Glorious Model O Wireless Review

Glorious is a company that has very much taken the world of gaming peripherals by storm. Their Model O mouse (which was the first mouse to be released in their O.D.I.N. lineup) shook up the scene in a permanent fashion, showing other manufacturers that there is definitely a market for performance-oriented lightweight gaming mice.

When the announcement came that Glorious was going to release a wireless version of their hugely successful Model O, enthusiasts reacted in a similar fashion. A lightweight wireless mouse with a brand new sensor at a much lower MSRP than what competitors are asking for is bound to turn some heads, and that it did. In a recent survey that we ran it was voted the second most impressive mouse release of 2020, so of course it was high time for us to review it. We sent one over to our reviewer and as usual he put it through its paces in order to tell you everything you want to know about the Glorious Model O Wireless.

At A Glance


Glorious Model O Wireless

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  • matys
    matys
Staff’s Choice

If you’re looking for a lightweight wireless mouse and you’re on a budget and/or you don’t want to spend the big bucks on some of the other options out there at this point in time then you should absolutely consider the Model O Wireless.

Pros

  • Flawless wireless and gaming performance
  • Good build quality; notable improvements over the Model O wired
  • Great shape
  • Good buttons
  • Smooth feet

Cons

  • Holes in the design are starting to get outdated
  • Design won’t be for everyone
  • Software is buggy

Specs

SensorBAMF
Polling Rate125 / 500 / 1000 Hz
Button SwitchesOmron
ConnectionWireless
ShapeAmbidextrous
Length12.84cm
Height3.74cm
Weight69g
Width6.1cm

First Impressions


Glorious is a company that I’ve been following with great interest. Not everything that they do is as successful but they definitely are a company that listens to what their customers want. Their Model O, for example, managed to form a nearly perfect combination of everything that was trending in the enthusiast mouse market, and it could be argued that that mouse helped things like paracord-like cables become much more common in mass produced mice. In a way it was very much a trend setting mouse, even though it wasn’t perfect.

To me it looks like they’re trying to do the same with the Model O Wireless (I will sometimes refer to it as ‘MOW’). No matter how you spin it, a flawless (lightweight) wireless mouse is an expensive affair. Whether or not the tech is worth the money is a completely different discussion, but it is true that you’re usually paying a premium for the top wireless mice. The fact that this Model O Wireless retails for almost half of what other manufacturers are asking for similar products is a bit of a statement in and of itself. A lot of people will probably be thinking ‘they cut corners’ but at first sight I really didn’t have this impression.

It’s been a while since I really used a Model O but I got the feeling that this Wireless versions feels much more solid than its wired sibling. Nothing about the mouse suggests that it’s some sort of budget-oriented product or that corners were somehow cut and that’s nice to see. Of course I’ll go into the build quality, performance, and so on further on in the review, but my first impressions of this mouse were really good.

Something that’ll no doubt bother a lot of people is that bearded Glorious man on the left side of the mouse. It’s something that helps differentiate the mouse from others so I understand their decision to leave it on there but I’d like to think that these mice have become popular enough in their own right to allow people who care about peripherals to recognize them on sight, even without that bearded dude. I personally don’t mind it, but I get why some find it tacky.

If you ask me, one of the most impressive features of this mouse is the weight. The Model O Wireless weighs just a couple of grams more than the wired version, coming in at 69 grams on my scales. That’s a mightily impressive weight for a wireless mouse, doubly so because it doesn’t feel like they sacrificed the structural integrity to get to this weight.

Fans of RGB will also love the MOW. Two thin strips on the side of the mouse along with an RGB element in the scroll wheel will ensure that you can see the pretty lights even when you’re actively using the mouse, and like most honeycomb mice the lighting is much more pronounced than it is with solid shell mice.

Packaging


Inside the (very nice looking) box you will find the Model O Wireless, a quickstart guide, a Glorious sticker, the wireless receiver, a paracord-like charging cable, and a USB extender piece to put on the end of the USB-C charging cable that allows you to place the receiver closer to your mousepad.

I know I’m always banging on this drum, but it would’ve been nice to see some replacement mouse feet. It’s not a deal breaker that they’re not included here (especially considering the price of the MOW) but it is a neat little extra that I always appreciate. That said: you do get everything you need so this won’t influence my opinion on the mouse itself in any way.

Shape, Coating, and Mouse Feet


The Model O Wireless currently can only be bought with a matte coating. 

If you’ve been gaming for a while and/or you’ve got an interest in the gaming mouse market then the Model O Wireless won’t surprise you with its shape. What you get here is that Zowie FK-like shape that you so often see these days. The Model O Wireless is an ambidextrous mouse that feels pretty long and flat in the hands, with minimal curvature except for the back that flares out a bit, but that’s of course very common. There are rather pronounced comfort grooves on the main buttons, so if you’re not into that they might bother you, but aside from that this is a very safe shape. If you’re looking for a larger ambi mouse with a flat profile this is a classic.

The unit that I’ve been testing has a matte white coating, and I’ve got to say that I really like it. It does a great job at handling skin oils and sweat, and it stays clean relatively well. Generally you’ll see grime accumulation spots much faster on a white mouse than you would on a black one, but I didn’t find myself needing to clean it every day so I have no issues with this coating at all.

My hands get moderately sweaty when gaming and I never had any grip issues, nor did I have a problem with how the mouse coating felt after prolonged gaming sessions, so as far as I’m concerned the coating is definitely up to par.

On the bottom of the mouse there are four small feet. Glorious refers to these as G-Skates, and these pure PTFE feet offer a really smooth glide straight out of the box. They aren’t super speedy but given the fact that I don’t like an extremely fast glide on my mice these perform perfectly fine for me. On my unit there were absolutely no issues with scratchiness or anything of the sorts.

One small note: make sure to remove the protective film on the skates. I’ve seen more than enough ‘oops’ posts on social media from people who thought there wasn’t a film on the skates to justify adding this portion, so hopefully it can prevent you from making a slightly embarrassing mistake should you decide to purchase the Model O Wireless.

The Model O has, as I said before, a very common shape. The low profile shell is rather long, so people with small hands will want to take note of that, but aside from that this should suit a very wide variety of grip types. Due to the lower hump it’s, theoretically, not the best for palm grippers but for fingertip/claw oriented grips this should be ideal if you’re into this type of shape.

As always I want to frame this section with a disclaimer: everyone is different. Some palm grippers love flat mice, some fingertip grippers swear by large ergonomic mice, and so on. Everyone is different in this regard, so it’s important to take whatever I (and other reviewers) say on the whole grip subject with a grain of salt. It’s merely a guideline.

Buttons and Scroll Wheel


Glorious mice haven’t always been shining examples of stellar QC, but the company indicates that they’ve been working hard to iron out those kinks and I have to say that I can’t really find any flaws with the buttons on the Model O Wireless.

Both main buttons actuate with a pleasing click, and while there is some post travel I wouldn’t call it annoying or noticeable at all. Most importantly, though, there is no side travel on my unit at all. That’s a welcome change from the wired Model O, where I had this issue to varying degrees with my testing units. I of course can’t speak for all MOWs out there, but it’s encouraging to see that the company seems to have been paying attention to these aspects over the past months and handled some of these issues that people were having.

I feel like it’s also important to note that the buttons, when clicked, don’t travel all the way down to meet the shell. I say this because, looking at the photos and the mouse in real life, there’s a large gap between the buttons and the shell which might lead people to think that there’s a lot of post- or pre travel but that’s not the case.

The side buttons also feel great. If I’m nitpicking I’d say that the pre travel could be cut down a little but in reality that’s not something that will bother you while using the mouse. These side buttons actuate with a pleasing tangible snap, and neither button has that annoying ‘pivot’ problem where the button travels inside the shell if you press it too far towards the front or the back. That’s something that you often get with side buttons (not on Glorious mice, but just in general) and it’s a huge pet peeve of mine. All of this to say: both sets of clicks feel great to me.

The scroll wheel is decent. I personally like just a touch more tactility in a scroll wheel but other than that this nearly silent wheel works like a charm and is super easy to press. It also doesn’t feel rattly or loose in any way, so in short I’d say they succeeded here too.

Build Quality and Cable


As you may or may not know the Model O Wireless had a problem where, if you pushed on the sides of the mouse, you could actuate a side button. This problem was more pronounced on some copies, so much so that it really annoyed some people. There’s none of that here. Even when applying an amount of pressure that’s frankly ridiculous (some people almost go as far as using a vice to check for this kind of stuff, but I find that ridiculous since a gaming mouse never gets exposed to huge amounts of pressure) so I’m happy to say that this issue seems to have been resolved completely.

Tapping or shaking the mouse also reveals nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the Model O Wireless is dead silent at all times. Once again: I can only speak for what’s put in front of me so I have no way of knowing how all of this feels with other copies, but my copy feels solid as a rock.

Included with the Model O Wireless you get the Ascended Cord. That’s basically Glorious’ name for their paracord-like cable, and even though you don’t need it with a wireless mouse it’s great to know that, should you have to charge the mouse whilst you’re using it, you can do so without worrying about dragging a suspender cable around. The part of the cable that connects to the mouse also has two prongs for increased stability so that it doesn’t pop out during big swipes or movements. Important to know is that the connection isn’t proprietary: you can plug in other USB-C cables just fine, provided their connection end isn’t too thick.

Sensor and Everyday Performance


The Model O Wireless is the first Glorious mouse to house their very own BAMF sensor. This was created in collaboration with PixArt, and as we’ve all come to expect from top gaming mice this is a flawless sensor. I should say that there were some issues with angle snapping when the mouse first came out but I see no indications of any sensor problems in my testing, so Glorious’ firmware update that they released a couple of months ago now (this review is a bit delayed as you might be able to see by the date) seems to have solved any of those issues.

Then there’s of course the most important question: is the wireless part up to par? In a word: yes. I used this mouse for a variety of games and productivity tasks, even with some other wireless equipment (including two wireless mice from other brands) right next to it on my desk and I never had any outages or issues during any of my tests. In games it also doesn’t lag, leading me to conclude that the wireless aspect of the Model O Wireless is definitely good enough for gaming and general usage.

Compared to the G Pro X Superlight (which is my main) I noticed no difference in the actual responsiveness and connectivity. It is important to place your wireless connector close to the mouse itself though. I had some small hiccups here and there when using it when it was far away from my pad so I’d recommend using the cable + dongle with this mouse.

Along with the MOW also comes Glorious’ new Core software. This is a pretty lightweight program that’s going to function as their main ‘peripheral software hub’ (before this every peripheral they made had a separate program to control it) and if you ask me this works perfectly well. Everything is laid out clearly, there are no endless and ultimately confusing submenus, and in general it just works exactly like you’d expect it to work.

What is odd about the software is that there are some little quirks here and there. When I got done installing it, there was a checkmark that said ‘Glorious Core’ instead of the usual ‘Launch Glorious Core’, for example. There’s nothing there that prevents me from using the product, but there definitely are some tiny language problems that need sorting out.

One cool touch about the mouse is that, once the battery starts to run low, the RGB lights of the MOW change to a (slowly) flickering red light, indicating that it’s time to charge the mouse. It’s always obvious when this happens, so theoretically you should never have any issues with the mouse dropping out because you forgot to charge it. I will say that the battery life is drastically lower than the advertised 71 hours if you leave the RGB on. That’s fine (Glorious also mention that on their website so I’m not saying it’s false advertising or whatever) but it’s just a word of warning that, if you want to use it with the RGB on, you might want to keep an eye on the battery level.

Glorious Model O Wireless Review – Conclusion


I was wildly impressed with Glorious’ Model O, and now its wireless compatriot has managed to ‘wow’ me too. Just the fact that you can get a lightweight wireless mouse with a flawless sensor and connection at this price point makes it an impressive piece of kit, but to add on to that Glorious have also really been improving their QC. Gone are the thin and bendable sides, and gone is the sideways movement on the main buttons: the Model O Wireless is built really well. Of course I can only judge that based on my copy, but that’s the nature of reviews.

Aside from the wireless aspect this is also just an impressive mouse. The shape (based on the Zowie FK line) will feel familiar to many veterans, but it is one of the most used shapes for a reason: it’s really good. Top that with a very nice set of buttons (that goes for both main buttons and both side buttons) and a decent scroll wheel along with smooth stock feet and you’ve got yourself a great gaming mouse.

If you’re looking for a lightweight wireless mouse and you’re on a budget and/or you don’t want to spend the big bucks on some of the other options out there at this point in time then you should absolutely consider the Model O Wireless. Glorious have been really good at implementing what consumers want and then pricing their products at a reasonable price, and it’s good to see that they did that with the Model O Wireless too, this time without stumbling in the build quality compartment.

This product was received for free from the manufacturer and given to our reviewer to test and review. Brands and manufacturers have no editorial control over our reviews. For more information, check out our review FAQ.

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