Lately, more and more mice have gathered around the 40 g weight range, sometimes utilizing an open-bottom design with a solid shell (G-Wolves, Hitscan), or resorting to plenty of holes with non-plastic materials (Arbiter Studio AKITSU). With the V8, SCYROX sends a solid-shell contender into the contest, and charges no more than $69.99 for it. SCYROX actually advertises a weight of 36 g, albeit with a weight range of ±3 g. As is common knowledge by now, 36±3 g is just a different way of writing 39 g, and that is still without feet, so in the real world, we arrive at 40 g, as much like the Hitscan Hyperlight, the V8 ships without feet, and one can choose to install either a set of larger feet or a set of smaller feet according to preference. In any case, 40 g is still plenty light, and though the build quality isn't quite on the very high level of the Hitscan Hyperlight, it remains solid throughout: there is no rattle when shaking, only minor creaking but no flexing of the shell when applying lateral pressure, and actuating the side buttons by pressing below them is impossible regardless of force. The compromises made to achieve this weight are most easily felt when doing a disassembly, as screw posts bending and the shell flexing everywhere are immediately obvious. During actual usage, however, the V8 remains solid, which is highly impressive given its weight.

In terms of buttons, the V8 too operates at a level you'd typically only see in the $100 and above price range. For the main buttons, SCYROX has opted for Omron D2FP-FN2 switches, which despite being optical switches, provide a degree of tactility you'd typically only see on mechanical switches. That said, the main buttons aren't as snappy as they could be, as the button design isn't entirely ideal, resulting in moderate pre and high post-travel, along with a moderate amount of button movement when attempting to provoke it. Much like other recent releases in the 40 g weight range, the V8 utilizes 2-pin, low-profile switches for the side buttons, in this case ones from Kailh (brown, blue plunger), which are also found on the LAMZU Maya X. Their size limits how good they can feel, and the high post-travel doesn't help in making them feel better. Still, pre-travel is low, and the actuation point mostly even, so they're not bad overall. The scroll wheel encoder has a SCYROX branding, but actually comes from F-Switch, and is of the yellow/pink core variety. Tactility is quite good on this one, as the individual steps are rather well-separated, and noise levels are kept under control for the most part, too. The feet are made of white-dyed pure PTFE, and as mentioned, two sets are included with the mouse. Each also includes a sensor ring, which may be installed depending on preference.

Despite being priced as a budget release, the V8 comes with PixArt's latest PAW3950 sensor. In addition, the V8 also ships with a USB high-speed wireless dongle by default, enabling polling rates of up to 8000 Hz in wireless operation right out of the box. The solution provider for the firmware is CompX, much like for the Hitscan Hyperlight, which is why it is unsurprising that performance is similar, though some crucial differences can be found nonetheless. In terms of CPI deviation, the V8 sits at a positive deviation of 2.5%, which is low and easily corrected. Sensor run mode, which dictates all relevant parameters such as maximum tracking speed, acceleration, framerate, etc., is realized in an interesting way on the V8. The software, which is a web driver, allows switching between "High-Speed Mode," which likely is a different name for the 3950's "LP" (low power) sensor run mode, and "Competitive Mode," which is a different name for the 3950's corded run mode. In wired operation, the V8 always defaults to corded mode, regardless of what has been set in the driver. In wireless operation, at polling rates of 2000 Hz and above, the V8 likewise defaults to corded mode, irrespective of what the setting in the driver says. Accordingly, this only leaves a choice for wireless operation at polling rates of 1000 Hz and under, but the toggle between High-Speed and Competitive Mode is bugged, which is why the default of High-Speed Mode will persist. As such, sensor run mode cannot be changed at all on the V8, and the setting may simply be ignored. The MotionSync setting, on the other hand, does work, and will tighten SPI timing at the cost of up to an entire interval of added motion delay. Hence, the impact will be the largest at 125 Hz and smallest at 8000 Hz.

While polling is fully stable in wired operation, wireless does not fare as well. 125, 250, and 1000 Hz all exhibit periodic off-period polls, whereas both 4000 and 8000 Hz suffer from an issue where occasionally, a poll will be missed by multiple intervals, which means that instead of missing a single 125 μs interval, it'll sometimes miss dozens, to where data will be late by 3, 7, or even 9 ms (for instance), which certainly isn't ideal. This happens regardless of whether the Long-Distance Mode setting is enabled in the driver, which is supposed to boost antenna performance. The only polling rates that could be considered to be generally stable are 500 and 2000 Hz. That said, it should be noted that aside from these large off-period polls, the target interval is averaged throughout at 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz. A somewhat peculiar bug can be found at 8000 Hz, where enabling MotionSync will have no effect. The same behavior could be observed on releases using the PAW3395 and firmware from CompX, and it makes sense given that the 3395 struggles to maintain 125 μs intervals with MotionSync enabled. On the 3950, this is not the case, and it appears that MotionSync taking no effect is simply an oversight in the firmware. Hence, the 3950 found in the V8 will be essentially equivalent to a 3395, except for the added 0.7 mm lift-off distance option, which is working as intended.

In terms of numbers, the V8 does well. In wireless operation at 1000 Hz and without MotionSync, the V8 already achieves parity with the Logitech G403 (control subject), and gets the lead at higher polling rates, which scale according to expectations, topping out at an advantage of 0.9 ms over the G403 at 8000 Hz. As always, MotionSync will add various amounts of delay. In terms of click latency, 8000 Hz likewise is at the top, averaging no more than 0.4 ms, with lower polling rates doing accordingly worse. This only applies at a debounce time of 0 ms, which can be used without any drawbacks, as optical switches are inherently incapable of double-clicking due to wear and tear, and a slam-click prevention algorithm has been implemented, such that when the mouse is reset after lift-off, no inadvertent button actuation takes place.

As is the case on many recent releases, the V8 does without a software requiring installation, and instead offers configuration through a web driver. Due to being realized through WebHID, only Chromium-based browsers will work, and a packaged desktop version is not available, so in the event that the driver is no longer hosted or otherwise available, one will be locked out of configuration. While the driver has all relevant options, it is fairly buggy as already mentioned, with multiple settings simply not working. This includes the sensor run mode configuration, MotionSync at 8000 Hz, and ripple control (smoothing) does not work at all, too. A percentage-based battery life indicator at least is found in the software, and while not particularly accurate or reliable, it is serviceable enough to allow me to gauge expected battery life. At 8000 Hz, the indicator went down by 15% for every two hours of continuous use, so around 15 hours may conceivably be expected. This would translate to around 80 hours at 1000 Hz, which is fine given the battery capacity of 250 mAh. Charging is neither particularly speedy nor slow on the V8, but the charging cable is stiff to where it prevents playing while charging almost entirely. Primarily, the charging cable of course serves as an extension cable for the USB high-speed dongle, and in order to maintain signal integrity for USB high-speed, stronger shielding is required, in turn leading to a stiffer cable. Accordingly, this is neither unexpected nor uncommon, but deserves mention nonetheless, as Endgame Gear, for instance, proves with their charging cables that flexibility can be achieved regardless.

While the V8 is not perfect, it delivers a very strong package at its price point. In terms of feature set and performance, the V8 easily competes with a contender such as the Hitscan Hyperlight, but that mouse costs $114.98 with its 8K dongle, whereas the V8 goes for only $69.99 with the 8K dongle already included. As far as value goes, competition only comes from something like the Redragon K1NG 4K Pro for $44.99, which weighs close to 10 g more and is clearly inferior in terms of performance. It is fair to say that the combination of incredibly low weight, performance, and price offered by the V8 is currently unrivaled. As such, the V8 earns our Recommended and Budget awards.