Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury Review

[section_title title=”Performance”]Performance

As some of you might be noticing by now, I like to go into more detail than most, so as usual for mice  I will split the performance side of things into the three sections which I feel deserve equal and thorough mention.

Ergonomics

So, looking at the pictures we can see the G402 looks similar to the G502 from the front, with a very similar button layout. The palm rest is classic G400/500 etc with its large rounded shape being ideal for those with big hands, so fans of older entries in the Logitech range of mice will feel right at home with the G402 from a grip point of view.

Like the G502, the left and right mouse buttons are more angular and don’t curve downwards to the front of the mouse as much as they did on older designs, some G400/500 owners may not like this change but as someone who used a G500 for four years, I think I speak well for fans of that design and I have to say I really like this shape.

Another point of note is the materials used on the mouse, the main body of the mouse is a simple matte plastic but the two sides are very different. The left hand side has a rubberised coating which is soft to the touch but still grippy, and the right hand side features a similar material but with some grooves in it which seem to help you locate your spare fingers on it nicely. The materials used are something Logitech really agonize over with their ‘Science Wins’ approach and it pays off, all the bits you touch feel spot on.

So in summary, we have a mouse that feels like the classic palm grip Logitech we know and love, but brought up to date with new materials and with a slightly changed design on the left and right mouse buttons. If you are looking for a mouse to fit large hands, it doesn’t really get much better than this ergonomics wise.

Buttons

Moving on to the buttons and in terms of layout the G402 again is grounded in classic Logitech Design. You’ve got the DPI switches on the top left and two thumb buttons. A new addition to what would otherwise resemble a G400 buttons wise is the ‘sniper’ button. This is as we see on many FPS mice nowadays and serves to temporarily lower your DPI for that extra bit of accuracy, I never use these though so its good that Logitech have made it re programmable.

The mouse wheel was a pleasant surprise for me, it looked pretty insignificant on visual inspection and I assumed it was just going to be a very average affair. Happily though it wasn’t disappointing at all, it has a nice soft touch rubberised texture to it that is easy to grip, and it is pretty stiff to scroll which I like as you have to be very deliberate to move it unlike some mice where it can be done far too easily.

Finally in terms of the switches themselves the G402 does not disappoint, the mouse 1/2 switches are OMRON switches and it shows in the nice tactile feel they have and the buttons being separate from the body does give them a nice travel too. I will say that the switches on the G402 don’t feel as nice as the ones on the Mad Catz RAT TE I recently tested (also OMRON) but, the G402 has the Logitech quality feel that the TE simply cant match.

Tracking

According to Logitech the G402 inherits the Fusion Engine technology from the G502, albeit with a downgraded sensor. Now since that’s a rather jargon term I owe you an explanation of what the Fusion refers to, and it is a very innovative approach from Logitech. What the Fusion engine does is monitor the sensor (AM010) and under high acceleration it picks up where the sensor fails using an accelerometer. So essentially, the mouse has a virtually unreachable malfunction speed because the accelerometer can handle more than any human could throw at it. This means that low sensitivity players who move the mouse a lot will never have to worry about maxing out the sensor and getting unstable tracking, which is an awesome innovation from Logitech. 

So how does this all translate into performance? Well, in a word, great. The unflappable sensor married to the classic palm grip body is a real winner. The obvious choice game wise to test any FPS mouse is in CS:GO, where its a case of whoever is the fastest gun usually has the upper hand. Going from the excellent RAT TE to this I didn’t think there was much more a mouse could do to help me be any more than OK at CS:GO, but I did notice a genuine difference switching to the G402. For anyone looking to spend around £50 on a palm grip mouse, who has big hands and plays on a low sensitivity, this really is a great bit of kit.

Obviously being an optical sensor the maximum DPI is ‘only’ 4000, which is no problem for me, and I doubt it will be for many. If you do like to play on silly high laser DPI levels though it is something to bear in mind when considering your purchase, but as I said I’m not marking it down there because anything more than about 4000 is fairly useless in my opinion.

Time to wrap things up with a conclusion…