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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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.