Build Quality

Overall build quality is solid. When shaking the mouse, a rattle comes from both the main buttons and scroll wheel, the latter of which is entirely loose on my first sample and somewhat loose on my second one. When applying lateral pressure, no creaking or flexing of the shell can be observed. Activating the side buttons by squeezing the sides is impossible. Lastly, accidental clicks do not occur when slamming down the mouse irrespective of what the key response is set to within the software.

Buttons

Main buttons on the GEM Plus are very good. Both pre and post-travel are low, resulting in a very firm and satisfying button response. Compared to other mice with these switches, the feedback is stiffer and more mechanical. While the buttons are visually separated from the shell, button wiggle is minimal and needs to be provoked to become noticeable. However, when pressing down the buttons and moving them under the finger, creaking is noticeable, though this too needs to be provoked. Furthermore, outside of games one may notice the button creaking when holding the button down while painting or drawing something with the cursor. Button stiffness is medium. A pair of Kailh GM 8.0 (80 M) switches is used.


Side buttons are very good. Pre-travel is low to moderate and post-travel virtually nonexistent, resulting in a snappy and pleasing button response. The pressure point is mostly even across the entirety of these. Button size and placement are good as actuation is possible rather easily by rolling one's thumb across. A set of Huano switches (red plunger) is used here.

At the top of the mouse is a single button for cycling through the set CPI levels. Its click feel is good. Another Huano switch (red plunger) is used.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is fairly poor. Scrolling up and down isn't too noisy, but tactility is pretty much nowhere to be found. As a result, scrolling is very light, and the individual steps are barely discernible. In addition to that, the wheel is entirely loose on my sample and somewhat loose on the second one. The encoder comes from F-Switch (brown) and has a height of 9 mm. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires medium force for actuation. Yet another Huano switch (red plunger) is used for this one.

Coating

The GEM Plus has a smooth matte surface at the top and a patterned texture on the sides. Grip is fine, but both surfaces do attract fingerprints, dirt, or the likes quite easily. The top is easy to clean, and there are hardly any signs of wear left after doing so, but the textured sides are much harder to get clean. All in all, good materials.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Disassembling the GEM Plus is easy. The screws are located beneath the two rear skates. Once those are taken care of, top and bottom shell can be separated with ease. The internal design is equally simple. Everything except for the side-button PCB mounted vertically and connected through a 3-pin connector sits on the moderately thick main PCB. An auxiliary PCB illuminates the scroll wheel. Three screws in total are used to affix the PCB to the bottom shell. The MCU is a Holtek HT32F50343, whose datasheet can be found here.


As for the soldering and general quality of the PCB, I'm unable to find any noteworthy flaws. However, I did notice a thick layer of dust on both the scroll-wheel and left main-button switches, as pictured on the scroll wheel disassembly shot further above.