Logitech MX518 vs G403: Which One You Should Buy?

logitech mx518 vs g403 hero (1)

This is the comparison of the Logitech MX518 and the Logitech G403 Hero mouse. Both the mouse design and features are nice. In this comparison review, you can find out which one is better to buy and which one will work for you.

For more comparison like this:- Logitech MX518 vs Logitech G502 Hero mouse.

logitech mx518 mouse (1)logitech g403 hero (1)
Logitech MX518Logitech G403 Hero
BUY NOWBUY NOW
PROSPROS
High-performance HERO sensor.
Sleek, understated design.
Fully programmable buttons and CPI settings.
Hero sensor is outstanding. Ergonomic design feels great in the hand. Reasonably priced. Solid build quality.
CONSCONS
Slightly narrow for larger hands.Only six programmable buttons.

SPECIFICATIONS:

MODELLOGITECH MX518LOGITECH G403 HERO
BrandLogitechLogitech
Model910-005630
INPUT DEVICELOGITECH MX518LOGITECH G403 HERO
Connectivity TechnologyWiredWired
InterfaceUSBUSB
Movement Detection TechnologyOpticalHERO sensor
Movement Resolution16000 dpi25600 dpi
Performance1 ms response time, 40 G maximum acceleration, report rate: 1000 Hz, up to 400 inches per second
Buttons Qty86
SYSTEM REQUIREDLOGITECH MX518LOGITECH G403 HERO
OS RequiredWindows 7 or later, macOS 10.11 or laterMicrosoft Windows 7 or later
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTLOGITECH MX518LOGITECH G403 HERO
Width2.8 in2.7 in
Depth5.1 in4.9 in
Height1.7 in1.7 in
Weight3.6 oz3.08 oz
FEATURESLOGITECH MX518LOGITECH G403 HERO
FeaturesAs one of the most-beloved gaming mice ever, MX518 has inspired legions of fans around the world to ask Logitech G to bring it out of retirement. And we heard you. We pulled the original tools from the Vault and meticulously restored them—right down to the original glossy keyplate. It’s the classic, comfortable shape you know and love, now with modern components that perform to today’s advanced standards and a new, updated Nightfall color scheme.

The reborn MX518 is enhanced with the latest innovations in gaming technology, like our exclusive HERO 16K sensor. It’s our most accurate gaming sensor ever with next-gen performance and all-new architecture. With a capture rate of up to 17,000 frames per second, HERO achieves 400+ IPS across the entire 100 – 16,000 DPI range with zero smoothing, filtering or acceleration. HERO truly sets the bar for the highest levels of precision, for pros and enthusiasts alike.

MX518 comes fully loaded. Save up to five profiles to the onboard memory, using Logitech G HUB, and take them with you. Your saved settings will work on any PC without additional software or any login required.

Cycle up and down through as many as five DPI settings with a single click of the buttons directly above and below the wheel. Quickly reset your sensitivity with the Default DPI button. Customize these DPI settings with G HUB, or use the default settings (400, 800, 1600, 3200, and 6400) out-of-the-box.

Use G HUB to program your favorite commands and macros to each of the 8 buttons. Build, crouch, melee, heal … put your power moves at your fingertips. Save up to 5 different profiles directly to the mouse to take your settings with you anywhere.
HERO 25K Sensor: Our most advanced gaming sensor with 1:1 tracking, 400+ IPS, and 100 – 25,600 max dpi sensitivity – plus zero smoothing, filtering, or acceleration.

LIGHTSYNC RGB: Full-spectrum lighting responds to in-game action, audio, and screen color ; customize lighting effects from up to 16.8M colors with G HUB gaming software and sync across G gear.

Comfort and Durability: Lightweight (87g), comfortably designed to mold to your hand with rubber grips for added control ; 10g removable weight lets you tune to your preferences.

G HUB Gaming Software: Configure 6 programmable buttons to simplify in-game actions / On-the-fly DPI shifting lets you program and switch between five sensitivity settings from 100 to 16,000 dpi.

Advanced gaming performance: 8X faster than standard mice with a 1 ms report rate, and spring button tensioning for better response with less force.

Detail Review

INTRODUCTION:

Logitech MX518

This is about the refreshed version of the greatest Mouse of all time, the Logitech MX518 Hero edition. This mouse looks so simple like the normal office mouse but it has a great grip which will be very useful for long gaming sessions. 

Logitech G403 Hero

The Logitech G403 Hero wired mouse is more like a G Pro mouse except for the shape. The design and comfort of this mouse are in such a way that will suit almost everyone. This is a simple wired gaming mouse that comes under budget with some good finish and fit.

Logitech-MX518 mouse (1)

DESIGN & COMFORT:

Logitech MX518

The older version of this mouse is MX510, one of the most comfortable mice ever made. Is this mouse has all that comfort its older version had? The design of the mouse hasn’t changed all that much. It’s got the exact same legendary shape as the MX510, now with a silver coating that fades into black near the back of the mouse. It’s glossy but it’s really grippy and even after four hours of a gaming session, I never felt my hand slipped once. Now, in the past, when you would use the original MX510, the coating would rub off near the fingertip area, so I’m hoping that won’t happen now. Logitech has been pretty good about their coatings in the present day. The cord is thin and stays out of the way. Logitech is definitely getting better about their cords.

What makes this shape so good? It’s all in that thumb, the little groove on the place thumb rests. There’s nothing better than it in gaming mice today. It’s downright perfect if you are looking for an ergonomic palm grip Mouse. It’s got rubber grips on either side that has an amazing feel to it. The slope on the right side is very forgiving on the backside of your palm whereas some mice have a hard fall off which makes this Mouse really comfortable. On the right side, they have a ledge to help you with picking up and controlling the mouse.

For gaming though, this mouse is still a beast, nothing has changed from that older mouse in performance. I find a fingertip grip and claw grip is very hard to do this mouse because the ledge and the thumb portion kind of get in the way. It’s definitely more of like a palm grip or relaxed claw grip Mouse in my opinion. The grip that works the best for this mouse is like a 1-3-1 where the thumb is on the left side, you got three fingers on top, and the pinky finger on the right side.

Logitech G403 Hero

The G403 has an optional 10 grams of weight. The G403 weighs 87 grams. It’s 124 millimeters long, 68 millimeters wide, and 43 millimeters tall. This makes it a bit larger than the G Pro. The most direct competition to these mice would be the Zowie FK1, the SteelSeries Sensei, and Razer’s DeathAdder, Corsair M65, and Logitech’s own G303.

It’s got a right-handed ergonomic shape. The shape of this mouse is sleek. Logitech has two RGB spots- one in the logo and a small ring around the scroll wheel that you can light up and customize. This makes it fairly understated compared to most of the peripherals we see these days with all their RGB LED options and all the customizable lighting. It looks simple mouse with some great features for gaming.

I do wish the thumb buttons on the 403 were positioned a little bit more forward on the body. I found that I really had to strain to get the back button which was something that I noticed personally. The surface material is great, the top coatings of this mouse are like plastic but it’s a matte finish and it really repels grime and sweat. In a comparison of this, the Logitech MX518 and Steelseries have glossy look on the top which absorbs more dirt comparatively.

Logitech-G403 mouse (1)

FEATURES & PERFORMANCE:

Logitech MX518

It’s got two side buttons that are light but a little bit mushy in my opinion and the back button feels a little bit more loose compared to the forward side button. The forward button is slightly smaller than the back button as well. The scroll wheel feels a little bit cheap too compared to some of the newer mice on the market, especially when you click down on it. It feels like the mouse wheel could come out at some point. You’ve got three buttons along the top as well that can be customized in the new Logitech Hub software. Two of these by default are DPI buttons.

On the bottom, you’ve got three mousepad feet you got one at the top, one at the bottom, and one on the side. They’ve also got a little one around the sensor as well. This Mouse glides like butter on every Mouse pad that I put it on, so it’s not gonna be an issue.

The hero sensor in this mouse is capable of going up to 16,000 DPI. I didn’t experience any spin-outs or liftoff distance problems with this mouse. The Hero sensor is definitely my personal favorite mouse sensor at the moment, I don’t think there’s anything better in my opinion.

Logitech G403 Hero

The G403 has a wireless alternative for $100. The mice use the Hero sensor including zero mouse smoothing and zero speed-related accuracy variance, so that’s commonly called acceleration. The G403 is effectively the same mouse as the G Pro mouse aside from shape.

This Mouse has two thumb buttons, a dpi button, left button, right button, and a middle mouse button that opt-out of the Logitech hyper scroll wheel and instead, uses a mechanical scroll tracking wheel instead of the optomechanical tracking.

The G403, it fits in really well and the fingers fall right into the center of the buttons for Mouse one and two. The G403 has a sort of modified spring tension system as to what you found in the G900, and the difference is basically the G900 uses a mechanical pivot but there’s a steel bar that sits atop a fulcrum and that bar rotates to accommodate the keypress. So, with the G900 when you push the buttons anywhere on the key plate, it’s pretty linear in terms of how you perceive the actuation of the user, the G900 has a pre-travel spring to keep tension on the switch and a PCB mounted at an angle so that the clicks are perpendicular to input. While the G403 changes this which nor has the pre-travel spring keeping tension on the switch and neither has the steel pivot bar for the fulcrum. So instead, the G403 uses plastic deformation elements that connect the key plate from the housing of the mouse and deform on button-press. This is less sophisticated than the G900 and we don’t think it has as even a distribution of force across the key plate but it also works better than some competing mice.

With the hand positioning on such a small Mouse, it really pushes your fingers farther forward on the mouse 1 & 2 surfaces which can lead to accidental clicks anyway. In terms of usability, the mice work as you’d expect. The sensing is accurate, the sensors are positioned pretty much in the middle of the mice. The G403 is more centered or forward than the G Pro mouse.

logitech-mx518 (1)

SOFTWARE:

Logitech MX518

To use all the customizations and settings of the mouse, you must install the Logitech G Hub software. You get many customizations for the buttons, you can reprogramme that all as shortcuts of your choices. It also has many settings other than the button customization. Here, you can also change the scroll wheel behavior, DPI settings, RGB lighting, and many more things. 

Logitech G403 Hero

You can configure all the 6 programmable buttons on the mouse. There are many options in Logitech’s G Hub software for the button configuration. There are also many other settings of the mouse. You can change or reprogramme many other things like DPI switching, scroll speed, and RGB Lightsync. You’ve got many options for RGB lighting, in which you can set separate colors, change the effect of the lighting, change the brightness level, etc,. This software of Logitech is very easy to use compared to other competitors’ software systems.

logitech g403 -hero (1)

WHICH TO BUY?

The MX518 pretty much is what we expected it to be that same amazing great shape. The original and now with that new snappy Hero sensor, it does keep that same similar buttons to the older version which is kind of disappointing. The G403 Hero is also performing well. The price is also the same in both the MX518 and G403 Hero. The only thing you can decide from is the design and comfort of the mouse. So, in my opinion, both are good in comfort but the G403 is the modern one and MX518 looks pretty much older design. So, you can decide which one you like more considering the design and the comfort or grip style of these mice.

Expert Reviews of Logitech MX518:

By CriticalHit
If you’re an old-school PC Gamer from before many fancy peripherals were even thing, there are probably two mice that you remember fondly. At least, there are for me – and both have seen a resurrection in recent times. The first is, of course,…

By Techpowerup
While the G MX518 is a truly fantastic successor to the MX500 throne, the gaming peripherals market has changed a lot since the first iteration came out. I would gladly recommend it to anyone who finds the shape and specifications suitable for their needs. Hopefully, this model will be as long-lasting as the original MX518, which would have it become a true legend as well.

By Progamer
The G MX518 Legendary is the best of the old and new and is one of the best plug-and-play mice on the market.

By Gameskinny
The MX518 might be a throwback, but it has plenty of modern bells and whistles to make its legend relevant today.

By IGN
The Logitech MX518 Legendary is a great mouse that lives up to its reputation. I would have liked to have seen Logitech push the envelope a bit more by adding their LIGHTSPEED Wireless tech, but fans of the original will surely be happy to find this mouse feels so close to the original and offers improved switches and Logitech’s best optical sensor.

Expert Reviews of Logitech G403 Hero:

By Rtings
The Logitech G403 is great for playing FPS games. Gaming feels incredibly responsive and smooth thanks to its low click latency and high polling rate. Even though it’s slightly bulky due to its tall…

By Wepc
Logitech succeeded in offering casual or novice gamers a professional choice of mouse. The G403 has a well-designed shape and it remains comfortable even after extensive gaming sessions which is always a big plus. It comes with excellent…