When it comes to ASUS’s lineup of gaming mice, I can’t help but to say that I love the original ROG Gladius. It’s ergonomic and reduces fatigue because of its shape. I’ve reviewed the original ROG Gladius few years back, and used it as my daily driver for about 2 years already. When the ROG Gladius II was announced, I was excited to see what ASUS has to offer.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the ROG Gladius II while doing some comparison with the original ROG Gladius that we’ve reviewed here.
Also, a video review!
Unboxing
When it comes to the unboxing experience of a mouse, I still love what ASUS did with the GX860 Buzzard’s box. That cutout at the bottom allows a potential customer’s wrist to be placed at a comfortable position, and then grasp on the mouse to get a better feel of it before purchasing.
The ROG Gladius II takes on a pretty standard packaging design and layout for a mouse, which really has nothing to be highlighted.
Opening up the box reveals a pair or Omron switches, a ROG logo sticker, a braided microUSB cable, a rubber microUSB cable, a pouch, some documentation, and the ROG Gladius II itself.
Those who have used or seen the original ROG Gladius will find the contents pretty familiar – as it too came with one braided and another non-braided microUSB cable, a pouch, and two Omron switches. For the ROG Gladius II however, there are no replacement mouse feet included. More on this later.
Design
It’s clear that ASUS has stuck with its original geometry. The first ROG Gladius has an amazing shape and feel of it, but it’s not perfect just yet. ASUS changed to a slightly more grainier finish on the ROG Gladius II. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but it felt like ASUS has fine-tuned the geometry by just a little bit.
Right: The original ROG Gladius
There’s also an additional large thumb button which is programmable. It’s easy to reach, but be pressed accidentally. Personally speaking, this extra button is a big plus to the ROG Gladius II. And since it’s 2017, there’s RGB LED all around the mouse too.
With another new lighting zone added around the base rim, the ROG Gladius II can really shine and light up my entire room!
Subtler logo, cleaner look.
Other than these changes, the ROG Gladius II is pretty much the same as its predecessor. Oh – there’s one tiny little change – ASUS cleaned up their branding on the mouse and only show the logo now.
Right: The original ASUS ROG Gladius
Using the ASUS ROG Gladius II
I have to say, that mouse button is something that I got so used to it that I’m pressing phantom buttons of my personal unit of the original ROG Gladius. Like I said earlier, the original Gladius and the Gladius II has a very similar if not exact shape, build, and finish.
Even the included Omron switches used for left/right clicks and hot-swappable ones (more on this later) are the same as its predecessor.
I love the new thumb button
One difference I realized is the sensor used in both the ROG Gladius and Gladius II. The original Gladius can’t work on my wooden table – but the ROG Gladius II can, and it’s flawless. Tracks and works flawlessly on my wooden table.
Again because of the fantastic ROG Gladius II’s shape and grip, it’s a plus for me.
Speaking of grips, in my opinion, the ASUS ROG Gladius II is suitable for those who use claw or fingertip grip on this humongous mouse – mainly because of the position of that new thumb button.
Hot-swapping switches?
I said that the ROG Gladius II has hot-swappable switches – and that’s true. Remember during the unboxing, I showed off the two included Omron switches? Here’s how you change them.
First, there are 4 rubber plugs at the base. Remove these 4 plugs and you’ll see 4 Philips screws. Then, remove these screws, and you can pop off the shell apart from the base.
Voila! The PCB and all switches are here!
Once you’ve accessed the internals, you can just pull out the left and right clicker’s stock Omron switches and swap them with the other 2 that’s included with the ROG Gladius II.
The new process to swap the switches in the ROG Gladius II is non-destructive.
Before you start asking why we should swap the switches, let me tell you the exact model of these switches first. The stock switch is the Omron D2FC-F-K(50M), while the two spare included ones are D2F-01F switches. You can even order other switches to swap them into the ROG Gladius II if you wish. Here is the compatibility list by ASUS themselves:
- Omron D2F Series switches
- D2F
- D2F-F
- D2F-01
- D2F-01F
- Omron D2FC Series switches
- D2FC-3M
- D2FC-F-7N
- D2FC-F-7N(10M)
- D2FC-F-7N(20M)
With that said, I just want to highlight the major improvement that ASUS has done to the switch-swapping process. The original Gladius needs the user to literally destroy the mouse feet first to access the screws, take it apart and swap the switches, then assemble everything back in place and stick the spare set of mouse feet that’s included in the box.
Great improvement by ASUS!
Software
ASUS used the same software for the original Gladius, which is actually a clever thing to do. I can plug in both ROG Gladius and ROG Gladius II at the same time and it gave me a little icon to select which mouse to configure.
I did realize that most of the settings are exactly the same with the ROG Gladius II, and the biggest addition here is obviously the lighting. Gotta get that RGB LED game on point, am I right?
Anyway, the RGB LEDs on the ROG Gladius II is super bright at its maximum brightness. You can adjust it to some lower brightness levels if you like. When I do use the Wave lighting effect mode, there is no option to adjust the speed of the color wave. I can, however, adjust the direction of the wave – which is quite a huge oversight from ASUS.
With the new sensor, IT can even track on my wooden table now
I presume that if you are using an ASUS motherboard with AURA Sync, then the ROG Gladius II’s RGB LED will have better lighting modes and configurations to sync up with the entire system.
Before I forget – the ASUS ROG Gladius II does have firmware updates through the ROG Armoury app.
Wrapping up the ASUS ROG Gladius II
Throughout my test, the ASUS ROG Gladius II is actually pretty impressive, but so is the original ROG Gladius. My point here is this – though the ASUS ROG Gladius II has a better sensor that can track accurately on more surfaces, the price is a big ouchie, in my opinion.
If you are already using the first generation ROG Gladius, then there’s not much of a reason to upgrade other than the new thumb button and the new switch hot-swapping method – unless you care about that RGB too. In my opinion, if you have the original Gladius, then don’t upgrade.
For the price of about RM350 on Lazada and Lelong, the ASUS ROG Gladius II is an extra-premium mouse that I can recommend without a hitch – just not to those who are already using the original ROG Gladius and there’s nothing wrong with it.
Where to buy?
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