Many years ago, when first introducing the G900, Logitech advertised their wireless technology as "faster than wired." To this day, this has been but a promise, especially since the advent of the Razer Viper 8K, which pushed the limits both in terms of click latency and motion delay. At a polling rate of 1000 Hz, and all other things being equal, a wired mouse will always be faster than a wireless mouse, due to the added wireless transmission delay. For Razer and Logitech, an isolated wireless delay of 1 ms has been the standard for many years, which, by all accounts, is virtually indistinguishable from a comparable wired mouse in actual use, but still not faster. With the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle, this changes for the first time ever. With a wireless polling rate of up to 4000 Hz, wired mice running at 1000 Hz are soundly beaten at last, even on paper.

Testing the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle with the Viper V2 Pro, results are very conclusive. The dongle works flawlessly, achieving perfectly stable polling at the target polling intervals, and click latency too is reduced by the expected amount. As with the Viper 8K before this, I'm amazed by the maturity of the implementation, given that it is the first commercially available one. Some may argue that Razer Synapse being required for initial setup is unfortunate, but considering that Synapse is only needed for pairing dongle and mouse for the first time and can be safely uninstalled afterwards, I don't consider this much of a concern. Speaking of the Viper 8K: While technically superior purely in terms of performance numbers, the lack of a stiff shielded cable, which was necessary on the Viper 8K to ensure signal stability, elevates the experience with the HyperPolling Wireless dongle to where the Viper V2 Pro at wireless 4000 Hz may by perceived as clearly superior over the Viper 8K at 8000 Hz in actual use. I'm also fond of the fact that the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle is somewhat device-agnostic, being compatible with a range of Razer wireless mice, both released and upcoming. The caveat here is that we don't know for how long the dongle will be supported, as hardware changes for future releases may make it difficult if not impossible to further support the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle.

In the same vein, some may wonder, "Why not simply make this compatible with every wireless Razer mouse there is?" The answer is, in turn, quite simple: it's not simple. The main hurdle isn't just that developing and validating a solution for products that no longer generate sufficient margin isn't financially viable, but also hardware restrictions. Not only would a suitable sensor be required (PAW3399), the current wireless architecture used on the Viper V2 Pro and others would have to be transferred to the older mice, which isn't trivial, especially as it is incompatible with the then-standard wireless dongles. This, in turn, would also break compatibility with existing charging docks. Furthermore, Razer would have to provide a suitable high-speed compliant USB Type-C extension cable, as these weren't included with older products. In short, restricting the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle to newly released products is more than just an incentive to buy said products.

The only major downside to the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle is the effect on battery life, which suffers considerably. On the Viper V2 Pro at least, this is less of a concern due to battery life being very robust to begin with. In my testing, the Viper V2 Pro at 1000 Hz easily hits the 100 hours mark, which is lowered to just 30 hours at 4000 Hz. However, this is still three times as much as what the SteelSeries Aerox 3 or 5 Wireless with full RGB at 1000 Hz offer. On the other hand, it remains to be seen how future models will fare, especially when RGB is involved. This is also the reason why I'm not giving the HyperPolling Wireless our Recommended or Editor's Choice award, as its usefulness ultimately depends on the mouse it will be paired with, making a blanket recommendation difficult. Furthermore, the pricing alone renders the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle an enthusiast product, as most people won't be willing to shell out a combined $180 MSRP (for the Viper V2 Pro and upgraded dongle) for a gaming mouse. That having been said, the underlying technology implementation is most impressive, and well worth our Innovation award.