Glorious Model O 2 Wireless Review

One more to the collection!

After being a user of Glorious Gaming for years, we have the opportunity to get our hands on its most recent model and see how much the research and development department of one of the most daring PC Gaming peripheral brands on the market has innovated and advanced.

With a market introduction of its iconic wired Model O, already a few years ago; Glorious has had a speed of proliferation that few brands see unless they make gross investments in their marketing campaigns or sponsorships.

What we have in hand today is the next step after its successful Model O Wireless and Model D Wireless.

We start with that build we love in a lightweight setup…

The Model O 2 Wireless enters the market with a weight of 68 grams… Similar, but nevertheless less than its predecessor.

It’s a weight many in the gaming mouse community question, given the release of Model O Wireless sub-models with levels of customization that were lighter and lacked lighting.

However, at this point things become quite subjective. 68 grams is a weight that most of the leading gaming mice currently do not reach.

And it goes without saying that within the realm of super light peripherals.

The overall construction of the mouse remains just as resistant and with the same quality that we already know.

It comes with a slightly different surface texture that is more prone to gripping and more proactive against slippery fingers.

Its hexagonal hole honeycomb configuration comes in the form of round holes of various sizes that get smaller as they get closer to the edges.

And to this is added the pleasant surprise of a button panel with 3 cabins; in contrast to the 3-button cab keypad we previously had.

New Glorious Custom switches made by Kaihl

Inside this triple keypad we have the new Kaihl switches custom made for Glorious.

These have quite acceptable latency, probably faster than previous models; but nevertheless they are heavier and more tactile switches.

Which, within the subjectivity of opinion, is convenient, attractive and pleasant for those who click authoritatively and methodically.

The switches promise 80 million keystrokes, but it’s something to take with a grain of sand; as the level of quality control will be critical in achieving or exceeding this goal.

Changing scenery, the new middle button wheel is a leap in the right direction…

We will definitely need the previous wheel with RGB edges…

That said, the new wheel has a much more responsive and precise tactile feel.

Similarly, the rebound for the return of the full wheel as a button is much faster and the distance of travel much less.

Suddenly we start to find some of the room for improvements from previous mice being appropriately pointed out.

New repowered BAMF 2.0 sensor

The Model O 2 debuts the second coming of Glorious’s proprietary sensor, which has made Pixart’s brand new PMW sensors tremble in terror.

The new BAMF comes with 100 to 26,000 DPI resolution, 650 inches per second maximum recording speed, and 1,000 Hz recording rate, which we think should have been higher.

While 26000 DPI is welcome, as it enables greater accuracy and reliability at lower DPI settings that we understand 100% of conscious humans would be using; the 450 IPS acceleration was already well above what was humanly possible.

The opinion persists in the same way for the addition of Bluetooth 5.2… Which enables the use of the mouse wirelessly on devices that do not have USB availability.

We brought it up because below we talked about accommodating buffs that were more deserving of focus… Like a few extra millimeters to pickup distance, for a simple example.

Not everything was rosy with the Model O 2 Wireless…

One of the first drawbacks we were able to notice was the presence of the same sliders or “skates” as the old Model O, without any type of improvement or redesign.

These have a weakness that the already reviewed Model D manages to mitigate successfully, but it is a possibility that is not formally offered in any Model O variable.

The sliders are too small and lend themselves to frictional skipping in the hands of those playing on low resolution settings and not using sufficiently hard mouse pads.

The phenomenon is due to the fact that the stable coefficient of friction on such small surfaces is limited; Which is why the Model D has a huge advantage over the Model O, especially when paired with mouse pads like the Glorious Stitch Mouse Pad that we’ll be reviewing in the future.

By the same token, we have a serious problem with the 2.4 GHz wireless receiver.

In terms of latencies and overall execution, it works like a charm and takes what previous models gave us to another level, with an actual latency of 1ms.

However, at the software level, the “dongle” has serious general execution problems.

Among them is the fact that the mouse takes several seconds after it is connected to start tracking signals and movements in real time. Which we understand, can be corrected with driver updates.

The most fatal of all is a kind of intermittence in the fluidity of the signal… We abound…

With the wireless dongle sitting on our desk less than 1 foot away from our mouse, at random times the signal is interrupted (even in the presence of Motion Sync on the mouse) for fractions of a second.

Many will be of the opinion that it is a trivial inconvenience. However, a mouse that costs $35 more than its wired counterpart and is sold as a competitive gaming gadget should have no room for error in this quadrant.

In many competitive games, a poorly timed split second is all it takes to ruin a match or a championship.

While there is a chance that we may have received a sample for evaluation with factory defects, no one is particularly happy about having to claim a warranty on something they sell for a premium price for a more specific application.

Room for additional improvements…

Since it’s 2023 and the competition between gaming peripherals hasn’t slowed down; an innovative and sophisticated brand like Glorious should have paid more attention to the performance numbers offered by its competitors for similar prices.

The fact that additions like optical switches and 4000 Hz sensors are becoming standard within the market already leaves us a couple of steps behind.

In the same way, we understand that a redesEsports Extrasof the shape and size of the sliders is almost necessary. Although this adds a couple of grams to the overall weight. At the end of the day, they’re going to be unnoticeable in the presence of smoother, more precise glides.

We’re pretty sure that casual and competitive gamers alike would shell out the extra bucks for upgrades like this that really take the Model O 2 Wireless to a different level than its predecessors have been for years.

Final words…

The Model O 2 Wireless is a couple of driver updates away from being a proper replacement for its predecessor and offering 100% improvements to the pleasant experience that the previous Model O Wireless brought us.

Likewise, we are clear on improvements that can take place and are not unrealistic to be implemented in sub-models that may be in line for future release.

Unfortunately, the landing lies beyond the brightest red line of rock due to issues that should not have gotten past the testing and quality control department.

This review was made possible by a copy provided by Glorious Gaming.