Asus Rog Gladius III Wireless review: a less heavy mouse and still in good shape

Without being really extravagant, the design of the first two Gladius could not be called sober. Accessories manufacturers gaming nevertheless tend to opt for more and more consensual designs and this is verified with the Gladius III Wireless which sports much softer lines.

Salient angles and sharp edges give way to curves that calm the design. This third Gladius of the name inevitably loses identity, but is thus more discreet and easy to match with other gaming peripherals that would not be signed Asus Rog.

Asus Rog in any case wished to keep a similar size for this Gladius III Wireless which therefore measures 123 x 68 x 44 mm, against 126 x 67 x 45 mm for the second version. The mouse therefore remains compact enough to be usable with small hands who will gladly rest their entire palm on it, while large hands will also find a certain comfort in it despite a tendency to grip the mouse with the fingers a little more bent.

Despite very similar dimensions, the Gladius III Wireless manages to lose no less than 36 g compared to its predecessor. An impressive regime which certainly results in the disappearance of the elastomer material present on the edges of the Gladius II, but which does not come at the expense of the quality of manufacture. Indeed, without reaching the very “premium” side of those of the Gladius II, the smooth plastics are here beautifully made and the edges for their part benefit from raised patterns providing sufficient grip to lift the mouse when it is about refocusing it on the mat. The fingers still slide a little, in particular on the right edge which would have deserved to be more curved, but the mouse being quite light, that does not interfere with its handling.

Less concave than those of the Gladius II, the main buttons of the Gladius III still welcome the index and middle fingers which have sufficient width not to reach the edges or even touch the dial. The latter is just as accessible, well notched and pleasant to handle thanks to its rubberized coating. The same goes for the 2 buttons on the left edge, quite wide and which fall perfectly under the thumb.

Under the 2 main buttons, there are ROG branded switches, responsive and very sensitive. If, however, a firmer and more sonic feel is preferred, they can be replaced by Japanese Omron D2FP-FN (5-pin) optical switches supplied with the mouse, or by any other Omron D2F series switch and D2FC.

A big plus for the longevity of the mouse, especially since the replacement of these switches could not be simpler. Just unscrew the 2 Phillips screws hidden behind rubber covers under the mouse and remove the upper part of the shell to reach them. Asus Rog provides a small tweezer to remove them, but you can do it very well with your fingertips with a little thoroughness.

The Kailh switches on the bay knobs are not interchangeable, but are generally much less stressed and therefore should last longer. In any case, they turn out to be reactive too.

On the sliding side, the 5 PTFE pads do their job well. We have known more fluid and less noisy on hard surfaces, but the glide remains good. Good point for Asus Rog which provides a set of spare pads with its mouse.

Although this is a wireless mouse, we do not escape a USB connection from time to time to recharge it. Good news at this level, the cable provided by Asus Rog is flexible enough not to disturb too much if you need to use the mouse while charging.

Charging that will occur more often now, the battery of the Gladius III Wireless only offering a capacity of 500 mAh. Asus nevertheless announces up to 55 hours of autonomy in radio mode and up to 85 hours in Bluetooth. Enough to last for a few days, which we actually noticed. However, it is better not to forget to plug it in regularly if you want to constantly enjoy wireless operation on the 2.4 GHz radio link to play – Bluetooth is as always rather reserved for office use.

Turning off the backlight also helps conserve battery life if needed. Visible through the Rog logo, the wheel and the left edge of the mouse, this RGB backlighting is nevertheless quite discreet and well done.

Asus Rog has chosen a Pixart PMW3370 optical sensor to animate its Gladius III Wireless. Successor of the PMW3389 which equips the Gladius II, this high performance sensor is also capable of operating up to a speed of 10.16 m / s and withstands accelerations up to 50 g. The player who would be able to even reach these values ​​with the force of the wrist is not yet born. Pixart nevertheless reduced the error rate to 0.5% (1% for the PMW3389) and the lift distance (lift-off) is also lower (1 to 2 mm against 2 to 3 mm), for even more precision. There is of course an exchange rate with the computer that can reach 1000 Hz, both wired and wireless (with the 2.4 GHz RF link), while the sensitivity can climb up to 19000 dpi, i.e. a value just as useless as usual (at this sensitivity, a simple movement of 1 cm is enough to make the mouse pointer travel the entire width of an Ultra HD screen, for example).

Unsurprisingly, the monitoring is in any case impeccable, without any noticeable latency, wired or wireless (in 2.4 GHz mode always). Of course, you should always avoid using the mouse on shiny or transparent surfaces, this sensor is not designed to accommodate such coatings, but for a mouse gaming, we recommend the use of a good carpet anyway for more precision and better glide.