Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse review: Expensive but excellent

It's no exaggeration to say that Logitech's G502 design is one of our favourite gaming mice families. The core design hasn't changed markedly with the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse, but the inclusion of a more precise sensor and improved driver software gives it a lot more flexibility. That's flexibility that comes with a price, quite literally, and while we do love it, it's not going to be a price that every gamer will want to pay.

Design

• Heavy on the left-hand side buttons
• I want to paint it silver and turn it into a cybermat
• Single RGB logo light
• Lefties are once again left out

• Read our full review of the Logitech G502 Lightspeed's design

  Looking at the design of the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse, I was left pondering a question.

  That question was, sadly, "Is it racist... erm... mousist... to think that all the G502 mice look the same to me?"

  That's because from a practical perspective, if you dropped the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse next to, say, the G502 Hero, the only big difference you'd pick up on is that one of them has a cable, and the other one doesn't. Actually, if the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse was charging via its supplied cable, you might not even spot that.

  What that means is that you're getting the same highly grippable design with a small thumb bridge at the left-hand side that my mind resolutely now refers to as the plastic splat. Splat it may be, but it's very comfortable to hold with the three additional action buttons within easy thumb reach during more intense gaming sessions.

  While it's great to grip, the look is, as it's long been, a divisive one. The primary mouse buttons flank the mouse wheel, but there's a notable gap in front of the wheel that accentuates its angular nature, making it look almost angry.

  Luckily, I've worked out a solution: paint the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse silver and it'll fairly closely resemble a Cybermat from Doctor Who. The only problem there is that I'm fairly sure that spray painting the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse would void its warranty.

  The core G502 design is great, as long as you're part of the population that uses a mouse in your right hand. It's not out of the bounds of possibility that you could use the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse as a southpaw, but it would be considerably less comfortable to do so.

Performance

• Supports up to 16,000 DPI with quick switching
• 11 buttons, so more than you have actual fingers
• Weighting makes it easy to customise to your needs
• Wireless performance is very good with solid battery life

• Read our full review of the Logitech G502 Lightspeed's performance

  If you just wanted to slide across a spreadsheet, just about any mouse would do. Heck, you could probably go back to a socket-and-ball style mouse if that's all you wanted to do. A gaming mouse needs precision, and that means the ability to crank up the DPI as high as you need for the game at hand.

  Like so many other gaming mice, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse tops out at 16,000 DPI, although by default the switchable settings don't go that high. 16,000 DPI is very high, and while some pro gamers swear by it, just as many are likely to find it too twitchy for everyday gaming use.

  It's very easy to cycle up and down DPI settings with the supplied buttons, and those who want even more can use the "sniper" button that sits further down the mouse body to switch to a specific setting. As the name implies, it's intended for those sessions where you need absolute precision for a second or two, as it only applies your chosen DPI setting as long as the button is held down.

  Like previous G502 mice, you control the DPI of the mouse on the fly with dedicated buttons that sit to the left of the left mouse button itself. The Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse actually has more buttons than you have fingers unless your parents were very closely related, with 11 programmable buttons in total. The scroll wheel supports left and right tilting, and can be quickly switched from smooth scrolling to ratcheted depending on your preference.

  The Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse by default is quite light, which suits my personal preference in mousing, but like prior G502 models, you're also supplied with a range of weights that you can use to change its overall heft.

  You can cable the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse up, and indeed you'll need to at first for charging purposes, but this is a mouse that's intended for wireless use. It's using a USB receiver rather than Bluetooth for this purpose, and even in my own set-up where there's plenty of potential for radio interference, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse never skipped a beat during testing. While I didn't have access to Logitech's Powerplay mat for wireless charging, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse should work if you want to go totally wire-free for recharging.

Features

• Easy colour customisation
• Macro support
• G Hub works well across PC and Mac

• Read our full review of the Logitech G502 Lightspeed's features

  In order to make the most of the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse you'll need to install Logitech's G Hub software, available for PC or Mac platforms. When we reviewed the G502 Hero, we noted that its app support needed a little work, and when I reviewed the Logitech Pro X keyboard, I found it wasn't terribly happy on the Mac platform.

  Thankfully for the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse, Logitech seems to have listened, with support for higher resolution screens and a lot better labelling of key functions so it's much easier to set macros for your vital button combinations, tweak DPI levels to meet your needs and of course modify the RGB lighting for the G logo on the mouse itself.

  Here the usual patterns of fixed, cycling and breathing patterns are joined by a screen sampler feature, which takes its lighting cues from your screen image. It's a cute idea, although in real world use you're going to have your hand over the logo and much of its brightness is likely to be lost. Of course, if you really want to max out the battery life on the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse, you can just switch off RGB lighting altogether.

Verdict

• This is an amazing mouse...
• ...at a premium price point

I really don't want the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse to go back after my review. It's precise, it's feature rich, and it's comfortable enough to use for both my gaming needs and my everyday mousing usage.

So it's a slam-dunk recommendation, right?

Well, not exactly. Leaving aside the left-handed issues (sorry, southpaws, although we do have a range of excellent options for ambidextrous use in our round-up of the best gaming mice) there's the issue of cost.

The Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse retails in Australia for $249.95, and that's a lot of money to spend on a mouse, even one this nice. By way of comparison, it's not hard to pick up the cabled G502 Hero for around half that price.

But if your budget can stand it, or you can find one at a bargain price, it's an exceptional mouse. Maybe if I do spray paint it silver, Logitech won't notice that I've still got it?

Pricing and availability

The Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse sells in Australia for $249.95.

Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse

Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse

The already excellent Logitech G502 gaming mouse gets even better with wireless connectivity and a wide range of premium features.

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Specs

Where to buy