The reveal of the Powerplay 2 from Logitech reminds me of the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Unfortunately, Logitech hasn’t taken this approach. The original Powerplay charging mouse mat was an innovative gaming peripheral, but its successor pulls back on most of its features, seemingly all in the name of cost. Thankfully, the core principle of being able to perpetually charge a Logitech gaming mouse remains and it’s still the only product offering such technology today.
We have the original Logitech Powerplay picked out as one of the best gaming mouse pads, specifically as a premium option given its $120 price. The Powerplay 2, however, will retail for $99.99 (£89.99) when it releases on March 11, 2025.
Starting with the improvements Logitech’s Powerplay 2 brings to your desktop, this new version is thinner at 3.5mm compared to the 4mm thickness of the original. Despite measuring smaller than the OG Powerplay, at 344 x 284mm versus the 321 x 344mm of the original, the charging area is advertised as 15% larger.
The Powerplay 2 will also retail for $20 less than the original, starting at just $99 as opposed to $119.99. That, unfortunately, appears to be where the improvements stop.
Logitech has removed the USB mouse receiver from the power unit on the Powerplay 2, and rather than moving from micro USB to USB-C to power the mat, it now has a fixed USB cable meaning you will need two free USB-A ports to operate the it. The cable length is also 0.03mm shorter, but it would be pedantic to highlight this as a step backward.
RGB has been removed from the logo on the mat, meaning it can no longer be set up to coordinate with your Lightsync settings should you have other compatible Logitech gear. While this might also seem like a minor loss, the RGB light on the original Powerplay would act as an indicator to show that your mouse is connected, this has instead been replaced with a small white LED indicator on the power unit.
Finally, rather than getting one soft cloth and one hard surface to use with the Powerplay 2, you are now stuck with just the cloth option. Ultimately, you lose a lot for a $20 price drop and the original Powerplay has seemingly been pulled from sale on the US Logitech store, although units still remain on the UK site and are reduced to £99.
For a closer look at some of Logitech’s most recent releases, you can read our G502 X Plus review and G Pro X 60 Lightspeed review to see if either is worth adding to your gaming setup.
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