Capsule Review: Logitech's G100s, G500s, and G700s Gaming Mice
by Dustin Sklavos on March 30, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Mouse
- Peripherals
- Gaming
- Logitech
The Logitech G500s: For Action Games
I've been a very longtime advocate of Logitech's G500 as one of the most perfect gaming mice ever made. I never got much mileage out of changing the DPI of the sensor on the fly, and the default weight (no weights added) was perfectly fine; it was more about the coarse but breathable material used in its side grips, the toggleable freewheel, and the overall grip and response of the mouse.
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I'm not really shedding tears about the G500s being basically a carbon copy of the G500 but with a higher quality laser and a less exciting paint job. The G500 had one annoying habit that should basically be fixed in the G500s: the switches in the mouse buttons would actually eventually wear out and begin holding inconsistently. It's my understanding this wasn't an uncommon problem, so the new switches in the G500s shouldd go a long way towards ameliorating it.
The G500s sports a total of eight buttons: left click, right click, mouse wheel, DPI up and down next to the left click, and then the back and forward buttons with a third button nestled under them. Beneath the wheel is a mechanical switch that toggles Logitech's secret sauce, the freewheel. You can choose to have the wheel click one step at a time the way mouse wheels typically do, or you can take the brakes off and use it as an analog mouse wheel, controlling scrolling speed with the speed of the wheel. I have a friend with a G500 who never used this, but I get a tremendous amount of mileage out of it.
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For a brass tacks FPS mouse, the G500 and now the G500s are pretty solid, but unlike the G100s with its more timeless design, the G500s does have a little more room for improvement. A realtime DPI shift button is becoming increasingly common in gaming mice (Corsair called it their "Sniper button"), but that's not an available option in the G500s software unless you're using the software mode instead of the mouse's onboard memory. You can do DPI up or DPI down, but you can't hold one of the side buttons to temporarily lower or raise the sensitivity. That's a shame, because the functionality is available in the G600, and the G500s could really use it.
With the G500s available there's no reason to recommend the G500; the G500s sports higher quality switches in the buttons and received a slight increase in the top end of its laser's sensitivity (up to 8200 DPI.) At an MSRP of $69 it's a little pricey, but it has a fantastic grip if textures like those used on Razer's mice cause your skin to sweat, the adjustable weight is fantastic for some users, and the buttons are all in logical and easy to use places. The G500s is a workhorse if ever there were one.
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Lyianx - Thursday, April 11, 2013 - link
"Unlike the G500s, there's no LED on the mouse to tell you what speed it's running at,"Um, yea there are bud. Those 3 lights on the side serve multiple functions if you bothered to read up on the mouse.
1. Default is a battery level (Green, Blinking Red when low)
2. When switching between profiles, it indicates what profile you are on (Orange)
3. When switching DPI, it tells you what DPI profile you are on (Red) {since they are not set and programmable, it uses profile number)
LifesABeta - Sunday, April 14, 2013 - link
Anandtech should do in-depth mouse reviews like GPU, CPU, Monitor, mobile phone etc etc. I see Dustin takes note of upgraded DPI levels for example for the g500s. Casually mentioning the DPI has been increased to 8200. What he didn't mention was the sensor being used. Most likely the avago-9800 laser sensor. From there he could've tested for hardware built-in acceleration. Also, tracking accuracy, i.e. how accurate the mouse will track relative to sudden burst of movement speed and also at differing level of DPI. There's a whole world of in-depthness that mouses can be put through and should be.Riddick51PB - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
Question: Is the laser in the G500s a "predictable" laser? I'm trying to get a mouse that doesn't have a predictable laser.boomerbsg - Saturday, May 25, 2013 - link
I registered to say. Recently getting back into pc gaming after quite a few years of console gaming. I upgraded my Xeon x3220 to an i7, and my GTX 460 to a GTX 660Ti. I dusted off my Saitek II keyboard (still works great, through 3 moves and being tossed in boxes etc), and my G500 thats years old (I think I've had it easily since its original release date, I still have my old MX518 as well.This G500 has been tossed around, fallen to the floor, kicked, swung, beaten up badly, braids on the cords have been tangled, and cut to see bare insulated wire beneath, and it STILL functions perfectly! I'm in the market now to replace it.. but not because it doesn't work like it should I just want something new, and thanks to this article the G500s will be purchased within a weeks time.
Razer products dont fit my hand well enough, and I've never liked them in general. My money will always go to Logitech for my mice, I know I paid a pretty penny for this G500 on release, and got my moneys worth out of it tenfold.
cheers
anon29929292992 - Friday, May 29, 2015 - link
Had this G700 mouse fora few years now. Good mouse contour/shape design but the wired connection port on the mouse has now gone bad from plugging and unplugging....I use it on 2 computers...1 wired 1 wireless...meaning the mouse now disconnects constantly during wired use....in overall the quality isn't 5 stars with most of their products and it's usually due to a mixture of hardware and software....I expect more for $50+ products that are priced this high.