With AOC’s recent move into the audio space, it’s no surprise that the monitor manufacturer is now making inroads onto the rest of your desktop. The AOC GM500 gaming mouse is the latest attempt to take over our desktop in this review.
The AOC GM500 comes in as the mid-range of AOC’s new trio of mice, sitting between the GM200 and the AGM700 AGON branded gaming mouse. The GM500 seems like an attempt to capture huge swathes of the gaming market from other manufacturers, giving gamers plenty of options at a reasonable price. The sub $30 / £20 mouse manages to pack in RGB lighting, 8 programmable buttons, and up to 5000 DPI, all included in the specifications below.
Specifications
GRIP STYLE: Palm, Claw
SHAPE: Ambidextrous
MOUSE BUTTON TYPE: Omron
MOUSE BUTTON DURABILITY: 50ML/RClick
NUMBER OF BUTTONS: 8 (8 programmable)
ILLUMINATION: 16.7 million colours
ON BOARD MEMORY: 1 profile
SENSOR: Pixart PMW3325
SENSOR TYPE: Optical
DPI: 5000 DPI
IPS: 100IPS
ACCELERATION: 20G
POLLING RATE: 1000Hz, 1ms
CONNECTIVITY: Wired USB 2.0
DIMENSIONS: 127 x 74 x 40
WEIGHT: 145g
Out The Box
Out of the box, the GM500 seems almost understated. While the AGM700 series mouse is a mix of aggressive angles and different materials, the GM500 has a simple uniform profile and is constructed using a simple set of plastics. The design comes with a symmetrical pair of buttons on either side, a DPI switch, and a scroll wheel. An unobtrusive LED light strip rolls around the outside, and some simple branding burned into the backside of this desktop peripheral are the limits of its gamer aesthetic. Construction quality does seem solid enough, even with the plastic finish that does pick up fingerprints and a 1.8m braided cable gives plenty of room to move around the desktop. Initially, it seems to have all the features required to label this a modern gaming mouse.
Even when lit up, the GM500 aesthetic could be considered demur for a gaming peripheral. 2 distinct lighting zones are backed by a 16.7 million color spectrum to play with. The front arrangement powers the light strips that run the circumference of the scroll wheel, and designate the current DPI value, while the second wraps around the rear of this mouse. Both areas provide a solid range of separate customization settings, changing color to fit most setups and incorporating breathing, blinking, and static effects. This also includes the option to tweak the brightness and effect frequency using the custom AOC software, adding more options than might otherwise be available in another mouse at this price point. In addition, anybody accessorizing their own AOC monitors will find these slot nicely onto the desktop and colors coordinated with other AOC products using the aforementioned software.
In Hand
While the GM500 might not dazzle directly out of the box, getting to grips with this new mouse is memorable. Moving across a mouse matt for the first time was a rather odd experience and certainly benefits from a little personal rewiring. Anybody used to clawing their way across a right-handed mouse might have trouble quickly reconfiguring to an ambidextrous design. Where I might expect to find grooves cut into the mould or room to rest my fingers, the GM500 is unforgiving to those right-handed demands. Instead, I had to learn to ease up and use a palm style grip while avoiding any inadvertent clicks of the two trigger buttons located on the outer edge of this low profile mouse.
Despite this, the simplicity of design and uniformity has some significant benefits for gamers out to dominate the battlefield. The Pixart PMW3325 performed admirably in testing. The maximum DPI of 5000 DPI is enough to smoothly swipe across Battlefield V and blow through Apex Legends, although this won’t be your first voice for elite esports athletes. It can sometimes feel like it is a little slow on the uptake by the mildest of margins and that reflects the 100 IPS tracking speed of the PMW3325. This is likely on the lower end of more mainstream gaming mice, with the Logitech G203 managing 200 IPS tracking, but for casual gaming, MMOs, or mid-tier MOBA players it really is good enough. Weight wise, the GM500 lands on the desktop at a surprising 145 grams, meaning it won’t accelerate across the desktop quite as unhinged as the Marsback Zephyr Pro, but the unexpectedly well balanced design means it actually ends up feeling lighter than you would expect for something in the same weight category as a Logitech G600. Similarly, buttons and overall switch actuation on the GM500 is good but not esports ready. The buttons are solid enough and lightyears beyond a day to day office experience, but still can feel inconsistent. The side buttons seem to have marginally different distances between actuation and the main triggers are acceptable.
Although the GM500 might seem like a set of compromises thus far, it does hold some very compelling additions. The four side set buttons on the GM500 provide plenty of flexibility for a huge variety of games. Everything from action MMOs, to RPG, and MOBAs, and battle royales can all fit their control set comfortably onto the GM500’s onboard profile. The AOC software allows each button to pick from a range of pre-set options, macros, a DPI shift for sniping, and they can even be turned off when not needed. There’s an option to switch hand orientation that automatically adjusts any configured profile and an entire array of movement and polling settings are available too. Alongside the anticipated DPI stepping, owners of the GM500 can also configure the polling rate, double click speed, pointer and more. It’s a swathe of options that outperforms the GM500’s RRP.
AOC has certainly made compromises when building out the GM500. Materials are modest, and I would rather have a slightly more textured top to this offering. The duality of the design does take some getting used to, and many of the manufacturing choices make the mouse good enough rather than spectacular. However, once plugged in, the GM500 brings a veritable arsenal to the desktop. The number of customization options and added extras is impressive and builds upon a well thought out design. My overall impression is that AOC likely has left nothing on the table when putting together the GM500. It’s a feature-rich desktop companion that performs admirably for very little cash. If you’re looking for something of an upgrade without the expense then the AOC GM500 seems to be able to do it all. The AOC GM500 is available now at major retailers, or you can find out more on the official website.
