Glorious Model O Review – Game Changer

The Model O could potentially change the gaming mouse landscape for the better. 

The value you get for the Glorious Model O is absurd, it gives you pretty much everything you would want out of ultra light mouse at a near budget price. The Model O easily competes with all the big names and is a very strong recommendation for medium/large fingertip grip gamers looking for a light mouse.

Verdict

The Model O could be a paradigm shifter, it offers so much value and performance for its price that its hard to suggest mice that are 3 times the cost. 

For someone with a budget and was envying the Air58, the Model O is a dream come true, it provides high performance, a light frame and an overall really solid experience.

We haven’t made a placement decision on our best mouse list yet, but it’s likely got a spot.

Shape, Weight & Design

The Glorious Model O feels like it was designed with a very specific mandate, take the best things that gamers like in other mice, put it in one package and make it affordable. For the most part, I feel like Glorious has achieved that goal. The Model O takes the honeycomb structure and soft cable of the Air58, the shape of an FK1 and just generally solid buttons, tosses in some neat LEDs and some coating options and make it available for $50, it’s an incredible value. 

The Model O’s shape very closely resembles FK1 in both size and curves, like the FK1 it’s an extremely comfortable mouse that’s perfect for fingertip and claw grip for medium to larger hands. The low-profile and curved sides make it quite the performer for claw grips, no issues maneuvering with this mouse at all. The shape is ambidextrous but there are no buttons available for left handed gamers.

The Model O famously has the hexagon hole or honeycomb structure that made the Finalmouse so popular, Glorious executes the hole structure well, you don’t feel any of the holes while gaming, and the result in the holey structure has worked in reducing weight, the Model O is a svelte 67 grams making it one of the lightest mice on the market.

The bottom of the mouse features more holes and 4 well-sized feet. The feet have been dubbed G-Skates, made of 100% pure virgin PTFE, which from my research doesn’t really mean its inherently better, but I can say that the skates on the Glorious Model O are smooth, with more glide than the Air58 or FK1, they’re probably the fastest glide stock mice feet on the market.

The sides of the mouse don’t have the honeycomb pattern and this is where the Air58 probably made the 10 gram gap between the two mice.

Glorious seems to really want everyone to know who they are, there are 3 total logos on the mouse, one on the underside, left side and right side, not particularly a fan of the overt branding but understand where its coming from.

The Model O has taken the crown away from the Air58 for the best stock cable on a mouse, it is somehow even softer than the Air58, definitely don’t need a mouse bungee if you don’t have one, the cable on the Model O will reliably stay out of the way.

Overall, the Model O is a very well designed, attractive mouse with all the essentials taken care of and a touch of flair. 

Comparisons to Other Mice

Model O vs Air58

This is the primary matchup, the similarities are very obvious at first glance, starting with the obvious structure of both mice. The Air58 manages to stay 9 grams lighter than the Model O, and in gaming usage that difference is noticeable.

Shape wise, the Model O really resembles the FK1 with its low profile and slope towards the front, the Air58 also has similar design queues with its ambidextrous shape but stays a little higher to the ground. I find the Air58 a little easier to pick up and maneuver due to its larger sides with deeper curves. Both mice excel best with claw or finger tip grips.

The cable on the Model O is somehow even softer than the Air58, it’s not a huge difference but in these comparisons every little thing matters.

The buttons on the Air58 are just slightly better than the Model O, with a little more crispness to the clicks. The scroll wheel absolutely trounces the Air58’s scroll wheel in every way, better click, better scroll and just a better feel.

The feet on the Model O seem to glide just slightly smoother than the Air58. Build quality is better on the Air58, I get a lot less flex and creaking than what I see in the Model O.

Overall, the Model O is a much better mouse for the dollar, it dukes it out pretty well with the Air58, winning in some categories and losing in others but costing almost a quarter of the price. 

Model O vs FK1

The Model O essentially has the exact same shape and feel as the FK1, with better buttons, better cable and way lighter.

I’m not sure if there’s anything that would make me pick the FK1 over the Model O.

Model O vs G Pro Wireless

These mice differ in size quite greatly, the best mouse for you between these two options is going to come down to size preference, GPW for medium hands and Model O for larger hands.

The buttons are pretty equal, both scroll wheels are excellent, the Model O has a great soft cable while the G Pro Wireless is wireless. Most other factors are a wash outside of shape and size. 

Build Quality & Materials

The Model O has some great surface options:

• Matte White
• Glossy White
• Matte Black
• Glossy Black

If you have drier hands, definitely go for the glossy versions, it’s a really grippy surface. For myself, I have a clammier hand so the matter version is perfect for me. There’s nothing unique about the surfaces, it uses pretty standard glossy and matte surfaces, but the amount of options is very nice to see. 

The glossy version of the mouse is $10 more than the matte version, I also feel like my glossy mouse is slightly sturdier than the matte version. 

The white version of the mouse really shows off the LEDs of the mouse bouncing around inside, in general, I like the white version over the black. 

The Model O has okay build quality, I wouldn’t put it in the top tier with the high-end Logitech’s or even the Finalmouse in terms of shell feel. There’s definitely a slight give or creak when pressing on the mouse, especially on the sides. It doesn’t feel cheap like the Nexus Revel but there’s definitely something lacking when compared to the tankiest mice. 

No rattles when shaken, other than some slight flex there’s not much to gripe about build quality wise. 

Buttons & Scroll Wheel

The Model O has the essential and only essential buttons:

• 2 primary clicks: left and right
• 2 side buttons
• middle click scroll
• DPI switcher

Another win for the Model O, the buttons on the mouse are also good! I wouldn’t say they’re in the top tier of Logitech G305 level clicks or even the G Pro Wireless but they are definitely preferred to the super stiff Zowie’s or mushy like the DeathAdder. The buttons lack the really sharp snap that the top end buttons have, there’s a bit of travel on the button before the mouse actually actuates. Thankfully, there’s no pre-travel on the buttons and in terms of real game play, no issues with responsiveness in FPS and spammability in MOBAs.

The scroll wheel is scroll wheel is top tier, with nice distinct steps, the wheel is grippy with large ridges with very little noise produced when ripping through. The middle click is a good weight with a decent click at the bottom, very responsive.

The side buttons are placed in a great spot with the buttons having proper separation. The buttons aren’t super snappy, but not mushy either, right in the middle, enough to give the right response. 

Sensor & Performance

No shortcomings here, the Model O packs the flawless PMW3360 and its implementation is pretty much perfect. I haven’t been able to find any jitter, I couldn’t cause any spin outs with no acceleration detected. 

The mouse can operate in multiple polling rates:

• 125Hz
• 250Hz
• 500Hz
• 1000Hz

The DPI of the sensor can be set at 100 increments anywhere from 400 to 12000.

Combining this flawless sensor with the shape, the lightness and the cable of the Model O, this is upper tier performer.

Features & Software

You can download the latest Glorious software here. 

The software is pretty straight forward, it lets you a few standard things like remap buttons on your mouse, set your DPI steps, number of DPI steps and polling rate.

There are a couple of unique settings that you don’t see in all software, you can set the lift off distance, you basically want this as low as possible unless you have a particular set up preference. The software also lets you set something called debounce time, debounce basically limits the mouse to only send one signal in a given interval, this is an effort to reduce double clicking, this isn’t something you need to set.

The honeycomb shell lets the edge RGB of the Model O to shine through the palm area, it’s a great effect, the Model O has some of the best RGB on any mouse. There are 7 LED settings:

• Glorious Mode
• Seamless Breathing (RGB)
• Breathing
• Single Color
• Breathing (Single Color)
• Tail
• Rave
• Wave

Warranty & Reliability

Glorious doesn’t have much to say about their warranty, just stating that there’s a 2 year warranty for the Model O listed on their product page.