Higher polling rates such as 2000 or 4000 Hz, and sometimes even 8000 Hz on wireless mice, have been a persistent trend lately. A less paid attention to, but nonetheless crucial part of this advancement is the move from USB full-speed to USB high-speed for high polling rate mice. While USB high-speed is necessary to realize polling rates higher than 1000 Hz, it also improves polling rates of 1000 Hz and under when compared against USB full-speed. Accordingly, it comes as no surprise that VAXEE has decided to no longer ship their wireless mice with USB full-speed dongles, and instead bundle them with their "4K" (USB high-speed) dongle only.

Looking at the performance mustered by the new dongle, this decision is even less surprising. Much like on the NP-01S Wireless, CPI deviation is nonexistent on the AX Wireless, which is particularly relevant in that VAXEE mice are restricted to four fixed CPI steps, thus not allowing correction of any possible deviation. The AX Wireless also retains how different sensor run modes are handled. In wired operation, the AX Wireless always defaults to the so-called "competitive mode," which is a different name for what the PAW3395 sensor documentation refers to as "corded mode." In corded mode, all sensor parameters are run at their highest possible values, as power draw takes a backseat compared to non-wired modes. At polling rates of 2000 and 4000 Hz, the AX Wireless likewise defaults to competitive mode, so only at polling rates of 125, 500, or 1000 Hz in wireless operation is the distinction between standard and competitive mode even present. Even in standard mode at 1000 Hz, motion delay on the AX Wireless is admirably low, and edges VAXEE's previous USB full-speed performance. Without MotionSync, the AX Wireless is ahead of the Logitech G403 (control subject) by roughly 0.5 ms, and upon enabling competitive mode, the gap widens even further to roughly 0.8 ms. This 0.8 ms figure applies to 2000 and 4000 Hz as well, so the main benefit of those higher polling rates over 1000 Hz in competitive mode is the extra smoothness afforded by them. MotionSync adds a bit more than 0.5 ms worth of motion delay at 1000 Hz, which is why it is best left disabled, and this fact is reflected by the AX Wireless defaulting to MotionSync disabled. The only downside to running competitive mode at 1000 Hz is battery life being nearly halved, from around 100 hours to 55 hours.

Click latency likewise benefits from the switch to USB high-speed. At 1000 Hz wireless and 2 ms debounce time, the AX Wireless averages 2.4 ms, which is a significant improvement over the 3.2 ms achieved with the USB full-speed dongle. 2000 and 4000 Hz lower this number even further, to 2.0 and 1.9 ms, respectively. Even though the AX Wireless allows adjusting debounce time, there is no reason not to use the lowest value of 2 ms, as VAXEE has implemented slam-click prevention, thus allowing one to use the lowest possible value without any downsides, lest for possible double-clicking a couple of years down the line.

The only issue I could find related to performance is polling stability. In wireless operation, for any polling rates that aren't 4000 Hz, I've found there to be periodic bursts of off-period polls. We've already seen similar behavior on the full-speed dongle, though there the highest polling rate was 1000 Hz, so only 125 and 500 Hz were affected, whereas on the high-speed dongle, the highest polling rate is 4000 Hz, and any polling rate below that is affected. If I had to take a guess, I would surmise that within the firmware, anything timing-related is done for 4000 Hz (250 us) only, and lower polling rates aren't fully accounted for. That said, since tracking is not hampered by this, I'm inclined to consider this more of a technicality and nothing that should be paid much attention to.

While the XE Wireless was significantly heavier than its wired counterpart, the NP-01S Wireless managed to match its wired brethren. The AX Wireless goes even further than that and undercuts the wired AX by 9 g, coming out at a weight of 72 g. Within the VAXEE space, this is no doubt impressive, though compared to its peers from other manufacturers, it appears less formidable. The Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro, for instance, is larger and doesn't have holes, yet only weighs 62 g. On the flip side, build quality at least is largely in a good spot with the AX Wireless, as there is no rattle when shaking, and the shell doesn't creak or flex when applying lateral pressure, save for one spot: The back side button can be actuated when pressing below it, and doing so doesn't require much more than moderate force. Granted, I never noticed or had an issue with this during actual use, but I'd expect a 72 g mouse to at least have tank-like characteristics, and that is not the case with the AX Wireless.

Looking at the internals, we not only see the same design used for previous VAXEE wireless mice such as the XE Wireless or NP-01S Wireless, but also the same components used. Huano switches with a pink plunger are used for the main buttons, which have moderate pre and post-travel, but provide a pleasantly firm and snappy button response nonetheless, and lateral button movement is kept to a minimum, too. Surface-mounted switches from Huano are used for the side buttons, and while the forward button is plain excellent, the back side button doesn't fare anywhere near as well. The issue is that when pressed towards its rear, the back side button changes feedback completely, becoming higher-pitched and much duller. In practice, most people won't be hitting this spot, but for those who do, actuation won't be as pleasant as with the forward button. The scroll wheel once again is from ALPS, known for its reliability, durability, and tactile scrolling at acceptable noise levels. The feet are unchanged in terms of size and shape over the wired AX, and glide is still very good.

As with the XE and NP-01S, the transition from wired to wireless has been a success for the AX Wireless. At 72 g, it is not the lightest right-handed ergonomic mouse around, but its unchanged shape still handles well to where the extra weight is hardly felt. The issues surrounding the back side button are a bit disappointing, and the minor instability at non-4000 Hz polling rates is less than ideal, but other than that, I have a hard time finding something to criticize about the AX Wireless. At $129.99, the 4K editions of wireless mice cost $10 more than their non-4K predecessors, which is fair considering the upgrade in performance, and in line with what competitors charge extra. As such, the AX Wireless earns our Recommended award.