Logitech G502 Hero Vs G502 Proteus Spectrum: Difference and Detailed Review

logitech g502 hero vs proteus spectrum (1)

The mouse of Logitech G502 Hero and Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum is compared here. Both the mouse is from the same series but it did have some changes. So, check out this review to know more about the differences and which one is good to buy.

logitech g502 hero (1)logitech-g502-proteus-spectrum (1)
Logitech G502 HeroLogitech G502 Proteus Spectrum
BUY NOWBUY NOW
PROSPROS
Flawless sensor.
Buttons for all your needs. Adjustable weights.
Smartly placed LEDs.
Big buttons in a smart layout.
Ultrafine weight adjustment.
Improved scroll wheel.
CONSCONS
DPI indicators don’t stay lit.
Side grips could be better.
Narrow for large hands.
May not suit palm-grip players with big hands.

SPECIFICATIONS:

MODELLOGITECH G502 HEROLOGITECH G502 PROTEUS SPECTRUM
BrandLogitechLogitech
Series
Model910-005670910-004615
INPUT DEVICELOGITECH G502 HEROLOGITECH G502 PROTEUS SPECTRUM
Connectivity TechnologyWiredWired
InterfaceUSBUSB
Movement Detection Technologyopticaloptical
Movement Resolution16000 dpi12000 dpi
Performance1 ms response time, 40 G maximum acceleration, report rate: 1000 Hz, up to 400 inches per second1 ms response time, 1000 reports per second, 300 inches per second, 40 G maximum acceleration, realtime sensitivity switching 200 – 12000 dpi
Buttons Qty1111
SYSTEM REQUIREDLOGITECH G502 HEROLOGITECH G502 PROTEUS SPECTRUM
OS RequiredWindows 7 or later, macOS 10.11 or later, Chrome OSMicrosoft Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10
BATTERYLOGITECH G502 HEROLOGITECH G502 PROTEUS SPECTRUM
Run Up Time
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTLOGITECH G502 HEROLOGITECH G502 PROTEUS SPECTRUM
Width3 in3 in
Depth5.2 in5.2 in
Height1.6 in1.6 in
Weight4.27 oz5.93 oz
FEATURESLOGITECH G502 HEROLOGITECH G502 PROTEUS SPECTRUM
FeaturesHERO 16K Sensor:
HERO is our most accurate gaming sensor ever with next-gen precision and a ground-up architecture. With the fastest frame rate processing yet, HERO is capable of 400+ IPS across the 100 – 16,000 dpi range with zero smoothing, filtering or acceleration. HERO achieves competition-level precision and the most consistent responsiveness ever. Be sure to customize and tune your DPI settings using Logitech G HUB.

11 Programmable Buttons: Use Logitech G HUB to program your favorite commands and macros to each of the 11 buttons. Build, crouch, melee, heal … put your power moves at your fingertips. Save ready-to-play profiles directly to the mouse to take your settings with you anywhere.

Tunable Weight: Fine tune mouse feel and glide to your advantage. Five 3.6g weights come with G502 HERO and are configurable in a variety of front, rear, left, right and center weighted configurations. Experiment with the alignment and balance to find the sweet spot to optimize your gaming performance.

Lightsync RGB: LIGHTSYNC technology is next generation RGB that can be driven by games, audio, or your screen to deliver the most immersive RGB experience ever. Select from a full spectrum of approximately 16.8 million colors and synchronize lighting animations and effects with your other Logitech G devices. Customize it all quickly and easily using Logitech G HUB.
Accurate responsive optical sensor.

Balance And Weight At Your Control.

Programmable RGB Lighting.

Personally-tuned performance.

11 Programmable buttons.

DPI Shift In-game.

Dual-mode, Gaming-grade Scroll Wheel.

Our most accurate sensor on the market.

32-bit microcontroller, 3 on-board profiles, 1 millisecond report rate.

Primary buttons rated to 20 million clicks, Mechanical microswitches.

Improved keyplate design for better click feeling and performance.

Braided cable with hook and loop cable tie.

Sleep mode disabled, 3 DPI indicator LEDs, Rubber grips, Magnetic weight-cavity door.


Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Logitech G502 Hero

Now, this is an upgrade to the G502 Proteus spectrum, but they haven’t changed a lot, because this mouse was already so good but there are some changes that make it slightly better. The features are a little bit changed and improved from the older version which may help you.

Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum

This is a predecessor of the original G502 mouse. This has some changes and improvements technically because physically or design-wise, it doesn’t have any much change. The biggest question here is this worth comparing to the original G502 mouse.

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DESIGN:

Logitech G502 Hero

The mouse looks really great, it’s not trying to be subtle about the fact that this is a gaming mouse. It has this rubber material with a triangular mesh texture on both sides, and you won’t face issues with its grip. It even has the texture at the bottom, so there is plenty of attention to detail there.

The shape of this mouse is kind of suitable for hybrid grip, it’s taller but shorter than Logitech G402 mouse, and I personally preferred the shape of G402. The buttons on G402 were convex and on this mouse the left click is concave, you get used to it quickly, and it doesn’t make a difference, but I do prefer the shape of G402 over this.

Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum

The spectrum is a G502 with RGB lighting and there’s pretty much no difference between the original G502 Proteus and this G502 spectrum. In fact, the only real visual difference between the two is you can see, the original G502 had a blue stripe along the edge of the thumb rest and on the spectrum, we have a black strip which does make more sense and makes it a more neutral from a customization standpoint.

I love the ergonomics of the mouse is really nice proportions, I especially like the thumb rest that Logitech designed.

If we discuss the general design, the mouse in a way where the feet would be a little bit simpler in terms of their design less angular and shaped in a way where a decrease excess friction from the Teflon feet to the mousepad itself. Now, the Spectrum isn’t really any different from the original G502 in terms of its feet design. Logitech has certainly addressed the issue and is making sure that their quality control from a manufacturing standpoint is as high as possible, in order to maintain a level of quality that people should expect with their products.

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FEATURES:

Logitech G502 Hero

For lighting, we have the DPI indicator and the Logitech G logo and you can set any of the RGB colors on it. You also have a breathing effect which you can control the speed and intensity of and also have the color cycle rainbow effect.

The buttons are laid out very nicely, both the left and right mouse buttons are very clicky, and have Omron switches, which are rated for 50 million clicks, and the Proteus spectrum had 20 million click durability, so this is a really nice upgrade.

The extra buttons on this are really accessible, and it’s the reason I am using this instead of an MMO mouse. There is a large button for sniping, which decreases the DPI by default, so you can take those high precision shots. Then there are two buttons which are very easily accessible by the thumb, then you have two extra buttons on the front, which you press with your index finger, and they are not as easy to reach as other extra buttons, but they are pretty large so it’s not an issue. You have a profile switching button on top, which isn’t easy to reach, so it’s best to leave it assigned to something like DPI or profile switching.

The mouse comes with 7 feet long braided cable, and this is a thinner cable than the last generation, and I really like it. It bends easily, doesn’t slow the mouse down, and it’s easier to manage. The scroll wheel also tilts left and right for horizontal scrolling, which can be customized to act as individual buttons, which is great, but I found that it’s very easy to send a tilt signal when you press the middle-click, which got pretty annoying as I used it for changing tabs, so I think that it’s best to leave it with the default action.

The feature which won’t let to switch to any other mouse without this is the switchable scrolling mechanism that Logitech has implemented here. You have this button behind the scroll wheel which lets you switch between this step scrolling mode, which you’ll have to use for gaming, and this free-scrolling mode, which is great for most other things in my opinion. I really like this mode, and I keep it like this most of the time, and I can’t describe how big of a change this has made. Scrolling webpages has become so much easier, and in programs like Premiere, this is also amazing to scroll between large parts of long timelines, which was not possible before, and I had to use bind scroll functions to my keyboard.

This scroll wheel is made of metal, so when you give it a spin, it keeps going as it develops momentum, and this really makes scrolling long parts of anything very easy and comfortable. As you just have to move it once, and then stop when you reach your desired point, and it’s not just good for long excel sheets, but it’s great for everything, other than gaming. After switching to a wheel like this, it is impossible for me to go back to the normal scroll wheel, and it has changed so much. The only issue I see here is that the metal mouse wheel kind of moves around when you move the mouse in this free-spinning mode.

Now, you have the ability to adjust the weight of this mouse with metal weights, and while the system is very cool. The mouse is actually quite heavy for competitive play at 121 grams, even with all its extra weights removed, and all the people I know using this mouse without any of its weights, and that takes us to the gaming performance. So for gaming, everything about this mouse is excellent except for its weight, and that has made people not choose this mouse for professional competitive gaming, and while some popular streamers use this for gaming, that alone does not make it the best for that, and I really think that if you want to play competitively, you should go for the G402, or the G Pro series, or other mice in the Logitech lineup.

For casual gaming, and non-professional competitive gaming at home, this is good, so don’t worry about that. This is one of the best gaming mice, the sensor, buttons, software features, everything is really great, it’s just that it’s a little heavy if you are very serious about enjoying more than 3000 hours in a game. But again, this is my personal opinion, and people using it for gaming don’t face any issues.

Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum

Now in terms of those RGB, they’re located in two regions of the mouse one is on the Logitech gaming logo and the other can be found on the DPI/profile indicators located on the side of the mouse.

Apart from those things everything else that you loved about the G502 is pretty much over here, you have 11 fully mechanical programmable switches that feel very crisp and precise to use.

Furthermore, you still have that ability to control your balance and weight of the mouse, since you have up to five 3.6 gram weights, where you can distribute the weight in a specific area of the mouse or make it lighter, heavier, whatever you want to feature that I really like to use.

Now, one of the main issues with the original G502 from a long term perspective was that some of the Teflon feet located at the back of the mouse wore down a little bit too easily. Some mice had problems with adhesion where the feet would eventually peel off because the adhesive back was not sticking to it properly, and after just a couple of months, you had people having to pretty much replace the entirety of the Teflon feet at the bottom of the mouse. This was certainly upsetting, Logitech did send out some complimentary Teflon feet for customers that did have issues since you do have a fantastic two-year warranty. Logitech does like to stand by their products as much as they can, but I think this is mostly a problem with the design of the Teflon feet themselves.

The triangular shape and the area in which some of these Teflon feet are located tend to result in unwanted friction between the mouse pad, and the feet themselves where microfibers from the mouse pad actually penetrate in between the Teflon feet. The plastic of the mouse itself will result in some of those peeling issues that some people are having.

logitech g502-hero- (1)

SENSOR & PERFORMANCE:

Logitech G502 Hero

 Logitech has updated tom PWM 3366 optical sensor to a new Hero sensor, and the previous sensor was already one of the best in the market, and the newer version is supposed to be better. It has zero acceleration, very accurate tracking, and it goes up to 16000 DPI, which is of course an overkill for any purpose. I use dual 4k monitors, and I use a DPI of less than 3000, and it’s lower than that while gaming.

Now, there isn’t a huge difference between the two sensors, I really tried side to side comparisons on my mouse-pad, and I couldn’t notice a difference, but that’s not a bad thing, because both of these sensors are probably the best sensors for gaming.

Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum

In terms of optical performance, you have the exact same sensor as the original G502. So, you can select from settings ranging from 200 all the way up to 12,000 dpi which is pretty darn insane, and just like the original, the spectrum is absolutely fantastic in terms of its tracking performance. You can basically cater to whatever type of gaming style you prefer if you like high sensitivity, low sensitivity, no matter what type of games you play, this can pretty much handle any kind of PC gaming application you can throw at it.

If you play a lot of shooters, you still have that sniper button on the side of the mouse which can downshift your dpi in order to get more precise with your sniping capabilities.

SOFTWARE:

Logitech G502 Hero

Logitech’s software is really good, it’s very easy to customize different buttons and you can do most things you can imagine. You can set up macros and different commands for different profiles easily, which you can program to work with different applications. But many times, their software doesn’t switch to the correct profile when you switch between programs, which can get annoying because you have the buttons programmed differently, and this has caused me to lose our work multiple times.

This mouse also has internal memory, where you can store your DPI settings, lighting preferences, and can even customize the button functions in 5 profiles, which is great if you use it with a computer that doesn’t have the Logitech software. You can also assign G shift function to one of the buttons, which switches to a different set of inputs if you press other buttons while holding this G shift button, so that can give you 8 extra buttons, which is really great, and might also make this a good MMO mouse.

Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum

Through the Logitech software, you have a couple of different options for illumination. You can basically set it, so it cycles through a whole bunch of different colors, you can, of course, go for a specific color that would match with the specific scheme and style of your gaming setup or you can have a combination of all those different things. So, there are tons of different customization options on the RGB side.

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WHICH TO BUY?

Both the mice are wired and have good features for gaming and also for other works. In think G502 Hero will be better than the G502 Proteus Spectrum in my opinion because it’s an advanced version and also it’s a little bit low in price than the G502 Proteus Spectrum. As the G502 Hero is an advanced version, the problems in the G502 Proteus Spectrum solved in this one obviously.

Expert Reviews of Logitech G502 Hero:

By T3
Logitech’s line of gaming peripherals have always proven that it just doesn’t do these accessories just for the sake of doing them – but in fact, it offers a whole new way of how you can enjoy playing your games.

By Techradar
Logitech’s new Hero sensor improves on the landmark G502, but a few build improvements may have helped it better keep up with SteelSeries’ best.

By Gamecrate
The Logitech G502 Hero is a great mouse, but Logitech might have played it a bit too safe – it’s just not that much of a significant upgrade from the G502. But for those in the market for the latest and great gaming mouse, however, the Hero will make you realize why countless gamers have fallen in love with Logitech’s G502.

By Channelnews
If you are already a proud user of Logitech’s G502 mouse, there isn’t enough of an upgrade to justify the cost, unless you want to experience the HERO 16K sensor, and want to have the best of everything when it comes to gaming.

By Pcworld
If you already have a G502, there’s not much reason to upgrade to the new version—it’s basically identical. But if you’re looking for a new gaming mouse, or maybe your first gaming mouse? The G502 Hero is a top-tier option. Time hasn’t dampened its appeal one bit.

Expert Reviews of Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum:

By Techadvisor
Logitech has come a long way over the years to fine-tune its software, and with the Logitech Gaming Software, you will be able to customise every single aspect of the mouse, from macros and basic functions to mouse mat calibration!

By Hothardware
The Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum RGB is a staff mouse favorite. It comes from a long line of gaming mice that gives the consumer the ability to tweak almost everything. It is a corded mouse giving you 100% up-time and you will never run around looking for batteries in the heat of battle. To dial in the best inertial resistance, an access panel on the bottom allows users to adjust critical mass using 3.6g weights.

By Gamingcentral
The Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum is best gaming mouse I’ve used, hands down. It might sound a little biased because I’ve been using the Proteus Core sure, but that shouldn’t affect your judgement about the mouse. The programmable buttons and 12000 DPI sensor take of all your gaming needs irrespective of the genre, and the DPI Shift key comes in handy quite often, whether you’re gaming or designing.

By IGN
The Logitech G502 is a solid gaming mouse with a ton of useful features and excellent performance. The software lets you make adjustments that can be either radical or superficial, and the included weights are a nice touch that further improve accuracy. I think some of the buttons are awkwardly placed, and the textured portions left my fingers feeling a bit worn down after extended use, though. Still, I loved the features, attention to detail, and software suite.

By Nikktech
The original G502 Proteus Core still happens to be one of my favorite gaming mice of all time and the same goes for most people I talk about regarding gaming peripherals (is probably one of the most popular too).