Glorious Model O 2 Mini Wireless

Glorious is a relatively new company within PC components, which we here at the editorial office know best from their keyboards, especially their "build it yourself" series. They also make a number of mice, and we have previously tried a few models that we were not particularly impressed with. Therefore, we were a bit sceptical when we took a closer look at the Mini Wireless version of their Model O2.

Like so many other mice, it's an ultra-lightweight construction of 57 grams in a honeycomb structure. Glorious calling the O-series "legendary" is perhaps a bit of a marketing ploy, as it has only been on the market for less than five years and hasn't exactly broken records in sales or usage by professionals. However, the latter can be a bit difficult to compare as there are often sponsors to consider.

The sensor inside is Glorious' own BAMF 2.0, which I've had a hard time figuring out where they get it made. It's not something you just do, proprietary or not, and my best guess is that it's a custom run of a PixArt PAW3395 sensor. It has a resolution of 26,000 DPI, a tracking speed of 650 IPS - which is probably more relevant for professionals - and it's more power efficient and can handle 8,000 Hz polling combined with Motion Sync. However, this should be switched off when running above 4,000 Hz polling rate according to Glorious themselves. This model is limited to 1,000 Hz polling rate, which Glorious, in my opinion, tries to hide by not directly mentioning it on the product website.

The sensor works well enough, but it's inconsistent with different surfaces. I have a fairly firm mouse pad that often made the cursor bounce, dance, and stutter. After I switched to a mouse pad that was more finely woven, but also with less resistance, everything worked fine again. On a third mouse pad it was wrong again. It's not much of a scientific analysis, but as I said, you should be warned that you might need to change your mouse pad, because my experience was very either-or depending on the surface. In theory, I could have switched on some crazy setting, but I doubt that would have solved the issue, and I don't think I've really experienced something this inconsistent before.

The switches in the mouse are also their own. They can withstand 80 million clicks and are proprietary optical switches... or rather, they have them made at Kailh. It's Kailh GM 8.0, which is interesting because the regular O2 model uses Omron if I remember correctly. We really do live in a post-factual society. They are, well... overused, tactile, very responsive, and do a good job of jumping back to their starting points at a mega speed, a property that is at the top of my priority list. The mouse wheel is pretty good too, as it's precise, feels tactile, and is comfortable to use. However, I do miss the steplessness of many models from Logitech and Razer.

The software is Glorious Core. It tries really hard to make it reasonably clear with an easy-to-use interface, but the use of a bright contrasting yellow colour isn't my cup of tea. It's obviously made with reasonable care, but could do with a designer giving it an overhaul as it looks a bit rudimentary.

The mouse costs £100. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either. However, I would say that there are few products with these specifications, or even in this category, that are significantly cheaper. Among the well-known brands we find... er... Darmoshark. The point is that £100 for a lightweight wireless mouse aimed at ambitious gamers might not be that expensive after all. There are some cheaper alternatives, such as the regular Model O2 Wireless, and there are significantly more expensive alternatives, up to 2.5 times the price too.

Battery life is claimed to be well over 200 hours, but this is a truth with modifications. Even though the mouse itself tracks with minimal power consumption, it's 200+ hours on Bluetooth alone. With 2.4 GHz and RGB enabled - the latter being the most power hungry - battery life is actually less than 50 hours. Especially if, like me, you forget to switch the mouse off, because I expect there to be an automated sleep function...

Unfortunately, the Glorious O2 Mini Wireless has the disadvantage that it felt heavy when I went back to my usual mouse. In fact, I've always loathed both lightweight and ultra-light mice, but realisation often comes later. While I don't consider myself to be an ultra-hardcore PCMR type, I sadly realise that I'll probably be using primarily light mice in the future. The increased speed and precision in tandem has landed with me - maybe it's some kind of minimal zeitgeist - but right now it makes sense to me.

I've been hard on Glorious in the past for their pricing and the quality of their products. Perhaps that's why I'm willing to applaud when they deliver a good product at a reasonable price - although £100 for some plastic is still something my brain has a hard time accepting. But it's a bit like special editions of Ferrari and Lamborghini - it costs to shed weight.