Compared to other manufacturers, VAXEE is fairly late to the wireless party. The reason for this is simple: VAXEE has always been adamant that they would only make the move towards wireless if performance is virtually on the same level as their wired mice, both in terms of latency and reliability. To reach that goal, VAXEE has teamed up with PixArt for the XE Wireless, who not only contributed their latest sensor (PAW3395), but also lent a hand for the MCU and firmware. The result is plain excellent.

In typical VAXEE fashion, the available settings are all configurable on-board through button combinations. MotionSync can be turned on or off, along with a setting called High-Speed Mode, which is meant to enhance sensor performance at the cost of lower battery life. In addition, VAXEE offers a so-called competitive firmware, which is supposed to improve on the High-Speed Mode even further. In my testing, I can confirm that the XE Wireless indeed is virtually on par with VAXEE's wired offerings in terms of performance. In regard to motion delay, the least responsive setting is the default one, which has MotionSync enabled and the High-Speed Mode disabled, and which trails the wired XE by roughly 1 ms. Without MotionSync, SPI timing jitter is increased in wireless operation, but the motion delay differential is lower at around 0.5 ms. Upon enabling High-Speed Mode, parity with the wired XE is achieved, in that SPI timing jitter matches wired operation, and motion delay is identical to the wired XE. The competitive firmware manages to improve on this, albeit just marginally. Before the XE Wireless, matching wired 1000 Hz performance is a feat accomplished only by USB high-speed wireless mice capable of polling rates above 1000 Hz such as the Razer Viper V2 Pro with the HyperPolling Wireless Dongle or G-Wolves Hati-S Plus 4K, whereas the XE Wireless is a regular full-speed 1000 Hz mouse.

That said, this level of responsiveness does come at a cost: Enabling High-Speed Mode cuts the default battery life of 90 hours in half, and the competitive firmware only manages a battery life of 50 hours, too. Thankfully, at more than 0.3 A, charging is fairly speedy on the XE Wireless, and the charging cable is the same one used on the wired XE and therefore just as flexible. Of course, a wireless extender is also included with the XE Wireless, which I consider an essential addition these days. While the XE Wireless excels in regards to motion delay, other areas of sensor performance leave room for improvement. Positive CPI deviation of around 4% is present, which is relevant in that the XE Wireless has four fixed steps of 400, 800, 1600, and 3200, therefore forcing one to adjust in-game sensitivity to compensate. Furthermore, only 1000 Hz is fully stable on the XE Wireless, whereas polling rates below 1000 Hz exhibit periodic outliers. 500 Hz is particularly affected, which is unfortunate given that it remains a fairly popular choice, even among esports professionals. Lastly, I've noticed the same kind of shift behavior previously encountered on several Razer mice such as the Viper V2 Pro, DeathAdder V3 Pro, or Basilisk V3 Pro, whereby motion delay increases by a single interval (i.e., 1 ms) throughout the motion. This happens infrequently and seemingly by chance, so I do not consider it much of an issue.

Much like previous VAXEE mice, the XE Wireless allows adjusting button debounce time, between 2, 3, 4, and 6 ms. Since defer-type debouncing is used, this choice directly affects click latency on press, which is increased by the specified amount. When using the competitive firmware and a debounce time of 2 ms, click latency is 3.3 ms in wireless operation, which is slightly better than what mice using the popular CX52850 MCU (Pulsar, Xtrfy, LAMZU, and others) at their lowest debounce time setting are able to muster. That said, I've experienced slam-clicking at both the 2 and 3 ms settings on the XE Wireless, which describes inadvertent button actuation upon "slamming" (or gently repositioning) the mouse after lift-off. This may be considered undesired behavior, which is why opting for the 4 ms setting could be preferred, though this in turn increases click latency to a less competitive 5.3 ms. Given that this didn't happen on the wired XE, I suspect the lower switch voltage may be a contributing factor. Of particular note and further underlining the very low wireless delay of the XE Wireless is the fact that there is only at most 0.4 ms between wired and wireless for click events. Accordingly, if VAXEE were to move past defer-type debouncing in favor of eager-type, reaching a click latency of around 1 ms would be perfectly possible on future releases, which would allow VAXEE to not only compete with, but soundly beat their wired offerings.

When it comes to buttons and build, the XE Wireless is no different from the wired XE. The same Huano switches are used for the main buttons, which provide snappy yet fairly light actuation, and the button design excels in that lateral button movement is wholly inexistent. Some pre-travel is present, however, and the left main button feels duller than the right one, though this wasn't the case on the wired XE and therefore must be specific to my sample. The side buttons continue to be stellar, with impressively low pre and post-travel along with even actuation, and the scroll wheel likewise is just as good. Despite the same encoder from ALPS being used, scrolling isn't as stiff on the XE Wireless as it was on my sample of the wired XE, though I do not know whether this may be due to variance or some actual general improvement. The feet too are unchanged and provide very good glide, although the sheer size of their surface area may not be to everyone's liking, as it tends to pick up on pad imperfections. At 78 g, the XE Wireless weighs exactly 10 g more than the wired XE, which is almost entirely due to the battery. The design is identical to that of the wired XE, which is why the build likewise is a match: A slight rattle when shaking, some creaking but no flexing when applying lateral force, and the side buttons can be actuated by pressing below them, though doing so requires excessive force.

Overall, the XE Wireless is another incredibly solid release from VAXEE, which manages to go toe to toe with many 4000 Hz wireless offerings in terms of motion delay and performs well in other areas, too. At $119.99, the XE Wireless does come at a significant premium over the $69.99 XE, and also costs a decent bit more than the wireless offerings from Pulsar or LAMZU, though still a decent bit less than options from Razer or Logitech. As such, the XE Wireless earns our Recommended award.

When looking at the wireless, ambidextrous competition, there is no shortage whatsoever. The $149.99 Razer Viper V2 Pro has a much lower weight, better performance, and similarly good build quality, and comes with optical main button switches, along with the option for 4000 Hz wireless polling by virtue of the $29.99 HyperPolling Wireless Dongle, although the software can be a nuisance. The ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition weighs even less, has better performance, similarly good buttons and build quality, but Armoury Crate can be headache-inducing, for $149.99. For $129.00, the G-Wolves Hati-S Plus ACE weighs less while lacking much of a bottom plate and having a smaller battery, has largely similar performance, a similarly good build and buttons, and a stiffer charging cable. For $99.99, the Xtrfy M8 Wireless comes with similar performance, much lower weight despite no holes, great buttons and build, and no need for software. The $94.95 Pulsar X2 and X2 Mini have similar performance, a lower weight due to lacking a proper bottom plate, and similar button quality, but some issues with quality control. For $89.99, the LAMZU Atlantis and Atlantis Mini likewise have similar performance, a lower weight due to lacking a proper bottom plate, and similar button quality. At 68 g, the Fnatic BOLT weighs significantly more, struggles with its buggy software and dull side buttons, but scores with good performance, for $89.99. For $79.99, the Endgame Gear XM2we has similar performance, a much lower weight while too lacking holes, optical switches for the main buttons, and perfectly functional software. Lastly, the Cooler Master MM712 is the budget option at $69.99, with slightly worse performance on the latest firmware, optical main button switches, a lower weight, and a poor side button.