Software

The A980 Pro Max is compatible with DAREU's all-in-one software. In order to launch at all, the software requires administrator rights.

All options are distributed across multiple pages. The first page allows for button remapping to mouse, keyboard, media, and macro functions, along with the ability to access a secondary set of key binds upon pressing a dedicated function key. The second page houses CPI adjustment settings for up to five color-coded levels, ranging from 200 to 30,000 CPI, in increments of 50 CPI, and independently for x and y-values. Any non-native values are truncated to native ones. Also included are polling rate (125/500/1000/2000/4000 Hz, with 250 and 8000 Hz being exclusive to wired mode) and MotionSync settings, the latter of which synchronizes SPI reads with USB polls at the cost of a motion delay penalty of up to an entire polling interval. The third page allows adjusting the LCD screen and will only be available in wired operation. The fourth page displays battery life and allows adjusting idle time (1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes, or never). A macro manager is found on the fifth page. A so-called text template manager is featured on the sixth page, whose purpose eludes me. The seventh page features calibrations options, including surface presets along with separate settings for lifting and landing distance (0.7/1/2 mm), similarly to Razer's Asymmetric Cut-Off. Lastly, profile management is available as well.

All settings changes are saved to the on-board memory, so the software does not need to be running (or even installed) all the time. On my system, the software had a RAM footprint of roughly 69 MB on average when running in the foreground, which doesn't change when minimized. Upon exiting the application, all processes are terminated, as they should be.


Instead of using the software, one may also use the TFT display and button combinations to adjust settings. The display can be enabled or disabled by holding the back side and right main buttons pressed for five seconds. With the sniper button pressed, pressing the scroll wheel click will confirm settings, while scrolling will cycle through the available settings. Aside from adjusting CPI steps and polling rate, one can also adjust the on-board memory profile, standby image being displayed, and brightness. A limitation of the display is that CPI steps will be shown as rounded down to a multiple of 100, i.e., 1550 CPI will be displayed as 1500 CPI.

Battery Life

DAREU cites up to 130 hours of battery life, though no indication is made whether this applies to Bluetooth or 2.4 GHz wireless, or which polling rate. The software features a percentage-based battery life indicator using steps of 5%, which isn't accurate or reliable enough to allow gauging expected battery life. For the record, after three hours of usage at 4000 Hz and two hours at 1000 Hz, the indicator stood at either 95 or 90%.

Using the included USB Type-A to Type-C charging cable, I measured the charging speed during the constant current stage, which sits at 0.440 A. The battery has a capacity of 930 mAh and utilizes a 3-pin JST connector.