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 G100s: For Real-Time Strategy
The simplest model in the series has a pretty familiar look to it; if you bought into the first wave of optical mice from Logitech, you'll find the G100s has essentially the same shape. That's not exactly a bad thing, since that was a very functional mouse design and was popular in my circles. So why go back to this type of design?
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As Logitech tells it, those old style mice wound up being exceedingly popular outside of the United States, specifically in South Korea, where competitive StarCraft is a serious sport. The original G100 served that market as an inexpensive but very efficient mouse for RTS play. Offered in the traditional shape with virtually the exact same surface treatment, it can seem kind of chintzy compared to its larger siblings, but looks can be deceiving.
The G100s has four buttons: left click, right click, middle click (under the scrollwheel), and a DPI switch that can be configured to be just about anything in the Logitech G Software. Unlike the other two mice in for review, the G100s has no onboard memory for storing configurations, but like the other two, it features an updated sensor and higher quality switches in the buttons. The G100s utilizes a specific optical sensor (as opposed to the lasers used in the G500s and G700s) that's supposedly extremely precise; I couldn't get any more details about it except that the product developer I spoke to was absolutely psyched about it and looking forward to deploying it in more products.
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The idea behind the G100s design is that RTS players don't need a lot of extra buttons but do need to make a lot of quick, very precise motions. They tend to drive the mouse more with their fingertips than with a full grip, so a lighter mouse would be preferable for that style of play.
I opted to test their theory by playing rounds of StarCraft II and Civilization V (yes, I know Civilization V isn't actually an RTS, but it does share some of the motions), and I found that it was basically dead on. The mouse was underwhelming for playing anything super slow paced (the undemanding Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 actually wasn't very enjoyable with this mouse, surprisingly), but I noticed that my mousing style changed and adapted to the two strategy games. I'm not entirely sure how useful the DPI switch is, but having a fourth mouse button available and basically out of the way didn't negatively affect my use of the mouse.
It's also tough to adequately articulate, but the G100s really did seem ideal for strategy gaming, more so than the other two mice, and the sensor had an incredibly fluid and smooth feel to it. Like the others, the G100s is a very responsive mouse, but the entire subjective feel in hand gradually made a believer out of me.
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piiman - Wednesday, March 19, 2014 - link
"I wont rehash a long speech about why I think this is the most badly designed gaming mouse ive every come across, in short its badly weighted, the shape simply does not allow for comfort keeping it under control in my palm and simple pick and drop operations see it wrestle itself into the heel of my hand. The entire thumb control area is a curvy mess meaning very little angular control no matter how much grip you apply because its (unsuccessfully) all going into keeping it flat."I find this to be totally untrue.
ilkhan - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
I purchased an MX Revolution and G700 at the same time (for laptop and desktop respectively) but ended up benching the revolution and buying a second G700 (seriously, don't ask me to tally the dollars I've spent on Logitech gear over the years, its disgustingly high). Love both of them, and these can only be improvements. <3 Logitech.Hardtarget - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
Been using a MX Revolution for years, works plenty fine for gaming of all types, and can't really see a need to upgrade. Once you go wireless you can never go back and I've never felt that there has ever been any lag or the lik.ealthaz - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
I have to say that the G100 sounds like the perfect mouse for my gaming kit bag (containing my Surface Pro, a USB hub and a bunch of XBox 360 controllers for portable old-console gaming).The G100 + plus a keyboard (currently investigating mechanical numpadless designs for inclusion also) would be the final piece of my portable gaming Nirvana puzzle. (It would enable Starcraft, console games are already enabled thanks to emulators, same with PC racing/fighting/etc games).
sparkuss - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
I'm still rocking an MX-1000, even though the laser light went dead several years ago. All the buttons still work but i want to trade up to something with more accuracy.Is the G700 roughly comparable in size and shape to the G1000? With the G1000, my small hands place my thumb exactly at the center of the left-side button cluster.
cyberguyz - Sunday, March 31, 2013 - link
Actually have one of these rare original G700 convertible (wired/wireless) mice.Beyond the body graphics I don't really see any difference with the G700s. Mice look the same, have the same detachable cord. I use mine primarily in wired mode.
Don't let the drivers fool you. While they say they are downloading configurations to the onboard mouse memory, If you don't have them installed, the buttons revert to factory defaults. It seems the onboard memory and config is only active when the mouse is driven by Logitech's setpoint driver.
Ws6_ - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
Logitech MX 518. Best mouse I have owned. I've had it for 3-4 years and never had a problem with it.johnny_boy - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
Well-made software, sure, if you're on a supported platform. It would be nice, though, if they made it truly cross-platform so that linux users had some nice, fully supported peripheral options too.Hrel - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
When I got a G700 I had to return it because the coarse texture caused my hands to get sweaty almost instantly. I much prefer the soft touch of the MX500 or MX Revolution mice. The G600 also has a nicer texture, still second to the high quality (anti-bacterial I believe) texture on the MX Revolution. I wish all mice had that texture. Because for me, the texture of the G700 made it completely unusable. Sad since other than that it's my idea of the ideal mouse. This picture looks like the same texture.1nf1d3l - Monday, April 1, 2013 - link
I have a "before refresh" G700 and I have to say, it is the best mouse I've ever used. The weight of the thing is nice, and it fits my larger-sized hands nicely. The 3 finger buttons can be difficult to use, but not overly so. One feature I especially like is that once the mouse is plugged in, it doesn't rely on its wireless receiver anymore, essentially making the mouse wired or not at your discretion.One issue I do have with it is its ability to drain batteries. I swapped to a set of 2200mah batteries, and the mouse will drain one in a full day of use, under the "normal gaming" setting. Having a wallcharger or the USB connector close by is pretty much needed.