The Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike brings analogue tech to a gaming mouse for the first time and uses haptic feedback to replicate the feel of a mouse click
Logitech has just announced a gaming mouse for launch early next year that has an "industry-first innovation": analogue mouse clicks. The Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike lets you adjust the mouse click's actuation point or enable rapid trigger, just like you can on a Hall effect or optical keyboard. The X2 Superstrike doesn't use either of these technologies, however, rather a "bespoke Haptic Inductive Trigger System (HITS)."
In addition to controller triggers and joysticks, Hall effect and other analogue magnetic technologies have come to some of the best gaming keyboards, but we hadn't yet seen it in a gaming mouse. That's probably in part because feeling a click at the point of mouse button actuation is so important for feel.
One of the benefits of analogue technologies like Hall effect is that they let you have your switch press actuate at points other than a specific point where there's a mechanical 'click', but that's made it difficult to implement on a mouse because with a mouse you want that click at the point of actuation.
This is what Logitech is claiming to have solved thanks to its "Superstrike" technology which is a "combination of inductive analogue sensing and real-time click haptics." This means you can have the physical feedback of a mouse click at any set actuation point. Logitech says "it doesn't feel exactly like a standard microswitch but it does feel like clicking a mouse." It's "nearly silent", and you can adjust the intensity of the haptic feedback you feel according to five levels.
Induction is a newer arrival to PC gaming peripherals, but it looks very promising—Cherry, for instance, reckons it's cheaper and more reliable and flexible than other options.
Merits of the particular technology aside, induction is an analogue technology that comes with the same benefits as the others. Primarily, you can adjust the actuation level to where you want it—lower, for a faster click, for instance—and enable rapid trigger which will let you re-actuate your mouse click the moment you let up on the previous click.
Logitech says the Superstrike has "ten levels of actuation and five rapid trigger reset levels" and apparently this can cut click latency by up to 30 ms. I can only assume that's just because you can lessen the travel distance with a lower actuation distance, given a mechanical switch shouldn't add any actual latency in itself.
Logitech relays that, according to pro player Caps from G2 Esports, "The difference feels like going from playing on public internet servers to playing on LAN." In the reaction videos I saw, pro players did genuinely seem impressed by the mouse and its inductive and haptic clicks.
Apart from that, the mouse seems like a standard lightweight and competitive gaming mouse. It has PTFE feet, up to 8 kHz polling (only with wireless as wired is limited to 1 kHz), 88 G of acceleration, 888 IPS, and up to 44,000 DPI. It has up to 90 hours of battery life under constant motion and weighs 65 g, which isn't quite as light as some ultralight mice you get these days, but is about as light as the original Logitech G Pro X Superlight which I still love as a mouse for competitive gaming.
Somewhat less exciting news is that Logitech is launching a smaller and lighter version of the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2, the G Pro X Superlight 2c. That's set for launch on 21 October and will retail at £159.99.
The Superstrike is definitely the more exciting of the two, though, and will cost $179.99 / €179.99. And I must say, regardless of all its actually important specs and induction tech, that black-and-white colour scheme does look hella cool. It might be worth it just for that.