Main buttons on the Aerox 5 are excellent. Both pre and post-travel are low, resulting in a very firm and snappy click response. Button stiffness is light. Despite being visually separated from the shell, lateral button movement is low and needs to be provoked; i.e., is not noticeable during typical use. A pair of TTC Golden Micro Dustproof (80 M) switches is used.


Side buttons are excellent. First the layout: In the middle are the two traditional forward and back side buttons. Above is a rocker that can be pressed up or down. Lastly, an additional button is placed in front of the thumb position. Both pre and post-travel are minimal on the forward and back side buttons, and the actuation point is mostly even across the entirety of these, resulting in a firm and satisfying button response. The same goes for the rocker, which is surprisingly solid despite being, well, a rocker. That said, actuation is quite stiff, which may result in the whole mouse being lifted up. The front-thumb button is positioned fairly well: It's entirely out of the way, but due to its angled shape still readily in reach if needed. In fact, all side buttons are easily reached, and easily told apart by feel alone due to shape. Several low-profile 2-pin switches are used for the side switches, though I'm unfamiliar with the manufacturer (a stylized "H"). The switch for the sniper button comes from HCNHK (white plunger).

At the top of the mouse is a single button for cycling through the set CPI steps, which works just fine. A switch from HCNHK (white plunger) is used for this one.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is good to very good. Scrolling up in particular is noisy, but tactility is great, with clearly discernible steps and a matching tactile feel while scrolling. The encoder comes from TTC (white) and has a height of 14 mm. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires low to medium force for actuation. A seemingly unbranded elevated tactile switch is used here.

Surface

The Aerox 5 has a rougher matte surface all over. Grip is fine, and it doesn't attract fingerprints, dirt, or the likes too much. It is easy to clean, and there are no signs of wear left after doing so. All in all, excellent materials.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Disassembling the Aerox 5 is very difficult. First, remove the front and rear skates, along with the screws beneath them. Even after removing the screws, just the back and part of the left side can be lifted. The right side panel is fully screwed to the bottom, but the top shell is only clipped into it. The left side panel, on the other hand, is entirely clipped to the bottom shell, but the front part is screwed to the top shell. Accordingly, neither top nor bottom shell can be removed fully. Furthermore, the top shell is clipped in at the front, and releasing those clips without physically destroying some part of the shell is close to impossible as far as I can tell. The plastic isn't exactly thick, either, so I snapped the top shell and bent the front of the bottom shell. I had to destroy the left front clip to get the top shell off even so.

The internal design is fairly simple by comparison. The side buttons sit on their own PCB screwed into the left side panel and connected to the main PCB with a 6-pin connector, with the exception of the sniper button, whose switch sits directly on the PCB. Everything else sits on the main PCB, which is quite thin and fully coated. Four screws in total are used to affix the main PCB to the bottom. Three screws are used to secure the side-button PCB to the side panel, while the other two are used to affix the rocker. The sensor is encased. The MCU is a Holtek HT32F52341, whose datasheet can be found here. Production date for the main PCB is the 47th week of 2021.


As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws.