Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Hot-swappable switches enable for excellent customization
- Comes with two spare micro switches
- The design is each snug and performance-oriented
Cons
- It’s heavy in contrast with rival pro-grade wired gaming mice
- The plastic physique can get oily at instances
- Our overview unit’s left main-click felt a bit tight earlier than hot-swapping
Our Verdict
The Asus Gladius III is the proper possibility for severe avid gamers eager to personalize the texture, pressure, and actuation of their mouse’s two primary clicks.
Price When Reviewed
89.99
Best Prices Today: Asus ROG Gladius III
$89.40
Most mice unbox with one thing distinctive within the pack, like grips, stickers, or an additional adapter. But not many include interchangeable micro switches and just a little pair of tweezers because the Asus ROG Gladius III does. I need to admit, it appeals to the tinkerer in me, the interior baby that also will get excited by plaster dinosaur eggs and fancy DIY ship kits.
That mentioned, this little bonus has a really sensible software. The Gladius III sports activities Push-Fit Gen II Sockets appropriate with both Asus 3-pin Mechanical Switches or 5-pin Omron Optical Switches with the intention to customise its left and proper primary buttons.
That means in the event that they’re worn out, or simply to not your liking, you’ll be able to repair them up. My overview unit got here with two 3-pin mechanical switches rated for 70 million clicks already put in, with two extra crimson 3-pin mechanical switches offered within the field.
Further studying: See our roundup of the best gaming mice to find out about competing merchandise.
A hump rises from the again of the mouse to the bottom of the index finder.
Dominic Bayley / IDG
Asus ROG Gladius III design
Beyond the ingenious hot-swappable switches, the Gladius III can also be superbly formed. Its right-handed design sports activities a excessive hump that rises from the again and peaks beneath your little finger. It jogs my memory of one other superbly-shaped mouse, the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro, which additionally raises your index finder for speedier clicking—it’s a function I price very extremely.
The Gladius III can also be fairly a big mouse—it measures 4.86 x 2.68 x 1.75 inches. To use a soccer analogy, that makes it extra of an offensive lineman to the smaller working back-sized gaming mice just like the Roccat Burst Pro Air.
Being capable of swap out micro switches for higher actuation, click on pressure, and really feel is a giant boon for aggressive avid gamers… when the distinction between successful or shedding relies on a mouse’s capability to reply.
However, it nonetheless suits most medium-sized fingers. Larger fingers are themselves higher catered to below the beneficiant proportions. The mouse’s excessive again additionally makes it greatest suited to palm and claw grippers, however it’s under no circumstances unattainable for fingertip grippers to play with.
The Gladius III seems excellent subsequent to any gaming rig. It is available in simply the one elegant black coloration, however has three funky Aura Sync RGB lighting zones. There’s one within the mouse wheel, an ROG brand on the again finish, and, my private favourite, an RGB mild zone on the left-hand aspect that illuminates 5 strains of laser-engraved textual content.
Despite this, the shiny plastic end can often present up oil out of your fingers, so that you’ll want a material useful if you wish to preserve a flawless look.
An Aura Sync RGB lighting zone illuminates 5 strains of textual content on the mouse’s left-hand aspect.
Dominic Bayley / IDG
If you go for the wired model like my overview unit, you’ll be tethered by a really clean, shoelace-like ROG Paracord, which, though it will get just a little tangled at instances, appears to glide nicely over surfaces. There’s a wi-fi model too, which has two connectivity choices: 2.4GHz wi-fi and Bluetooth. This possibility weighs 81 grams, whereas the wired model weighs two grams lighter at 79 grams.
How does the Asus ROG Gladius III carry out?
The Gladius III comes with a 19,000 DPI Optical Sensor which is tuneable as much as 26,000 DPI utilizing the Asus ROG software program. Apart from that, it has a most pace of 400 IPS (inches per second), most acceleration of 50 G and pro-grade polling price of 1,000Hz.
Flicking the curser round via the totally different DPI settings in video games like CounterStrike: Global Offensive and Insurgency, proved that the sensor was regular and correct at decrease settings and super-quick and delicate on the highest DPI setting. It additionally tracked superbly with out a trace of lag or stuttering.
At 79 grams, nonetheless, the Gladius III did really feel just a little too heavy for really excellent efficiency in FPS video games. Wired mice are usually a lot lighter right now than they had been beforehand—with a few of the most up-to-date releases even dipping beneath 65 grams. By comparability, the Gladius III did often really feel sluggish. In truth, I may hear my enamel grinding just a little every time I overswung the mark on targets.
Still, it overswung so very sometimes that it by no means grew to become a problem. The Gladius III continues to be completely appropriate for many informal and aggressive play. I additionally actually just like the beneficiant assortment of PTFE toes (and the spares within the field)—they made motion clean and easy over my neoprene mouse mat.
The underside of the Asus ROG Gladius III
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Dominic Bayley / IDG
In regards to the buttons, I did encounter a small hiccup. For some cause the left primary button, which in best gaming mice is clicky and gentle, felt a bit tight at first. To treatment that I swapped out the button’s default micro change for one of many spare mechanical 3-pin choices, and that mounted the problem instantly. The right-hand button, alternatively, felt completely balanced and clicky proper off the bat.
On the upside, the Gladius III’s buttons do really feel exceptionally snug. They dip down barely within the middle retaining your fingers good and comfortable and guaranteeing clicks all the time register within the center quite than on the sides the place you’re extra vulnerable to slippage.
Asus ROG Gladius III customization
When it involves button configuration, the Gladius III has a reasonably typical FPS model setup, sporting two primary clicks, two on the left-hand aspect, a single click on within the mouse wheel, and a tiny DPI button behind it. On the underside, an oblong-shaped button toggles you thru 5 onboard reminiscence profiles.
All these buttons are configurable in Asus’s Armoury Crate software program app, the place you’ll be able to simply assign instructions and macros by way of a useful visible diagram. But there’s much more on supply in Armoury Crate if you wish to fine-tune your efficiency settings even additional.
For instance, you’ll be able to change the polling price, DPI decision, and Aura Sync RGB lighting and results. Additionally, you’ll be able to calibrate the Gladius III for chosen Asus ROG mouse mats, or manually to your individual surfaces. If you’re vulnerable to lifting, you can even select between excessive and low lift-off distances to scale back the probabilities lifting will have an effect on your play—a luxurious we don’t all the time see in supporting software program apps.
Asus ROG Gladius III vs. Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro vs. Logitech G Pro X Superlight
There’s no denying that the Asus ROG Gladius III’s 79-gram weight turns the clock again to 2021, when such a weight would have been established order for pro-grade mice. But that was again then, and now in 2023 lighter rivals just like the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro and Logitech G Pro X Superlight actually push the envelope on lightness, weighing simply 63 grams. That truth makes this mouse a tough promote on weight alone.
Instead, avid gamers ought to take into account the Gladius III on the steadiness of its different key options. The first is the hot-swappable switches; having the ability to swap out micro switches for higher actuation, click on pressure, and really feel, is a giant boon for aggressive avid gamers—this one function is price its weight in gold when the distinction between successful or shedding relies on a mouse’s capability to reply.
Dominic Bayley / IDG
But the Gladius III additionally has extra up-front performance when it comes to the RGB lighting and the on-top positioning of the DPI button. Indeed, neither the V3 Pro nor Superlight have these two options, which makes the Gladius III arguably the extra fashionable, higher to see in darkish environments, and undoubtedly the quickest of the three for switching DPI on-the-fly.
Finally, at its present value of simply $89.99 it’s essentially the most reasonably priced possibility. The V3 Pro by comparability prices $149.99 and the Superlight is costlier nonetheless, presently carrying a $159.99 price ticket on the Logitech G web site. For avid gamers on a finances, this value saving may make all of the distinction at on-line checkouts.
Is the Asus ROG Gladius III price it?
The ROG Gladius III has a strong sensor that’s in control and a shapely design that gives you with a cushty and performance-inducing match. Yes, there are lighter and faster choices available on the market for FPS gaming, however none I can consider that give you anyplace close to the extent of button customization and up-front performance as this one, or for a value so cheap.