Logitech G500s Review

Manufacturer: Logitech
Model: G500s
Website: http://gaming.logitech.com/en-gb/product/g500s-laser-gaming-mousePrice: £59.99 @ Overclockers UK
Logitech are one of the largest peripheral and computer accessory manufacturers and sellers in the world. They have been providing quality products in all price brackets for as long as I can remember and are certainly one of the first manufacturers that come to mind.

For review I have the G700s’ younger brother the G500s. As a wired only mouse it comes with a few more features which the G700 does not, including weight adjustment. With a different shape and a few cut out features how will the G500s compare to its big brother?

Specification

Closer Look

Looking at the box it comes with a blue and black design with a particularly nice image on the front with the mouse split in two showing one half normal and the other in a blue almost x-ray style showing the internals of the mouse.

On various sides the box comes with various descriptions and specifications in all of the major European languages. The overall information on the box is certainly enough to make a relatively informed decision on what you’re buying.

On the front of the box is a door, after opening it you’re presented with the ability to test the mouse for feel and shape. This feature isn’t present on all models but I feel that it should be on every single mouse you have to buy as it’s incredibly important that you know how a mouse feels before you buy it.

If you look to the bottom of the box after opening the door you’ll see a seal, to open the box further you need to cut this seal, after that it’s just a simple matter of pulling the mouse out which is housed in an internal isosceles triangle shaped box. This internal box is a marvel in itself due to the intricate folding used to actually house everything. After opening the puzzle (which was rather easy I might add) we’re presented with several things including:

• 1 x G500s Mouse
• 1 x Box of Weights
• 1 x User Documentation

Looking closer at the mouse itself you can see it has a vastly different grip and shell compared to the G700 and even the G9 of old. What this shape more closely resembles is the almost legendary MX518. The grip is a truly tried and tested one offering a comfortable grip over even the longest of sessions.

On the top of the mouse we see that there is the inclusion of a nice little LED display which shows which DPI level you have the mouse set to; unfortunately this isn’t colour customizable within software like on the G9 model which is a shame but hardly the end of the world. Looking at the mouse wheel it comes with two options for scrolling and the addition of scroll wheel tilt which I personally find to be very useful and normally is the button which gets bound for my voice communications be it Mumble, Ventrilo or TeamSpeak. The scrolling options are changed by pressing the button underneath the wheel itself; this allows the user to pick between a carefully stepped mouse wheel and one which is completely smooth with no resistance. Both options have their merits and certainly are a case of which option suits which need at any given time. To the side of the left mouse click button there are two buttons, these are completely customizable from within the software but by default are set to DPI up and DPI down respectively.

Looking to the left side of the mouse we see that there are three buttons as opposed to the normal two, all of these buttons are completely customizable from within the software. Other than that there is little options in the way of buttons to bind especially compared to its big brother the G700s which included many buttons to bind… almost too many.

Looking at the cable it’s nice to see that the cable is braided as this really does help with the “premium” feel of the device, not to mention the durability. The cable is a bit stiff to begin with but soon starts to loosen up with a bit of use.

On the rear of the mouse you can see just three glide pads, I was expecting to see one on the right hand side and as such am a little disappointed to see that it’s missing. The main attraction which is to say the sensor is located more towards the top in this model, which makes it quite literal when you say that the control is at your fingertips.

And finally the last thing is the mouse weight tray; this is easily opened by pressing the button in the centre of the mouse. After pressing the button out flies the tray, the weight system used in this mouse is much improved over the G9X mouse which didn’t feature as much flexibility nor were the weights as secure within the tray. The included weights with the mouse consist of:

• 6 x 1.7g
• 6 x 4.5g

Due to the fact that the tray holds 6 weights as opposed to the 4 of the G9X, the weights are toned down accordingly from the 4g and 7g included within the G9X. This gives a total weight which is 1g lighter. This is quite a small amount and I’d lose that tiny bit of weight just for the ability to have more flexibility of choice which is what is now offered.

Looking at the surfaces of the mouse it’s clear that they are the same ones used in the G700s, with the grey stripes giving a slight bit more grip on top of the otherwise smooth surface. Moving our way down to the sides, the mouse instead has a rough feel which really gives the grip where it counts. It’s nice to see that Logitech have put different surfaces in different places.

Overall the mouse is very similar in build quality and surface choice to the G700s but that is the only real characteristic they share as the shape and buttons are radically different compared to each other. I’m a bit disappointed to see the lack of shaped buttons on the G500s which are just flat and smooth as opposed to the G700s shaped and precision placed buttons.

Performance

 This mouse genuinely was a pleasure to use, I adapted easily from it from my normal mouse which is the aforementioned G9X. The grip isn’t as good as the G700s which fit my hand like a glove and was a massive pleasure to use. That being said the immediate difference to the G700 was quite large but I’ve grown to love the G500s whilst using it, so I’d say the difference in shape in reality is quite marginal and that there’s a whole host of different things to consider when buying a new mouse.

The price point coming in at £60 is pretty much bang on what the G9 and G9X was back in the day, so I can’t really argue with it. I imagine in the future it will end up around £40 but it isn’t worth waiting in my opinion.

The first thing I’m going to have a proper look at is the grip of the mouse as I feel it’s the most important aspect when thinking about buying a mouse and that everything else is secondary in comparison. The mouse button positions are good but could be better shaped like the G700s which was almost perfect in every regard. The grip is your basic “peanut” shape designed for use with right handed people. Having a slight recess on the right side to rest you pinky and ring finger really does add just a little bit to the overall comfort. On the left, there is plenty of space to rest even the largest of thumbs. Looking at the top of the mouse its smooth overall giving a nice feel but I do feel the back of the mouse could offer just a little bit more palm support for how I hold my hand personally. Despite not being as good as the G700s for people with hands like mine its certainly a contender and a noticeable improvement over my G9X grip.

The sensor on the G500s is the same as on the G700s in terms of both polling rate and sensitivity, overall I’ve had a pretty much identical experience whilst browsing, general use and gaming. The overall experience was good, I personally don’t see a need for 8200 DPI and as such use it at around 5200 DPI maximum and for my purposes it worked just fine without a single problem whatsoever.

Overall the experience was very good, not lacking in any regard in particular except maybe a lack of buttons when moving from the G700s, but compared to the G9X it has similar functionality just within a different shape with a newer and faster sensor. The on the fly DPI control was as per usual a godsend and the button position was perfect even if the button shapes were not. The glide of the mouse is great feeling little to no resistance on my mouse mat (which is a Razer Scarab).

Software

The software offered by Logitech is very basic but includes every feature which I can think of, even offering a macro recorder which rivals even Roccats offerings.

When loading up the software you’ll see that the starting page is effectively divided into three zones, one to pick the mouse, second to cycle between pages and finally a toggle between onboard memory and software profiles.

The first part we’ll look at is the mouse selector, this feature is relatively self-explanatory as it allows you to pick the mouse you want to configure, and in this case you’ll see the Logitech G500s & G700s.

Next we’ll look at the settings offered by having the toggle switch set to on-board. The on-board mode only allows for more basic profile options and customizations including: DPI with 5 levels, polling rate, full button customization including macros and 5 individual profiles housing all of the settings listed.

And finally we’ll look at the settings offered by the software based profiles. The functionality has been increased quite dramatically in several different areas. The first one of note is the DPI shift which changes the DPI when a modifier is pressed, unfortunately this does not seem to be bindable to a keyboard. Next up we have the ability to separate the sensitivity of both X and Y axis as opposed to only both with the hardware settings, the final option is one to enable or disable mouse acceleration.

The next part I want to look at is expanded profile and button customization available with software profiles. The first thing to note is that the software supports profiles being loaded based on individual applications being loaded, for example you could have a low sensitivity profile for when you load up World of Warcraft and with the locking button you can make sure it doesn’t change with the game running.

Another feature is being able print profiles, when I first thought this I wondered why you would need to do that, but rather than printing to a physical printer it creates a HTML document which you open within your browser. What you’ll see will look something like what is below:

Profile: Default Profile

This is great for people who want to share what settings they use with others who don’t necessarily use a Logitech mouse. For friends with a Logitech mouse you should be able to use the import/export tool to share profiles or even back them up in case something goes wrong.

And finally the actual settings which houses many options ranging from firmware updates to angle snapping.

Overall quite a good set of options and tools all within a very user friendly design, it’s a little bit disappointing to see the software and hardware profiles being so different but it’s also more than understandable. Personally I have little need for the extras which are offered by the software profiles and as I tend to move my mouse to different setups often the hardware profiles are perfect for that as it makes my own customized mouse one hundred per cent plug and play as opposed to plug, configure and play.

Conclusion

Logitech is one of the only mouse brands I’ve ever settled with, I’ve bounced around different manufacturers including Razer, Roccat and even Microsoft. Logitech are the only ones who have kept me coming back for more so when I heard that I’d have the opportunity to review some Logitech mice I was over the moon. After much testing of the G500s I can honestly say there was little to no problems overall but there are a few things I’d like to address.

The price right now I feel is on the high side but when you consider that the mouse has only just been released I can certainly let them off for that issue. Equally for £60 I don’t think there is really much competition.

One slight niggle I have is the lack of feet on the bottom of the mouse, short term I don’t think there would be any problem whatsoever but in the long run I feel like having the extra feet would definitely benefit the mouse quite significantly.

The weight system I’m very impressed with and although it doesn’t offer as much weight (albeit marginally) versus the G9X the extra flexibility certainly pays for this privilege in my opinion. The box included for the weights is identical to the G9X and that box has definitely stood the test of time for me personally with the only issue being that it’s a bit hard to open which isn’t much of a problem as give it a bit of a tug and it’s all good!

The comfort of the mouse is another fantastic point, and although it doesn’t quite square up to it’s bigger brother the G700s its certainly comfortable and capable at the same time. Although in my humble opinion I feel like the extra few pennies towards the G700 is worth it for this alone.

Overall the G500s is a very capable and is an absolute pleasure to use, the ergonomics might not be as good as the G700s but they certainly are better than my now aging G9X which feels like an absolute brick to use after trying out these mice from Logitech. If you’re looking for something which performs, has a great feel and will last I would wholeheartedly recommend this mouse without a shadow of doubt.

For great design and performance I’m going to give this mouse both the design and performance awards. And if the price was closer to £45-50 I’d also have given this mouse a value award.

Thanks to Logitech for providing this sample and I look forward to more from them in the future!