Since entering the mouse industry with the Model O, Glorious has pursued the same strategy: Taking the archetypes of popular shapes, lowering their weight, and making them more accessible by offering them at prices that remain within the limits of reason. Naturally, the Model I is no exception to this rule, and aims to offer a G502/Basilisk (V2/V3)-type shape at a lower weight and an affordable price. While the idea is sound, the execution is a bit lacking this time around.

First off, performance. The Model I is the first wired Glorious mouse to feature their BAMF sensor, which essentially is PixArt's PAW3370. While primarily developed for use in wireless mice, the 3370 can work just as well in a wired mouse if implemented correctly. Thankfully, that is the case on the Model I: Motion delay is low across the board owing to the complete lack of smoothing, which in turn allows one to use the entire CPI range without any latency penalty. All available polling rates are perfectly stable, including when RGB lighting is enabled. CPI deviation is slightly higher than I'd want it to be, but can be corrected quite easily within the software if desired. The real star is the click latency: If set to the lowest possible debounce setting, click latency sits at just +1.3 ms. The only downside when using this setting is that so-called slam-clicking upon resetting the mouse is quite common, which can be annoying. Slam-clicking disappears almost entirely at the 2 ms debounce setting, which results in a still highly competitive click latency of +3.3 ms, so that is the one I'd choose. For the record, debounce time is still set to 10 ms by default, forcing one to install Glorious Core to lower it to acceptable levels. I'd be quite pleased if Glorious would opt for shipping their mice with default settings that are more in line with current standards.

As mentioned, the Model I is meant to compete with the Logitech G502 and Razer Basilisk V2/V3, which are fairly large palm-grip mice with lots of buttons. While the Model I has more buttons than the Model O or Model D, it can't quite compete with the aforementioned examples. In fact, compared to the O or D, the Model I only adds two side buttons and an additional CPI button. That isn't much, and the buttons next to the left main button the G502 is popular for in particular are sorely missing. Furthermore, the Model I lacks infinite scrolling or a four-dimensional scroll wheel that would provide two additional binds. In short, while the shape is similar, the Model I is more of a barebones G502 than an actual G502 lightweight substitute. In addition to this, the usefulness of the magnetic side buttons is rather dubious. Only the sniper and back side buttons can be swapped, either to a high or low-profile variant. By default, the side buttons already bulge out quite a bit on the Model I, so having one stick out even more isn't too practical. The low-profile ones essentially disable the button in question, which can be useful if one is irritated by their default position. The sniper button is a prime candidate for doing this, as while reasonably placed, it can get in the way when fully palm-gripping the mouse. Still, one has to wonder: Why buy a mouse that is all about having more buttons and then go ahead and disable two of them? Accordingly, I'd expect most people to get little use out of the magnetic side buttons.

Of course, the Model I having fewer buttons isn't worthy of criticism in itself, as not everyone wants all those buttons, but instead may be in the market for something with a similar shape, lower weight, and fewer buttons, which is a description the Model I fits perfectly. However, the Model I faces another challenge in this regard: The buttons simply aren't all that great. Much like on their other recent releases, Glorious utilizes Kailh GM 8.0 switches for the main buttons. While the left button is just as firm and snappy as you'd expect it to be, the right button suffers from a less than pleasing and audible "thonk" sound upon releasing it. The further to the back the button is actuated, the more pronounced this sound will be. In addition to this, the right button also suffers from a duller and more muted response compared to the left one. Overall, using the right button isn't exactly what I'd call a pleasing experience, and I've found myself annoyed every time I've clicked the right button, especially in games where doing so is commonplace. Another thing to keep in mind is button stiffness. The main buttons are moderately stiff, which is fine for FPS games, but MOBA or MMO player typically prefer lighter clicks, which the Model I isn't able to deliver. While the sniper button feels perfectly fine, the other side buttons unfortunately don't. The middle side button in particular is the worst offender, as not only is the response spongy, but both pre and post-travel are through the roof as well. Post-travel is so immense I can push half of the button into the shell, which doesn't exactly feel premium. Looking inside the mouse, I have a hard time understanding where the issue lies. The switch of the right main button feels no different from the left one, and the side button construction should work well enough, although it may lack tensioning strength to fully support all side buttons, as the lower-placed sniper button feels fine, but the higher-placed others do not. For the record, all of these observations apply to both samples I've received, which has me believe this isn't just a QC issue.

The overall build fares much better by comparison. Actuating the side buttons by squeezing the sides is impossible, and even though there is some creaking, the shell doesn't flex. While the design isn't as efficient as that of previous Glorious releases, 71 g is plenty light still, and one has to keep in mind that additional buttons always come at a considerable weight penalty. The scroll wheel is no different from previous Glorious releases and just as excellent: Tactility is great, noise levels well under control, and scrolling tight and controlled. The feet are the same and still glide very well, and the cable is also the same and leaves little to be desired in terms of flexibility.

For a mouse that is all about buttons, a well-functioning software is doubly important. And when it comes to functionality, Glorious Core can't really be faulted. All the important options are on board, lift-off distance adjustment has been fixed and works now, and settings save correctly. All of this comes at a price, however: CPU time and RAM. Compared to previous versions, Core's appetite for RAM has almost doubled, sitting at roughly 400 MB on average on my system, which is immense considering that ultimately, functionality is quite basic. In fact, purely in terms of mouse-related settings, absolutely nothing has changed, so the higher RAM footprint apparently stems entirely from more products being supported within Core. While having support for a wide range of products in a software is nice, it shouldn't come hand in hand with a 200 MB uptick in RAM allocation. And as if the RAM uptick wasn't bad enough, Core now also has significantly higher CPU usage. In fact, Core even eclipsed Corsair iCUE in that regard on my system, which is some sort of a negative feat. Frankly, I fail to see anything in Core that would justify resource usage of this magnitude. The only saving grace is that Core stops eating resources after having been terminated. Furthermore, there is no real reason to have Core running all the time anyway as even macros save just fine on the mouse. Still, improvements are definitely in order on this front, and Glorious already assured me as much, which is comforting at least.

Overall, the Model I is a curious case. Somewhat ironically, the Model I is a mouse that is all about buttons, yet buttons are where it struggles the most. In terms of performance, there isn't much to fault the Model I for, and click latency in particular is a strong suit, but the buttons need to be good on a mouse like this, yet they just aren't. Coupled with the software being such a resource hog, I have a hard time giving the Model I our Recommended award. It's not a bad mouse by any means, but for anyone valuing button quality, the Model I will be less than pleasing. If buttons aren't a priority and performance is, it is well worth a look.