Logitech G9 Laser Gaming Mouse

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by Greg King on August 29, 2007 in Peripherals

Looking for the ultimate gaming mouse? Logitech’s latest G9 offers a lot… and then some. Included is a switchable body, color-changing LEDs, 3200 DPI capabilities, MicroGear scroll-wheel, braided cable and much more. The question: Is it worth your $99?

Page 2 – Closer Look


Once we have the G9 out of the packaging and on our bench, it takes little time for us to actually get hands on experience with the mouse. Logitech has been known for a long time for their ergonomically designed, kidney bean shaped mice. While the G9 isn’t the first mouse to depart from this tried and true, not to mention quite comfortable, shape (the Revolution accomplished this last year), the newest gaming mouse from Logitech certainly caught our attention.

The cord is similar to the one found on the G5 gaming mouse we reviewed last year. To help reduce friction between the cord and the desk, Logitech has again chosen to include a braided cable. This not only looks and feels solid, it actually slides across our smooth surfaced bench. Whether or not this is any real benefit is obviously up to the user. We liked the look and feel of the cord and felt that it added a bit more class to an already solid looking mouse, but I honestly couldn’t tell any difference between the standard plastic coated cable the braided one on the G9.

The back end of the G9 shows off one of the most radically different designs of the mouse itself. With its sharp edges and its recessed bottom half, the feel of the G9 is significantly different than that of any of the other Logitech mice we have worked with to date… and there’s been a lot of them.

The scroll wheel and buttons of the G9 are also radically different than those found on virtually all other Logitech mice. Instead of the smooth rounded feel of the past mice, the G9’s buttons are rounded out to provide a comfortable place for our fingers to get their 1337 twitch on. The scroll wheel was borrowed from the Revolution and is a welcomed addition to any mouse Logitech feels like putting it on.

With a button on the bottom that allows us to switch between “ratchet mode” and “hyper fast mode,” the G9 gives us the ability to feel the click to switch weapons in a game as well as smoothly move through multiple pages of a document at once. While I love this use when switching between games and productivity applications, I don’t realistically see many gamers switch between the two in the middle of a game as it requires you to physically lift the mouse and press the button on the bottom. Also, just under the left mouse button is the DPI setting switch.

Here’s a closer look at the scroll wheel. It’s got a stylish design to it with silver sides and a textured rubber middle.

The bottom of the mouse holds even more features. The most notable feature is the laser eye. This is what gives the G9 the ability to reliably and realistically translate our movements into cursor movements. Just above the eye in the pictures, we can see a small rectangular button. This allows the user to quickly switch between up to 5 saved profiles with a simply press of the button.

To the right of the eye there is another button that allows the user to switch between the two available scroll modes. All along the outside of the mouse are polytetrafluoroethylene feet (say that one a few times quickly) that allow the G9 to slide effortlessly across most surfaces. To test this out, I used our fUnc mousepad, a favorite around the Techgage labs.

One nice thing about these feet is that they are supposedly user replaceable and can be removed with the help of a small screwdriver thanks to tiny groove that along each foot. Should you need to replace the feet, we are told that you can purchase them from Logitech’s website.

On the back, there is a large button. By pressing this and rotating the grip forward, the grips can be exchanged. I personally like the wider grip but everyone is different and while Logitech is marketing the slimmer version as the precision oriented gaming grip, I found that I died with the same frequency using both the wide and the slim grip. Once again, personal preference trumps everything else when deciding on a grip.

Now for a little walk around the G9 in pictures. Notice the slim grip’s Logitech logo on the back is grey while the wide grip has a red logo. There are other differences such as the slanted ridges along the sides in the back to give the G9 a faster look when the slim grip is used.

Just behind the DPI switch is a small row of LED lights. These signify which of the 5 available profiles are in use and the color of the lights can be changed as well. Unlike most products with changeable LEDs, the G9’s lights run the entire spectrum of colors and fortunately for us, are not limited to a select handful. While there are many different colors to choose from in the Set Point software, the LEDs themselves don’t seem to be noticeably different from one color to the next when going from, say, a light pink to a lighter pink. Regardless, the mouse still offers far more lighting options than anything else available at the moment and if there is anything that gamers love, its lights.

With that, a look at the SetPoint Pro software is up next.


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