For the past 8 years, I've used the same mouse, and despite trying tons of different options, I've never felt inspired to make the full switch to something else. The Logitech G PRO Wireless gaming mouse has been a mainstay on my desk since it launched. Coming in at $150, it was relatively expensive for me, a teenager at the time, but little did I know that I would end up buying more than I could count.

Every time a scroll wheel broke, or a button started sticking, I'd have an urge to try something different, especially with mouse technology allegedly improving as the years went by. I would order a mouse, try it for a few days, and I'd always end up returning it to opt for ol' reliable, the G Pro Wireless. To this day, even having tried Logitech's own successors to the original G Pro, I refuse to replace it with something else, as I just haven't been given a good enough reason to do so.

Why is this mouse so great?

What makes the original Logitech G PRO Wireless such a good mouse?

The original G PRO Wireless was the first mouse on the market to really push wireless into the mainstream, specifically with the competitive side of gaming. To that point, virtually all esports professionals were using wired peripherals as they minimized latency, a potential detriment to their performance in-game. When it released in May 2018, all those same professional gamers switched overnight, and casual gamers slowly followed suit.

The G Pro featured Logitech's HERO sensor and new wireless tech that made zero-latency wireless peripherals a reality. It was just 2.4 GHz wireless, but with a custom low-latency protocol that gave it responsiveness that was on-par with wired peripherals. It allowed everyone to cut the cord and ditch the mouse bungee without any compromises.

Battery tech had also improved to the point where the G PRO didn't feel like a brick; it came in at 80g, which, by today's standards, wouldn't be impressive at all, but at the time that was light for a wireless peripheral. Factor in that it had around 80 hours of battery life, and it's no wonder why it was so popular.

Logitech tried to innovate on it

The new versions of the G PRO had small tweaks

Future versions of the G PRO would feature changes to the weight, shape, color, and feature set as the mouse market continued to evolve. The G PRO X SUPERLIGHT would improve on the stock mouse skates, shave 17g off of the original weight, and feature an upgrade to the sensor. There are now many different versions of the G PRO, most of which having similar feature-sets, but sporting different shapes. At the core, though, this was the same mouse with a few small changes, so why wouldn't I want to buy one of those?

None of those changes really inspire me to switch

I've been using this same mouse since it launched

When Logitech first iterated on the G PRO, they ditched a feature that became an integral part of how I use the mouse, and that was the ambidextrous side buttons. If you were left-handed, you could swap the buttons from one side to the other, which is neat for lefties, but I'm not actually left-handed.

The reason why I care about being able to swap the side buttons is that I actually use Mouse 4 on the right side of the mouse, and Mouse 5 on the left. I'm likely the only person on the planet who configures their G PRO this way, but I can explain why.

I played competitive Counter-Strike for many years, and I had grown tired of needing to reach my thumb up to press Mouse 4, as I felt it was shifting my grip during gameplay, messing up my aim. I decided to swap that button over to the right side of the mouse, where the button naturally fell under my ring finger. I could now slightly squeeze my ring finger to press that button instead of using my thumb, which felt way more comfortable.

This alone was reason enough for me to not want to switch, as I had grown comfortable with this mouse layout for both work and play. The other improvements in weight, sensor, and skates in new mice weren't really enticing for me. The weight and sensor weren't holding me back, and the skates could be easily replaced with aftermarket ones if I so choose.

There are things that could make me swap

Maintaining the ambidextrous features and more reliable parts would be a selling point

To get me to swap, a mouse would have to come out with a revolutionary change like we saw with the wireless capability, or it'd have to be literally perfect in every way.

One of my biggest gripes with the original G PRO is its durability. It really does feel like I have to buy a new one every 6 months or so, as either the scroll wheel starts to play up, or the left click begins to send multiple inputs for one action. Either way, if they could release a mouse that maintained the ambidextrous side buttons and was a little more durable, that'd probably get me to switch.

If they stop making the G PRO, I'm in big trouble

The G PRO isn't an "old" mouse in the same way that the original esports GOAT, the MX518 is. Mouse technology has improved to the point where it'll be usable for the foreseeable future, as long as they keep producing them. If they cease production of the original G PRO mouse, I might have to stock up, or bite the bullet and finally try something else.