Glorious Model D 2 Wireless Mouse - Review
When it comes to mice, I don’t deviate much from my beloved MX series from Logitech, it feels comfortable to hold, has a horizontal scroll wheel and I have been using that line for almost 10 years now, it is my mouse of choice. But that doesn’t mean I am blind to other mice, from Asus, Microsoft and even Razer, I review heaps but I often go back once I am done. So what can the Glorious Model D 2 offer, if their keyboard was a strong indicator, then this should have been a great showing too, right?
From the moment I took the mouse from its box, something felt off, specifically it lacked the weight I am used to from my MX Master 3s. My normal use mouse comes in at a fine 141g, which is light right, well considering the Model D 2 is only 66g, maybe not. Given how light it was, I honestly figured there was a battery pack or something hidden in the box to get it to work, but nope it was just that light. Given the lack of weight to it, I then made the assumption that it was going to be very lax in the number of features that it offered, but again I was wrong. It contains everything you would want in a mouse aimed at gaming, a DPI sensor that can go up to 26,000, a 1Khz polling rate and a staggering 210 hours of life from the internal battery, oh and RGB. Given the specs and the lack of weight, there still had to be something wrong with the mouse, nothing that light can deliver on those specs, but they did, no matter what I did, it just worked.
Setting up the mouse, would have been a breeze if I had of read the instructions, but I am a tech guy, I decided I didn’t need those, but turns out I did. The reason why I needed the help was attempting to pair the mouse via Bluetooth, required that I put it in pairing mode and I never once thought that the DPI button on the underside of the mouse was used to activate the mode, but c'est la vie. Ok, mouse setup aside, once I had it connected to my PC, I had not a single issue, there was no delay in the mouse responding when I went back to using it after gaming with a controller, or even waking the PC from sleep. Without tweaking any settings in Windows or the Glorious app, it was fast and smooth and even now using my beloved MX Master 3s, I miss that speed. Once I jumped into the Glorious app, which is again optional, I started to adjust the polling rate and other settings, to dial in for how I wanted to use the mouse and once I had, I found it just perfect.
As far as the form goes, which is something I am a big proponent of, as if you can’t hold the device, then the rest does not matter, things are good. The general shape falls in line with most other gaming or modern day mice, it is a bit narrower than I was used to, which took some adjustments, but otherwise it was fine. The mouse contains the usual array of buttons, with the forward and backward actually feeling like proper buttons, rather than just little pads. The scroll wheel works fine, I have been blessed by the speed of my MX series over the years, so the speed of the Model D 2 was too slow for my personal preference, but it did the job. Something I will call out though was just how satisfying each click was on it, no matter the button, clicking a button down felt great.
So that brings me to the downside and its honestly one that should exist, but it does because the mouse is a gamer mouse and that is the RGB. Now using the Glorious software you can create a plethora of combinations for the lighting, to match a game, a mood or anything. Using the software though, I could never get the lighting to change, when using Bluetooth, 2.4Ghz or wired, it just remained stuck in that rainbow default. Now as I am someone who generally loathe all RGB lighting in products, turning it off was a priority for me and I could not, at least not without turning the mouse off, which defeats the point of the mouse. Now if this was an issue while in use, surely turning the computer off would tell the mouse to go into stand by mode as well, but it seems not. I had to keep turning the mouse off when I turned my PC off, in order to get the lighting to turn off, because remember it was on the default, bright, rainbow style and it lit everything up at night.
Beyond my RGB issues, I think the Model D 2 mouse from Glorious is a great little unit, out of the box it is fast and offers a very smooth experience. Given that I was able to use it without the additional software was great, but some of the advanced options make the software worth exploring. The RGB not working, or in my case always working, is a concern and it could just be user error on my part, but assuming it’s not, then it is something to be aware of. If you are looking for a mouse that is comfortable, lightweight and delivers everything, without any extras, then this is one to get your hands on.
The Score
8.5
Review unit provided by Glorious
The Pros
Out of the box it works perfectly, smooth and responsive, without any roadblocks
The clicks on the mouse are very satisfying and feel like you are actually using it right
The Cons
The RGB always being on, due to software being needed is a design flaw that needs to be corrected
The setup process using a DPI switch for Bluetooth feels a little odd
