Review gaming mouse ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless / Overclockers.ua

A few months ago, in our review of ASUS ROG Gladius III, we promised to introduce readers to its wireless version as soon as possible. This hour has come and in this review we will talk about the features and characteristics of ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless.

Specifications

Contents of delivery

The mouse is sold in a medium-sized square package, decorated in ROG brand colors. There are images of the product, and on the reverse side you can get acquainted with its main characteristics.

The front part of the package is held on a magnet (if you cut the pre-adhesive seal) and opens to the left side. The contents inside are lined with soft foam, and you don’t have to worry about its safety.

The package includes a user manual, a brochure with warranty information, a sheet of four stickers, a mouse, a detachable USB Type C cable, an adapter from USB Type C to Type A, two additional Omron optical switches, tweezers for easy removal of mechanisms from quick-change sockets and a set of four spare legs. The transmitter is hidden in a special pocket in the mouse itself.

Appearance

The appearance and shape of the ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless is the same, both in the wired and in the wireless version. This is a peculiar, but rather interesting interpretation of the asymmetry, where a notch is made for the thumb on the left, and the right panel is rounded at the back and protrudes to the side. The cover of the top panel is a smooth matte plastic, easily soiled with intensive use. The panels of the main keys are separate from the body, they are spring-loaded with special hinges for better pressing on the switches. It requires below average force to operate, and the sound is clear. The left button is wobbly for some reason. The middle key is pressed quietly and with medium effort. The glossy triangular resolution switch is medium in volume, but hard to press.

The left sidewall is made of tenacious matte plastic with diagonal stripes, in which the inscriptions are visible when the backlight is on. Under the thumb there is a tactile notch. The side buttons are made of plastic that is rough to the touch. They are pressed elastically, without free play, with a soft click. Note that in previous versions of Gladius they were triangular in profile, but now they have become flat.

The front panel has a trapezoidal rounded recess, where the USB Type C connector is located in the bottom center. Due to the open position, not only the native signal cable will fit it, but almost any cord with a similar, more or less standard-shaped connector. The scroll wheel is transparent and rubberized, with diagonal texture notches. It rotates very quietly, clearly practicing all fixation positions with tactile feedback.

The cable is a soft and flexible cord, two meters long, wrapped in a para-cord braid. There is a standard USB Type A connector on one end, and a USB Type C connector on the other. Both have a decent length of kink protection. There is no ferrite filter, there is a Velcro tape with a logo that allows you to adjust the required length of the wire.

When connected to a mouse, the cable connector almost touches the surface. Given its length, there is a logical assumption that this device is designed more for wireless use, and the wire is needed only for charging. Indeed, with intensive use and rearrangement of the mouse, the connector will constantly break, creating unnecessary loads on the charging port.

On the right side of the mouse, at the point of contact with the fingers, there is a diagonal notch made of tenacious matte plastic, behind which the ROG logo is stamped diagonally.

The mouse stern is rounded and lowered. The illuminated ROG logo is located on the back roll.

The ergonomics of the mouse is designed for the right hand and is suitable, on average, for all types of grip. The shape of the case will fit perfectly in the hands of medium or large size. The weight has grown to 89 grams, and its balance has shifted towards the stern. When lifting off the surface, the body now has to be held tighter so that it does not fall back.

The base of the ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless has four triangular rounded legs at the corners (with hooks for easy replacement) and one triangular glide around the sensor window built into the center. The profile switching button is located near the rear legs. On the sides of it are rubber plugs for mounting screws that hold the case assembly. And even further, a receiver is hidden in a glossy recess, held by a magnet. Near the front feet, there is a three-position power switch with Bluetooth/wired (battery off)/2.4GHz receiver modes. And below the slider is a built-in Pair key to connect the mouse to other devices via Bluetooth.

The 2.4GHz microtransmitter is removed from the magnetic pocket between the rear legs of the mouse.

To improve the quality of communication, it is desirable to place the transmitter close to the mouse. Therefore, the kit includes an adapter from the charging cable. When assembled, this turns out to be a remote antenna, and if you remove the adapter with the transmitter, then charging is immediately at hand.

There are actually three backlight zones – a scroll wheel, a logo on the back panel and inscriptions on the left sidewall (which are frankly poorly visible even at maximum brightness). All zones are regulated separately. All colors are displayed correctly by the LEDs, including white.

Internal organization

To get to the innards of the ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless, just remove the two rubber plugs near the rear legs and unscrew the two small Phillips screws.

Next, the entire upper part of the mouse is removed completely. All electronic filling remains on the bottom panel. The top cover has built-in spring hinges needed to press the main button panels to the switches. In addition, the contact pads of the buttons are covered with damping elements, and they also have reverse upward limiters.

Interestingly, the schematic logic of the circuit board is very different in the wireless and wired versions of the mouse, while maintaining the overall dimensions and position of other components. A battery appeared in the plastic basket, which is connected to the board with a three-pin cable, the power cord connection has disappeared (after all, the connector is now soldered directly to the board), and the cable from the scroll wheel encoder backlight has shifted back, making room for a new microcircuit. The sensor is installed exactly the same as in the wired version – PixArt PAW3370DM-T4QU. This is an energy efficient version of the reference 3360/3389 gaming sensor.

As before, the entire scrolling system is suspended in a separate basket, which moves in its entirety when the middle button is pressed. This eliminates the classic problem of an encoder broken off the PCB, due to constant skew when pressed. One of the best options for implementing this node in principle.

Both side buttons and the scroll wheel encoder are made by Kailh.

Switch sockets are occupied by default with ROG proprietary mechanisms in a red translucent case. For them, the manufacturer declared a MTBF of 70 million clicks, no more than +/- 5 grams of difference in actuation force and gold-plated contacts. In the socket, in addition to three standard sockets, there are four more holes for the optical LEDs of the new hybrid switches. Alternatively, Omron D2FP-FN optical switches with white buttons are included. They make a loud and resonant click when pressed. They are easy to distinguish from mechanics by two pairs of additional contacts in the rear of the case and a single leg in front. The main advantage of the optics is the absence of a delay for the “bounce” of the signal, which in theory can help reduce the button response time by a couple of tens of milliseconds.

Functionality

ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless has five on-board memory profiles that allow you to separately store sensor settings, remapped commands for all buttons, and backlight settings. Switching profiles is done cyclically by pressing the Profile button on the mouse base. Successive presses of the DPI button cycle through four preset resolution levels. Holding the DPI button for 3 seconds and then rotating the scroll wheel allows you to change the resolution in 100 cpi increments. This changes the mouse backlight from cool colors (low resolution) to hot colors (high resolution). Pressing the DPI button again saves the selected resolution level. Holding the Pair key for three seconds puts the mouse into pairing mode with Bluetooth devices. Pressing Pair in succession switches the three connected Bluetooth devices. At the same time, the LEDs on the mouse blink for one second in the corresponding color: red for the first device, purple for the second, and blue when switching to the third.

Proprietary software

ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless uses the resource-intensive Armory Crate software as software, which requires downloading from the official website and installation. It is constantly active.

In the Buttons section, you can remap six keys and two scroll directions. Mouse and keyboard functions, macros, multimedia commands and Windows commands, “invisibility” mode and the ability to completely disable the key are available for assignment. All changes are saved in one of the five on-board profiles.

There are four levels of resolution in the sensor performance settings that can be adjusted from 100 to 26,000 cpi in 50 cpi increments. You can choose from polling rates of 125, 250, 500 or 1000 Hz. You can also enable or disable the angular snapping of the cursor.

On the backlight setting screen, you can select seven types of lighting effects, adjust them to any color and five levels of brightness. Separate settings for the LEDs of the scroll wheel, logo and sidewall are available separately. Aura Sync allows you to synchronize the backlight with other devices. And with the help of Aura Creator, you can create additional effects.

In the “Calibration” section, you can adjust the height of the mouse separation from the surface. It can be turned on or off. You can set the mouse to one of 13 preset surface options. With them, the separation height is set in two options – low and high. The first corresponds to 1 mm, and the second to 2 mm. Or you can calibrate the LOD manually by running the appropriate process and moving the mouse over the carpet for a while.

In the “Power” section, the gauge quite accurately displays the current battery percentage. The famous inscription “row_1942” (it has not been corrected in any way for almost a year) probably means the charge level at which the mouse switches to the economical mode of the sensor. Next, you can configure the transition to sleep mode, after being idle for 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 minutes, or never.

The mouse and software support automatic and forced checking for firmware and program code updates.

The macro editor allows you to record commands from the mouse and keyboard, including the direction of the scroll wheel. The cursor movement trajectory is not fixed. Up to 100 commands are placed in one macro, each of which consists of a delay time associated with pressing and releasing a key. All recording and playback delays, sequence and content of commands can be easily edited at the end of the recording.

Ergonomics and testing

The ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless mouse was tested on a plain black SteelSeries QcK Edge XL cloth mousepad. As in the wired version, here the body of the device does not feel solid and creaks are observed when compressed on the sides. In the “rattle test”, the left mouse button and the resolution switch button show themselves. By the way, paintwork backlash in this line of mice is a fairly common occurrence, although, according to reviews, there are also individual specimens without it. The device is comfortable in the hand. It is suitable for right-handers with large or medium-sized hands. Due to the battery, the weight of the mouse increased by 10 grams to 89 grams. Almost all of this gain comes from the stern, which causes the hull to lean back when lifted off the ground, requiring a firmer grip. The coating is pleasant to the touch, rather easily soiled. The legs and cable are among the best in the class. The legs provide a smooth, well-controlled glide without unnecessary inertia, and the cable, due to its softness, can be used without a holder.

The main spring-loaded mouse buttons work easily and clearly, despite the backlash of the LMB panel. The scroll wheel is perfect – quiet, responsive and free of play, with medium actuation force. The side buttons have a more pleasant character of work in comparison with analogs on the wired version of the mouse.

When working on a cable, the mouse does not differ in any way from wired counterparts. But, as noted above, the wired mode of operation cannot be recommended for intensive games, since the long cable connector is located too low and catches the surface at the slightest tilt forward. Charging time takes two to three hours from a “dry” state in a regular USB port.

When working through a 2.4 GHz receiver, the responsiveness of the device is no different from the wired mode (provided that the receiver is close to the mouse). Regarding the autonomy of the device, it is worth making a few remarks. It largely depends on the sleep mode and backlight settings. We conducted several experiments with different energy saving options. In the heaviest mode, “sleep” was completely disabled, and the backlight was set to static with 50% brightness (quite enough to correctly display the color). In this version, the mouse was able to last a little less than 30 hours of continuous operation. This is enough for 3-4 days of gaming or PC work. The most energy-saving option involves completely turning off the backlight and going to sleep after a minute of inactivity. Here, the Gladius III Wireless easily lasted its claimed 55 hours of battery life and would likely last another 10 hours. But this is data obtained on a new battery, which, most likely, has a margin for gradual wear. By the way, in the “sleep” mode, the backlight is turned off and the power consumption of the sensor is reduced. It can be safely set for 1 minute of inactivity, since the transition to the active state occurs almost instantly.

Working via Bluetooth, the mouse goes from “gaming” to office, as the polling rate drops to 125 Hz. But autonomy grows to almost 100 hours, which is enough for two full working weeks in the office. And this mouse can be connected to three Bluetooth devices at once, easily switching between them as needed.

Quick-switch sockets that support both mechanical and optical switches are a great way to customize your buttons. But keep in mind that optical mechanisms increase battery consumption because they are constantly active. Five on-board profiles allow you to customize the mouse for a set of your favorite games and forget about the software in principle. As for the backlight, we have repeatedly raised the question of its expediency in wireless gaming devices. For this mouse, the backlight is relevant only when working on a wire, otherwise, the user will not receive anything other than accelerated battery wear. Armory Crate software continues to improve, but is still aimed at those who have most of the system assembled from ASUS components.

Achieving good battery life combined with the efficiency of ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless is helped by the energy-efficient PixArt PAW3370DM-T4QU sensor, designed for wireless use. Initially, the sensor supports up to 19000 cpi, but ASUS engineers set the allowable resolution to 26000 cpi through the driver. The sensor has excellent positioning accuracy, extremely low and adjustable frequency of separation, does not suffer from parasitic effects in its work. It is almost impossible to cause a cursor break here. According to the program readings, the anti-aliasing level looks slightly overestimated, but it may well be that this is a feature of the current firmware version of the device, and not of the sensor.

Results

In the ASUS ROG Gladius III Wireless mouse, its creators tried to assemble a kind of universal combine designed to immediately replace the user with both a game controller and a device for working or relaxing on the Internet. In addition, it can work both via cable and without cable, and with any device. Both with mechanical and optical switches at once. In general, all in one and at once, thanks that at least the screen was not inserted or the joystick was not built in.

But, as we know, universality implies a certain compromise, and in this case, in the pursuit of comfort, some of the advantages for which a mouse is chosen for e-sports have been lost. In particular, we are talking about too large a shape, about increased weight due to the battery, about shifting its distribution towards the stern, about too low a charging cable. And on the little things, you can also remember about the frequent backlash of the paintwork in individual copies of the devices.

Thus, if you choose a purely gaming mouse with an asymmetric shape, then in terms of a combination of characteristics and cost, in the current range, I would give preference to the wired ASUS ROG Gladius III. If you look in the direction of a gaming wireless mouse, then the championship remains with ASUS ROG Keris Wireless. But, in fact, everything is not so simple here either, because Gladius III Wireless has an objectively better sensor and a larger size than Keris, while the latter has a stronger and more balanced body, which is convenient in gaming battles. In general, as they say, what will fall into someone’s hand.