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We've long been fans of Logitech's gaming mice, but the new G9 Laser Mouse feels like a collection of missed opportunities. Yes, it introduces a handful of new technologies, bringing it in line with or surpassing other high-end gaming mice, at least from the perspective of on-paper features. We certainly appreciate some of what Logitech has to offer, but too many elements bother us to earn the G9 a recommendation over the G5 Laser Mouse, especially given the G9's much higher $99 price tag.
The G9 Laser Mouse is the first significant departure from the core design of Logitech's game or performance mice in at least four years. The familiar, bloated peanut-style design instead makes way for a narrow base unit that can accept either of two angular overlay attachments that come with the mouse. The idea of the two attachments is to let you customize the grip of the G9 to your preference. No other mouse lets you so thoroughly change its overall feel, although we wish that taking off the attachment was a one-handed operation. Because of the overhanging plastic around the release button, you need two hands to pop the grip off.
Customizable grips might be new to gaming mice, but the G9's redesigned weight system remains more or less the same in concept as that on the G5, with a minor twist. The G9 is different in that the weight tray slides into the heel of the mouse, rather than into a bay at the bottom as with the G5. Logitech conceived this new design and the new, parallelogram-shaped weights themselves to make you feel like you're loading a clip into a handgun. It's less satisfying than it sounds, and even annoying because the detachable grip piece now blocks access to the weight slot. That makes changing the weights a multistep process, furthering our irritation at needing two hands to remove the grip.
To be fair, once you get the weights and the grip set to your liking, you might not ever switch them out, so the cumbersome ins-and-outs of making those adjustments aren't that problematic in the long run. What's worse is the overall feel of the button placement.
