Reviewed: Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum Wireless Gaming Mouse

 

The software

We tested the Logitech Gaming Software on Windows 10 64bit up to the current version at the time of publishing (v8.88.30) and found it to be rock solid. The peripherals included the G900 Chaos Spectrum, a G933 Artemis Spectrum, G810 and G910 keyboards as well as a G920 Racing wheel set – This is about as much as we could load up the peripherals being controlled by the software and the result was awesome. The linking of the lighting worked a treat as did the application/game detection. When you combine the Logitech ‘Spectrum’ series of products, the RGB LED customisation just works.

We did not experience any memory leaks, application crashes or anything negative with regard to the driver/controller software nor did it impede our gaming in any way. The user interface is intuitive with the easiest mapping of functions to buttons that we’ve seen. The standard of this software is to be expected though as it’s Logitech’s bread and butter.

Test Setup

The Primary test system specification is listed below but the G900 Chaos Spectrum was used on multiple workstations/laptops.

  • Intel i7-5630K
  • 32GB Kingston Predator DDR4 3300
  • MSI X99S Gaming 7 motherboard
  • Fractal Design Kelvin S36 AIO Water Cooler 
  • Fractal Design Define R5 Case
  • MSI GTX980 Gaming 4G
  • ADATA SX900 256GB SSD
  • Western Digital Blue 4TB SSHD
  • Corsair HX850 PSU
  • Samsung Blu-ray drive
  • Logitech G810 keyboard
  • Logitech G900 mouse
  • Logitech Z533 desktop speakers
  • Kingston HyperX Cloud headset
  • Logitech G933 headset
  • BenQ XL2730Z Monitor
  • Mionix Sargas 400 mouse mat
PB030048

Our test bench peripheral setup is currently very Logitech centric as we wanted to test out the Spectrum RGB lighting and software. As it happens, the Logitech Gaming Software (LGS) works as advertised. Games like the Division, Star Wars Battlefront, GTA V and Battlefield 1 have LED profiles embedded but the software allows new ones to be created easily. We didn’t have any issues with the software, the lighting or the pre-sets and sensitivity configuration. The mapping of any button to any function is also possible so you can link a key, application or a custom macro to any button including the DPI adjustment buttons under the scroll wheel. The Logitech software also gave alerts when the battery life with 30% and below. We had ample warning of the need to recharge and the mouse only went completely dead when gaming after we made a conscious effort to ignore the warnings and run it to empty so that we could run a timer on how long it took to do a full charge.

From a completely depleted state, the G900 took 2 hours and 3 minutes to fully charge whilst being used to play a First Person Shooter game with the mouse LEDs active. Typically speaking, we saw 6-7 days of normal use before feeling the need to recharge the mouse (reading less than 15% battery remaining). It didn’t seem to matter if we used the on/off switch underneath the mouse or just left the G900 to time-out after inactivity – so the sleep function seems to be very effective here.

The Hyper scrolling wheel was great for RTS style games where we constantly scrolled in and out to view the whole map at one moment and then zoom in to a unit or target in the next moment. World of Warships was also a very memorable stand out in this regard to the point where the game just didn’t feel the same when using a mouse with a standard scroll wheel. The scroll wheel also has the ability to scroll left and right – you just need to bump it one way or the other. This is a great function as you can also map that action like a mouse button and we didn’t have a single instance where we ‘side-scrolled’ by accident so the sensor/mechanism isn’t too sensitive for action packed FPS or RTS gaming.

Button clicks were responsive and the buttons all felt like they were well placed for our hands – we don’t have a left handed gamer to verify the placement of the left handed forward/back buttons. Whilst you can use both sets of thumb buttons simultaneously by swapping out the ‘blank right thumb plate’ with the buttons, we didn’t find it to be comfortable – but kudos to Logitech for at least giving gamers the option to use all the buttons if they want to. Also of interest was that the right and left mouse clicks sounded different but didn’t feel any different from a tactile perspective – this isn’t an issue, just an observation.

While we didn’t experience any issues gripping the G900 Chaos spectrum, some rubber grips on the side would have been a nice touch. The omission of rubber grips as seen on other Logitech mice may be due to the ambidextrous design.

The Mouserate utility showed us the 1000Hz polling rate as advertised so we can confirm that the Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum is indeed able to hit the 1ms response time target both wireless and when connected via USB.

Build quality

The build quality of the G900 Chaos Spectrum is excellent although it does feel a little light and the whole outer of the mouse is made of plastic. After 5 months of use, there were almost no signs of wear with the only evidence we could find being some ever so slight wear marks on the feet. The black plastic is no fingerprint magnet and we didn’t feel the need to wipe the G900 down once in the time we were testing it. The scroll wheel in both normal and hyper scroll modes were flawless as were the buttons, LEDs and on/off switch after what we would consider 5 months of sustained normal usage. The battery life tended to last 6-7 days and didn’t deteriorate during our testing. The USB Charging cable has a strong connection that allows the mouse to be used without the need to be gentle while plugged in – that cable isn’t falling out any time soon, nor is the charging connection likely to fail in our opinion.

We used the mouse on a Mionix Sargas 400 and Sargas 900 cloth mouse mats which limit the wear and tear under the mouse – this is what we normally use in the office so it wasn’t a case of any special treatment. 

The retail boxing has a premium feel to it and also provides excellent protection to ensure the G900 arrives in pristine condition.

Even the accessories have their own case

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Captcha loading...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.