Build Quality

Overall build quality is very solid. There is no rattle when shaking the mouse. When applying lateral pressure, no creaking can be observed. Activating the side buttons by squeezing the sides requires force the likes of which would make the Hulk green of envy. Lastly, when set to 2 ms button response time and dropped from significant height, slam clicks do occasionally occur.

Buttons

Main buttons on the NP-01S are very good. Pre-travel is low and post-travel moderate, yet button response is firm and snappy. However, there is a noticeable difference in click feel between left and right click, with the latter feeling duller and more muted. Even though the buttons are visually separated from the shell, lateral button movement is minimal. Button stiffness is medium to light. A set of Huano switches (pink plunger, 10 M) with an actuation force of 60 g is used for these.


Side buttons are excellent. Both pre and post-travel are virtually nonexistent, resulting in a very snappy and firm button response, and the pressure point is even across the entirety of these buttons. Button placement is good as actuation is possible very easily by rolling one's thumb across. Another pair of Huano switches (3M) is used here.

At the bottom of the mouse are several buttons for adjusting CPI, polling rate, and debounce delay. Their click feel is perfectly fine.

Scroll Wheel

The scroll wheel is poor. Much like on previous VAXEE releases, this type of wheel is incredibly loud, though tactility is pretty good, as the steps are easily discernible, resulting in unintentional scrolling not being a thing. Still, other manufacturers achieve the same, just without my neighbor being able to tell when I'm scrolling. An optical encoder is used. The middle (scroll wheel) click requires very high force for actuation, to where it becomes difficult to actuate at all. Another Huano switch is used for this one.

Coating

Whereas the main buttons feature slightly rougher plastic, the rest of the mouse is covered in a smooth matte coating not unlike the one found on many Zowie mice. It does attract fingerprints, dirt, and the likes quite easily, but is easy to clean, and there are barely any signs of wear left after doing so. All in all, good materials.

Button Sound Test

Disassembly

Much like on the NP-01 and AX, disassembly is complicated by the fact that tri-angle screws are used, and ones of lesser quality to boot. Two of them are located beneath the bottom skate, and while I was able to unscrew the first one using a Torx T5, the second one proved uncooperative. I'd probably need a Torx T5.5 for that one, if it were to exist. This already was the case on the Outset AX, and coincidentally, on the same side, too. However, VAXEE confirmed to me that the internals of the NP-01S are indeed 100% identical with those of the NP-01, so the observations made in that review should apply regardless.

Both the main and side buttons sit on their own PCBs, resulting in a total of three PCBs which are connected to the main PCB with thin ribbon cables. Usually, these ribbon cables are clipped into the connectors, but in this case, I see no way to properly unclip them. The design is quite sophisticated in general. The scroll wheel is encased and has a spring vertically mounted atop the wheel click switch in order to improve reset consistency and prevent vertical wheel movement if the mouse is flipped. The individual button switches sitting encased right below the buttons improve button consistency as well. The main PCB is moderately thick and affixed to the bottom with four screws in total. The MCU is a Cypress CY7C64356-48LTXC. For further details and the datasheet, please refer to this.