If you’re ready to go from a wired to wireless mouse for gaming, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed can help you make that transition. This top-tier gaming mouse blends many of the strengths of the fan-favorite (and wired) Logitech G502 HERO with a speedy and innovative wireless technology called Lightspeed. In addition to the reliable wireless performance buy-in, Logitech offers numerous customization options including programmable buttons, DPI and polling rate adjustments, and you can even adjust the weight of the product for your ideal gaming experience.
Design: Customization is king
The Logitech G502 looks the part of a gaming mouse: It’s all black and sports sloping and angular accents and a lot of buttons—but not much weight at just 4.3 ounces. There’s a lot going on visually and that tracks with how much this mouse can do. The 11 total buttons, including the coveted sniper button for FPS games, offer ultimate control and customization. The primary and secondary click buttons on the top of the mouse are built with a mechanical button tensioning system for springy and quick responses. The other buttons I found to be a bit more spongy but always responsive. The scroll wheel is equally appealing by shifting from a pleasant ratcheted feel to hyper-fast mode. Beyond the buttons, there are two RGB lighting zones on the palm rest logo and on the DPI indicator panel that are fully customizable, and there are also textured grips on either side of the mouse that are dual-injected for great grip.
Key Features: Lightspeed and HERO technology
The G502 Lightspeed adeptly addresses concerns over wireless latency and precision. The Lightspeed wireless technology appears in other serious gaming Logitech gaming mice and keyboards and is supposed to be faster than a wired connection with its 1ms response rate. You’ll find these Lightspeed products in the hands of professional gamers in competition settings. It also uses the HERO sensor other mice in the G Series use, which is the fastest and most accurate sensor the Logitech brand offers. It achieves tracking speeds of over 400 IPS (inches per second) and covers 16,000 DPI like other top-performing gaming mice. That’s all to say that the technology inside provides interruption-free and swift performance.
Performance: Accurate and versatile with decent battery life
With gaming and general use alike the buttons were incredibly useful. I was able to program frequently used buttons that came in handy for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Hero, reducing some reliance on the keyboard and lending to swifter reactions and movements. And I never detected a single instance with sputtering or freezing. I also enjoyed the ability to use a single button to toggle between other gaming and non-gaming profiles, each with different button assignments. DPI shifting was also lightning-quick. Logitech says that this mouse has enough longevity for continuous play over 60 hours when the RGB settings aren’t used (and 48 with them in use). Out of the box, this was less than 50% charged and it lasted around 20 hours with the DPI lights always on and draining the battery. It also charged back to 100 percent in just shy of 2 hours, but the claim that 5 minutes of charging offers 2.5 hours also tracked (without the DPI lights on).
Comfort: Cozier over time
I originally expected my hand to cramp with hours-long use, but the G502 Lightspeed was surprisingly comfortable, especially when I grew more accustomed to the button placement. I placed all weights inside the mouse to see how the extra 16 grams would impact comfort. It gave it a more familiar weighted feel that I liked but found removing the weights offered a more relaxed and fluid feel in my smaller hand.
Wireless: Quick and without issue
Unlike some other wireless gaming mice on the market, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed connects wirelessly via one primary method: the Lightspeed USB wireless receiver. This receiver can fit directly into your computer or you can use the accompanying USB receiver extender cable to create a closer wireless connection to your mouse. I didn’t use the second method and stuck with the receiver in my laptop and noticed no latency issues or drops in connection. I had no trouble establishing an instant and steady connection every time with a PC or MacBook. While it has a range of 10 meters, Logitech says to keep it within about 8 inches of the receiver for the best performance, which turned out to be true during testing.
Software: Intuitive and straightforward
The Logitech G502 Lightspeed is customizable through the Logitech G HUB software. There are three main panels dedicated to RGB effects, which you can either set across the board for all profiles or customize to each profile (or even sync with your other Logitech peripherals), button assignments, and DPI and polling rate settings. Essentially everything is editable, and changes come easy with simple clicks and drag-and-drop actions. This mouse supports up to five different onboard profiles and some pre-loaded gaming profiles. I used the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order profile, which was extremely helpful and enriched the experience for me laying out all of the gaming-specific commands. And while cycling through all of my profiles when G HUB was open, worked beautifully, on-board memory mode did not work. This appears to be a known issue.
Price: Costs a pretty penny
There’s really no way around it: This is an expensive mouse at $150. If you’d like a gaming or extended-use mouse pad that’s compatible with this product, you won’t be able to use a Qi device since this technology isn’t supported. Instead, the sole option is the POWERPLAY charging pad that will cost another $100. But if you’re invested in developing your wireless gaming setup and feel familiar and confident with the Logitech brand, this could be a non-issue. Otherwise, there are cheaper wireless gaming options from respected brands.
Logitech G502 Lightspeed vs. SteelSeries Rival 650
The latter bests its competitor when it comes to DPI coverage, though, since the Rival 650 maxes out 12,000 DPI and its optical sensors stop at 350 IPS versus over 400 in the G502. The SteelSeries Rival 650 provides just a bit more battery power from a quick charge: 15 minutes is good for over 10 hours of play while the G502 only needs five minutes to provide 2.5 hours. But you’ll only get 24 hours of continuous use versus a possible 60 hours from one charge of the G502. The Logitech G502 Lightspeed is a next-level wireless mouse at a serious price. It’s best for users who value tons of customization power and low latency and care less about traditional heft in the hand and numerous RGB zones. For the right customer, this gaming mouse could be rewarding enough to justify the investment.
