Logitech G5 Laser Mouse

The best mouse I have ever user.

Strengths: Laser precision; excellent grip; tilt wheel; weight tuning; on-the-fly sensitivity switching up to 2000DPI; DPI indicator; slick pads; application profiling.

Weakness: hard to middle click; right-handed only. Logitech G9 is there and prices are falling.

I bought Logitech g5 to replace the Creative Fatality 1010 mouse after it broke in less than an year use. Much solid and stable, but I needed some time to adjust to it.

By dasc - Jul 16, 2008

The King of Corded

Strengths: On the fly DPI switching, two thumb buttons, accurate, relatively inexpensive, adjustable weight, wired

Weakness: cheesy gamer look, rough textured grip, scroll wheel isn't easily as clickable as some other mic, mice buttons feel slightly strange, wired

The G5 is about as good as you're going to get for a wired mouse and as high as DPI as you'll ever want. Mice DPI wars have gone on for years now, even since the trackball days as DPI physically meant how sensitive the mouse rollers were and was more tied to the actual max resolution of the mouse. When Mice went optical (remember the Intellimouse Explorer?) it introduced a new element, the image...
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The G5 is about as good as you're going to get for a wired mouse and as high as DPI as you'll ever want. Mice DPI wars have gone on for years now, even since the trackball days as DPI physically meant how sensitive the mouse rollers were and was more tied to the actual max resolution of the mouse. When Mice went optical (remember the Intellimouse Explorer?) it introduced a new element, the image processor. Most gamers will see DPI as the bar measurement of a mouse, be when it only in reality means how sensitive the mouse is when moved. Any mouse can technically operate at 2000 DPI given the sensitivity settings in software, but not all mice are high enough resolution to make extreme DPIs usable.
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Now for the nerdy mouse explanation of why DPIs are not necessarily indicative accuracy:
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In the past serial mice only updated somewhere around 60 MHz, meaning the mouse position was only updated 60 times per second. PS/2 could be over clocked thus meaning how many times a second the mouse position was checked. Gamers would over clock the bus on the PS/2 as if a game was running at say, 70 FPS the mouse movement would cause stuttering especially noticable if the mouse was being used to control the player's view. The game would be forced re-render 10 frames at various points waiting for mouse position to be updated. When USB came along, it upgraded to 125 Hz update cycles. Humans generally cannot detect above roughly 65-85 FPS meaning the stuttering problem was gone. Also as LCDs made their way into the market place, were (and still are) fixed at generally 60 Hz updates meaning that the monitor itself can only physically display a theoretical max of 60 FPS, where as many CRTs could display 120 Hz, hence 120 FPS. However for various applications , games and such, a fast movement might require more than simply 127 updates to correctly capture the movement, more noticeable when making quick strokes in art applications as if you moved too fast, the application would be forced to fill in the blanks between updates and create approximations. Programs like photoshop improved their mouse capturing techniques in later versions by using bezier curves between points rather than straight lines.
However optical mice introduce a new aspect: image processing. To detect the change of position, a tiny camera captures and compares images of the surface the mouse is on and compares it to the last frame. The first optical mice captured at about 1200 times a sec, but fast movements were more prone to cause skipping, as the previous frame the capture captured would be too different than the previous to make a discernible guess as to what direction the mouse had moved. At first, early optical mice improved capture rates until they started to brick wall due to the image resolutions. What good is a billion times a second image comparison are if it can't detect surface changes accurate? To make them more cost effective, the used laser lighting to help properly increase the ability to image capture at higher resolution were introduced, making the mouse able capture higher resolution and thus able to track surfaces previously that'd confuse the mice. Also introduced during this transition time were work arounds to get past the 125 Hz limit of USB, using USB2.0 16 bit address among other things.
So in the end on the software DPI only which what the scale of the movements are projected. If you were to move the mouse at 2000 DPI, the mouse would translate minor movements as much greater distances to the computer. As stated, to do this accurately you need a much greater image processor to accurately calculate minor movements without making the mouse appear jumpy. The 2000 DPI in itself is not how accurate the mouse really, but a lesser mouse probably wouldn't ship with 2000 DPI printed on the box if it wasn't accurate enough to do.
In the end, this mouse is pretty sleek and accurate, but for non gaming applications actually lurks behind Logitech's super wireless mice. The MX1000 and MV are more well suited with the extra buttons for day-to-day use and feel better. However, its a great mouse to have and never needs charging. Hard to beat.

By slickninja - Feb 22, 2008

I would think twice about this product

Strengths: Slick looking, Tilt on wheel, feels great in hand

Weakness: I had problems with the scroll wheel stopped working. And when I play games I can't get the 5th mouse botton to work.

I had so much trouble with this mouse that I went back to my Logitech MX518 that I had replaced with this mouse. I have had that mouse for more then 3 year maybe 4 now and have had zero problems with it.

By schierman - Jun 17, 2009

Best Mouse Ever

Strengths: Adjustable weight system, ultra-smooth movement when used with a gaming mousepad!

Weakness: Side-scroll (tilt-wheel) is too easy to accidentally trigger when trying to just click the wheel down in the middle position.

This is by far the best mouse I have ever owned. It looks pretty intense sitting on my desk, but it's totally worth it because it works so incredibly well. The weight system is fantastic in when used on a gaming mousepad I don't feel anything when I move the mouse, it just glides like it's on air! I've had this mouse for over a year now and can say there's not much I can fault it with. The...
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This is by far the best mouse I have ever owned. It looks pretty intense sitting on my desk, but it's totally worth it because it works so incredibly well. The weight system is fantastic in when used on a gaming mousepad I don't feel anything when I move the mouse, it just glides like it's on air! I've had this mouse for over a year now and can say there's not much I can fault it with. The customizing software for assigning specific keys/macros to the buttons when used for specific games isn't super intuitive to figure out, but once you get it set up you never have to think about it and it works beautifully. Only minor complaint is that sometimes I struggle to do a middle click (with the wheel) and I unknowingly click it to the side (as if doing a side-scroll instead of a click). This is a bit annoying, but doesn't come up that often.

By Anonymous - May 24, 2009

Great Mouse

Strengths: +Texture and Feel + Plenty of buttons + Smooth Movement on Mousepad.

Weakness: - Right handed oriented

Having been using a Logitech MX300 for little over 6-7 years, I believed it was time for a replacement. The first thing one may notice is the texture and feel of the mouse when one first lays their hand of it. It's quite rough, which I believe is a positive, as it "feels" snug and secure in your hand compared to slippery plastic in other mice. The weight cartridge system is quite unique, but they...
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Having been using a Logitech MX300 for little over 6-7 years, I believed it was time for a replacement. The first thing one may notice is the texture and feel of the mouse when one first lays their hand of it. It's quite rough, which I believe is a positive, as it "feels" snug and secure in your hand compared to slippery plastic in other mice.

The weight cartridge system is quite unique, but they do serve there purpose. One can adjust the weight of their mouse to serve their comfort zone.

DPI on the fly switching is rather new to me, and I simply just leave it on the middle setting for all my desktop navigating and gaming purposes. But, for those used to those situational moments, the DPI switches are easily within reach, and an on mouse display tells you what setting you are on.

Overall, it's a great mouse for the price. Its huge feet pads underneath it gives you a smooth and even glide over your mouse pads. It has 9 programmable buttons, with a mouse wheel that tilts. I would recommend this mouse for those right handers looking for that perfect corded mouse.

By Danchu - Jul 24, 2008