Logitech G502 X Plus review: An icon revamped

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The Logitech G502 Lightspeed is a bit of a legend in the gaming mouse arena. A tried-and-trusted classic with a great design, plenty of flexibility and a winning feature format that others have tried to emulate.  

Now Logitech has taken that icon and improved upon it with three mice - the wired G502 X, the wireless G502 X Lightspeed and the G502 X Plus. The latter of these three is the top of the range and one that the company claims to include a range of "breakthrough innovations" to give you the best gaming experience possible. 

How does the Logitech G502 X Plus hold up in a world of superlight and gamer-pleasing mice from the competition though? We've been playing with it to find out. 

A legend reinvented

  • Lightforce hybrid optical-mechanical switches
  • Hero 25K sensor, 40G2 max acceleration, 400IPS max speed
  • 13 programmable buttons 
  • 5 on-board memory profiles 

The Logitech G502 X Plus is available in either white or black and looks utterly stylish thanks to its Lightsync RGB lighting zones. But it's immediately recognisable as being a G502.

That classic and iconic ergonomic shape is still there with the sloped side grip, the pointy and angry-looking frame and multiple side buttons. Some things are the same and some have changed. There are no swappable weights included with the G502 X Plus, so it's not weight-adjustable like the original model. Instead, Logitech has cut the weight down to 106 grams and made some under-the-hood enhancements.

We immediately noticed this when we first picked the mouse up and started playing with it, as it feels quite a bit lighter and perhaps a bit cheaper in the hand because of it. That doesn't mean it's not a high-quality mouse though, as the G502 X Plus certainly has a lot going for it.

The free-spinning mouse wheel design is still there for a start. It's been tweaked to make it lighter and more stable, with precise ratchet modes that provide quite a lot of audible and tactile feedback when you scroll. Then you can click the button behind the wheel to put it into the smooth hyper-fast scroll mode where it'll just spin and spin. 

This can be used for clever in-game commands and macros or just insanely fast scrolls on long webpages (or swiftly zoom in and out). Alternatively, it makes for a good fidget spinner replacement when you're bored. 

It's the things that you can't see easily that make the Logitech G502 X Plus more interesting and appealing though. The most interesting of these are the new Lightforce switches included in the line-up. These are hybrid optical-mechanical switches which are designed to give you the accuracy of optical switches but with the satisfying clicky feel of mechanical ones. 

Logitech says that the Lightforce switches offer "unprecedented speed, precision, and reliability". More importantly, they're accurate and offer ultralow latency optical actuation, so your clicks are tracked accurately during gaming sessions. When playing you certainly feel (and hear) a crisp click from the main left and right switches, though we did notice a disparity between the two in terms of the sound. 

In both wired and wireless modes, we found the G502 X Plus delivered the goods in terms of accuracy and tracking of our clicks. 

There's a wealth of extra buttons at your fingertips too. This includes two DPI adjustment buttons on top, next to the main left switch and three side buttons. One of these is a DPI-shift button which you can press to drop into a lower DPI for a brief moment (ideal for small sniping movements). This button is interesting because you can pop it off and reverse it for a different fit or flick it off in favour of a cap which renders it obsolete if you don't like it. 

 

Wireless freedom

  • 120 hours battery life (without RGB), 37 with it on, USB-C charging
  • 8-zone RGB lighting
  • PowerPlay compatible

The Logitech G502 X Plus uses Logitech's LightSpeed wireless technology to give a solid connection to your PC while gaming. It doesn't have Bluetooth, but it does boast as much as 120 hours battery life without RGB on. Logitech has also moved to USB-C charging, which will be welcomed by many who prefer it to the ageing micro-USB setup on previous mice. 

As you'd expect the G502 X Plus has multiple low-friction PTFE feet and easily glides about the desk. It's not as slick and agile as the Logitech G Pro X Superlight or Razer Viper V2 Pro, but that's mostly a weight thing and we're happy with the button and hardware trade-off here. 

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Another advantage the G502 X Plus has over the competition though is its compatibility with Logitech's PowerPlay system. This is a charged mouse mat which wirelessly powers your mouse while you use it, meaning that you never have to plug the G502 X Plus in for some extra juice. It's an additional purchase, but a worthwhile one in our mind. 

As if that wasn't enough, the Lightspeed wireless tech has been updated so you can connect multiple devices to one dongle. Now you can use the Logitech G502 X Plus with the same dongle as you're using for the Logitech G915, G915 TKL or G715 gaming keyboards.

The G502 X Plus certainly has a lot going for it. It's sleek, capable and agile. With multiple buttons that include left and right tilt on the mouse wheel and customisation options in G Hub, there's plenty to like here. It also has onboard memory too, so you can customise it to meet your needs.  



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