Software

The T.G.A. Alpha comes with its own lightweight software. All options are accessible through four different tabs. The first page allows for button remapping to mouse, keyboard, media, and macro functions, along with the ability to adjust debounce time, which effectively controls click latency, at a range of 0 to 30 ms in increments of 1. Profile management is present as well. The second page houses CPI adjustment settings for up to six color-coded levels, ranging from 50 to 19,000 CPI in increments of 50 up to 10,000 CPI and increments of 100 at and above 10,100 CPI. Values can be put in directly by double-clicking the value instead of using the slider. Any non-native values are truncated to native ones. Also included are the usual Windows pointer settings, along with polling rate (125/250/500/1000 Hz), LOD (1/2 mm), and angle snapping (on/off) adjustment options. "Ripple" is disabled by default, but can be enabled to apply smoothing, which lessens jitter at higher CPI steps at the cost of increased motion delay. A macro editor can be found on the third page. The fourth page contains lighting settings and is detailed below. The lighting page also includes power-saving options: The duration of idle time before the lighting is turned off can be set here, along with the option to disable illumination upon moving the mouse.

All settings changes are saved to the on-board memory, so the software does not need to be running (or even be installed) all the time. On my system, the software had a RAM footprint of 21 MB on average when running in the foreground, which doesn't change when minimized to the system tray. Upon exiting the application, all processes are terminated, as they should be.

Lighting

The T.G.A. Alpha has two physical lighting zones, the logo and LED strip at the back, the former of which won't be visible when using the solid shell cover. For the logo, one can only choose between the Steady and Breathing lighting effects. For the other zones, six pre-defined lighting effects are available: Steady, Breathing, Streaming, Neon, Single Color Flow, and Colorful Breathing. Colors, transition speed, and brightness can be further customized. Of course, the lighting can also be disabled altogether.

Color accuracy and vibrancy are excellent throughout. Here's a short demonstration video in which I go through the Streaming, Neon, and Colorful Breathing lighting effects:

Battery Life

AQIRYS states a maximum battery life of up to 44 hours at 1000 Hz with RGB lighting disabled, and up to 36 hours with AutoLED enabled. That is, illumination is enabled, but will be turned off when moving the mouse. The software includes a battery level indicator, but it is highly inaccurate and unreliable, making gauging anything impossible.

Using the included USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable, I measured the charging speed during the constant current stage, which sits at around 0.262 A, excluding the current expended to flash the charging LED. The battery has a capacity of 300 mAh.