Unboxing: ASUS ROG Gladius Gaming Mouse
Whether you are attracted to the color or the aggressive styling of the ROG Gladius, it's what's inside the box that will make you feel like you've died and gone to gaming heaven. But still, if just the boxes make things irresistible, maybe you should look away now. Choices.... choices.... choices....
If you play first-person shooters, then the choice is easy; the ROG Gladius is ASUS' new FPS gaming mouse. The traditional ROG colors rock!
Before you inevitably buy it, you can't just throw out your money without taking a quick look. Gotta play it cool and not seem overzealous. Step one: look inside the box. Step two: Put your hand in there to see how it feels. Okay, there's no step three; just buy it. But resist the urge to rip the box apart like it's your first-ever purchase (even if it is, just chill) and wait till you get home.
Inside you will find; the ROG Gladius (because you already made sure it's there), a Quick Start Guide, two Republic of Gamers stickers, a 2m braided USB cable plus an extra 1m USB cable in an ROG pouch (for when traveling), an extra pair of Japanese-made Omron D2F-01F switches, and an extra set of Smooth-Glide mouse feet (in case you utilize both of the Omron switch types and need to change over).
The Gladius is an optical wired gaming mouse designed for right-handed FPS aficionados. The top surface is cool and smooth to minimize sweat and stickiness, with Mayan-patterned texture where you need grip the most; your thumb, ring finger and little finger. There is an exclusive switch-socket design so you can choose the perfect click resistance and recoil for you, as you've surely heard this before in movies "Squeeze the trigger, don't pull!"
It is even more critical with a mouse, clicking on the mouse does not mean your mouse has to move too, there is no dead-zone where you can move and nothing happens, and the slightest movement would most likely be the difference between hit or miss, kill or be killed. The two 'slide-to-press' thumb buttons also ensure you can press the buttons without moving your mouse. The finger trigger buttons are large and perfectly-spaced, thumb buttons are ultra-sleek in form yet defined, you simply don't have time to press the wrong buttons.
Why is this super gaming mouse using a 6,400 DPI optical sensor? Isn't laser even better? Quite the contrary, although laser sensors have good compatibility with most surfaces and generally tracks more dots per inch (DPI), most FPS pro-gamers actually prefer optical over laser! Here's why; a laser mouse registers every imperfection on the surface you're using, so you might end up shooting your teammate in the back because your mouse ran over a grain of dust. Optical sensors are pickier about surfaces but more forgiving of imperfections. But just so you know, the term 'forgiving' is being used very loosely, this mouse can still in fact move 200 inches per second (that's across a 4K display by moving less than an inch), and has 50g which translates to the fastest mouse acceleration available today.
The illuminated scroll-wheel has been implemented with an Alps encoder and the feel of every click is really nice and sure, not too sensitive yet still fast. Above the wheel, there is a two-level DPI clutch (switch); simplicity is key, keep your focus on your prey, not whether you increased or decreased DPI sensitivity. If the DPI indicator LED is on, then you are ready to snipe or move with fine-control, press the DPI button again then it's on again with the hunt. The red Republic of Gamers logo pulses calmly and keeps its cool even when you are running, jumping and performing a triple somersault whilst shooting in slo-mo through the shower of bullets with flawless-timing.
The Gladius has built-in flash memory to store your favorite profile, which is a must if you don't want to adjust to the sensitivity and feel of other people's mice. When connected back to your own PC, you can store and use as many profiles as you want! The software includes an advanced surface-calibration tool for pixel-perfect precision, Gladius analyzes the surface you're using to improve the sensor's accuracy and responsiveness.
There is the detachable Micro-USB 2.0 port with a secure lock design, just slide the switch to release the cable. The braided cable prevents drag on the desk, and an extra 1m travel cable is for those times when the long cable is simply too long, like when you're using a laptop for example.
No matter how you grip the mouse, whether palm, claw or fingertip, the Gladius has you covered.
