Before we introduce the Gladius, let’s take at look at some of ASUS’ other competitive gaming mice.
At the entry level, we have the GX900 with its unique grip. Do not be surprised if the gaming experience is less than stellar, since beneath the package lies a rather ordinary, run-of-the-mill design.
The GX950 is where it gets interesting. Placed in the same price bracket as the GX900, this mouse actually sports a laser sensor. This makes it one of the lowest priced laser gaming mouse from a reputable peripheral maker. Sadly, despite its amazing 8200 dpi specification and adjustable mass options, the grip is odd and the center of gravity feels misplaced. The offset cable entry, which appears innovative at first sight, leaves paranoid gamers worried about entanglement.
Moving up to the GX1000 is a welcome relief. Not only does it enjoy most of the features of the lower models, the brushed aluminium body is luxurious enough to rival many mid-end gaming mice from established gaming gear makers. Let’s just say that it is almost worthy of the sacred ROG stamp-of-approval.
Couldn’t ASUS have stopped at the GX1000? It turns out that competition is intense at the designated price bracket: From the ambidextrose SteelSeries Sensei to Razer lightshows; to M series mice from Corsair; and the amiable Roccat Kone; each with their own purveyors.
Can the GX1000 really pull it off?
It turns out that the narrow body and smooth texture of the GX1000 a bane for sweaty palms. After a period of cohabitation, the experience was thoroughly disappointing.
The lengthy body of the GX1000 has most of its mass at the rear end. That handles badly. Had the mouse been made fatter, and the weights ridden off, it could have been much more tolerable. This gamer could probably drone on about how poor the GX1000 performs, but that is not the intention of this review.
The lack of ASUS GX mouse reviews on this website is a testament to the poor overall performance of these mice.
ROG is ASUS’ high-end gaming label, targeted at gamers who can afford it. The RC gaming community has a strong preference for ROG products, and ROG has built up such a strong reputation that references to ROG are made as though it were were disparate from ASUS!
Finally, ROG debuted its own mouse at the 2014 COMPUTEX.
Those who had expected ASUS to enshrine the GX1000 for COMPUTEX, were thoroughly surprised to find a bland-looking Gladius in place. This brought back warm memories of sneaking off from high school to play CS at the gaming centers, an unforgettable era of ignorance about the specifications and branding of mice (only the frags mattered). Recollecting, the MX500 and IE 3.0 were the desirable mice of that time. It was only later with the DA and Zowie that I was able to get the feeling back.
The Gladius is the kind of mice to “get that feeling back.” It is sheer simplicity, unlike the garish GX offerings that compromise comfort for a flashy exterior. Rather than letting users add weights to the mouse, the Gladius is already balanced to perfections. The outlook may not look original, yet gripping one is bliss in its own right. It is like many classic mice before it, without the fatal flaws each of these mice possessed. It’s made for the old school.
There exists many mice endorsed by professional gamers, which are not quite comfortable. There also exists many mice with poor grip, along with owners who love them. Designing a mouse from a physiological perspective is downright fascinating. Just look at how plain Jane mice designs like the IE 3.0 and Sensei gain the trust of gamers who depend on it. The Gladius does not subscribe to fetishism, instead achieving a fine balance through normalcy. The average user is likely to find his/her sweet spot within seconds of grabbing hold of one.
The surface finish is matte, sidestepping concerns over gloss paints flaking off the mouse body with age. It is also reminiscent of the dark solder mask on ROG mainboards. Coincidence, perhaps?
The Gladius possesses a 6400 DPI sensor from Avago, the S3988. This may not seem state-of-the-art with the flood of laser mice on the market, but if you miss the linear acceleration affored by an earlier generation of mice, you should find the Gladius a joy to use. The high DPI count is useful for those anticipating display upgrades to FHD or 4+K.
The replaceable switches on the Gladius is a topic hard to avoid. Users have the option of adopting their favourite switch for the best clickability. The best part is that these switches are essentially pop-in upgrades that require not messing around with nasty hot firesticks. The legendary D2F-01F switches are included as part of the package.
In alignment with the ROG theme, the Gladius has a detachable cord.
It may appear counterintuitive to provide a socket for a wired mouse. The Gladius package includes two USB cable with differing lengths to cater to the users’ needs.
Due to the choice of a micro-USB socket, it is even possible to swap out either cables for even shorter or longer ones. Such customisablity is unprecendented.
The provided configuration software, Armoury allows every button to be mapped to your desired function. It also adjusts the granularity of the the on-the-fly DPI adjustment. It also includes calibration features for linearity and refresh rate. There are even presets for various mousepad materials. Each tweak brings Gladius closer to the users’ desired performance, improving frag rate.
Relative to flashier mice, complete with rainbow colours, the lighting options on the Gladius seems pale by comparison. There are three options: off, breath, and on. Red light emits only from the DPI indicator, ROG logo, and the scroll wheel. The ROG team is clearly confident at winning gamers’ hearts without resorting to lightshows.
Having covered the features and benefits, its time to look at the bad and the ugly. The cons of the Gladius are easy to keep track of.
The matte surface finish, for one, is likely to smoothen with constant use. It may also be marred by sharp objects, or fingernail imprints. A fellow Gladius user finds the mouse to be slow relative to his favourite for the same DPI settings. The Zen approach might also be too simplistic for a market now used to mice packed with ever more buttons, functionality and eye candy.
Yet, the Gladius is a superb beginning for an ROG mouse.
The GX series might have been a mistake for ASUS, but the Gladius is bears the ROG label with pride.
This mouse is highly recommended, taking a good 9 out of 10 possible points, and much more importantly, the Editors’ Choice award.
[Translated from VR-Zone Chinese]
Read More: http://ift.tt/1yrGYVd
At the entry level, we have the GX900 with its unique grip. Do not be surprised if the gaming experience is less than stellar, since beneath the package lies a rather ordinary, run-of-the-mill design.
The GX950 is where it gets interesting. Placed in the same price bracket as the GX900, this mouse actually sports a laser sensor. This makes it one of the lowest priced laser gaming mouse from a reputable peripheral maker. Sadly, despite its amazing 8200 dpi specification and adjustable mass options, the grip is odd and the center of gravity feels misplaced. The offset cable entry, which appears innovative at first sight, leaves paranoid gamers worried about entanglement.
Moving up to the GX1000 is a welcome relief. Not only does it enjoy most of the features of the lower models, the brushed aluminium body is luxurious enough to rival many mid-end gaming mice from established gaming gear makers. Let’s just say that it is almost worthy of the sacred ROG stamp-of-approval.
Couldn’t ASUS have stopped at the GX1000? It turns out that competition is intense at the designated price bracket: From the ambidextrose SteelSeries Sensei to Razer lightshows; to M series mice from Corsair; and the amiable Roccat Kone; each with their own purveyors.
Can the GX1000 really pull it off?
It turns out that the narrow body and smooth texture of the GX1000 a bane for sweaty palms. After a period of cohabitation, the experience was thoroughly disappointing.
The lengthy body of the GX1000 has most of its mass at the rear end. That handles badly. Had the mouse been made fatter, and the weights ridden off, it could have been much more tolerable. This gamer could probably drone on about how poor the GX1000 performs, but that is not the intention of this review.
The lack of ASUS GX mouse reviews on this website is a testament to the poor overall performance of these mice.
ROG is ASUS’ high-end gaming label, targeted at gamers who can afford it. The RC gaming community has a strong preference for ROG products, and ROG has built up such a strong reputation that references to ROG are made as though it were were disparate from ASUS!
Finally, ROG debuted its own mouse at the 2014 COMPUTEX.
Those who had expected ASUS to enshrine the GX1000 for COMPUTEX, were thoroughly surprised to find a bland-looking Gladius in place. This brought back warm memories of sneaking off from high school to play CS at the gaming centers, an unforgettable era of ignorance about the specifications and branding of mice (only the frags mattered). Recollecting, the MX500 and IE 3.0 were the desirable mice of that time. It was only later with the DA and Zowie that I was able to get the feeling back.
The Gladius is the kind of mice to “get that feeling back.” It is sheer simplicity, unlike the garish GX offerings that compromise comfort for a flashy exterior. Rather than letting users add weights to the mouse, the Gladius is already balanced to perfections. The outlook may not look original, yet gripping one is bliss in its own right. It is like many classic mice before it, without the fatal flaws each of these mice possessed. It’s made for the old school.
There exists many mice endorsed by professional gamers, which are not quite comfortable. There also exists many mice with poor grip, along with owners who love them. Designing a mouse from a physiological perspective is downright fascinating. Just look at how plain Jane mice designs like the IE 3.0 and Sensei gain the trust of gamers who depend on it. The Gladius does not subscribe to fetishism, instead achieving a fine balance through normalcy. The average user is likely to find his/her sweet spot within seconds of grabbing hold of one.
The surface finish is matte, sidestepping concerns over gloss paints flaking off the mouse body with age. It is also reminiscent of the dark solder mask on ROG mainboards. Coincidence, perhaps?
The Gladius possesses a 6400 DPI sensor from Avago, the S3988. This may not seem state-of-the-art with the flood of laser mice on the market, but if you miss the linear acceleration affored by an earlier generation of mice, you should find the Gladius a joy to use. The high DPI count is useful for those anticipating display upgrades to FHD or 4+K.
The replaceable switches on the Gladius is a topic hard to avoid. Users have the option of adopting their favourite switch for the best clickability. The best part is that these switches are essentially pop-in upgrades that require not messing around with nasty hot firesticks. The legendary D2F-01F switches are included as part of the package.
In alignment with the ROG theme, the Gladius has a detachable cord.
It may appear counterintuitive to provide a socket for a wired mouse. The Gladius package includes two USB cable with differing lengths to cater to the users’ needs.
Due to the choice of a micro-USB socket, it is even possible to swap out either cables for even shorter or longer ones. Such customisablity is unprecendented.
The provided configuration software, Armoury allows every button to be mapped to your desired function. It also adjusts the granularity of the the on-the-fly DPI adjustment. It also includes calibration features for linearity and refresh rate. There are even presets for various mousepad materials. Each tweak brings Gladius closer to the users’ desired performance, improving frag rate.
Relative to flashier mice, complete with rainbow colours, the lighting options on the Gladius seems pale by comparison. There are three options: off, breath, and on. Red light emits only from the DPI indicator, ROG logo, and the scroll wheel. The ROG team is clearly confident at winning gamers’ hearts without resorting to lightshows.
Having covered the features and benefits, its time to look at the bad and the ugly. The cons of the Gladius are easy to keep track of.
The matte surface finish, for one, is likely to smoothen with constant use. It may also be marred by sharp objects, or fingernail imprints. A fellow Gladius user finds the mouse to be slow relative to his favourite for the same DPI settings. The Zen approach might also be too simplistic for a market now used to mice packed with ever more buttons, functionality and eye candy.
Yet, the Gladius is a superb beginning for an ROG mouse.
The GX series might have been a mistake for ASUS, but the Gladius is bears the ROG label with pride.
This mouse is highly recommended, taking a good 9 out of 10 possible points, and much more importantly, the Editors’ Choice award.
[Translated from VR-Zone Chinese]
Read More: http://ift.tt/1yrGYVd
via Hardware Forums http://ift.tt/1tLLuZ3
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