The Logitech G500 gaming mouse has landed and it looks set to be one of the hottest new peripherals on the market this year.

Designed mainly for gaming comfort and utility, the G500 continues Logitech’s reputation of creating high quality gaming peripherals. It has been dropped into a hotly contested market though, with Microsoft’s Sidewinder X8 and Verbatim’s Rapier V2 fighting for every inch.

The G500 is a redesigned version of the famous Logitech G5 Laser Mouse, a good device in its own right, and aims to give gamers that decisive boost in speed and accuracy.

Comfort

The G500 is one of the most comfortable mice we’ve had the pleasure of testing. Its large design fits perfectly in-hand and the smooth surface with its ergonomically designed thumb rest makes it a joy to use. All the additional buttons are responsive and easy to use without getting in the way.

The cable is braided to be as though as possible and has sufficient length to easily connect to any desktop setup. The feet on the bottom of the mouse are smooth and quite large, and enables it to glide seamlessly across a mouse pad.

Laser sensor

The G500 has quite an extensive features list for a mouse, a far cry from the days of dust plated, two-buttoned roller mice.

Let’s start with the sensor, instead of optical the G500 uses a laser sensor, pioneered by Logitech back in 2004. The laser sensor provides far greater illumination, meaning the G500 can be used on almost any surface, no matter how glossy.

It can even be used on glass, something which has long been the holy grail of mouse designers. The mouse features Logitech’s Darkfield Laser Tracking which means it uses the smallest possible details to create a micro map of the surface, enabling it to be used on glass. We tested this and were very impressed with the results. But the chances of you using the mouse on a glass surface, especially if you’re a gamer, are practically nil, so it’s more of a gimmick than an actual necessity.

The laser sensor is extremely precise and can track speeds all the way up to 5700 dpi. The G500 even has two buttons with which users can adjust their sensitivity on the go without having to use game menu’s. Users can adjust sensitivity all the way from 200 dpi to 5700 dpi, so whether you need precision for a strategy game or speed for a shooter, the G500 has got you covered.

Additional features

In addition to providing gamers with the utmost precision, the G500 is equipped with a slew of convenience and performance enhancing features. The mouse comes with 8 KB of onboard memory allowing users to save their profile settings and take it with them. This isn’t as much as other mice with the same features as you’ll only be able to load one profile whereas five is the usual norm.

It also comes equipped with weight tuning, supplying users with 12 weights so they can make the mouse as heavy or as light as they’d like it to be. Max weight increase is 27 grams.

The G500 also features the dual-mode scroll wheel, a common feature on new Logitech devices. By pressing a button beneath the scroll wheel users can switch between normal and ‘hyper-fast’ scrolling. We enjoyed this feature even though it’s not really gamer orientated it still makes viewing long web pages and spreadsheets much simpler.

After downloading Logitech’s SetPoint Software (here) users can assign any role they like to the programmable buttons found on the G500.

Conclusion

The Logitech G500 mouse is perfect for the gamer who requires that extra edge. The device is easy-to-use, extremely comfortable and full of functionality. And whether it was the explosive mayhem of Battlefield Bad Company 2 or the precisely measured clicks of Starcraft II, the G500 stood up to the test time and again.

The Logitech G500 retails for R899.99 and is available from Incredible Connection, Makro, Dion Wired and Hi-Fi Corporation stores.