Old version of G502 with optical gaming sensor (PMW3366)
Cable Length 6 feet or 1.83 meters
Wireless Type
802.11a/b/g/n
Brand
Logitech
Series
910-004615
Item model number
910-004615
Hardware Platform
PC, Mac
Item Weight
4.3 ounces
Product Dimensions
1.57 x 2.95 x 5.2 inches
Item Dimensions LxWxH
1.57 x 2.95 x 5.2 inches
Color
Black
Power Source
Corded Electric
Batteries
1 Lithium Metal batteries required. (included)
Manufacturer
Logitech
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer
No
Date First Available
January 5, 2016
7 reviews for Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum RGB Tunable Gaming Mouse, 12,000 DPI On-The-Fly DPI Shifting, Personalized Weight and Balance Tuning with (5) 3.6g…
Rated 4 out of 5
Brenden C. –
I love the feel of this mouse. It is very comfortable to hold in my hand and does not feel awkward or weird at all. The side buttons are all comfortable to press. I haven’t used the weights yet as I feel the weight without them is kind of nice, a change from Razer mouse’s weight. I might experiment with them in the future. The two buttons for DPI selection by the left click are a little weird and I find myself sometimes pressing the lower one and lowering my DPI to my DPI shift’s level (350 from 800) which as you can imagine is a little annoying in games. However every button can be rebound or disabled, so if you don’t like it just turn it off.
The Logitech gaming software that you need to setup the mouse and customize it, is the most annoying part about it. They make everything harder than it needs to be (like making a macro with mouse presses for instance), it’s super tedious and doesn’t do what I want almost all the time. It constantly switches to other profiles and resets my DPI and always searches for games to make profiles for, and acts as if it’s my first time opening it, every time. I’ve tried reinstalling etc but with no fixes. It is definitely more bugged than Razer Synapse and I would say is this mouses greatest downfall.
The cable isn’t a very nice quality compared to my Razer Mamba (or any Razer product for that matter), and it feels like it will definitely fray and break down relatively quick. The Razer mice have a nice protective coating over the cable, making for a durable feel that makes you think nothing is going to happen to it.
The scroll wheel a little weird too and takes getting used to. It’s bumps aren’t as close together as I’d like so I feel like I have to over scroll to get a notch. They have a weird free scroll option which I can’t imagine ever being logically used unless you need to scroll through 850 pages of a book online in 1 second or break down your game from switching weapons way too quick to register. It doesn’t have a grippy texture, no rubber so you have to commit to the roll of the when you scroll instead of letting the tip of your finger do it.
However despite the few flaws of this mouse, it is very comfortable to use and I’ve been enjoying it so far.
All I ask is you know what you’re getting into before you buy it, if you know, go for it!
Rated 5 out of 5
Diarmuid O’Dyna –
Wonderful mouse, this is coming from a previous user of a Razer Mamba Chroma TE which I had the sensor die on me for no real reason. Took the opportunity to swap to this mouse and never looked back!
The grip I prefer far better, with a nice place for your thumb to rest, the button placements and the amount or great. (Not too many, not too few). The weight system is awesome to have, I currently have it loaded to full weight because I prefer a heavier mouse but you can also make it quite light!
The cable is braided and is durable, as is the general build of the mouse. However, one thing that disappointed me is the paint or whatever material is used to colour the mouse wheel black is coming off in areas I use often. Though it doesn’t affect anything. The sensor is wonderful, as it should be! It is considered one of, if not the best sensor on the market right now! A big step up from Razer.
Lastly the software is very good! It’s a no BS type of style which is great especially coming from Razer’s terrible software. The only complaint I have for it is that it doesn’t scale in 4K and is near impossible to read on small displays.
Rated 5 out of 5
Zeal Jadhav –
This is one of the best mouse I ever had, before this I use to have Dragon War mouse. Buy this is just suberb. All the dpi settings and available customization are done in real time you may feel quiet annoying while setting the dpi as all changes are made in real time.. also this has 16.2 million color adjustments with steady and breathing effect you can explore all in the logitech software you download. If you have logitech gaming keyboard it will also get in sync with that. It also has calibration feature that can be done from software. It will calibrated with your surface of mouse mat to provide you best result.
Seller review
Worst packaging ever seen the bix was torned off as if someone tried to open it. Also it was damaged during transport as it was not well packed.
Rated 5 out of 5
Mr. Le –
Best mouse I ever bought. Bought two of these 3 years ago and they are still running fine. I’ve had no issues with them in regards to functionality. The Logitech software works well with it except for the pattern sync. I’m not able to sync the specific patterns with it for the colour wave.
Rated 5 out of 5
Letalis –
The Basics
121-ish grams WITHOUT optional weights installed. 3366 sensor. 20M omrons. RGB lighting. Went to a Best Buy to pick up the G903. Tried G903, did not like shape. Tried G502, liked. Left store, meditated upon previous dislike for ugly G502 “spaceship design.” Meditated upon adopting a mouse that seems to weight twice as much as my truck. Bought G502 online next day. Proceeded to enjoy.
Why do a G502 review when the mouse has been around forever? Because it is still a relevant choice on the market, because I like going Nit-Noid on mice, because this mouse deserves the attention it gets, and because pleas need to be made to properly update a winning formula. Testing time prior to review was 19 days.
The Good
Very good for fingertip, that style feels good even with the heavy weight taken into consideration.
Good materials. Quality rubber flanks with some nice patterning action going on.
Excellent 3366 sensor, low LOD. Surface tuning option did seem to make a positive difference.
Good clicks everywhere. Primary clicks are medium stiffness and manage to have excellent feedback without being terribly loud.
Excellent thumb buttons, no travel or rattle issues. They are labeled, (nice little touch) and all have light actuation with good tactility. All buttons on the mouse are good, but I do think they would be better with a textured finish as found on the G203.
Logitech has excellent software. Reliable, intuitive, functional albeit limited in the total number of bells and whistles available compared to a growing portion of the competition.
The software enables use of the G-Shift option. Basically you can map your mouse to act as a “shift key” so that virtually all the other buttons on the mouse perform an additional function when pressed with the said shift key.
Good sniper/extra buttons, I think they are conveniently placed for medium hands and work well. I immediately missed the extra functions when I swapped away from this mouse.
Infinite scroll is a nice option. I didn’t know how much I would use it…until I ended up using it a lot. Another thing easily missed switching away from the mouse…
Apparently durable scroll design. I have no intention of opening this mouse up, part of the reason for that is because there are a number of good teardown videos out there. One thing I learned from a teardown vid is that the regular scroll mode gets its tactility from a plastic arm in contact with the inside of the scroll wheel. That arrangement seems like it would be more durable than what you typically see in most mice.
A tilt scroll option is not only present, it is easy to use with mercifully light actuation.
Between the infinite scroll, extra buttons and tilt function, I found the G502 superb for word processing. I had backspace set to one side of the tilt scroll, and the “end” key mapped to the other. The additional index finger keys were mapped to copy and paste, just for fun. Between the G-Shift and switching profiles on the fly, you can quickly run into more options than you can quickly memorize.
The Middling
Decent looks in my opinion, but it took a while to get there. If you don’t like the looks, all you need to do is think of its functionality, you can stab someone or club them with this mouse. Many uses, such versatile.
The Bad
Scroll wheel is metal and not rubberized – it feels cold, often a little slick. Rubber should have been an update on the Spectrum model.
The braided cord is what I would call moderate-stiff, definitely room for improvement.
Scroll tactility is quite good, but rather clunky. Also, there is enough mass to the scroll wheel that you can overscroll easily in some situations.
Scroll rattles, sometimes even in game. Not a huge distraction, minor gripe compared to the convenience of having infinite scroll available.
Heavy weight means a lot more inertia for fast-paced FPS. This is an area where this really good all-rounder isn’t so well rounded. The weight means that picking it up is not completely transparent to your mind in-game, even after a week of use. It did go away eventually for me. This mouse is probably unusable for FPS for players who operate below 1000 DPI, even then it is not ideal.
Okay for small palm and medium fingertip, but larger hands (18.5cm+) that try to palm will probably drag their pinky or feel annoyed trying to keep it off the mousepad.
There is space for a passable claw grip, but the 502’s weight means you have to squeeze that much more with limited thumb surface area. This seems a good recipe for hand fatigue/discomfort over time.
Scroll toggle button is useful, but would be better as the rearmost of the two buttons behind the scroll. Sure it makes a harder engineering problem, but that is why Logitech employs engineers.
Rather narrow grip width caused some ring finger fatigue. I always thought of the G502 as a larger mouse, it actually isn’t as big as it looks. Making the mouse slightly wider with slight modifications would make it much more comfy and easier to pick up at the same time since more of fingers 4 and 5 would end up in contact with the side of the mouse. The right-side grip surface should flare out slightly more to right with same basic curvature. It would also be good to raise the height of the right side grip section by 2mm to be just slightly more similar to the G403. Forward of the scroll wheel on the right side (where the ring finger goes), the lip section should be flattened slightly to give more options to ring fingers.
The primary click button was loose in the upward direction. On my copy, if the index finger is not perfectly dry, the mouse button adheres to it and gets pulled upward with the finger and results in a distracting rattle when the two go their separate ways. This was one of the most annoying issues with the mouse. Thankfully it was easily fixed. I put a piece of tape along the front seam of LMB, preventing it from traveling upward out of position.
Failure to update and missed opportunities. The Proteus core was released some 3 years ago. The Spectrum is still on store shelves some two years after Logitech updated their G logo. Kinda advertises that it is an “old” mouse. Logitech isn’t putting 50m omrons on the mouse. Redundantly…no rubber scroll and no attempt at weight reduction with the Spectrum release. Makes me sad. Worse, the G900 weights 15 grams less and it is wireless. For the Spectrum update, Logitech simply added RGB to the logo and deleted some teal from the thumb rest. If it had been my company doing such a minor change, I would have simply updated the mouse and let people notice the fact there was a nice little production update.
Conclusion
Despite the fact this is an older design, the Proteus Spectrum is still a good design that holds up well in many areas. One of the best compliments I can give the G502 is that I’m not terribly tempted to go back to my G403, probably my fave mouse of all time – and that is coming from someone who, until recently, was looking for a 70 gram gaming mouse. Is the 502 ideal for FPS? Nope. But, it is still probably the best all-round mouse I’ve used. This mouse’s “honeymoon phase” lasted almost two weeks, an eternity for me. That’s part of why I kept using this mouse as long as I did – I didn’t want to move on. It’s not perfect, and there are several legitimate gripes. This mouse’s shortcoming are all the more painful because without them this mouse could have been A+ material so easily. That said, I look forward to using it a lot more. I hope we see a “G503” come out in a wired and wireless version. The wired version should retain the basic shape with all the buttons and be no more than 100g with adjustable weights, 110g for starters with the wireless version. I can dream.
Bang for Buck Grade: A-
Rated 4 out of 5
Alita M. –
I’d like to start this by stating that I would have given it a 4.5 or even a 4.75 if I could (Amazon if you read this, please add this feature).
I have used many mouses in the past, most notably(and most recently as this is a replacement mouse) the SteelSeries Rival. After the scroll wheel started to stick I decided it was time for a new mouse, plus with the new lighting feature I was excited to upgrade to the G502 (I also like new tech and am fortunate enough to be able to buy things like the G502 without too much harm done). I only received the mouse today, however, I have done about 8 hours of testing and have some stuff to say about it. (please note: I will update if my opinion changes or if any problems arise)
-Build quality and packaging:
The packaging is awesome, it even tells me the coefficient of friction… I love physics, and this being included is really awesome, thank you Logitech! 😀 (also it looks cool, not the nicest thing I’ve ever unboxed but it’s still pretty good)
As for the mouse itself I was pleasantly surprised by it’s shape and construction quality. I felt the cheap manufacturing of even the rival but the G502 really gives me a new look at how a mouse I payed a rather large amount of money for “should” feel. Really good job, Logitech!
-Feeling/Comfort:
I am right handed, if you’re left handed I can’t imagine it’d be all that comfortable as such don’t pay attention to this 🙁
The first thing I thought when I got the mouse in my hands was it was cold and soft in all the right places… the sides have a simply fantastic matt finish, as such it’s slightly cold to the touch and also very soft. Seemingly connecting the matt finish in a series of circuits(as you can see from looking at the pictures by logitech) is hard, cold plastic. The plastic really adds personality to the mouse, with it’s very strong structure.
The lay-out of the buttons is great because whether or not you touch them is completely up to you(as in resting position you’re not going to touch any of the G-keys)
The mouse wheel is simply orgasmic(sorry, but I’m in love), it’s made out of I presume either stainless steel or something of that nature and feels really, really sturdy. When you move the wheel it has a very nice click feeling. This along with a very smooth “infinite” scrolling feature I can’t think of a single thing wrong with it. Some people may say it’s slippery, which I suppose it could be, but coming from the rival with it’s rubber roller cover, putting a little extra force on the wheel is a small amount to pay for such a luxury feel.
The adjustable weights are really well implemented, and offer a great deal of customization, both in changing the center of mass of the mouse and in changing it’s frictional resistance. I personally just use the mouse without any weights as I got accustomed to the Rival’s extremely light design. However having the option is a very nice touch.
-Sensor
Coming from the Rival all I really have to say is it feels very responsive and gives a lot of options for DPI adjustment. I have a 1440p monitor and prefer something around 5000dpi, however I have higher presets for things like flying or driving and then lower presets for sniping. At the presets I have after playing a couple hours of games I didn’t experience any issues!
Works very well in FPS games and I would assume in any other game (though if you only play RTS games don’t spend 80$ on a mouse, but that’s just my 2 cents)
-Features
Unlike many other gamers I do not like to use the G-keys for anything other than DPI shifting and then back and forward for browsing. I don’t use multiple profiles and use the “Shift” key sparingly, though I am using it more and more (it’s only been a day!).
HOWEVER, the mouse brings a LOT to the table. With more than just customizable G-keys. For example, the shift key being a new addition to my “used” features with it’s very ergonomic implementation. Not to mention the fantastic “infinite scroll” feature, which is a really awesome tool to have, it’s surprising how often it comes in handy. The features that I do use offer me more than enough to be happy with the mouse, in fact the only button I don’t use is the profile switch key. Which, I’ve gotta say is really awesome! (that I don’t have to use all of the keys to really enjoy the mouse)
That said, the Logitech program, while being a bit wanky and laggy, offers a metric **** ton of customization; from a different profile per game along with the 3 customizable profiles to being able to change any and all the buttons to do whatever you feel necessary, the G502 delivers.
-Lighting
So having seen the spectrum on CES 2016 I was instantly hooked on the idea with a mouse that could fit in with my color scheme (green and black as I have a black widow keyboard [highly recommend this, btw]). However, I was disappointed by it’s lackluster customize options, you can change the color and whether or not it breaths or shifts between colors. Not to mention the fact that the lighting is done rather poorly, with pretty dim lights it doesn’t stand a chance against my keyboard, and then at the same time the lighting is not uniform across the logo. Which is something that is disappointing as the Rival accomplished this goal very well with nice, bright, lights (I forget whether or not the light intensity was customizable). It’s for this reason that I deducted .25-.5 points as the whole bases of this upgrade(from core to spectrum, Logitech’s upgrade, not mine) was for the new RGB lights and Logitech did a rather poor job of implementing it 🙁
Conclusion:
I would, as my opinion stands right now, recommend this mouse. I think it’s definetely worth the 80$ if you have a use for it’s features and or sensor. It’s not perfect, but I give props to Logitech and whoever designed it for it’s amazing feeling, that mouse wheel made me so happy it’s astounding! Also the cable for the mouse is pretty short, Wish it could have been maybe 1-2 feet longer, but oh well.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your future mouse 😀
note: for those wondering I would rank the Rival below this, the G502 feels much better to me, and also a little more responsive.
Rated 2 out of 5
Suela termalaj –
When I ordered the mouse the proteus spectrum didn’t come but the hero edition came instead
Brenden C. –
I love the feel of this mouse. It is very comfortable to hold in my hand and does not feel awkward or weird at all. The side buttons are all comfortable to press. I haven’t used the weights yet as I feel the weight without them is kind of nice, a change from Razer mouse’s weight. I might experiment with them in the future. The two buttons for DPI selection by the left click are a little weird and I find myself sometimes pressing the lower one and lowering my DPI to my DPI shift’s level (350 from 800) which as you can imagine is a little annoying in games. However every button can be rebound or disabled, so if you don’t like it just turn it off.
The Logitech gaming software that you need to setup the mouse and customize it, is the most annoying part about it. They make everything harder than it needs to be (like making a macro with mouse presses for instance), it’s super tedious and doesn’t do what I want almost all the time. It constantly switches to other profiles and resets my DPI and always searches for games to make profiles for, and acts as if it’s my first time opening it, every time. I’ve tried reinstalling etc but with no fixes. It is definitely more bugged than Razer Synapse and I would say is this mouses greatest downfall.
The cable isn’t a very nice quality compared to my Razer Mamba (or any Razer product for that matter), and it feels like it will definitely fray and break down relatively quick. The Razer mice have a nice protective coating over the cable, making for a durable feel that makes you think nothing is going to happen to it.
The scroll wheel a little weird too and takes getting used to. It’s bumps aren’t as close together as I’d like so I feel like I have to over scroll to get a notch. They have a weird free scroll option which I can’t imagine ever being logically used unless you need to scroll through 850 pages of a book online in 1 second or break down your game from switching weapons way too quick to register.
It doesn’t have a grippy texture, no rubber so you have to commit to the roll of the when you scroll instead of letting the tip of your finger do it.
However despite the few flaws of this mouse, it is very comfortable to use and I’ve been enjoying it so far.
All I ask is you know what you’re getting into before you buy it, if you know, go for it!
Diarmuid O’Dyna –
Wonderful mouse, this is coming from a previous user of a Razer Mamba Chroma TE which I had the sensor die on me for no real reason.
Took the opportunity to swap to this mouse and never looked back!
The grip I prefer far better, with a nice place for your thumb to rest, the button placements and the amount or great. (Not too many, not too few).
The weight system is awesome to have, I currently have it loaded to full weight because I prefer a heavier mouse but you can also make it quite light!
The cable is braided and is durable, as is the general build of the mouse. However, one thing that disappointed me is the paint or whatever material is used to colour the mouse wheel black is coming off in areas I use often. Though it doesn’t affect anything.
The sensor is wonderful, as it should be! It is considered one of, if not the best sensor on the market right now! A big step up from Razer.
Lastly the software is very good! It’s a no BS type of style which is great especially coming from Razer’s terrible software.
The only complaint I have for it is that it doesn’t scale in 4K and is near impossible to read on small displays.
Zeal Jadhav –
This is one of the best mouse I ever had, before this I use to have Dragon War mouse. Buy this is just suberb. All the dpi settings and available customization are done in real time you may feel quiet annoying while setting the dpi as all changes are made in real time.. also this has 16.2 million color adjustments with steady and breathing effect you can explore all in the logitech software you download. If you have logitech gaming keyboard it will also get in sync with that. It also has calibration feature that can be done from software. It will calibrated with your surface of mouse mat to provide you best result.
Seller review
Worst packaging ever seen the bix was torned off as if someone tried to open it. Also it was damaged during transport as it was not well packed.
Mr. Le –
Best mouse I ever bought. Bought two of these 3 years ago and they are still running fine. I’ve had no issues with them in regards to functionality. The Logitech software works well with it except for the pattern sync. I’m not able to sync the specific patterns with it for the colour wave.
Letalis –
The Basics
121-ish grams WITHOUT optional weights installed. 3366 sensor. 20M omrons. RGB lighting. Went to a Best Buy to pick up the G903. Tried G903, did not like shape. Tried G502, liked. Left store, meditated upon previous dislike for ugly G502 “spaceship design.” Meditated upon adopting a mouse that seems to weight twice as much as my truck. Bought G502 online next day. Proceeded to enjoy.
Why do a G502 review when the mouse has been around forever? Because it is still a relevant choice on the market, because I like going Nit-Noid on mice, because this mouse deserves the attention it gets, and because pleas need to be made to properly update a winning formula. Testing time prior to review was 19 days.
The Good
Very good for fingertip, that style feels good even with the heavy weight taken into consideration.
Good materials. Quality rubber flanks with some nice patterning action going on.
Excellent 3366 sensor, low LOD. Surface tuning option did seem to make a positive difference.
Good clicks everywhere. Primary clicks are medium stiffness and manage to have excellent feedback without being terribly loud.
Excellent thumb buttons, no travel or rattle issues. They are labeled, (nice little touch) and all have light actuation with good tactility. All buttons on the mouse are good, but I do think they would be better with a textured finish as found on the G203.
Logitech has excellent software. Reliable, intuitive, functional albeit limited in the total number of bells and whistles available compared to a growing portion of the competition.
The software enables use of the G-Shift option. Basically you can map your mouse to act as a “shift key” so that virtually all the other buttons on the mouse perform an additional function when pressed with the said shift key.
Good sniper/extra buttons, I think they are conveniently placed for medium hands and work well. I immediately missed the extra functions when I swapped away from this mouse.
Infinite scroll is a nice option. I didn’t know how much I would use it…until I ended up using it a lot. Another thing easily missed switching away from the mouse…
Apparently durable scroll design. I have no intention of opening this mouse up, part of the reason for that is because there are a number of good teardown videos out there. One thing I learned from a teardown vid is that the regular scroll mode gets its tactility from a plastic arm in contact with the inside of the scroll wheel. That arrangement seems like it would be more durable than what you typically see in most mice.
A tilt scroll option is not only present, it is easy to use with mercifully light actuation.
Between the infinite scroll, extra buttons and tilt function, I found the G502 superb for word processing. I had backspace set to one side of the tilt scroll, and the “end” key mapped to the other. The additional index finger keys were mapped to copy and paste, just for fun. Between the G-Shift and switching profiles on the fly, you can quickly run into more options than you can quickly memorize.
The Middling
Decent looks in my opinion, but it took a while to get there. If you don’t like the looks, all you need to do is think of its functionality, you can stab someone or club them with this mouse. Many uses, such versatile.
The Bad
Scroll wheel is metal and not rubberized – it feels cold, often a little slick. Rubber should have been an update on the Spectrum model.
The braided cord is what I would call moderate-stiff, definitely room for improvement.
Scroll tactility is quite good, but rather clunky. Also, there is enough mass to the scroll wheel that you can overscroll easily in some situations.
Scroll rattles, sometimes even in game. Not a huge distraction, minor gripe compared to the convenience of having infinite scroll available.
Heavy weight means a lot more inertia for fast-paced FPS. This is an area where this really good all-rounder isn’t so well rounded. The weight means that picking it up is not completely transparent to your mind in-game, even after a week of use. It did go away eventually for me. This mouse is probably unusable for FPS for players who operate below 1000 DPI, even then it is not ideal.
Okay for small palm and medium fingertip, but larger hands (18.5cm+) that try to palm will probably drag their pinky or feel annoyed trying to keep it off the mousepad.
There is space for a passable claw grip, but the 502’s weight means you have to squeeze that much more with limited thumb surface area. This seems a good recipe for hand fatigue/discomfort over time.
Scroll toggle button is useful, but would be better as the rearmost of the two buttons behind the scroll. Sure it makes a harder engineering problem, but that is why Logitech employs engineers.
Rather narrow grip width caused some ring finger fatigue. I always thought of the G502 as a larger mouse, it actually isn’t as big as it looks. Making the mouse slightly wider with slight modifications would make it much more comfy and easier to pick up at the same time since more of fingers 4 and 5 would end up in contact with the side of the mouse. The right-side grip surface should flare out slightly more to right with same basic curvature. It would also be good to raise the height of the right side grip section by 2mm to be just slightly more similar to the G403. Forward of the scroll wheel on the right side (where the ring finger goes), the lip section should be flattened slightly to give more options to ring fingers.
The primary click button was loose in the upward direction. On my copy, if the index finger is not perfectly dry, the mouse button adheres to it and gets pulled upward with the finger and results in a distracting rattle when the two go their separate ways. This was one of the most annoying issues with the mouse. Thankfully it was easily fixed. I put a piece of tape along the front seam of LMB, preventing it from traveling upward out of position.
Failure to update and missed opportunities. The Proteus core was released some 3 years ago. The Spectrum is still on store shelves some two years after Logitech updated their G logo. Kinda advertises that it is an “old” mouse. Logitech isn’t putting 50m omrons on the mouse. Redundantly…no rubber scroll and no attempt at weight reduction with the Spectrum release. Makes me sad. Worse, the G900 weights 15 grams less and it is wireless. For the Spectrum update, Logitech simply added RGB to the logo and deleted some teal from the thumb rest. If it had been my company doing such a minor change, I would have simply updated the mouse and let people notice the fact there was a nice little production update.
Conclusion
Despite the fact this is an older design, the Proteus Spectrum is still a good design that holds up well in many areas. One of the best compliments I can give the G502 is that I’m not terribly tempted to go back to my G403, probably my fave mouse of all time – and that is coming from someone who, until recently, was looking for a 70 gram gaming mouse. Is the 502 ideal for FPS? Nope. But, it is still probably the best all-round mouse I’ve used. This mouse’s “honeymoon phase” lasted almost two weeks, an eternity for me. That’s part of why I kept using this mouse as long as I did – I didn’t want to move on. It’s not perfect, and there are several legitimate gripes. This mouse’s shortcoming are all the more painful because without them this mouse could have been A+ material so easily. That said, I look forward to using it a lot more. I hope we see a “G503” come out in a wired and wireless version. The wired version should retain the basic shape with all the buttons and be no more than 100g with adjustable weights, 110g for starters with the wireless version. I can dream.
Bang for Buck Grade: A-
Alita M. –
I’d like to start this by stating that I would have given it a 4.5 or even a 4.75 if I could (Amazon if you read this, please add this feature).
I have used many mouses in the past, most notably(and most recently as this is a replacement mouse) the SteelSeries Rival. After the scroll wheel started to stick I decided it was time for a new mouse, plus with the new lighting feature I was excited to upgrade to the G502 (I also like new tech and am fortunate enough to be able to buy things like the G502 without too much harm done). I only received the mouse today, however, I have done about 8 hours of testing and have some stuff to say about it. (please note: I will update if my opinion changes or if any problems arise)
-Build quality and packaging:
The packaging is awesome, it even tells me the coefficient of friction… I love physics, and this being included is really awesome, thank you Logitech! 😀 (also it looks cool, not the nicest thing I’ve ever unboxed but it’s still pretty good)
As for the mouse itself I was pleasantly surprised by it’s shape and construction quality. I felt the cheap manufacturing of even the rival but the G502 really gives me a new look at how a mouse I payed a rather large amount of money for “should” feel. Really good job, Logitech!
-Feeling/Comfort:
I am right handed, if you’re left handed I can’t imagine it’d be all that comfortable as such don’t pay attention to this 🙁
The first thing I thought when I got the mouse in my hands was it was cold and soft in all the right places… the sides have a simply fantastic matt finish, as such it’s slightly cold to the touch and also very soft. Seemingly connecting the matt finish in a series of circuits(as you can see from looking at the pictures by logitech) is hard, cold plastic. The plastic really adds personality to the mouse, with it’s very strong structure.
The lay-out of the buttons is great because whether or not you touch them is completely up to you(as in resting position you’re not going to touch any of the G-keys)
The mouse wheel is simply orgasmic(sorry, but I’m in love), it’s made out of I presume either stainless steel or something of that nature and feels really, really sturdy. When you move the wheel it has a very nice click feeling. This along with a very smooth “infinite” scrolling feature I can’t think of a single thing wrong with it. Some people may say it’s slippery, which I suppose it could be, but coming from the rival with it’s rubber roller cover, putting a little extra force on the wheel is a small amount to pay for such a luxury feel.
The adjustable weights are really well implemented, and offer a great deal of customization, both in changing the center of mass of the mouse and in changing it’s frictional resistance. I personally just use the mouse without any weights as I got accustomed to the Rival’s extremely light design. However having the option is a very nice touch.
-Sensor
Coming from the Rival all I really have to say is it feels very responsive and gives a lot of options for DPI adjustment. I have a 1440p monitor and prefer something around 5000dpi, however I have higher presets for things like flying or driving and then lower presets for sniping. At the presets I have after playing a couple hours of games I didn’t experience any issues!
Works very well in FPS games and I would assume in any other game (though if you only play RTS games don’t spend 80$ on a mouse, but that’s just my 2 cents)
-Features
Unlike many other gamers I do not like to use the G-keys for anything other than DPI shifting and then back and forward for browsing. I don’t use multiple profiles and use the “Shift” key sparingly, though I am using it more and more (it’s only been a day!).
HOWEVER, the mouse brings a LOT to the table. With more than just customizable G-keys. For example, the shift key being a new addition to my “used” features with it’s very ergonomic implementation. Not to mention the fantastic “infinite scroll” feature, which is a really awesome tool to have, it’s surprising how often it comes in handy. The features that I do use offer me more than enough to be happy with the mouse, in fact the only button I don’t use is the profile switch key. Which, I’ve gotta say is really awesome! (that I don’t have to use all of the keys to really enjoy the mouse)
That said, the Logitech program, while being a bit wanky and laggy, offers a metric **** ton of customization; from a different profile per game along with the 3 customizable profiles to being able to change any and all the buttons to do whatever you feel necessary, the G502 delivers.
-Lighting
So having seen the spectrum on CES 2016 I was instantly hooked on the idea with a mouse that could fit in with my color scheme (green and black as I have a black widow keyboard [highly recommend this, btw]). However, I was disappointed by it’s lackluster customize options, you can change the color and whether or not it breaths or shifts between colors. Not to mention the fact that the lighting is done rather poorly, with pretty dim lights it doesn’t stand a chance against my keyboard, and then at the same time the lighting is not uniform across the logo. Which is something that is disappointing as the Rival accomplished this goal very well with nice, bright, lights (I forget whether or not the light intensity was customizable). It’s for this reason that I deducted .25-.5 points as the whole bases of this upgrade(from core to spectrum, Logitech’s upgrade, not mine) was for the new RGB lights and Logitech did a rather poor job of implementing it 🙁
Conclusion:
I would, as my opinion stands right now, recommend this mouse. I think it’s definetely worth the 80$ if you have a use for it’s features and or sensor. It’s not perfect, but I give props to Logitech and whoever designed it for it’s amazing feeling, that mouse wheel made me so happy it’s astounding! Also the cable for the mouse is pretty short, Wish it could have been maybe 1-2 feet longer, but oh well.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your future mouse 😀
note: for those wondering I would rank the Rival below this, the G502 feels much better to me, and also a little more responsive.
Suela termalaj –
When I ordered the mouse the proteus spectrum didn’t come but the hero edition came instead