After focusing on releasing various Daxa products, Rexus has finally returned to enliven the wireless gamepad product market with the release of the Gladius GX200.
As far as the author's experience goes, especially seeing close friends, many of them sometimes prefer to use a gamepad when playing games on a desktop PC–not a console–instead of using a mouse and keyboard that are already in front of the monitor.
Gamepads make users more efficient in giving commands to the computer through fewer buttons or joysticks compared to using a keyboard with tens to hundreds of buttons. Also, maybe for some people by holding a gamepad, it can make the game play more feeling than using 2 hardware-mouse and keyboard-at once.
However, can the Rexus Gladius GX200 make you that comfortable to play games, especially fps shooter games to ball?
Check out the following review of the Rexus Gladius GX200.
Unboxing Rexus Gladius GX200
Clearly, the Rexus Gladius GX200 box shows the contents of the product and its content like most action figure boxes. Here, the writer directly touched the Gladius GX200 gamepad box and it felt very thin but hard enough on the top and bottom of the box. So the writer doesn't recommend stacking other boxes on top of the Gladius GX200 box in order to keep the box from getting dented.
In terms of visual appearance, in the middle it is transparent so we can see with the naked eye how the Gladius GX200 gamepad looks and looks. On the front it displays several gamepad features, while the back of the box contains a list of specifications and explanations of gamepad buttons.
Then fill in the content in the Gladius GX200 sales package, including:
-Gamepad Rexus Gladius GX200
-Dongle USB 2.4GHz
-1 meter long USB-A to USB-C cable made of rubber
-Guarantee card
-Manual book
There is nothing special about the contents of the sales package, as well as the unboxing experience.
Easy to Reach, Comfortable to Hold
The Rexus Gladius GX200 gamepad has a weight that is indeed heavier than a mouse, which weighs 190 grams. But for a gamepad, the Gladius GX200 is still somewhat lighter than the PS5's DualSense, which I usually use when playing PES 2021 with my friends–even though it ended up being slaughtered with a hat trick.
Its relatively light weight does not make the writer tired easily. It has a full black and matte appearance, the material used for this gamepad is indeed plastic and that is also the reason why this one gamepad can be so light. If you touch it, the surface is smooth and indeed the plastic feels really 'plastic' and is quite thin–just not fragile.
The grip handle to the bottom of this gamepad has a different surface texture from the middle part and the Rexus logo. The handle grip tends to have a slightly chalky texture, whose function is to keep our grip tight when holding a gamepad or so that it doesn't fall easily when hands are slippery with sweat. Even though it's even better when you touch it, actually the overall texture of the gamepad is both smooth and quite slippery.
The curved shape of the gamepad's handle grip feels just right for the shape and size of a deaf's hand. The palm of the hand can hold the handle grip comfortably because the palm of the hand, the thumb can lean almost completely on the handle grip. So when holding the gamepad, the grip becomes tighter and it doesn't slip easily.
Then the top of the handle grip or which is close to the L/R button is quite curved and follows the direction of the index finger when you want to press the L/R button.
With the size of the author's hand, which has a palm size of 10 cm long and about 8 cm wide, he can easily reach gamepad buttons without difficulty and without slipping.
Light Button
There are a total of 19 buttons for the Rexus Gladius GX200 gamepad – including joysticks/analog sticks, triggers, and option buttons. The Gladius GX200's button layout tends to be similar to the Xbox controller stick where the left joystick is located above the directional buttons/D-Pad.
All black gamepad buttons are very light to press or shake (for the analog stick). Even when compared to the PS5's DualSense, the Gladius GX200's gamepad buttons are that light to use and really feel like there's no inhibition at all. If we use an analogy when using a mouse, maybe the DPI of this analog stick gamepad is in the range of 1000 and above which is so easy to navigate.
I don't know if this is a weakness or an advantage for you, but according to the writer, this is enough to make it easier for the writer to move quickly, such as playing fps shooter games like Apex Legends. But on the other hand, an analog stick that is too light can sometimes be a double-edged sword because it becomes difficult when you want to aim the shot at the enemy.
The 4 buttons on the right have a letter icon on each button, not in the shape of a PlayStation controller. The sequence is YBAX which is exactly the same as the Xbox One Series controller. These 4 buttons are completely black, as are the letter icons above them which are quite embossed and glossy.
Maybe it would be better if the 4-button icon is brightly colored (red, green, yellow, and green) so that it's easier to read so that we don't easily press the wrong button. Because the author personally has a bit of difficulty when he wants to use the 4 buttons with the level of legibility and clarity of the letter icons which quite blend in with the base color of the buttons.
Continue to the direction button or commonly called the D-Pad. The D-Pad button is the heaviest to press compared to the other buttons. Maybe it was made that way so that when pressing the right direction, it doesn't press down/up for example.
Just like the YBAX button, the D-Pad button Gladius GX200 also has a glossy direction icon and the color blends in with the black button color base. Even though it's disguised, our brain as a motor memory can easily press the direction as desired without looking directly at it, unlike the YBAX button which for the writer personally, the motor memory that is used to using DualSense PS5 makes the writer often press the wrong button.
In the middle of the gamepad there is a home button which is very easy to press. And the 4 buttons in the top center from right to left are Start, Clear, Turbo and Select. This section also has a battery indicator along with the white Rexus logo on it.
Long Lasting Enough
The Rexus Gladius GX200 gamepad itself has a 600mAh Lithium Polymer battery which Rexus claims can be used for up to 12 hours and battery charging time only takes 2-3 hours or about ¼ of the total usage time when the battery is full. The USB-C port for charging is located on the front of the gamepad which is parallel to the L/R button.
When charging, the battery indicator will flash red which means it is charging.
Even though the price is quite affordable, the Gladius GX200 does not carry Bluetooth technology for wireless connectivity, but a 2.4GHz USB dongle. When plugged into a desktop PC, this gamepad can be used at a maximum distance of up to 5-7 meters without shielding.
In terms of the delay itself, as far as the writer feels when playing Apex Legends, the delay is minimal, when the button is pressed in sync with the game, which means that the signal transmission from the gamepad is almost not noticeably delayed.
It's just that the 2.4GHz USB dongle gamepad is quite large and takes up quite a bit of space when plugged into a USB hub port or directly into a PC case that interferes with its neighbors or the port next to it.
After the dongle is plugged in, don't forget to hold down the Home icon in the middle until the red battery indicator stops flashing to activate the gamepad on the connected device.