As you may need guessed from the identify, the Logitech G502 Hero is a barely fancier model of Logitech’s basic £50 / $50 G502 gaming mouse. For an additional £30 / $30, you possibly can bag your self a 16000 DPI sensor versus a 12000 one, left and proper clickers with a 50 million click on endurance ranking fairly than 20 million, and a further two onboard reminiscence profiles taking the full to 5 as an alternative of three. Otherwise you’re taking a look at precisely the identical mouse as earlier than. Is it price the additional money? Let’s discover out.
I’ll admit I used to be shocked once I came upon the G502 Hero weighed 121g, because it feels a lot lighter once you’re transferring it across the mouse mat. On paper, it’s simply 9g lighter than the humongous Roccat Kone Aimo, and but the Hero’s svelte dimensions and tremendous clean ft usually seemed it was gliding effortlessly throughout my material mouse mat with barely any resistance in any respect. It is, admittedly, very a lot a ‘gamer’ fashion mouse with its many sections and copious combos of matt and shiny finishes, however there’s no denying it feels sturdy and well-made.
Like the Steelseries Rival 600, you can even make it even heavier if you want, as each it and the common G502 include just a little field of 5 3.6g weights that may be slotted into the bottom of the mouse beneath its magnetic clip-on cowl, providing you with a further 18g to play with in whole. As somebody who prefers a lighter sort of mouse so my spindly fingers don’t ache with exertion after half an hour, I discovered that one weight was greater than sufficient for my tastes throughout day by day use and enjoying games, however at the least the choice’s there for individuals who desire one thing with a bit extra heft to it.
The 5 further weights are available just a little field in order that they don’t get misplaced, and slot simply into the bottom of the mouse.
Naturally, this sculpted mouse could be very a lot supposed for right-handed customers. There’s a helpful, textured thumb groove on the left-hand facet beneath two easily-accessible facet buttons, with the identical materials over on the suitable to assist anchor your little finger. As I hinted at above, it’s exceedingly cozy to make use of each day, and the form of it’s excellent for each a standard fingertip-style grip the place your wrist sits simply behind the again of the mouse, and a lazy outdated palm-smothering grip.
Given the G502’s nearly good proportions, I used to be impressed that Logitech managed to cram on so many further buttons right here with none of them getting in the best way, as you get not two, not three and even 4 extra buttons, however seven of them. The aforementioned pair of facet buttons are set to forwards and backwards for net looking by default, however every one may be configured to nearly something you want via Logitech’s Gaming Software, corresponding to media instructions, DPI controls, keyboard shortcuts together with copy, paste and undo, in addition to recordable macros.
You’ll additionally discover one other two buttons simply above these beside the principle left clicker. These can shift between completely different DPI or sensitivity settings, and on the Hero you possibly can set as much as 5 in whole ranging anyplace between a dead-slow 100 DPI and a far-too-fast 16000 DPI (the common G502’s DPI vary goes from 200-12000). Personally, I’m unsure anybody actually wants the additional 4000 DPI afforded by the Hero. Unless your eyes have been plucked from a robotic’s corpse and might in some way preserve monitor of those faster-than-light mouse speeds, something between 12000 and 16000 is simply too fast for me to maintain up with each day, and I believe it’s going to in all probability be the identical for you, too.
However, the additional 100 DPI on the decrease finish of the dimensions might properly turn out to be useful in relation to using the G502’s third facet button on the finish of the thumb groove, the appropriately named Sniper button. Hold this down and your DPI may be modified on the fly with out you having to succeed in for the rest once you’re mid-shot or trailing enemy gamers down your gun sights. As inept as I’m at aggressive shooters, I do admire the practicality of buttons like this, because it offers you simply that little bit of additional management over your actions that different mice may not afford.
Finally, the final pair of additional buttons are situated slightly below the scroll wheel. The one nearest your hand merely switches between completely different profiles (and might as soon as once more be configured to no matter you want in Logitech’s Gaming Software), however the prime one modifications the velocity and really feel of the scroll wheel.
Out of the field, mine was set to impersonate Leonardo DiCaprio’s endlessly twirling spinning prime from Inception, and for some time I misplaced all sense of time and house. It was a horrible feeling, this everlasting looping mechanism that by no means stopped going spherical and spherical and spherical despite the fact that I solely wished to learn another tweet in my net browser, and it actively made me dislike the G502 the longer I used it. It was solely once I pushed the button beneath it that the G502’s extremely tactile stopper factor kicked in and I got here crashing again to actuality, the scroll wheel now inserting a agency full cease on the finish of every roll with a reassuring, nearly cat purr-like clicky hum. I instantly felt a lot better after that, and stopped me from eager to Sparta-kick the G502 straight into the bin Assassin’s Creed Odyssey-style.
Getting again to the subject at hand, there may be, in fact, a splash of RGB lighting on this right here gaming mouse, as a result of that could be a rule all gaming mice should apparently observe nowadays. Thankfully, you’ll solely discover it illuminating the small Logitech G brand on the highest of the G502, which is at all times hidden by your hand when it’s in use. Logitech additionally offer you loads of choices to maintain it as discreet as potential, too, as you possibly can change each its brightness, flashing charge and even put it on a sleep timer so it’s not continuously flashing away at you when it’s sat idle.
The G502 Hero has seven further buttons in whole, together with two on the facet and a devoted ‘sniper’ button (pictured above) for altering your DPI velocity on the fly.
Ultimately, although, I’m simply unsure the G502 Hero is price the additional £30 / $30 over its equally well-designed sibling. The enhanced 50 million assured left and proper clicks might turn out to be useful in the event you’re a very heavy-handed mouse person, however for me it’s not fairly sufficient to justify the additional value hike. After all, you continue to get all the identical buttons, the identical weight choices and the identical nice design. Maybe it’s as a result of I’m the sort of one that’d solely ever spend £30-40 on a gaming mouse within the first place (£50 at a push within the case of the regular G502 or the superb Steelseries Rival 310), however I admire these after one thing doubtlessly a bit longer-lasting might really feel otherwise. Still, from the place I’m standing (or, err… sitting), it’s the common G502 that’s the actual hero right here.
