Introduction

Today ladies and gents we will review the Asus ROG Gladius mouse. This is ROG’s high end mouse geared towards FPS gaming users.

DSC_9922The box is only slightly larger than the mouse but contains most of the information you need:
DSC_9926It’s somewhat hard to see however so here’s a zoom of that exploded drawing that’s stolen from the ROG website:
top_1So let’s talk about some of the things mentioned here.  Let’s start with the sensor.  Generally optical sensors are better for everything except glass surfaces.  They are more accurate and more responsive.  This particular sensor is rated as 200ips, 50g acceleration and 6400dpi.  What does this mean?

DPI – dots per inch – effectively the accuracy of the mouse i.e. it means the mouse should detect a movement of 1/6400 of an inch.  In other words at a 1:1 sensitivity ratio you can traverse a 4K screen in a movement of < 2/3 an inch.  That’s crazy sensitive.  My preference is about 3000-4000dpi in general, so this means there is plenty of head room if you like a mouse more sensitive than I do.  The Razer Deathadder which is competing for a similar market also has the same 6400dpi sensor (although the Chroma edition ups that to 10000 dpi).

Acceleration – measured in g – the ability of the mouse to measure acceleration.  50g rated on the Gladius is allgedly the highest you can get and again the same as the competition in the form of the Deathadder.

IPS – Inches per second – the top speed the mouse can measure before it starts losing information.  200 inches per second is FWIW 11mph.  For reference the fastest olympic atheletes can sprint temporarily at 25mph.  This is likely to be fast enough for most then.  Bear in mind that even if it wasn’t you’d simply have to move a bit further than you’d expect and acceleration could be used to compensate for it.

gladius specs

Interestingly the OS support only seems to cover 64 bit windows.

The front cover of the box opens up and there is plastic packaging overlays the mouse itself so you can feel the grip before you buy in a big box store:

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So let’s get this box opened up for a real look…

The details


The design of the body is supposed to be right handed but for universal grip types:
3-mousesI have large hands and so my grip doesn’t really conform to any of these but is more of a hybrid between them.  In order to move my thumb close to the thumb buttons I end up twisting the mouse a bit meaning I also hit the rear quarter with the heel of my hand at an angle.  My hands are irrelevant details for you, but suffice it to say that it was comfortable for me.  For comparison sake it is very similar in size to a Razer Deathadder but slightly slimmer, particularly the thumb placement is closer to the center of the hand.
DSC_9921So now we also get a closer look at some of the buttons.  ROG make a big deal that the left and right mouse buttons are separate from the body so that they can click more easily.  It is true that there is a difference in the weight of the click between the Deathadder and the Gladius, but to be honest it could be a difference in the switch itself.
DSC_9910ROG also make a big deal that the thumb switches are “slide to push”.  While it’s true that you can push them with a sliding motion I have to admit that I never do.  To me I use them like regular switches and don’t notice a difference.  But if you’ve had a problem, then I guess this just might be solution.

Underneath the thumb buttons is a rubber grip area with a “Mayan” pattern.  This is ROG’s latest design style and we really like it.  The same rubber grip also features on the other side of the mouse:
DSC_9913Of course there is a wheel too that can be pressed down too.  This has a good switch weight to it.  I have an old Logitech mouse for example that you couldn’t simply press it without also scrolling.  The Gladius’s is pretty much perfect.  Underneath the scroll wheel is another button that by default is configured to change DPI setting.  The ROG armory software let’s you configure the details.

You’ll notice that there is no cable – this is not however a wireless mouse.  Thank goodness for that!  It is however a removable cable.  The Deathadder by contrast is not removable.  Now when I think removable I usually think that is a weak point just waiting to break or pull loose:

DSC_9914The Gladius takes that concern in hand by recessing the actual micro usb connector quite deep into the body of the mouse.  There is then a latch system that grips the cable.  The end result has a tiny bit of wiggle stil, but you end up forgetting that it’s removable at all until you want to remove it.  I wish there was a keyboard that also used the same latch!  Bizarrely there are two cables included.  There are two different lengths are styles:
DSC_9917The rubbery one is 1 meter long while the braided one is 2 meters long:

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It’s nice to have a spare I suppose, and the length and material type cover all preferences.  The cable tie is a nice touch.  The latch for the micro usb is located on the base of the mouse:

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It’s easy to release and use.  Another nice accessory is a travel pouch to store the mouse in:
DSC_9920The box also includes a quick start guide, some ROG stickers as well as some replacement switches and feet.
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The switches are for the left and right mouse buttons and are Omron, just like the ones fitted.  They are however different.  These are Omron D2F-01F switches while the default switches in the Gladius are D2FC-F-7N switches.  These latter switches are generally regarded as the favorite even amongst all the different and excellent Omron switches.  One of the main features of the Gladius is the ability to easily change the switches. So let’s do that next.

Opening the gladius up


To do this the mouse’s feet must be peeled back:
DSC_0045This is why ROG include spare feet – though I have to admit mine were fine because I was careful.  Four philips head screws need to be removed and then the shell pulls off:
DSC_0048The mainbody even has ROG on the PCB’s:

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Only the main left and right mouse button switches are replacable and they sit in little sockets that give side support:

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It’s worth noting that even the scrollwheel switch is Omron.  The scrollwheel itself uses a high end Alps sensor.

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The switch is easily pulled out.

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The other switches could be unsoldered to be replaced, but that would void your warranty:

DSC_0054The black tape is to shield the optical components from any external light.

So that’s enough hardware talk.  We’ve found that the guts and the ergnomics seem to be pretty much as high end as they can be.  But perfect hardware can always be let down by software…

Software


ROG’s software is called the Armory.  A pretty cool name – the default page shows the basic mouse button configuration:

armory1

Armory only needs to run when you’re changing a setting.  You can assign any button to any function and that includes assigning macros.  This is nice, but expected.  The downside was that the keyboard wasn’t an assignable option.  What I didn’t expect was the ability to write the settings to the mouse itself so that it travelled with the mouse.  This I didn’t have on my Deathadder, where instead I could use Razer’s software to login and synchronize my settings from the cloud.  So if you take your mouse to competition there is no worry about installing software and having to login and sync your settings, it will be configured exactly the same without any work.

armory2

The second tab involves the mouse movement settings.  Personally I find 6400dpi just too sensitive.  Around 4000 is “enough” for me.  You’ll also note that the polling rate can be turned all the way up to 2000Hz.  This is better than the box claimed (1000Hz).  While I may not notice a difference, I’m sure there is someone who might claim to.  Note that more frequent polling of the mouse may have a slight effect on your system performance.

armory3

You can also change the lighting of the mouse – the only thing you can’t change is the color.  This is where the deathadder chroma has an advantage.

armory4

The last page lets you calibrate for the surface you use your mouse on.  The manual calibration failed for me, but the cloth mousepad setting worked well on my cloth mousepad and not on the bare desk. The wood skin on the other hand worked for both.  The default uncalibrated setting also worked fine on both.

Summary


So ROG have made a very high end mouse focused on the FPS crowd.  It’s a great mouse in isolation.  But reviews in isolation are boring and it’s natural competition is Razer’s Deathadder Chroma which sells for a similar price to the Gladius. Let’s directly compare the two:

They both have similar shapes, weights and similar Omron switches, so that part is a wash.

 

Gladius Pro’s:

– Removable latched usb cable

– Socketed switches for easy replacement

– Mouse settings written to firmware in the mouse

– 2000 Hz polling vs 1000 Hz

– One more button that by default is set to change dpi

 

Deathadder Chroma Pro’s

– 10000 dpi vs 6400dpi

– customizable RGB lighting

– heatmaps in software

– Buttons can be assigned to keyboard functions

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Verdict – Gold Award 

Honestly they are both great mice and I’ve been a long term Deathadder user and fan.  I’ve bought two over the years and would give the Deathadder a gold award.  Having said all of this and compared the two I would still give the edge to the Gladius to win this “mouse-off” based on it’s extra functionality such as the detachable cable, the socketed omron switches and the on board firmware to save the mouse’s configuration.  This really as close to perfection as you can currently get in a mouse.

Where to buy: Amazon