Logitech G502 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse

Written by John Yan on 5/8/2019 for PC  

Up until recently, the Logitech G502 was my main gaming mouse and it has been since it came out (see Chuck's review here). I was never one to use wireless mice for gaming, but talking with Logitech they urged me to try it out. I didn’t have any experience with their LIGHTSPEED mice nor their Powerplay offerings so when Logitech asked if I wanted to check out their G502 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse, I jumped at the chance.

I talked with Logitech a bit before I received the mouse. They had to do some engineering to fit the new sensor, battery, and other goodies into the same shell of a G502, which wasn’t an easy feat. But what Logitech was able to do to make the G502 Powerplay capable was pretty amazing.

Let’s start off with the shape of the G502 LIGHTSPEED. It’s the G502. If you don’t like the old one, you of course won’t like this one. For those like me who loved the shape, the G502 LIGHTSPEED should be pretty familiar. As you can see from my pictures, they’re both exactly the same. Besides the shape, the feet on the bottom are also identical.

Button alignment is the same as the original G502. There’s the two main mouse buttons, three thumb buttons defaulting to forward, back, and quick DPI switch. Set the DPI for this button and when you hold it down, the mouse will switch to that DPI as long as it’s held. Releasing the button will revert back to the previous DPI setting. This is a great button for snipers who want to adjust to a lower DPI when looking down a scope.

To switch between DPI settings that you can set in GHUB, there’s two buttons that cycle through them to the left of the left mouse button. They are out of the way enough for not to be accidentally clicked, but easy enough to reach when needed.

All the buttons have a very satisfying and pronounce click so you know exactly when they’re actuated. Just like the old G502, the new LIGHTSPEED version feels great as well with a very nice audible sound when pressed. All the buttons were pretty easy for me to reach except for the DPI switching thumb button that I had to slightly move my thumb to access. I use mostly a claw grip with this mouse though and those with a palm grip might be able to have a little easier time reaching that button.

You have a mouse wheel that can tilt left or right and there’s a button to easily switch between a clicky wheel or a free flowing one. When in the non-click mode, the mouse wheel spins smoothly and freely allowing you to quickly go up or down a web page.

There are few things that really set the G502 LIGHTSPEED apart from its wired predecessor. First up is the HERO 16K sensor, which is Logitech’s flagship sensor. If you read my MX518 review or one of the various Logitech reviews with the said sensor, then you know its capabilities. It’s one of the best on the market and delivers incredible performance.  We’re talking up to 16,000 DPI and as low as 100 DPI with the ability to switch to four different DPI settings that’s adjustable via the GHUB software. There’s no smoothing, filtering, or acceleration with this sensor.

The HERO 16K sensor is also very efficient at its job allowing Logitech to use a smaller battery yet retain a large amount of game time between charges. If you’re going on strict wireless gaming without the Powerplay pad, you can get a good 25 hours of battery life before having to plug it in for a recharge. Turn off the two RGB lights in the logo and the and you’re good for roughly 55 hours, which is remarkable. Both values coming from the GHUB's estimation.

Now, pair the G502 LIGHTSPEED up with a Powerplay pad and you’ll get unlimited wireless game time as the Powerplay pad will charge the G502 via induction. It’s not a constant charge as the software lets the mouse drain a little before it decides to turn on the juice. I think I’ve seen my mouse at its lowest being 85% and it’s designed not to go to 100% in order to maximize battery life. Using the Powerplay pad was great as I didn’t have to worry about the battery life at all and I enjoyed the benefits of not being tethered.

The weight of the G502 LIGHTSPEED is 114g, which is 7g less than the original G502 which came in at 121g. To achieve this, Logitech used a thin wall construction and endoskeleton design to enable them to fit all this technology inside the same size and shape of the old G502. Logitech was pretty proud of this when they talked with me emphasizing they reduced the wall thickness by 40% in many areas in order to do what they wanted in this mouse.

You can adjust the weight with the included four 2g weights and the two 4g weights. Just pop the cover off the bottom, which is held on by magnets and you get access to the weight system. If you don’t use the Powerplay core, you can put them all in, but the Powerplay core omits the ability to use the two 4G weights.

When not in use, the weights can be stored in a nice little case which also houses a USB dongle should you want to use the mouse wirelessly and not have a Powerplay pad. The Powerplay pad doubles as a wireless receiver so the dongle isn’t needed in that configuration.

As I said before, I was skeptical about replacing my wired mouse with a wireless mouse but the G502 LIGHTSPEED’s performance has swayed my view on using it for gaming. It’s fast, responsive, reliable, and I can see why many people prefer this over a wired option. I ran through a gamut of fast and slow games with the G502 LIGHTSPEED never failing me. I was able to quickly turn, aim, and shoot in games like Anthem, Battlefield V, and 7 Days to Die. Slowing down my mouse with the touch of button to aim down a scope of a sniper rifle worked flawlessly. There was never a time I felt the mouse to be slow or inaccurate. Logitech’s LIGHTSPEED technology is legit and now I don’t have any second thoughts on wireless gaming using this technology.

And every day usage was great too. I had no problems doing some Photoshop work and moving the mouse slowly in trying to select certain areas accurately. Using Visual Studio was also a breeze with the mouse never wavering in its smoothness and accuracy going through lines of code.

If you don’t want to use it wirelessly, you do have the option of plugging in the included USB cable and going wired. The end is a regular micro-USB plug, though I would’ve liked to have seen USB-C here, but that’s pretty nitpicky on my part. But if you’re going to do that, you might as well just get the G502 HERO edition.

With the GHUB software, you can change any of the 11 programmable buttons to suit your liking and adjust the color as well. The Powerplay pad and G502 LIGHTSPEED’s lighting can be easily synced together with a push of a button. There’s also a meter to let you know how much battery life you have left and how long it’s estimated to have. The GHUB customization is pretty easy and will let you take the G502 LIGHTSPEED even further with the customization options it presents.

At $149, the G502 LIGHTSPEED is a great mouse and my now favorite gaming mouse to use. Who would’ve thought I’d convert to a wireless gaming solution yet here we are. It’s great going back to shape I really enjoyed using and with the brand new technology in place to really up the ante on an already great mouse design.