Logitech's Big Promises For Gaming Mice: Wireless Charging And Superior Connectivity

Wireless mice can be great. In day-to-day use, they don't get tangled on anything, their batteries don't need to be swapped out all that often, and most people are unlikely to notice a difference between them and their wired counterparts. All those benefits go out the window, however, when you're gaming. Having a mouse "die" in the middle of a game spells disaster, and even a slight amount of lag can mean the difference between a good time and a bad one. Logitech wants to solve both of those problems with its new Powerplay wireless charging technology and Lightspeed connection tech.

There's a third problem Logitech is trying to solve here--but more on that in a bit.

Powerplay And Lightspeed: A Match Made In Heaven?

Wireless charging isn't novel. Many companies are working on products that can recharge their batteries without being plugged into something. Yet many of them have to be placed on a small area to recharge; moving them around disrupts the process. That makes wireless charging good for recharging mice while they aren't being used--which is what Corsair showed us at Computex, actually--but Logitech wanted to make sure you never have to think about charging your mouse. That's where Powerplay comes in. Logitech said it can send power "even through high-speed flick shots or lifting and repositioning."

Logitech said in its announcement that it's been working on Powerplay for the last four years. Now it's ready, and its first incarnation is called the Powerplay Wireless Charging System. It's basically a 10.9 x 12.6 x 1.7" (HxWxD) mouse pad with the charging system built in. The company said Powerplay works by creating "an electromagnetic energy field over a large surface area" that is "captured and transformed into charging current" by the mouse's Powercore module. You can also choose between a hard or soft pad and, naturally, you can control the logo's RGB lighting.

We asked Logitech what wireless charging technology underpinned Powerplay, and it told us only that it uses electromagnetic resonance technology that is proprietary. It sounds like Logitech is planning to keep this tech all for itself for now; it's not planning to license it at this time.

Powerplay could help reduce many of the concerns about wireless gaming mice. It doesn't matter how long a mouse's battery lasts--because the universe loves to play cruel jokes, they're almost guaranteed to run out of power at the worst times--but that's just one obstacle that wireless gaming mice have to overcome. Performance is also a factor, and despite the convenience afforded by wireless mice, the idea of giving up the responsiveness of their wired counterparts might dissuade many gamers.

That's why the Powerplay Wireless Charging System also supports Logitech's Lightspeed technology. The company said Lightspeed offers "competition-level responsiveness" thanks to a "signal strength up to 16 times higher than the competition." Logitech's goal is to make it so you can buy the Powerplay Wireless Charging System, purchase a compatible mouse, and then never have to worry about plugging your mouse into your PC again.

Logitech wasn't effusive about how Lightspeed actually works. We do know that part of the magic is that the wireless receiver is in the little black box above the mousepad, so the mouse doesn't have far to transmit. (The box is connected to the PC via a USB cable.) But Logitech claimed that the wireless signal is so much better than the competition without explaining how. Company representatives did tell Tom's Hardware that Logitech's wireless connectivity uses a "higher decibel" (stronger signal) than the competition and changes frequencies less often; when it does switch to a different one, we were told, it chooses frequencies that aren't congested.

The Powerplay Wireless Charging System costs $100 and is now available for pre-order; it's expected to start shipping in August.

Meet The New G903 And G703

Of course, that's also going to require you to use a compatible mouse. That's where the new Logitech G903 and G703 come into play. They're updated versions of the G900 and G700, respectively, and they're compatible with Powerplay and Lightspeed. But support for its new wireless charging and connection products isn't the only thing Logitech changed about the mice.

Surprisingly, Logitech seems to have solved the other problem common to wireless mice: extra weight due to the battery. The G903 weighs in at just 110g, and the G703 is a hair lighter at 107g. You'll find gaming mice that weigh less (by 10-20g), but good luck finding a wireless one quite as light as these two. Logitech said that's because with the G903 in particular "each element of the construction was analyzed and adjusted to remove milligrams wherever possible, from thin wall molding to a hollow 'spoked' hyperscroll wheel design.”

But you're going to have to add a tiny bit more weight to these mice if you want to take advantage of Powerplay charging. Power is transferred between the Powerplay Wireless Charging System and a Powercore module that has to be inserted into your mouse. Neither the G903 nor the G703 have a Powercore built-in; you're going to have to install the Powercore module that comes with the Powerplay Wireless Charging System. Logitech told us that doing so adds 3g of weight.

Both the G903 and G703 feature a PMW3366 optical sensor and boast "zero smoothing, filtering or acceleration across the entire DPI range (200-12,000 DPI)" along with a 1ms report rate. They can also be used wired or wirelessly, and they're both compatible with Logitech Gaming Software, which means you can customize their RGB lighting as well as their programmable buttons and DPI. Each also has a 10g removable weight.

The G903 is positioned as the higher-end model. It features an ambidextrous design with 11 fully customizable buttons that you can swap out and move around to suit whatever hand or grip style you prefer. Logitech said the G903 also features "precisely-tensioned metal springs and exclusive mechanical pivot hinges" to "keep the primary left and right mouse buttons poised to trigger." The company also said that it improved the design with up to 2.5x the durability with switches rated for 50 million clicks. (Logitech didn't say what kind of switches it's using, but the G900 Chaos Spectrum used Omron switches.)

The G703 has six programmable buttons, but they can't be swapped around as they can on the G903. You do get to choose between a black or white model, though, so the G703 has that going for it. It's also cheaper--the G903 costs $150, whereas the G703 costs $100.

Both are available for pre-order now and should debut in late June.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
ProductLogitech G903Logitech G703
SensorPMW3366PMW3366
Resolution200-12,000DPI200-12,000DPI
Speed>400 IPS>400 IPS
Acceleration>40G>40G
AmbidextrousYesNo (right-handed only)
SwitchesUnknownUnknown
Polling RateUSB: 1,000HzWireless: 1,000HzUSB: 1,000HzWireless: 1,000Hz
LightingRGBRGB
Buttons116
SoftwareLogitech Gaming SoftwareLogitech Gaming Software
CableUSB, 1.8mUSB, 1.8m
Dimensions (H x W x D)130.3 x 66.5 x 40.4mm124 x 68 x 43mm
Weight110g (without cable or Powercore module, 113g with module)10g removable weight107g (without cable or Powercore module, 110g with module)10g removable weight
Price$150$100
Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

  • dstarr3
    Wireless charging and wireless mice are a pretty good pair.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    Since they kept the weight down on the mice this may work out to be pretty nice. The weight has always been an issue for me with wireless gaming mice. I personally have zero problems with corded mice and really like the Logitech g502 so I'm not sure Ill jump on board maybe the next iteration of this concept.
    Reply
  • I Hate Nvidia
    I already have the G403 Prodigy wireless, which is an awesome mouse ( Upgraded from G700s and before it MX5500 mouse) , so I wonder if this modules works with my mouse? the G703 seems identical to the G403, I hope someone can try it and publish the results, as Logitech website says nothing about compatibility with older mice
    Reply
  • angturil
    am I the only one that keeps having their Logitech mouse buttons fail (false clicking while holding down, etc), after about a year or so? A dozen mice so far, many models over the years ..
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    19826244 said:
    am I the only one that keeps having their Logitech mouse buttons fail (false clicking while holding down, etc), after about a year or so? A dozen mice so far, many models over the years ..

    I work from home and game when I'm done and don't have that issue so I certainly don't have the same experience. I have had a Logitech 502 for a bit over a year now.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    Yeah, I used be in the same situation, work from home and also game regularly. I don't work from home anymore, but I still use my mouse heavily. And I've got a G400s, it's been fine. I had a different Logitech before this one that I used for years and only replaced because I wanted more buttons. I had a Logitech G15 first-gen keyboard that took ten years of heavy use to finally start having problems. So, Logitech's been pretty good to me.
    Reply
  • rantoc
    Logitech's mice are nice beside the durability on their button switches. They have literary ZERO electronics to compensate for wear (ie if a new input is happening a few ms after the first it's filtered for out instance) so the mice become useless way to fast. I had 4-5 mouses die like that and they just lived slightly over a warranty.

    I bet its even worse in humid climates.
    Reply
  • Decends
    I'm Currently rocking the G602 wireless mouse and i love it. Even my friend who's a cord mouse purist finds its performance quite impressive given that its a wireless mouse.
    Reply
  • Karadjgne
    What would be really nice, would be a wireless charging-mouse pad. Easily done via USB, set to charge even when pc is off.
    Reply
  • R3v01v3r
    I was looking at these the other day, they actually look pretty good
    I think this my be added to my bucket list to get one honestly.
    Reply