By Matthew Powell
In the extremely fast-paced world of high end gaming, milliseconds — even microseconds — count for everything. If you can click 81 times in the few seconds it takes your opponent to click 80 times, you win.
And often that’s not down to the skill of the players as much as it’s a limitation of the gear they’re using. How quickly can you click a button? How far does the button travel when you click it? How soon can you click it again? These things matter.
This is why so many gaming mouses focus on the mechanism and durability of their buttons. It’s also why so many gamers complain about buttons that don’t press far enough, don’t reset fast enough, or break too soon.
Logitech, long a leader in this space, has taken a novel approach with the Pro X2 Superstrike wireless mouse: the buttons aren’t really buttons. It has touch sensors inside that provide haptic feedback so it feels like you’re pushing traditional buttons, even though you’re not.
It feels pretty strange at first — pushing the buttons with the power off makes no click at all — but you get used to it soon enough.
The great advantage of the no-button approach is that the user can configure exactly how much “travel” they want the imaginary buttons to have, and how quickly they reset to be clicked again. You can even customise exactly where the buttons are — up to five “actuation zones” can be configured on the surface of the mouse, to suit your grip and playing style.
Beyond that rather clever innovation it’s a very capable input device. It uses Logitech’s HERO 2 sensor with a resolution up to a ridiculous 44,000dpi, and tracking up to 888IPS — near the very top of the range for a gaming mouse.
It also has a report rate (how frequently the mouse and the Bluetooth dongle talk to each other) of up to 8000Hz. Eight thousand times a second, the mouse tells your computer where it’s at. In short, you’re not likely to see and jerky or skipping movement, even in very demanding games.
These advanced features require you to use the Logitech G Hub software, which you have to download from the web. It’s available for both Windows and Mac.
At about 60g, it feels light in the hand and easy to move about. Some gamers might prefer a slightly heftier mouse for a more positive feel, but it’s a matter of taste.
All up this is an impressive device, with specs that frankly exceed the range of human capability. If you’re serious about getting more clicks in than the other guy, the Logitech Pro X2 Superstrike won’t steer you wrong.
