Logitech G502 Hero & Lightspeed Review

The G502 Lightspeed is the latest iteration of the G502 and equips the mouse with wireless  while shaving off some weight from the original.

The G502 HERO sensor still performs flawlessly, the G502 has always had a flawless sensor. The cable is now thinner and more flexible. The infinite scroll also seems to be able to scroll for longer periods of time.

All updates to the mouse aside, it still feels like the Proteus Core and Proteus Spectrum, I’d actually recommend getting the older mice if you like the G502, they’re cheaper and the performance and gaming experience will be roughly the same.

The G502 is one of our picks for best cheapest gaming mice, it provides a lot of functionality for a reasonable price.

Verdict

This is still a good mouse, but I feel like it’s made specifically for people that are really used to this shape and weight and don’t want to change to other shapes.

The G502 has a top sensor, has a great shape and great buttons. It’s built like a tank, the mouse will likely last a long time and you’ll get some good gaming done with it. At its price point, its still a very good value, the G502 does find itself on our best cheap mice list.

The new G502 Lightspeed

This review was initially made for the G502 Hero, here’s what you need to know about how the Lightspeed differs and improves on the Hero, Proteus Spectrum and Proteus Core.

It’s wireless now

Taking advantage of the power efficiency of the Hero sensor, the G502 is now a wireless mouse much like the rest of the Logitech lineup. You can expect the same wireless performance, no latency and a flawless tracking experience but in the classic G502 shape.

The G502 has a rated 48 hour battery life of continuous use, less with the RGB turned on. The mouse can be charged wirelessly via the powerplay mat and puck. To make space for the powerplay puck, the weight system has been redesigned.

It’s Lighter

The G502 Lightspeed actually manages to be lighter than original by a couple of grams even with all the new wireless tech inside. The scroll wheel is rubber coated and thinner to save some weight.

It looks the same on the outside

Outside of a slightly larger G logo on the mouse, the G502 retains its aggressive gamer aesthetic.

That’s basically it! The G502 Lightspeed delivers a great wireless experience in a classic mouse, at a premium, it costs approximately as much as the G Pro Wireless and G903, so if you’re looking to cord-cut that classic ergo shape, you’ll have to pony up to do so.

Build & Shape

In all likelihood you’re familiar with the shape of the G502, it’s a classic shape that’s been around for years, the best selling gaming mouse of all time.

If you’re not familiar, the G502 HERO is an ergonomic mouse, the mouse is a heavyweight coming in at 121 grams with the option of adding more weight via 3.6 gram tuning weights. If you ever lose those weights you can order replacements off of Amazon.

The mouse is firmly suited for a medium to large hand, here are its measurements:

• Length: 132 mm
• Width: 75 mm
• Height: 40 mm

Dimensions very similar to the Finalmouse Air58/Phantom series, don’t let the wide width fool you, the base is wide but the actual grip width is a more familiar 62 mm. So if you find mice like the Finalmouse mice and Rival 600 to be a good fit for your hand size then the G502 should be a good bet.

The shape itself is very comfortable, with a wide base, grippy rubber material and deep comfort grooves on the side.

The hump of the mouse is average, not as tall as the G703, while not as low to the ground as the Zowie EC mice for example. A soft touch, matte plastic is found on the mouse wherever there isn’t a rubberized grip.

The front of the mouse slopes slightly, not as dramatic as we’ve seen on other mice, this will usually result in a flatter hand shape when palming the mouse.

This is a very well loved and classic shape, despite its strong curves and opinion on hand placement, the comfort of the mouse is great.  Don’t take my word for it though, the G502 is a very well loved mouse and has a huge fanbase, millions of people can’t be wrong about the shape. (shout out to /r/G502MasterRace)

Coming fresh off a review of the Air58 (review here) this mouse definitely felt a little brick-ish on first use.

With more extended play I was getting acclimated with the weight of the mouse, though I will admit I personally play better with a lighter mouse.

Lifting the mouse wasn’t an issue with its deep curves and rubberized grips, the mouse is a little front heavy when no weights are inserted.=

No discomfort after longer gaming sessions, you can definitely play well with a heavier mouse but I would recommend the G502 only for people that know they like the heavier weight. You can find good shapes and lighter weights in other mice.

The shape of the newly updated G502 Hero is exactly the same as the Proteus Core and Proteus Spectrum, so if you’re simply looking for a replacement for your older mouse, then you’re in luck.

The cord however is an a huge improvement over the older versions of this mouse, the G502 Hero features a significantly softer and thinner braided cable.

The new cord is better, but it’s still kind of stiff and definitely not as soft and out of the way as the Air58 or the Rival 600. A mouse bungee is definitely recommended for the G502.

On the underside you’ll find 3 large feet and one small foot to the top left of the sensor, the glide on these feet are very good and works well to help minimize the weight of the mouse as much as possible on my control mouse pad.

The G502 Spectrum Core that I bought years ago is still truckin’ today, completely working, not skipping a beat and not a single double click.

From a few days of playing with the G502 Hero, I wouldn’t suspect any change in build quality, no noticeable creaks or weak spots. The mouse wheel does rattle when shaken but that is a function of the design of the side clicks on the scroll wheel.

Buttons & Scroll Wheel

The G502 has a ton of buttons, it makes it a good candidate for games with a lot of keybinds or just general productivity.

Here’s a list of buttons found on the G502, there are 11 total:

• Primary left and right click
• Middle click
• 2 side thumb buttons
• Scroll tilt left and right
• DPI up and down
• Sniper toggle button
• Profile switch button

All of the above buttons can be re-mapped or assigned to a macro, the G502 allows for an insane level of customization with your mouse gameplay.

The G502 uses 50 million click rated omrons for their main buttons, the main clicks feel good, responsive and clicky, not as tactile as the clicks found on other popular mice like the G305, G703 or Rival 600, but not a bad experience either.

All of the additional buttons are placed well, you’re not likely going to accidentally hit any of them by accident. I had some difficulty hitting the sniper button which is found at the front of the left side of the mouse, my thumbs are average size and I grip with a bit of a hybrid, so a palm user or someone with bigger thumbs might find more  use out of that button placement.

The clicks for the extra buttons is solid, tactile and easy to locate. No issues responding with a quick melee or spam clicking with the side buttons.

The scroll wheel on the G502 is very unique, it’s a little bit looser than your average gaming mouse. The scroll wheel itself is made of plastic with large notches cut out for texture.

The steps are well defined when scrolling and are on the loud side when scrolling quickly. The G502 features the ability to tilt click left and right for additional inputs, I’ve seen some cool uses of the tilt clicks in Fortnite to help speed up building, something you just can’t do on most mice.

On top of the tilt clicking, the G502 also has an infinite smooth scroll wheel, similar to the one found on the G903.

I did a comparison of the G502 HERO vs G502 Spectrum Core’s infinite hyper scrolls:

The G502 HERO infinite scroll wheel spins for much longer in my testing, there aren’t really many gaming applications for this improvement, but there could be some productivity improvements from being able to scroll faster for longer.

Sensor & Performance

One of the main changes between the G502 Hero and the previous iterations of the G502 is the change of sensor, the G502 Hero uses the Logitech developed HERO sensor replacing the more common Pixart PMW3360 found in the Proteus Core and Proteus Spectrum.

The HERO sensor is known for providing accurate tracking, no acceleration, prediction or smoothing with really great power efficiency. The power efficiency matters much less on a wired mouse.

The actual difference with switching sensors is minimal, all versions of the G502 have great tracking and I wasn’t able to tell the difference in normal gameplay.

The HERO sensor has options for DPI from 100 to 16000 and has the following polling rate options: 125 / 250 / 500 / 1000. There’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to use the 1000 Hz polling rate here.

Features & Software

Like all other Logitech mice, the G Pro runs on Logitech Gaming Software and G Hub, which has this standard set of features:

• Surface tuning
• RGB lighting settings
• DPI stepping
• Saved profiles on the mouse
• Button remapping
• Input analysis
• Macro recording

The RGB is very minimal on the G502, the Logitech logo is illuminated, this logo has changed from the Core to the Hero.

The USB plug has also been updated with the modern Logitech Gaming logo:

The mouse has onboard memory to save up to 5 customized profiles with the ability to quick switch profiles if you have specific gaming setups for each game.

The G502 features a weight system, allowing you to add more weight to its 121 gram frame. The weights go into the bottom of the mouse surrounding the sensor.

The core stand out feature of this mouse is all the buttons you have access to, other than that, everything else is pretty standard.

Warranty & Reliability

The Logitech G502 is backed by a 2 year warranty. Logitech’s warranty is usually superb, my G403 scroll wheel started to act randomly and Logitech replaced the mouse with a G703 very quickly.  You can buy with confidence when dealing with Logitech products.

My old G502 is still trucking, it’s survived hundreds of hours of sweaty young adult gaming, the only thing that’s actually wearing on the mouse is the side rubber grip, not as grippy as it used to be but very serviceable.

Check out Logitech warranty here

G502 Comparisons

Here are some of the comparisons we think you should take a look at when considering the G502. Generally, what you’re going to see is that a lot of mice are going to be a better performance mouse just solely due to the weight, but the G502 is one of the few mouse options with a ton of button so it’ll be the choice in a lot of match ups if you’re looking for a lot of bindings.

G502 Lightspeed vs G502 Hero vs G502 Proteus Core vs G502 Proteus Spectrum

The G502 Lightspeed adds wireless connectivity to the classic G502 shape, the wireless Lightspeed version is even 7 grams lighter than the original coming in at 114 grams. Other than that, nothing has changed, same great shape and buttons, if you’re a G502 shape lifer, then getting the wireless version is a hard recommend.

Not much has changed with the G502 Hero from its previous iterations, here are the main differences.

• Hero sensor vs PMW3360 no real appreciable difference
• Softer, thinner braided cable
• Logo update
• Better infinite scroll wheel

So if you want to save money and can live with a thicker cable, I’d go with the Proteus Core version of this mouse, if you were thinking of upgrading from an older version of the G502, I’d say wait until the old mouse is really falling apart because the new version isn’t that different.

Logitech G502 vs RazerDeathAdder Elite

A classic match up, these two mice have been rivals for nearly a decade now. I personally find the Razer DeathAdder Elite shape better than the G502, but this comes up nearly to personal preference. On a spec side, the DeathAdder also has a better cable and is lighter at 105g vs the G502’s 121g.

If you need the buttons go for the G502 in this match up, otherwise, I think the DeathAdder beats out the G502 slightly in terms of comfort and performance.

Logitech G502 vs G703

The Logitech G703 and G502 serve roughly the same audience.

If you have the budget you should get the G703, the G703 shape should be suitable for people who do like the G502 shape while also being wireless and lighter, the G703 is a much better mouse than the G502.

The only people that should consider the G502 over the G703 are folks that know they love the G502 shape, need a bunch of buttons and infinite scroll, or love heavy ass mice.

Logitech G502 vs Razer Mamba Wireless

Both big mice, theRazer Mamba Wireless and G502 both have great ergonomic shapes made for large hands.

The G502 has a thick braided cable and weighs 15 grams more than the Mamba Wireless, in terms of performance and movement, the Mamba Wireless wins big time.

The G502 has better buttons and more buttons, so if you really care about your buttons stick with the G502 here.

The Razer Mamba Wireless is a good modern candidate to replace your G502, it’s a pretty comfortable shape, it still has that same heft that the G502 has but it’s wireless which is a big difference maker.

Logitech G502 vs Rival 600

The Steelseries Rival 600 has a bunch of advantages over the G502, the Rival 600 is much lighter, it has a significantly more flexible cable, and generally better buttons.

These mice basically serve the exact hand size and type of gamer. In terms of comfort I’d give the edge to the G502, as well as its button config if you need a lot of buttons.

Price wise they’re close, this is going to come down to how much more comfortable you might find the G502 over the Rival 600.

Logitech G502 vs G Pro Wireless

Size wise, the Logitech G Pro Wireless serves a medium sized hand, the G502 definitely leans towards a larger hand, so make sure you have that preference figured out before you decide between these two mice.

The G Pro Wireless has a performance advantage over the G502 with it being much lighter and wireless. You’ll likely perform better with the GPW precision wise.

The G502 has advantages in its customization options. Some may argue that its shape is more comfortable but I don’t think the G Pro Wireless is a slouch in the shape department.

I’d recommend the G Pro Wireless over the G502 as long as budget isn’t an issue.

Logitech G502 vs Zowie EC1 & EC2

These mice are close competitors in the mid-range ergonomic space for medium to large hands. It’s actually a very close race.

Both mouse shapes are very popular with ardent fans on each side. I’d say theZowie EC1 with it’s weight and cable is more specifically geared towards high performance FPS games like Rainbow Six Siege and CS:GO.

The G502 is more of an all arounder with a ton buttons, better suited for games like Fortnite with a bunch of commands.

If you don’t need all the buttons or the weight I’d say you should go with the EC1 for performance benefits.

Tech Specs