Author: Gabriel Vega
Editor: Howard Ha
Publish Date: Friday, March 21st, 2008
Originally Published on Neoseeker (http://www.neoseeker.com)
Article Link: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/g9_review/
Copyright Neo Era Media, Inc. - please do not redistribute or use for commercial purposes.
The Logitech G9 is the latest in the long series of G series devices by the company, in previous entries we had seen the company play with optical versus laser as well as ergonomic and universal hand grip styles, this time around we get multiple grips for play with, MicroGear on the scroll wheel, more / heavier weights in the base and an adjustable range from 200dpi - 3200dpi with no lag.
Let’s go over the specs for a moment.
Overall the unit is really heavily packed with features from past units; personally it's nice to see MicroGear make it from the MX revolution to this new incarnation.
Let’s go over our field of test mice.
Razer Deathadder
Logitech G3
Logitech G5
Logitech G9
Logitech MX518
The G9 is a very compromising mouse, by that I mean that there are a load of things you can change on this setup, the grip comes off for a more casual rest or you can snap on a more aggressive and shorter grip with a textured shell. The allowance is a nice one, although some gamers will probably feel that they become accustomed to one style over the other and find themselves forgetting about the option in time. For me I've become much more attached to the textured hand-grip which for the most part seemed foreign until I warmed up to it.
Playing with the G9 is another story, the mouse uses a new version of SetPoint designed for G9 support, gamers have control over the LED color scheme, over the macro catalog, over polling rates and DPI levels not only on the fly but per profile as the G9 stores up to 5 individual profiles for gamers to use on the mouse itself in memory, as a result gamers can take the mouse anywhere and use the settings stored without having to go through the control panel again. This was a nice feature when swapping between my desktop and laptop. Unfortunately while the macro feature is pretty nice, it could go a step beyond and allow for custom macro calls to be made to finally complete the circle.
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In action the G9 is smooth, the feet have little if any resistance at all, the weight of the mouse is light but it can be adjusted with the included container of mini-weights. For the most part I found myself not needing them as I like to whip around but in sniping I found myself using about 22g of weight to rebalance it. The MicroGear wheel was the first thing to get turned off, while it's nice that it's so click precise, if I need to whirl through my weapons in a hurry, I'm going to take whatever shortcut allows for it. In this case the ball bearing setup allowed for fast swaps without having to even consider my number keys. It's also good for a laugh when just running around as you wait for the wheel to finally slow down from rapid pace without stopping it.
The ergonomics of the mouse are very sound, the grips allow for some comfort while keeping the hand prone to action, I didn't find my hand getting all that settled while testing at all and that in general I found my aim to be in constant movement allowing for more critical shots to be made in game. Given that it didn't seem that welcoming at first it was a surprise to see how fast I could change my style after giving it a chance to really just set in.
Team Fortress 2 isn't the most demanding game there is for mice overall, but when you factor in the scout; a fast mouse makes the difference between becoming bat bait or owning a scout. For me the G9 was a welcome guest in this area, my prior mice have done a good job at trying to keep up but the G9 at 3200DPI with 1000hz polling just kept me on top of them step for step and really there's not much of a better feeling when you start laying down scouts, unless you go to the dark side and play one yourself using it.
The G9 keeps on par here with the competition, being able to program my buttons is a wonderful thing, the macro feature wasn't that useful in TF2 although I could see how one might have one set aside for engineers and building. The MicroGear was a feature that came in handy for quick swapping as the last weapon swap isn't that handy with such a variety of attacks, often is it that ammo is short lived so the next handy item needs to come up fast to win in a showdown.
The map testing was diverse, using the entire scale of maps in TF2 for this one given the mode of play varies, it's hard to scout the whole time or have a good run as a heavy if the map isn't really designed to allow for it, I think one of my favorites was using skyscraper to bounce around in, while others seemed to have trouble placing their next sticky bombs in place, I was able to set and prep fairly fast and get through the sections. In general the mouse was giving me a boost to my reaction time over others because as opponents attempted to whip around and strike, I was already there and landing critical attacks. I liked the improvement that also came to the Soldier and Sniper classes, being able to lay accurate shots on the fly is a really nice change of pace instead of doing a very random "I hope this really lands" approach to fighting.
In the field test, the G9 took some hits though, being able to fully compress my hand onto the mouse was a nice thing and really I was only getting that out of the G5, Deathadder and MX518. When gaming runs for hours like it can, things need to feel a bit natural; while I can game for long periods on the G9 it's not carrying the same feel even with the grip change. Between the cast of 3 I'd say the revised G5 had the lead, without that the Deathadder had a close second on that spot.
While some may have expected this to go to Crysis, it isn't, mainly due to my hardware setup and most hardware setups not being really up to par for running Crysis on a steady frame rate in online play. Counter-Strike on the other hand is very much established and stable with a huge array of users on various levels of hardware, all of which though are able to run the game at the minimum spec.
CS is a game where everything matters, the moment a crouch is made, the speed of an entry, the wall that just got bumped while trying to go between doors. The game lets players slowdown for anything and everything and if someone isn't on top of their game, you can always bet that someone else is and that they wont hesitate to exploit that. For this run the G9 was used on the infamous levels for the game, dust2 and office. In TF2 I used the map rotation as a base but for CS, there are only a handful of maps that really get abused by players.
cs_office was a quick sell, the game moves fast and the mouse was dragging the visual end by the nose, shots were quick the mouse felt too fast for the game, while I laid down a good amount of kills it seems like I zipped over people at times in shots that should have probably made some level of contact. Toning down the mouse for the first time to 2000dpi I was on the field with the G5 and G3, the G9 though did steady out around this range and even was safe to 2400 for my taste in speed and connections made.
de_dust2 was next up, dust2 should generally be cut and dry, but matches can take quite a bit of time, with a friend on hand to back me up I pitched a tent and camped the T spawn at start to scout players coming down the double door path, the mouse was dead on and the 22g weight pack was good enough to hold the sight steady for those coming down the path. The speed of mouse stayed on par for the match, I felt just as smooth in running in d2 as I did in office. Overall the kills were on par and I felt satisfied with the KDR.
In the overall test I think I felt a little more at home with the G9 in this, there's a lot less idle time to be had in CS since there are no classes for support and every moment matters if you want to live through the round, the G5 and G3 felt nice too with the Deathadder just bit behind, overall though even with the DPI drop the read was just smooth with the G9, I didn't feel like I had a sudden shift going down the scale and in comparison I felt I still had a lead over the G5 and G3 at 2000DPI. I noticed that pushing the Deathadder to higher levels left me with some gaps in my feedback when it was nearing the extreme, the IR is powerful in it but how far it can be bent out is another story.
It wouldn't make sense to go without one of the biggest sellers of the year in this roundup; COD4 has risen up the ranks to become a huge contender in the FPS arena.
Multiplayer in Call of Duty is a bit of a stretch for those used to playing in Source games or many other shooters, from death to respawn the action is very quick because the battle area is a lot more intense with a lot of action always going on as people fight to hold points or take them down. Add in the element of the support chopper and the air raid and more and this battle really heats up for people. The G9 in this case returned to full glory, 3200DPI with the polling still at 1000Hz. Sleeved up still on the textured grip I set off into battle.
The speed of the matches in COD4 are really fast and the game works to keep players in a sense that they're experiencing the action firsthand, as a result when someone throws a grenade or a stream of fire comes through the player is quick to duck, turn and jump out of harms way when it comes along. The G9 in this case is really amazing, aiming is quick and spot on when it comes to picking off people, instead of worrying about lining up the sight the mouse manages to flow along nicely with the amount of data it's picking up in such a short movement, in close combat this is really nice when it's essentially spray and pray and the person who kept their mouse focus the steadiest will probably win.
Vacant and Shipment were the focus of the test, both taking things through a series of indoor and outdoor experiences, pushing the other side and also taking a beating at times when the tides shifted in the power struggle for teams to hold the best ground, for me the G9 barely felt to be a burden in any form as it pulled left and right without problem. The buttons were smooth and action felt seamless, the speed of the mouse was enough to save me from narrow misses quite a few times in game as well. I did notice that in close quarters though, the mouse cut around quite fast, for those camping on the floor they had an extra moment to react as whipping around leaves a bit of spray and pray going on before the bullets find a center again, the Deathadder was actually close on this for me, even with the settings high but not peaked it seemed to flow steadily for game play in quick targeting and rushing, the G3 and G5 were fast but I didn't feel the same overall pacing for some reason.
The G9 is an impressive mouse, the features are solid enough, it also sends a signal for me that it's about time to retire the MX518 as in most of the tests I couldn't find a reason to really mention it, often was it that it played up in enjoy ability with the G5 but the responsive nature of the G5 left it in the dust, or that if it was flowing better than the G5 the Deathadder smashed it. The 518 is a good unit still, but it seems that the times have caught up with it in these newer shootout cases.
Looking past that, the G9 offers some things that make it worthwhile, the interchangeable grip is nice, it feels comfortable when things are really heating up, it works to the job it's designed for and keeps me in the middle of the battle and things like the MicroGear just melt me away, there's something about blistering speed scrolling that is really amazing to have. The DPI range is amazing and gaming at 3200DPI is something else for sure when I thought I had really seen it all with previous laser mice at the 2000 level. There is a level of precision in action but for the passive player, who doubles into things like Photoshop, 3200 is probably going to be one of those moments that seem overkill as the mouse speeds around, thankfully scaling back can fix that issue though.
With the G9 coming in around the $60 - $70 mark it is a hard sell to make; will those holding onto their G5 want to make the jump? for the passive gamer it will probably not. Will it be enough though for the enthusiast though? It's probably a really good consideration because of the shift that the extra speed makes in game right away.
Out of the field of gaming products I had to use, the G9 was the outsider, it didn't have the looks and it seemed rough on the edges, after trial and testing though, the mouse works and it lives up to the category of gaming mouse because really at times it decimated what I could do on my other devices, the speed is intense to experience right off the bat and generally needs a warm up period but after it hits that sweet spot, the mouse just hums along as bodies fly and bullets fill the landscape as I click along. I can be picky and say I'd love to make some custom macro calls for it beyond KB/Mouse recording but it's not bothering me that much because it's more of an ideal feature more than anything else.
For those out there ready to retire their basic mouse or even older gaming mouse, I'd really give some thought into the G9, it's a powerful mouse with a lot of options, the weight system, the grip changes and the profiles make it attractive for all types of gamers especially those on the go or with multiple configurations. If you see it in person, try to play with it, check out the shell the loader system, the MicroGear on or off and just the general feel of the mouse, it's a bit of a change from the normal gaming devices.
The Logitech G9 was one of the few mice I wasn't sure about, but through trial and testing and abuse the mouse held up strong and has earned a full time testing seat here until a new challenger emerges.
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