Software

The X17 comes with its own software called Unleash, which is also compatible with the X15, X20, Z15, and Z20. All options are accessible through six different tabs. The first one has settings for LED sleep mode, angle snapping (on/off), polling rate (125/250/500/1000/2000/4000/8000 Hz), and angle tuning, which allows one to adjust the sensor angle. The second page houses CPI adjustment settings for up to five levels ranging from 50 to 16,000 CPI in increments of 50, independently for x and y-sensitivity. The third page has LOD adjustment. The fourth page includes lighting settings and is detailed below. The fifth page allows any button to be remapped to mouse, keyboard, media, and macro functions. Lastly, a macro editor can be found on the sixth page, and profile management (five levels) is included as well. When applied, all settings are 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 58 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 X17 has three physical and logical lighting zones: scroll wheel, logo at the back, and "grill" at the front. Through the software, the lighting zones can be operated independently or uniformly. Six pre-defined lighting effects are available: Static, Breathing, Rainbow, Pulse, Trigger (reacts to inputs), and Heartbeat. Brightness and transition speed can be adjusted, and for most effects, the colors are adjustable as well. If any other LED Sync-enabled devices are connected, their RGB effects can be synchronized. Of course, disabling the lighting altogether is possible as well.

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