Logitech G PowerPlay
When you have a mouse to charge at large
GENIUS COMES IN MANY FORMS, some more flawed than others. See, for example, the Boy Scout who built a nuclear reactor in his parents’ basement, then later got cornered by the cops, covered in radiation sores, for stealing Americium-laced smoke detectors to support his peculiar habit. Logitech is a company, like that oddly glowing youth, with a passion for progress, and the drive to make it happen. While its experimentation with PC peripherals is unlikely to send the five o to its door, we can’t help but feel that Logitech’s passion is, in a way, just a little dangerous: It’s going to inspire future tinkerers to do awful things, particularly as this specific innovation is priced in such an insane manner that many interested users will avoid it like our scab-faced dabbler avoided lead-lined aprons.
So, what we have here is Logitech’s G PowerPlay mouse mat. It’s a bigenough pad, with a chunky and eminently clonkable USB-plugged module on its top edge, which lights up all nice when you plug it in. The box comes with two surfaces to choose from: a pleasing tight cloth and a stiff, thick, textured plastic. Oh, and there’s a massive proprietary induction loop hidden beneath the mat, which beams power into whichever wireless-charging compatible mouse you happen to be using. Logitech has introduced two new mice to go with it, and sent both to us to test: the G 703($99), a fairly standard four-buttons-and-a-wheel affair, and the delectable ambidextrous G903 ($149), with replaceable side buttons and a switchable ratchet/spin wheel. The latter is probably the best mouse we’ve had in our hands this year, despite its overly zealous price.
The key role of the PowerPlay pad is to act as an all-in-one mousing hub. Plug it in via USB, and it both acts as a wireless receiver and charges anything with the included PowerCore module installed ( a magnetically mounted disc, which attaches to the bottom of the mouse), and it means your pad will retain compatibility with future mice in the range. The coil’s design has been formulated to cover as large an area as possible, meaning that, at least as long as you don’t intend to use the surface to charge anything other than a mouse, it blows Corsair’s Qi-equipped Project Zeus concept out of the water before it’s even had a chance to come up for air. Juice up your mouse by leaving it on a tiny predefined corner of the surface when it’s not in use? Pah! This fires out its charging beam at all times, over a very wide area. While you have your hand over it. We don’t know if this is a health risk—we’re leaning toward no, but your opinion will probably depend on how well folded your tin foil hat happens to be. It could well be a battery risk, though Logitech’s excellent Gaming Software restricts charging to 85-95 percent of mouse battery capacity in order to prolong the life of those nonreplaceable cells. UNNECESSARY EXPENSE This is, really, some excellent hardware. It’s a great concept, and it’s been paired with a couple of great mice. A wireless receiver that close to the mouse means you’ll almost never drop a single femtosecond of communication. But this thing is a hundred bucks. Add a mouse on top, and you’re looking at a $200–$250 outlay, which is far too much. And you absolutely don’t need the PowerPlay to make it work; both mice happily communicate with a tiny USB receiver, and charge periodically via USB. You might even find yourself using the mice via USB alone, just for that extra assurance in an online firefight. The PowerPlay has that nuclear allure, in that a wide-eyed competitor will one day skirt whatever patents Logitech has secured and ape this tech in much less elegant ways. We can’t recommend getting in on the ground floor, but let’s hope a more affordable version leaves Logitech’s own labs sooner rather than later.