Arbiter Studio AKITSU

[pzogel]

Made in collaboration with Vancer, the ambidextrous AKITSU is the first mouse released by Arbiter Studio. Being made of a carbon fiber composite, the AKITSU is exceptionally light at 39 g, and features PixArt's PAW3395 sensor, custom Huano main button switches, up to 60 hours of battery life, and true 8000 Hz wireless polling.

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[_roman_]

Thanks for the teardown.

I disassembled many mice. Just for spare parts. Some get fixed, e.g. clean, repair. I do collect those pcb for future spar parts and the mouse cables.

The build quality is very poor. Just average for other cheap mice which are free giveaway with asus or hp microtowers.

 

[bonehead123]

1. Low quality hdwr & software
2. el-cheapo 1 yr warranty
3. Cheese-grated shell, nuthin but a dust/grime collector
4. Spotty connectivity

Nope, not doin that, especially for $140 or anywhere close to that....

 

[JasBC]

1. Low quality hdwr & software
2. el-cheapo 1 yr warranty
3. Cheese-grated shell, nuthin but a dust/grime collector
4. Spotty connectivity

Nope, not doin that, especially for $140 or anywhere close to that....

How does it have "low quality hardware"? Did we read the same review?

 

[Iain Saturn]

Oh no.
What A DISASTER

 

[dbatac]

What's a mouse for the same price/cheaper that's better than this one?

 

[Solaris17]

What's a mouse for the same price/cheaper that's better than this one?

Better is going to be harder, but if you like this mouse specifically and its features you should look at lamzu, specifically the Atlantis series which generally runs cheaper than this since it has been superseded.

 

[Onasi]

What's a mouse for the same price/cheaper that's better than this one?

“Better” is mostly an irrelevant metric in mice nowadays since the tech itself, when implemented properly, is already essentially as good as it gets. Sensors have been “flawless” for ages, clicks are a matter of taste in terms of tactile feedback and latency-wise anything below 4ms is fine. Wireless implementation is usually solid too on most mice, this one is actually scuffed and doesn’t behave like one would expect from a modern one.

The question itself is broad as hell too - what mouse would you like? What grip do you favor? Shape? Size? Those are the things that actually matter - technical specs are mostly whatever nowadays.

 

[firot]

It appears there is a firmware update for the mouse (00.00.14.00) which is released after the review but I can't find any release notes or anything.

DRIVERS & DOWNLOADS – Vancer

www.vancer.gg

 

[pzogel]

It appears there is a firmware update for the mouse (00.00.14.00) which is released after the review but I can't find any release notes or anything.

DRIVERS & DOWNLOADS – Vancer

www.vancer.gg

Thanks, I'll take a look at it later this week.

 

[hadal]

@ "no release notes": I got a reply from support about that new firmware update which said it specifically addressed quirks mentioned by this review, so hopefully it at least got rid of that huge persistent slamclick debounce. Guess we'll see soon.

Edit: also worth noting they said they're "actively looking into incorporating some of these fixes as adjustable features within our web app or possibly developing a standalone application in the future."

 

[pzogel]

@ "no release notes": I got a reply from support about that new firmware update which said it specifically addressed quirks mentioned by this review, so hopefully it at least got rid of that huge persistent slamclick debounce. Guess we'll see soon.

Edit: also worth noting they said they're "actively looking into incorporating some of these fixes as adjustable features within our web app or possibly developing a standalone application in the future."

It appears there is a firmware update for the mouse (00.00.14.00) which is released after the review but I can't find any release notes or anything.

DRIVERS & DOWNLOADS – Vancer

www.vancer.gg

Finally got around to testing 00.00.14. The skipping/freezing issues seem to be improved, though I've had conflicting experiences—it was still happening during one session, but not during another one the next day. I suspect that the channel-hopping solution used for the AKITSU isn't particularly robust, so depending on 2.4 GHz band usage, results will vary significantly. All the other issues mentioned in the review remain unaddressed.

 

[firot]

Finally got around to testing 00.00.14. The skipping/freezing issues seem to be improved, though I've had conflicting experiences—it was still happening during one session, but not during another one the next day. I suspect that the channel-hopping solution used for the AKITSU isn't particularly robust, so depending on 2.4 GHz band usage, results will vary significantly. All the other issues mentioned in the review remain unaddressed.

Thanks for your review!

I really like the mouse and its shape. But I think it is safe to say this mouse is currently useless for tactical shooters because it means almost all of the first bullets will have 17 ms additional delay which is worse than my bluetooth logitech mouse. It is even possible to confirm it without any testing equipment. I just tested it on https://humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime and I can hit consistent 150 ms if I don't lift up the mouse. If I lift up before every click I can't hit 150 ms single time.

I don't know much about device firmwares but it sounds like a simple fix from programmers perspective.

I hope they fix it soon otherwise I have to waste another $150 for a new mouse.

 

[jeffogu]

There is a new firmware, which is released as v00.16. Have your ever get a chance to test it ? I'm especially curious if the 17 ms slam click delay has been fixed.
@pzogel

 

[pzogel]

There is a new firmware, which is released as v00.16. Have your ever get a chance to test it ? I'm especially curious if the 17 ms slam click delay has been fixed.
@pzogel

Thanks, I'll take a look at the nearest opportunity.

 

[hadal]

There is a new firmware, which is released as v00.16. Have your ever get a chance to test it ? I'm especially curious if the 17 ms slam click delay has been fixed.
@pzogel

Sorry to say it doesn't seem to be fixed still. Pretty disappointing they put together so much of what could make a mouse amazing and have dropped the ball repeatedly on the most fixable and blatantly egregious issue imaginable. You don't even need a fancy tool to feel or hear the difference in input delay when the slamclick kicks in. Glad I got a Hitscan Hyperlight to use instead at least.

 

[firot]

After updating to 00.16 my cursor freeze few times on 1k and become unresponsive for like a one second, never happened on old firmware.

 

[pzogel]

There is a new firmware, which is released as v00.16. Have your ever get a chance to test it ? I'm especially curious if the 17 ms slam click delay has been fixed.
@pzogel

Can confirm that this part at least has been fixed. The sensor issues mentioned in the review remain unaddressed, however. Connectivity appears largely unchanged compared to the previous firmware.

 

[hadal]

Can confirm that this part at least has been fixed. The sensor issues mentioned in the review remain unaddressed, however. Connectivity appears largely unchanged compared to the previous firmware.

The newest update did not fix the debounce for me, and I definitely updated everything. I tested it via end to end latency of my clicks and an audio queue, and regardless of whether the mouse was still in a liftoff state it added over 15ms latency over the avg to the next click. How are you testing it?

 

[pzogel]

The newest update did not fix the debounce for me, and I definitely updated everything. I tested it via end to end latency of my clicks and an audio queue, and regardless of whether the mouse was still in a liftoff state it added over 15ms latency over the avg to the next click. How are you testing it?

LDAT with E2E function, albeit without interfacing. I might interface the mouse tomorrow, though the results I've gathered with the former method don't leave much room for doubt already.

 

[hadal]

LDAT with E2E function, albeit without interfacing. I might interface the mouse tomorrow, though the results I've gathered with the former method don't leave much room for doubt already.

Tested it again and there was no such issue, so I guess it's fixed and I for some reason needed to restart or something. I also haven't encountered sensor connectivity issues so far, but to be fair I never venture above 1k polling. Guess I'll give it more of a try again soon. Glad they're at least slowly fixing this nonsense over time but I wish they'd've shipped a finished functional product from the start. By comparison the only issue I know of with my Hitscan is the software's battery % readout being wildly inaccurate due to scaling probably linearly with voltage readings.

 

[firot]

Can confirm that this part at least has been fixed. The sensor issues mentioned in the review remain unaddressed, however. Connectivity appears largely unchanged compared to the previous firmware.

That is a relief, thanks for retesting it! I also sent arbiter studios an email and they said issues are resolved in 00.16 but they did not highlight which ones are resolved.

So which polling rate is most stable for this mouse now? Review says it has like 15 ms delay after first movement on 1k. And different issues on higher polling rates.

 

[pzogel]

That is a relief, thanks for retesting it! I also sent arbiter studios an email and they said issues are resolved in 00.16 but they did not highlight which ones are resolved.

So which polling rate is most stable for this mouse now? Review says it has like 15 ms delay after first movement on 1k. And different issues on higher polling rates.

Right now, I'd recommend using 2000 or 1000 Hz. The 15 (17) ms mentioned referred to the first click after lift-off, not motion.