Software

For several more recent mouse releases, ASUS offers Armoury Crate Gear, which is a stripped-down version of Armoury Crate. Unlike Armoury Crate, which is a single application that can be used with any ASUS mouse, one needs to download and install the specific version of Armoury Crate Gear for the Harpe Ace Extreme. Furthermore, Armoury Crate Gear is incapable of recognizing changes to connectivity; hence, when going from wired to wireless (or vice versa), one needs to close and open Armoury Crate Gear again. In terms of functionality and layout, Armoury Crate Gear is largely equivalent to the mouse settings part of Armoury Crate, though a function such as Rapid Fire, for instance, is absent.

All available settings are distributed across several tabs. The first page houses button remapping options, allowing one to rebind all but the left button to mouse, keyboard, multimedia, or macro functions. The second page includes options for CPI adjustment (100–42,000 CPI, increments of 50, four steps), polling rate (125, 250, 500, or 1000 Hz, with 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz becoming available when using the polling rate booster), and angle snapping (on/off). CPI adjustment is done either through a slider or by inputting the value directly. Furthermore, angle adjustment is possible, ranging from -30 to 30 degrees. The third page has lighting options and is detailed below. The fourth page houses LOD adjustment options. Several pre-calibrated surfaces are available to choose from, which then can be fine-tuned manually by adjusting the high/low-selection. Performing a manual calibration may lower LOD beyond the default. The fifth page gives access to several power-saving settings. One can set the minimum battery level at which a low battery warning is displayed, and define after how many minutes the mouse enters power-saving mode, which disables all illumination. Battery status is displayed in increments of 1%. Lastly, profile management and a macro editor are available as well.

All settings are updated live and saved to the on-board memory, so the software does not need to be running (or be installed) all the time. On my system, the software had a RAM footprint of 100 MB on average when running in the foreground, which does not change when minimized. Upon exiting the application, several processes with a RAM footprint of 30 MB keep running. Please note that the number of active processes and their associated RAM footprint will depend on one's system configuration.

When uninstalling Armoury Crate Gear, several leftover files on the C: drive as well as multiple services remain, requiring manual removal.

As an alternative to using software, the Harpe Ace Extreme also allows changing settings through button combinations. Polling rate may be cycled by pressing the back side button while keeping the pairing button pressed. Similarly, lift-off distance can be cycled between low/high presets by pressing the forward side button while keeping the pairing button pressed.

Lighting

The Harpe Ace Extreme has a single zone for RGB lighting, which is the scroll wheel. A total of four pre-defined lighting effects are available: Static, Pulsating, Color Cycle, and Reactive, along with the option to synchronize the lighting with other AuraSync-enabled devices or display battery status. Color and brightness can be adjusted on most effects. Of course, disabling the lighting altogether is also possible.

Color accuracy and vibrancy are good throughout. Here's a short demonstration video of the Color Cycle and Pulsating lighting effects:

Battery Life

Without illumination, ASUS cites up to 98 hours of battery life using Bluetooth and up to 70 hours using 2.4 GHz at 1000 Hz. At 2000 Hz, ASUS cites up to 21 hours, at 4000 Hz, up to 17 hours, and at 8000 Hz, up to 15 hours. With illumination, ASUS cites up to 67 hours of battery life using Bluetooth and up to 53 hours using 2.4 GHz. The software includes a percentage-based battery life indicator, whose readings are consistent and reliable, allowing one to gauge expected battery life. At a polling rate of 8000 Hz and with illumination enabled, the indicator showed 89%, suggesting 25 hours in total assuming linear consumption. At 1000 Hz, this would translate to roughly 100 hours, far exceeding the numbers cited by ASUS. In any case, we can at least surmise that the battery life indicated by ASUS is at the lower end of expectations.

Using the included USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable, I measured the charging speed during the constant current stage, which sits at 0.208 A when lifted and 0.193 A when not lifted. The battery has a capacity of 200 mAh (3.7 V) and utilizes a 3-pin JST connector.