There are a ton of computer mice available across a variety of price points, but if you do a lot of gaming on your PC, the Glorious Model D mouse is an excellent option.
I’ve had the opportunity to test out a Model D mouse — along with one of the excellent Glorious mousepads — over the last few weeks, and overall, I’m very impressed. From excellent performance to its unique honeycomb design, the Model D is superb for work and play.
The mouse comes in a few variants — there’s the ‘D’ and the ‘D-,’ which refer to the size (the D- is slightly smaller). Also, each size comes in black or white, and each colour can be in either glossy or matte. I’ve been using the matte black, but both colours look great. I’m not a fan of the glossy, but if that’s your thing, more power to you.
The overall design, although it looks like just about every mouse, feels very ergonomic. My hands fits the mouse well, and my hands are fairly small. Someone with tiny hands may find the D- variant a more suitable option, but most people will be fine with the regular Model D size.
Holey mouse, Batman!
One of the things I like most about the Model D is its honeycomb design. I was a bit wary of it at first since the hexagonal holes leave the inner workings of the mouse exposed, but unless you’re prone to spilling liquids on your desk, there’s nothing to fear here.
The holes accomplished two things that help set this mouse apart for me. The first is something not everyone will relate to, but I have pretty sweaty hands. The Model D’s holes allow for some small airflow, which I found helped keep my hands dry. The other benefit of the holes is that they reduce the weight. The Model D weighs in at a low 68 grams (69g for the glossy variant).
I didn’t realize I cared about weight until switching to the Model D from my ageing Logitech G402 Hyperion Fury, which weighs 144g with the cable (108g without). It may not seem like a huge difference, but when you spend much of your day with a hand on the mouse, it makes a difference.
That cable though
However, perhaps the most significant improvement for me was the cable. Glorious calls the cable on its Model D mouse the ‘Ascended Cord’ and it’s impressive, to say the least. It’s a lightweight, super flexible braided cable, and it doesn’t even feel like it’s there.
While many people opt for wireless mice these days, I still prefer corded mice — cables are just more reliable, and you don’t have to worry about wireless interference, latency issues, batteries or anything else that might get between you and gaming (or work). With my old G402, I could feel the cable when I moved the mouse. Glorious’ Model D doesn’t suffer from that same problem.
Along with the excellent cable, the plastic feet on the bottom of the mouse feel great, and the Model D glides around my mouse pad with ease. To be fair, I don’t really notice any difference between the Model D’s feet and the G402’s feet — both mice glide smoothly on a mousepad. The weight is the bigger differentiator here.
The Model D is an excellent mouse for a solid price
For that matter, I also don’t notice a significant difference between a regular mousepad and Glorious’ Stitch Cloth Mousepad when it comes to how the mice work. Still, I appreciate the size options — I tested the massive 3XL Extended variant, which was just slightly too big for my desk but helped cover up some of my cable management. And having that much mousepad space was great when gaming and working.
Back to the mouse, all of the buttons were clicky and tactile, the scroll wheel was fast with a handy tactile feel and the lighting options were great. Users can couple the Model D with optional software from Glorious capable of adjusting DPI, polling rate, lighting settings and more.
The mouse features a button below the scroll wheel for quickly toggling through different DPI settings. An LED on the bottom of the Model D shows which DPI setting you’re currently using.
Sure, the Model D isn’t the fanciest mouse out there. It lacks the rugged, angular designs, multi-button layouts and other crazy features of other gaming mice on the market, but I’d argue it doesn’t need those things. For a simple, ergonomic mouse, it’s feature-rich, lightweight and delivers consistent gaming performance.
You can find the Model D on Glorious’ website (USD pricing) or at retailers like Canada Computers for $79.99.