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
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Introducing the Logitech G100s, G500s, and G700s Gaming Mice
The dirty secret of gaming peripherals is that if they're good quality products in general, they're often going to be head and shoulders above hardware marketed toward the regular consumer. For whatever reason, high rent keyboards and mice just aren't marketed to consumers who'll often settle on an inexpensive wireless mouse and keyboard combination. This was strangely evident in Logitech's pre-G-branding era, and while the G branding is ultimately a good thing, some users are liable to miss out on some fantastic quality kit.
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In the strictest sense, the Logitech G100s, G500s, and G700s aren't new mice. They're three of the four mice that were recently announced (the fourth being the G400s, which we unfortunately didn't receive in time for review), but they're primarily refreshes. That's okay, though: the G100s is a descendant of the G100 which wasn't made available in North America, the G500s gives me a chance to properly review my beloved G500 as a new product, and the G700s sheds light on the oddly scarce G700.
When I met with Logitech in San Francisco, their statement with these "new" mice was essentially this: "if it ain't broke, don't break it." While I'd be liable to rib them a little bit for complacency, the reality is that many of these products have been phenomenally successful for them and well-received. Seriously messing with the formula runs the risk of disenchanting the customer as well as potentially resulting in a run on a dead product. That's not what you want; you want a run on a live product.
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Our conversations regarding peripherals were actually pretty long and detailed, certainly more than I've gotten from other vendors, but I think that's due to Logitech being principally a long-standing peripheral manufacturer. Mice and keyboards can be tricky things; each person's body chemistry is different which in turn affects the way different materials feel in the hand. I can't use Razer mice, they make my palms clammy in seconds, but I know a lot of people love the texture on their products. That's before getting into the differences in preference between the different mechanical switches Cherry produces in keyboards.
What Logitech is pushing with their G branding marketing, other than finally having a unifying brand umbrella (and software package!) for all of their gaming products, is summed up in their slogan: "Science Wins." It's goofy, but the philosophy is sound: they rigorously test their products (apparently one version of the G600 MMO mouse had a small production run alongside the current version, they were tested against one another, and the release one won out), and they design them based on scientific data about how they're used. That means looking at grip, looking at the situations they're used in, and so on.
The G100s, G500s, and G700s may have gradually increasing model numbers (and price tags to boot), but don't be deceived: each really does serve a unique purpose unto itself.
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Kristian Vättö - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
Do left-handed people generally use mouse with their left hand? I'm asking because I'm left-handed but I've always used mouse with my right hand.AwesomeAD - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
I don't know about lefties in general, but I'm lefthanded and wield the mouse with my right hand.Lonyo - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
Same.There are a few lefties who left hand mouse, but I think a good portion right hand mouse.
Means your 11% gets cut down even more, which is why it's not massively worth it to make left handed products (although there are a few).
Because these mice are pretty much set to be right handed due to additional button placement and design curvature, they aren't really left hand suitable.
Murloc - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
I'm left-handed and I always use the right hand. That's because most children don't have a computer of their own right off the bat so they just get used to using the right hand. I think it's better this way because it makes you more flexible when using other computers. I use the track-pad on my laptop with the left hand though, and that's not very healthy because it makes me do weird movements, but I barely use it so it's not a big deal.Left-handed mouses isn't a market worth going in imho.
snuuggles - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
Funny, I'm right handed and mouse left handed because of carpel tunnel. I've had very little issues with buttons. It's mostly just that I'm slower/less accurate with my off-hand.DanNeely - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
I do; but the fraction of lefties who mouse left handed and are willing to pay enough to get something beyond a cheap symmetric mouse is much smaller than the total.Logitech lost money on it's left handed mouse; the one MS intended to launch a quarter later was canceled. Razer said they didn't expect to make it into the black when they launched theres; and implied that they were doing it for equal parts PR and because their CEO was a lefty gamer. Their second one's release was contingent on its announcement getting a huge number of Facebook likes; so I assume they're expecting to lose money on it too but felt the viralish marketing was worth the money gap.
Traciatim - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
You may want to check out the Genius Gila or the Logitech G300. My son is a lefty, but uses mice with his right hand. Though, just in case we wanted to be sure the mice we buy can be used either way. So far both have been pretty great.groundhogdaze - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
I am left handed but I have learned to use a right handed mouse as well. The reason I want to have a left handed mouse is because of carpal strain and switching between the two helps alleviate it a bit. I have a microsoft mouse on the left with the left & right click remapped and a logitech trackman on the right. With that said, right handed people should use left handed mice more often :)Friendly0Fire - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
About the lack of LED notification of the profile being used, I'm a bit surprised. Are you perfectly sure? The G700 (which is what I use and love) has the same three LEDs on the side of the mouse, which by default indicates the charge (in green) but will also indicate sensitivity (in red) when switching using the DPI buttons.I'd also like to point out that the micro-USB cable bundled with the mouse has one significant advantage over generic cables: if you put it flat on your mouse pad and slide it in, it'll connect perfectly. It's also asymmetrical, so no rotating it twice to get it right. This makes it a total breeze to plug the mouse in, much more so than one could expect from trying to plug a tiny wire in front of a fairly profiled mouse.
yefi - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
I found the bundled cable too thick and heavy. Instead I use one of those retractable-style cables that are very thin and flexible. There's very little tactile difference now between it being plugged and unplugged.