Yes, yes, there has been no update recently, work and all that 😀
So today’s post will be about the newest addition to my menagerie of digital beasts, the Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum. How do I end up with one? Well, I’ve been meaning to find a replacement for my aging Logitech M950 Performance MX, not that it needs replacing, as aside from its’ physical appearances showing wear and tear, it’s close to perfect. I decided to go with the G900 instead of the MX Master because I think it’s a good compromise between performance and mainstream features such as hyper-fast scrolling.
I don’t know why but it seems that Logitech has been a bit hesitant in releasing their high-end stuff in Indonesia. As of the time this post is published, you can’t find the MX Master, the G900, the G910 Orion Spectrum on Indonesian store shelves. I don’t know why, but I won’t let that between me and my new mouse.
So I shamelessly beg one of my friend, which was visiting Melbourne at the time, to find her way to a store over there that carries the G900. And here it is.
Inside the Box
Here’s a video of me unboxing the G900.
There’s an ongoing effort by Logitech to strip the content of their package to a bare minimum, as evidently shown in my recent post about the MX Anywhere 2 and recently, the G900. Inside the box, you’ll find the G900, the usb dongle, a braided microUSB to USB cable for charging and wired mode, a small storage box containing the optional side buttons and their corresponding covers, as well as some sort of converter to transform the charging cable into some kind of USB port extender. For a mouse this expensive, it’s pretty bare. I mean, not even a pouch?
Build Quality
The G900’s ambidextrous body is constructed from hard, high quality plastic that doesn’t squeak under pressure. The surface is coated with matte finish that feels good to the hand and does well against fingerprints. The mouse is crazy light, the lightest yet in my stable of wireless mice, courtesy of the combination of plastic build and the 720 mAh lithium-ion battery.
Features
Logitech’s pedigree in creating excellent regilar, non-gaming mouse is well presented in the G900, as it is equipped with Logitech’s signature hyper-fast scrolling mode and also my first gaming mouse that has tilt scroll. This well balanced feature list is my main reasons for picking up the G900 instead of the MX Master. And thankfully, for us linux users, the G900 is equipped with onboard memory which you can use to store up to five profiles that contains settings such as resolution steppings, button bindings, and LED colors. It’s not an ideal solution, but as of now, for me, it’s good enough
Logitech hyped the G900 as THE wireless replacement for your high performance wired mouse, and release a couple of benchmark videos showing how it compares (and wins) in latency against not only other wireless mice, but also its’ wired contemporaries. Cool, I guess. The laser sensor can go up to 12000 DPI if you need one.
Typical to ambidextrous gaming mice, the G900 sports a very minimum set of buttons, having only the regular left, right, middle, scroll, tilt, and a pair of forward and backward buttons on either side of its’ body. There’s also a DPI up and down buttons on top of the mouse, just under the switch to engage the frictionless, hyper-fast scrolling mode. at the bottom you’ll find the power (!!) switch and a button dedicated for switching between profile. More on that later.
Like newer Logitech wireless mice, the G900 ditches the AA battery compatibility in favor of built-in, non-replaceable 720 mAh Li-Ion battery that will last you a couple of days in regular, daily use, and about 20 hours of gaming use. It’s good enough for desktop use, but for mobile and traveling use, it won’t be as convenient as carrying a true mobile wireless mouse such as the original Anywhere MX that sips a pair of AAs for at least a year. But if you want to carry a wireless mouse that might lost its’ charges right when you need it, go ahead.
In use
For this part, I will be comparing the G900 to my Ouroboros and the Level 10M Hybrid, since I use those two the most aside from the M950.
The G900’s body is a bit longer than the Ouroboros at its’ shortest setting, and the scroll wheel sit ever so slightly further to the front, and it’s a bit annoying since I have to stretch my index finger a bit more that I’m comfortable with. I know, first world problem. I mainly palm my mouse so I kinda miss Ouroboros’ pinky rest. Switching to claw however, improve my experience with the G900. The two main buttons are a bit harder to press compared to my Ouroboros, perhaps because it’s new? Maybe it will give in after some extended use? Maybe.
Tracking is a bit better than my Ouroboros. This is actually my first mouse, wired of wireless that is equipped with optical sensor for almost a decade I think. Almost all of my recent mouse was equipped with laser sensors. The weight threw me off a bit, but then I kinda get used to it, so it’s fine.
The battery managed to last for about 3 days of my typical usage, which is on par with my other wireless gaming mouse such as the Ouroboros and Level 10 Hybrid. While it’s not terrible for a “desktop” wireless mouse, I was expecting something more from the move from AA to built-in Li-Ion battery.
As I have mentioned above, G900’s onboard memory can store as many as 5 profiles. To switch between profile, you must lift the mouse and turn it around, and press the profile switch button, located below the power switch. It’s not as good as the Level 10M Hybrid side joystick, but better than the Ouroboros’ single profile, and even better than the Sensei that lacks onboard memory. In case of G900, having switchable, multiple profile is great, since it lacks additional buttons, aside from usual left, right, middle, forward and backward buttons. My first profile is has a regular button mappings with all LED turned off, while my second profile has the forward button mapped to DPI shift, allowing me to temporary dial down the DPI to 400 DPI for sniping on FPS games.
Final Thoughts
So, is it good? For the money you’ll be spending, it better be 😀 After using it for a month or so, I think the G900 definitely delivers, but it didn’t really blow my mind. Perhaps the hype got me, or perhaps my needs is not that demanding, thus I failed to see the benefit, or make use of its’ advanced features. Is it a proper replacement for my M950? Yes, no, maybe… The G900 healthy mix of gaming and more conventional features such as tilting and frictionless scrollwheel easily won over having to switch between the M950 and Ouroboros for desktop and gaming use. The thing is, at the end of the day, I’m still concerned about the day that the onboard battery would finally died, and I have no way of replacing it. Sucks I know. I think I’ll be holding on the M950 and Ouroboros for a bit longer.
Verdict: 4/5
