The Logitech G9 is the first mouse that you can buy with a 3,200 dpi sensor and it’s insanely sensitive at this setting. Luckily you can decide on what dpi setting you want to use from 200 all the way to 3,200 and as with the G5, five different dpi settings can be pre-defined.
The G9 has the advantage of having some built in memory in which you can store the dpi settings and even better, you can store up to five different profiles. This means that you can take the mouse with you or use with your notebook for example, without having to install the software, but still retaining you custom settings.
The new SetPoint version from Logitech is also quite different and it has been improved in many ways. It’s now easier to change a lot of the settings and it has a wider range of options that you can control and adjust. The downside is that for now it only works with the G9 mouse.
As you can see from the screenshot, you have the ability to change the LED colour on the dpi setting display on the mouse and you have a pretty good selection of different colours to choose from. This makes it easier to distinguish between different profiles. Another new feature is that you can program Macro’s into the G9 and it’s not limited to mouse commands. This might be considered unfair play by some, as you could gain an advantage in some games where certain key presses will initiate say for example a spell.
There’s very little here that we don’t like and it looks like Logitech is going from strength to strength with each of its new gaming products and this time the new software works like a charm from the word go as well. But what you’re probably wondering is how good it is in actual game play.
Well, we gave it a good hammering in Battlefield 2, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and Team Fortress 2. The smaller Precision grip was definitely the better one in FPS games and we found the G9 to be very fast and accurate. Almost too fast at times and we didn’t really use at more than 2000 dpi, however, the Wide Load grip was far more comfortable to use in C&C3 and we even used the 3,200 dpi setting.
The overall feel of the G9 is great and it’s even good as a day to day mouse and the MicroGear scroll wheel is great when you’re browsing long web pages. It’s impossible to use in frictionless mode in games though, but we doubt that Logitech ever intended for this.
Well admit that the shape still feels a bit odd, even after several days of playing games with it and although it feels better for FPS games due to its smaller size which really seems to make it easier to move it around. It all depends on how you’re holding your mouse of course, but if you grab the sides of it with your thumb and pinky, then we’re pretty sure you’ll like the G9 for FPS games.
The Wide Load grip could actually have been bigger, to the extent of the MX Revolution, since when you play strategy games, you hold the mouse differently and it’s nice to be able to rest your hand comfortably on the mouse. Here’s hoping for some new grips from Logitech.
