Logitech’s G502 line is already one of the best gaming mouse designs out there. The ergonomic, “first-person shooter”-style mouse – named for a thumb button that’s traditionally used to temporarily lower your DPI for more precise aiming – feels good in your hand and has tons of customizable inputs. Last year, the company polished the already-awesome mouse with a new revision, the G502 X, which features a more stylish design and modest upgrades.
At the top of the heap, there’s a new “flagship” model – the G502 X Plus – an upgraded version of the G502 lightspeed that’s lighter and can get better battery life. The Plus earns its title bump (and a slightly higher price tag) with a large RGB light bar that runs across its palm rest. On the one hand, you’ll be hard-pressed to say that the G502 X Plus, or any G502 X, features any changes that would make a world of difference compared to its predecessor. On the other, it’s an improved version of a mouse that was already among the best you could buy. The high bar it set now sits a little higher.
Logitech G502 X Plus – Design & Features
The G502 X design, Plus or otherwise, has been streamlined and optimized mostly for style’s sake, though there are some tangible changes. Measuring 3.13 x 5.25 x 1.63 inches and weighing 3.7 ounces, it’s a lighter and slightly wider mouse than the G502 Lightspeed, though they feel the same in hand. To be clear: that’s a good thing. Both generations of G502 have a curvy shape that fills your hand and feels good to hold for long stretches.
Its most distinctive feature – the one that makes it a G502 X Plus – is a large 8-point RGB lighting element that runs along the rear side button on the left side of the mouse, across the top of the palm, and juts out along the right side. If you love RGB, it’s a big improvement over the G502 Lightspeed, which only had a small light-up logo. While it’s a purely cosmetic change, and one that you’ll only notice when you aren’t using the mouse, I think the pop of color looks really sharp, especially on the white model.
The G502 X Plus is packed to the gills with 12 inputs, almost all of which are customizable. If you’re counting, there are nine buttons on top: left and right click, a scroll wheel with a center click and customizable tilt inputs, two buttons in the center column, and two extra buttons on the left edge of the mouse. On the side, you have the standard back and forward buttons, plus the FPS “sniper” button under your thumb.
Some of the buttons have new shapes that make them slightly easier to use: The sniper button, for example, is now a clicky paddle with a curved edge for your thumb to slide onto, rather than a conventional button on the G502 Lightspeed. (You can also swap it back with an extra button that comes with the mouse.) Likewise, the buttons on the left edge are now raised, making it easier to roll over them with the side of your thumb. Functionally, it’s an immense number of inputs for a non-MMO mouse and the fact that they’re all practical is an impressive feat.
The G502 X line features Logitech’s new “Lightforce” opto-mechanical mouse switches, which have a mechanical switch for feel, but trigger your input using a laser. Like other manufacturers that have swapped to this style, Logitech claims that optical switches can cut out microseconds of latency and extend the switches’ durability. It’s not a change you’ll feel moment-to-moment, but you may notice your click timing feels just a bit snappier.
Battery life and charging, a highlight on the G502 Lightspeed, get a notable tune-up in the redesign as well. The G502 X Plus gets a beefy battery life upgrade to 130 hours without RGB lighting on, compared to 60 on the G502 Lightspeed. Given the large RGB bar on the X Plus, the battery life unsurprisingly drops to a much more down-to-earth 37 hours of action with RGB lighting on, which more or less matches my experience. I found the mouse lasts somewhere between a week and 10 days on a single charge with the lighting at max brightness.
Of course, battery life doesn’t matter much if you pair the mouse with the Logitech G Powerplay charging mousepad, which can charge your mouse while it’s in use, effectively granting you infinite battery life. If spending nearly $120 on freedom from the tyranny of a charging cable isn’t your style, the G502 X line features a USB-C charging port, an upgrade over the Micro USB on the older Lightspeed.
A few small features have been changed and removed in the interest of streamlining everything. The G502 Lightspeed featured a small trio of indicator lights on the left side to show you which of your onboard configuration profiles you were using. That’s been replaced by a small indicator light above the scroll wheel that tells you when you switch among your five onboard profiles, as well as when you change to a different DPI setting. There are also new rubberized grips on the sides. For the most part, all of these changes work in the G502 X Plus’ favor, modernizing the design and increasing its utility.
There is one feature, though, that has been removed wholesale. The G502 X Plus dispenses of the old G502’s adjustable weight system, which would allow you to add small 2-4 gram weights to re-balance the mouse. In the era of esports mice where everyone is shaving weight off their mice wherever they can, it makes perfect sense that you’d remove the feature. It costs more to produce and adds lots of easy-to-lose parts. Still, it’s worth noting that you may want to hold onto or look out for the old design if a custom weighting is your jam.
Logitech G502 X vs G502 X Lightspeed vs G502 X Plus
As I noted at the top, the G502 X Plus is the “flagship” (read: most expensive) mouse of the new G502 X line. There are three G502 X mice. The standard G502 X is a wired mouse, the G502 X Lightspeed is a wireless parallel to the G502 Lightspeed, and the G502 X Plus adds the stylish RGB light bar, which takes a slight toll on battery life. (The G502 X Lightspeed gets an estimated 140 hours of battery life, where the G502 X Plus reportedly tops out at 130 hours with the RGB lighting turned off.)
Beyond those core differences, the three mice are identical. They all feature the same handsome shape and the same number of inputs. Crucially, they all feature Logitech’s Hero 25K sensor, which supports tracking at up to 25,600 DPI and retains its accuracy at up to 400 inches per second. They all get the biggest upgrades, including Logitech’s new opto-mechanical “Lightforce” mouse switches.
There’s definitely an argument to be made that the wireless versions of the G502 X offer a more meaningful upgrade over the standard G502 X, since they get some extra benefits to battery life and charging. That said, all three feel like modest, but welcome revisions.
Logitech G502 X Plus – Software
Like all Logitech gaming gear, the G502 X Plus allows for advanced settings customization through Logitech G Hub, the company’s configuration app for PC gaming peripherals. Through G Hub, you gain access to deep customization, including the ability to reassign 11 of the G502 X Plus’ 12 buttons and create game-specific profiles with custom setups. A select number of competitive staples like Overwatch, Call of Duty, Fortnite, and Valorant even have game-specific control assignments baked into the app. G Hub also lets you customize the G502 X Plus’ signature RGB light bar, using presets or creating a custom pattern.
If you’re a Logitech user, there’s nothing specifically new about G Hub in conjunction with the G502 X Plus. If you don’t use it already, you can rest assured that it’s one of the snappiest, most intuitive configuration apps out there. If you like to tinker with game-specific mouse configurations or create macros, getting a mouse from a major manufacturer like Logitech is absolutely worth it.
Logitech G502 X Plus – Gaming
The Logitech G502 X Plus is a juggernaut of a gaming mouse. Its comfortable shape makes it easy to hold, even for long multi-hour gaming sessions. After playing games like Call of Duty: Vanguard, Overwatch 2, and Genshin Impact for the past few weeks, the lightweight chassis makes it easy to move your cursor quickly, and the now tried-and-true Hero 25K sensor feels as snappy and responsive as ever.
Having access to a wide array of inputs helps too, allowing you to move actions away from awkward keyboard inputs to quick, easily-reachable mouse buttons. Moving actions like going prone and reloading in Vanguard or your secondary and ultimate abilities in Overwatch 2, allows for quicker, more reactive gameplay and dramatically improves the ergonomics of your setup by reducing your reliance on keys like Left Shift and Left Control, which may force you to bend your pinky backwards. This would be a plus on any mouse with 10+ inputs, but the specific design of the G502 X Plus feels optimized for that high level of control.
As expected, I can’t say that I specifically noticed anything special about the G502 X Plus’ new Lightforce switches. On the plus side, clicks offered strong tactile feedback, like a mechanical switch should. On the maybe-not-so-plus side, I can’t say that I played better with it than with another gaming mouse. That isn’t as big a knock against it as you might think, though: an optical switch typically shaves off microseconds of lag over a mechanical one, so you aren’t going to notice a big difference, whether it improves your game or not.
