When Glorious dropped their first ever gaming mouse in the middle of last year it received a lot of praise, and rightfully so. The Model O shot up to be one of the most popular mice in enthusiast circles thanks to the lightweight design, fantastic cable and feet and flawless sensor, along with the fact that it’s rather easy to get a hold of (something that can be an issue with other smaller manufacturers) but it did suffer from some minor issues here and there.
Today the Model D has been unleashed upon the world. This new ergonomic shape is something that many fans of Glorious’ design philosophy have been waiting for, and it is the perfect opportunity for Glorious to show the world that they’ve been learning from some of their mistakes. So is this D worth your time and money? Read our full review to find out!
At a Glance
Glorious Model D
Used by 2 players (Jun, 2023)-
HAL
-
POKAMOLODOY
❝This is a fantastic ultralight gaming mouse, with a great shape, fantastic clicks, top of the line feet and ditto cable. Top that off with a sturdy build quality and a nice coating and you’ve got what could very well be one of the best releases of the year.❞
Specs
| Sensor | PMW 3360 |
|---|---|
| DPI | 400-12000, in steps of 100 |
| Polling Rate | 125 / 500 / 1000 Hz |
| Button Switches | Omron |
| Connection | Wired |
| Shape | Ergonomic |
| Length | 13.1cm |
| Height | 4.17cm |
| Weight | 67g |
| Width | 5.98cm |
Pros
- Great shape
- Fantastic clicks
- Great feet
- Nice coating
- QC improvements
Cons
- Holes in the design won’t be for everyone
First Impressions
Something that I immediately noticed when I first received this mouse is that Glorious have definitely been listening to their customers. This is evident when you open up the box: gone is the smaller box where they crammed the cable underneath the mouse at an odd angle (something that led to cable malfunctions for some people, though I didn’t have that issue on my copies) and in comes a larger box that has way more room for the cable.
As for the mouse itself there isn’t really anything super special about it, at least not if you’ve been following the mouse market for a while. If you haven’t then you’ll definitely notice the fact that there are holes all over the shell. This is called the HoneyComb Shell by Glorious, and it’s done in this way to cut back on the weight of the product and to provide ventilation to keep your hands feeling fresh after hours of gaming.
The shape of the Model D is obviously very different from what you get with the Model O, but the overall design ideas stay the same. You can get this one in white or black and both colorways are available in a matte and a glossy version. On the left side of the mouse you’ll see the bearded Glorious mascot and on the right side there’s a small ‘GLORIOUS’ print towards the front of the mouse. A total of three programmable RGB elements provide the mandatory light show to finish off the look of this product.
All in all this D looks really nice if you ask me. Something about the way the RGB lights up parts of the inside of the mouse just looks interesting to me, and while I am aware of the fact that some people strongly dislike the inclusion of the Glorious beard-man I can definitely say that this mouse is an eye-catcher. Not that this matters for performance, but I thought I’d mention it.
Note: I did not get a glossy Model D to test so I cannot give any definite statements on that version, though the only difference between the two coatings is that the glossy mice weigh one gram more and cost 10 dollars more at MSRP.
The Model D is Glorious’ first ergonomic mouse, and people who know their stuff will notice that it looks very similar to something like a Zowie EC. As a reviewer I try to stay away from making too many comparisons to other mice because I prefer to let products speak for themselves but I obviously cannot ignore the fact that this is basically a clone of the EC. I’m not taking a position in this whole ‘are copied shapes a good thing or not’ debate, I’m just mentioning it in case you want to try out this particular shape.
Aside from the extremely comfy shape (more on that later) it’s also extremely light: I weighed it in at 67 grams, which is pretty impressive for a mouse this size. As far as functionality goes this is your standard gaming mouse: you get a DPI button on top (with the indicator LED being on the bottom) and two side buttons on the left side.
Packaging
As I said in my intro the Model D comes in a bigger box due to the fact that they’ve now allocated extra space for the cable so that there are no more issues with kinked cables out of the box.
The unboxing experience is pretty nice here: you get a quickstart guide, one of those ‘thank you for purchasing’ notes, and two stickers but you also get a pair of additional mouse feet. Note that these aren’t replacement feet, but rather extras that you can stick between the existing smaller skates to create a larger gliding surface if you so desire.
That’s nice of them to include, but I do wish they’d gone all the way and threw in some replacement feet as well while they were at it. It’s always handy to have some spare parts around.
Shape, Coating, and Mouse Feet
The Model D (which is the second mouse to come out in Glorious’ O.D.I.N. line of mice) has an ergonomic shape, and boy is it a good one. It flows extremely naturally and there are no odd curves or ‘you must put your fingers here’ kind of grooves, leading to a shape that can be a comfortable fit for pretty much all grip types out there. This type of shell design remains one of my favorites so I absolutely love holding the D. As mentioned earlier it is a copy of the Zowie EC, so if you’re unsure about this kind of shape you can always go out and find one of those to see how it suits you.
The coating (I only got matte versions to try out) feels and performs good as well. My hands get pretty sweaty when I’m tryharding in my favorite competitive games so it’s important that the mouse that I’m using doesn’t attract oils and fingerprints too much, and luckily the Model D is more than decent here. I never got the feeling that I had to wipe down the mouse, even when I was gaming for multiple hours at a time, so I’m more than satisfied by the D.
We can’t talk about the finish of a mouse like this without talking about the holes, and in case you’re wondering: you don’t notice them at all when you’re using the mouse. That’s partially due to the fact that there aren’t any cutouts at the parts where you’ll actually be grabbing the Model D and also because of the fact that they’re really nicely finished and implemented. It doesn’t feel like someone took a drill, went to town on this thing, and called it a day; the cutouts don’t feel sharp or annoying at all.
On the bottom of the mouse you’ll see four small ‘G-Skates,’ which is basically Glorious’ name for their pure PTFE feet. These have definitely been improved since I last tested one of Glorious’ mice; they absolutely weren’t bad on the original Model O but the D’s skates are noticeably faster and smoother, so much so that I found myself whiffing a couple of shots and sprays during the first few hours of testing due to the mouse gliding faster and more easily than what I’m used to. Despite me feeling like Bambi on ice for the first couple of hours I am very impressed by these G-Skates, and if you’re after speed this is one of the best stock experiences you can get right now.
Recommended Grip Types
Those of you who are deep into the gaming mouse scene can probably skip this part since you already know how an EC shape performs, but for those who are unaware this is a rather safe shape that should work for the vast majority of grip types (if the mouse suits your hand size) except for maybe fingertip grip.
It is incredibly important to do your own research and find out what works and doesn’t work for you in a gaming mouse though, so take what we reviewers say about grip compatibility with a grain of salt. I’m sure there are fingertip grippers out there who absolutely love this mouse, for example.
Buttons and Scroll Wheel
The Model D uses Omron switches to handle the clicks and I have to say that these feel great. The actual clicks were already really good on the Model O, though the buttons were plagued by varying amounts of side travel and QC issues. But it seems like Glorious have stepped up their game. I didn’t find any travel whatsoever on either of the copies I received, and the whole ‘button rubbing over the switch’ feeling when you hold it down is gone too. That’s great news, and it results in a supremely satisfying clicking experience.
The main buttons sound a bit deeper and fuller than what I got from the Model O and they actuate with a superbly satisfying tactile snap. The feeling of main clicks isn’t something that ranks very high on my list of ‘make or break’ features for a gaming mouse (unless they’re extremely bad of course) but I do really love these. Kudos to Glorious. They’re not the lightest feeling clicks though, so do take note of that.
The side buttons also feel good. They don’t suffer from that all too common problem where they travel into the shell of the mouse after clicking them and the minimal amount of pre- or post travel combined with a crispy click makes them pleasant to use at all times.
The good vibes continue with the scroll wheel: this now has a bit more definition when compared to the Model O and seeing as that was basically the only complaint I had about the wheel I’m very pleased with this one. The textured rubber wheel is nearly silent but still nicely defined so that you don’t accidentally scroll too far and it’s easy enough to press as well.
Build Quality and Cable
When shaking and tapping the mouse I couldn’t hear anything move on the inside at all. There’s also almost no give at any point when applying pressure to the shell (with the exception of the back part of the shell flexing a tiny bit when applying frankly abnormal amounts of pressure) so it’s good to see that Glorious have also been improving on this front.
It is now impossible to actuate the side buttons by squeezing the shell when holding the mouse normally, which is something that did happen to varying degrees with their Model O. To be complete I have to say that you can still actuate the side buttons by applying a lot of pressure but you’d have to be holding the mouse in both hands for that to happen and I don’t know anyone who games like that so for me that’s a non-issue. It’s nice to see that the people at Glorious have been paying attention to what consumers have been saying about their products, and while I have no doubt that they could’ve shaved off a few grams at the cost of structural integrity I’m happy that they went with this approach. As it is the mouse is still very light and it feels sturdy to boot.
Last year was the year of the lightweight mice, but we also saw another revolution in the form of stock cables becoming better and better. The Model O was one of the mice that helped paracord-style cables become mainstream so it’s only natural that the Model D follows suit. It houses Glorious’ Ascended Cord, which is basically an improved version of what we saw on the early Model O versions. This is a thin, light, and very flexible cable and it’s without a doubt one of the best stock cables that you can get at this point in time. It performs great even without a bungee, and while nothing can compare to true wireless (in my opinion) this does come pretty darn close.
Since the release of the Model O other companies have been quick to come out with their own versions of paracord cables and made improvements here and there, so it’s encouraging to see that Glorious didn’t rest on their laurels and instead immediately started cooking up their own improved version even though the original cable on the Model O would still be more than decent by today’s standards.
Sensor and Everyday Performance
Before the lightweight revolution and the cable renaissance we had the sensor shift, where pretty much every respectable gaming mouse manufacturer started using flawless sensors in their mice. As such, part of this section has perhaps become quite superfluous but of course we have to talk about the sensor. I can be short here: the flawless 3360 sensor inside of the Model D performs as it should, which basically means that it’s flawless.
There’s no smoothing, acceleration, or any of that nonsense to worry about so you can rest assured that every single move that you make gets transferred to the screen with perfect precision.
There’s optional software where you can create macros and adjust the lighting as well as tune the LOD and polling rate and all of that good stuff but you don’t have to use it. The mouse comes with preset DPI values of 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 so you can just take the mouse out of the packaging and go to town right away if that’s what floats your boat. I do love it when my peripherals are capable of being true plug and play, but optional software for those fine or outside-the-box adjustments is always a plus in my book, so the inclusion of this straightforward piece of software is a nice touch.
As I said earlier on the Model D also comes with two additional mouse feet that fit in between the existing feet on either end of the mouse, creating a larger ‘skate surface’. I applied these extra feet on one of my review copies and left it off on another and I think I prefer the mouse with those extra feet on though the difference is honestly pretty marginal and it might even be the placebo effect talking. It’s important to note that the additional skates are of the same high quality as the ones that are already on there, so you don’t have to worry about them being some kind of afterthought if you decide to try them out, though I would’ve honestly preferred to see a bunch of replacement main feet instead of what we got now.
Glorious Model D Review – Conclusion
Glorious is a pretty new company all things considered but they are definitely showing that they know how to handle things.
The Model D is an entirely new shape (well, entirely new for the Glorious line of mice that is) so it can’t really be compared to their Model O but it is nice to see that the company has taken pretty much everything that reviewers and consumers alike were complaining about with their first release and used that to improve on those aspects with the Model D.
This is a fantastic ultralight gaming mouse, with a great shape, fantastic clicks, top of the line feet and ditto cable. Top that off with a sturdy build quality and a nice coating and you’ve got what could very well be one of the best releases of the year.
Glorious do a great job at bringing together everything that gamers want these days (lightweight design, super flexible cable, …) so that they can combine it into a very alluring ‘greatest hits’ package but I would love to see them put out a brand new album, if I’m allowed to carry on this metaphor a little while longer. They’ve proven that they’re more than capable of listening to what gamers want these days, and we know that they can put those ideas into practice so I would love to see them come up with their very own shape for the Model I, even if only because I’m curious to see what they can come up with.
But of course that’s in the future. Until then I’ll be more than happy to sit here playing with my D.