Sensor and Performance
The Pulsar Xlite V3 is equipped with the PixArt PAW3395. According to specifications, the 3395 is capable of up to 26,000 CPI, as well as a maximum tracking speed of 650 IPS, which equals 16.51 m/s. Out of the box, four pre-defined CPI steps are available: 400, 800, 1600, and 3200.
CPI Accuracy
"CPI" (short for counts per inch) describes the number of counts registered by the mouse if it is moved exactly an inch. There are several factors (firmware, mounting height of the sensor not meeting specifications, mouse feet thickness, mousing surface, among others) which may contribute to nominal CPI not matching actual CPI. It is impossible to always achieve a perfect match, but ideally, nominal and actual CPI should differ as little as possible. In this test, I'm determining whether this is the case or not. However, please keep in mind that said variance will still differ from unit to unit, so your mileage may vary.
I've restricted my testing to the four most common CPI steps, which are 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. As you can see, deviation is consistently positive and very low, which is an excellent result overall.
Motion Delay
"Motion delay" encompasses all kinds of sensor lag. Any further sources of input delay will not be recorded in this test. The main thing I'll be looking for in this test is sensor smoothing, which describes an averaging of motion data across several capture frames, in order to reduce jitter at higher CPI values, increasing motion delay along with it. The goal here is to have as little smoothing as possible. As there is no way to accurately measure motion delay absolutely without special equipment, it is done by comparison with a control subject that has been determined to have consistent and low motion delay. In this case, the control subject is a Logitech G403, whose PMW3366 sensor has no visible smoothing across the entire CPI range. Note that the G403 is moved first and thus receives a slight head start.
Wired testing
First, I'm looking at two xCounts plots—generated at 1600 and 26,000 CPI—to quickly gauge whether there is any smoothing, which would be indicated by any visible "kinks." Neither plot shows any kinks, strongly suggesting there not being any smoothing across the entire CPI range.
The Xlite V3 also allows enabling MotionSync, which effectively synchronizes SPI reads with USB polls, resulting in very low SPI timing jitter as seen above.
In order to determine motion delay, I'm looking at xSum plots generated at 1600 and 26,000 CPI, both without (first row) and with (second row) MotionSync. The line further to the left denotes the sensor with less motion delay. Without MotionSync, there is no motion delay differential at 1600 and 26,000 CPI. With MotionSync, a motion delay differential of roughly 0.5 ms is added.
Wireless testing
Not much changes when running the Xlite V3 in wireless mode as SPI timing jitter and general tracking are virtually on the same level as when wired, both without (first row) and with (second row) MotionSync.
Once again, 1600 and 26,000 CPI are tested, both without (first row) and with (second row) MotionSync. Without MotionSync, I can measure a motion delay differential of 0.5 ms at both 1600 and 26,000 CPI. Enabling MotionSync adds a motion delay differential of 0.5 ms.
Speed-related Accuracy Variance (SRAV)
What people typically mean when they talk about "acceleration" is speed-related accuracy variance (or SRAV). It's not about the mouse having a set amount of inherent positive or negative acceleration, but about the cursor not traveling the same distance if the mouse is moved the same physical distance at different speeds. The easiest way to test this is by comparison with a control subject that is known to have very low SRAV, which in this case is the G403. As you can see from the plot, no displacement between the two cursor paths can be observed, which confirms that SRAV is very low.
Perfect Control Speed
Perfect Control Speed (or PCS for short) is the maximum speed up to which the mouse and its sensor can be moved without the sensor malfunctioning in any way. I've only managed to hit a measly 5 m/s, which is within the proclaimed PCS range and causes no observable sensor malfunction.
Polling Rate Stability
Considering the Xlite V3 is usable as a wired mouse as well, I'll be testing polling rate stability for both wired and wireless use.
Wired testing
All the available polling rates (125, 250, 500, or 1000 Hz) are fully stable.
Wireless testing
For wired mice, polling rate stability merely concerns the wired connection between the mouse (SPI communication) and USB. For wireless mice, another device that needs to be kept in sync between the first two is added to the mix: the wireless dongle/wireless receiver. I'm unable to measure all stages of the entire end-to-end signal chain individually, so testing polling-rate stability at the endpoint (the USB) has to suffice here.
First, I'm testing whether SPI, wireless, and USB communication are synchronized. Any of these being out of sync would be indicated by at least one 2 ms report, which would be the result of any desynchronization drift accumulated over time. I'm unable to detect any periodic off-period polls that would be indicative of a desynchronization drift.
Second, I'm testing the general polling-rate stability of the individual polling rates in wireless mode. Running the Xlite V3 at a lower polling rate can have the benefit of extending battery life. All polling rates are generally stable, though non-1000 Hz rates may break:
I'm unable to reproduce this consistently.
Paint Test
This test is used to indicate any potential issues with angle snapping (non-native straightening of linear motion) and jitter, along with any sensor lens rattle. As you can see, no issues with angle snapping can be observed. There is no jitter visible at 1600 CPI. 26,000 CPI shows major jitter, which is only marginally lessened by enabling ripple control (third row). Lastly, there is no lens movement.
Lift-off Distance
The Xlite V3 offers two pre-defined LOD levels. On the "1 mm" setting, the sensor does not track at a height of one DVD. Using the "2 mm" setting, the sensor does track at a height of one DVD, but not at a height of two DVDs (1.2<x<2.4 mm; x=LOD height). Keep in mind that LOD may vary slightly depending on the mousing surface (pad) it is being used on.
Click Latency
In most computer mice, debouncing is required to avoid double clicks, slam-clicks, or other unintended effects of switch bouncing. Debouncing typically adds a delay, which, along with any potential processing delay, shall be referred to as click latency. In order to measure click latency, the mouse has been interfaced with an NVIDIA LDAT (Latency Display Analysis Tool). Many thanks go to NVIDIA for providing an LDAT device. More specifically, the LDAT measures the time between the electrical activation of the left main button and the OS receiving the button-down message. Unless noted otherwise, the values presented in the graph refer to the lowest click latency possible on the mouse in question. If a comparison mouse is capable of both wired and wireless operation, only the result for wireless (2.4 GHz) operation will be listed. All the listed values have been gathered without any sensor motion. If latency differs between no motion and motion, it will be noted as such.
In wired mode and at a debounce time of 0 ms, click latency has been measured to be 1.5 ms, with standard deviation being 0.21 ms. In wireless mode and at a debounce time of 0 ms, click latency has been measured to be 2.4 ms, with standard deviation being 0.24 ms.
Using the 4K Wireless Dongle, a polling rate of 1000 Hz, and a debounce time of 0 ms, click latency has been measured to be 2.2 ms, with standard deviation being 0.43 ms. Using a polling rate of 2000 Hz and a debounce time of 0 ms, click latency has been measured to be 1.2 ms, with standard deviation being 0.24 ms. Lastly, using a polling rate of 4000 Hz and a debounce time of 0 ms, click latency has been measured to be 0.8 ms, with standard deviation being 0.10 ms.
