Precision Gaming Mouse Round-Up: Tesoro, Corsair, Logitech

Logitech's G900 Chaos Spectrum mouse marries a lot of aggressive angles with an overall smooth arch shaped profile very seamlessly. This is the only ambidextrous mouse on the menu today, which is accented by the ability to magnetically detach the side buttons at will. Logitech even provides a nice foam padded case to store the buttons, along with the wireless receiver and adapter when not in use.

Yes, that's right, this is a wireless mouse - if you want it to be. It connects to the computer and charges with a microUSB cable, but the included cable features tabs on either side to help lock it in place. When in wireless mode, the USB wireless receiver can sit in the microUSB adapter at the end of the cable for optimal positioning. Switching between the two modes requires nothing more than switching out the adapter for the mouse or vice versa and can be accomplished between rounds in about three seconds.

The bottom of the mouse uses six PTFE pads. Two of these pads hug either side of the sensor to more precisely prevent the height of the mouse from fluctuating. This is very important at high DPI settings where just putting pressure on the mouse could cause the sensor to register movement otherwise. Is it likely to be an issue on a mouse that lacks these pads? No, but it's a nice touch that doesn't hurt.

Considering the mouse has to contain a battery, one might expect it to be weighty but this is actually the lightest mouse on our table at just 107g. To achieve this, Logitech trimmed weight from everywhere they could, including the scroll wheel which is spoked. They also cut down on battery size by reducing battery drain. The biggest saver in that regard might be their custom 2.4GHz wireless protocol which locks to a precise frequency instead of maintaining a sweep through the entire 2.4GHz spectrum as many wireless mice do. We don't have any way to independently verify that, but it is the claim anyways.

Logitech's Gaming Software is quite a pleasure to use. The interface is clearly laid out with relevant icons. Animations smoothly transition from section to section, which is navigated via icons in the lower right.

The home page allows you to choose between storing profiles on the device or using local profiles instead. Local profiles enable an added functionality to scan for installed games and customize accordingly but this does not carry between computers.


The button configuration page is equipped with the usual functions to assign an action to a given button. In addition, you can also choose a layout to match your current physical button configuration as you add or remove the side buttons. With local profiles you can bind buttons to specific in game actions, such as crouch or weapon cycling instead of duplicating a key completely like Ctrl or + and -. The pointer settings page concludes the performance tweaking options with DPI adjustments, polling rates, and shift DPI selection.


The lighting options are probably sufficient but are, for such an expensive mouse, oddly limited. You can choose between turning the lighting effect off (which is to say have solid lights), enable a breathing effect with a single color, or cycle through the full spectrum of colors. You can dictate which of the two lighting zones are enabled but you cannot assign them different styles. Presumably Logitech could enable more customization with future software updates but it is a little disappointing to not see it included currently.


The battery status page, however, is top notch. You can very quickly and clearly gauge the drain of your current lighting profile or disable the lights completely when you need the mouse to go the distance. The software also provides a low battery alert via a system toast notification with around 3 hours or 8% battery life remaining.


The last page we will cover is for surface tuning. Logitech's software allows you to maintain multiple profiles to enhance tracking. By default we found the G900 to work well on a variety of surfaces but this feature can come in handy on uneven or worn surfaces especially. We found it works so well that sometimes moving the mouse to a different surface from the one it is tuned to can cause it to reject it and not track at all until the correct (or default) profile is set. These tracking profiles do not carry over between computers but the last active profile does seem to stick regardless so if you do need to move it between computers we suggest applying the default tracking profile before switching over.

Wireless mice, as convenient as they are, have generally had a difficult time finding a home with hardcore gamers. The three biggest concerns are input lag, susceptibility to interference, and battery life. Nobody wants their mouse to die in the middle of a firefight. We are happy to say that the Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum mouse genuinely erases concerns on all three fronts.

First, is there any input lag? We couldn't perceive any. During testing we would use the 6 foot braided cable to position the receiver in the worst places possible: far from the mouse, behind monitors and other computers, under a desk, etc. We couldn't coax a delay or hesitation from the mouse in any circumstances.

Second, does it pickup on interference? The G900 uses the 2.4GHz band for transmission which is generally very congested. Logitech claims to use a proprietary protocol to cut out interference. We tested the mouse inside a large and bustling office building full of wireless signals. We tested it in the middle of a half dozen tightly grouped computers. We tested it against a refrigerator. We tested it basically anywhere a regular wireless mouse could have issues in normal operation and it never faltered.


So, finally, the battery life must suffer with all this power, right? That's going to depend on your expectations. We used this mouse for around 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for two weeks and have charged it three times which puts it roughly in line with Logitech's projections of 22 hours per charge with our lighting settings. Each time we received a low battery alert at 8% and switched it over to charge, a process which takes mere moments. At no point has the mouse lost performance due to a low battery, nor has it ever felt like a hassle to charge. It charges from the low battery alert level to full in around an hour and a half. More importantly, it can charge off of any MicroUSB cable, just in case you left the included cable at home.

My impressions on this mouse are different than I expected. Yes, the performance is first rate but I didn't personally enjoy gaming with it. I think this stems from my use of a fingertip grip which the G900 just doesn't get along well with. The base of the mouse feels a bit large and gets in the way when maneuvering it with my fingers. The side buttons feel just out of place with this grip as well and necessitate a loss of control to press them. The same control issues go for a regular claw grip as well, but maneuvering the mouse is less of an issue as your hand moves with the mouse. If you don't rely on the side buttons regularly then you probably won't have any issues with this mouse, though.

Moving to a palm grip, however, lets everything fall into place. For me, this means I absolutely love this mouse for daily usage. The scroll wheel and accompanying locking mechanism feels fantastic. The sensor tracks precisely every time and on the fly DPI adjustments makes working on four monitors a lot more comfortable. I click the sensitivity up when I'm bouncing between screens and then dial it back down for finer control within a screen. My only qualm is the mouse buttons trigger too easily. In particular, I find myself accidentally right clicking quite often with this mouse as simply resting my finger can be enough to depress the button. The left mouse button doesn't require any more force to depress, I just don't rest my index finger on it so much when palm gripping. If you game with a palm grip, you'll probably appreciate this rapid-fire sensitivity.