After the XE-S, E1, and NP-01S, the XE is the next shape VAXEE is giving the weight-reduction treatment to. Although still utilizing an endoskeleton, the internal structure has been revised to lower the weight significantly without compromising on structural rigidity. At 59 g, the XE V2 Wireless may not be setting any records, but ends up 19 g lighter than the original XE Wireless nonetheless. To achieve this, a minor compromise had to be made: the top button—which could either be mapped in-game or to execute various button combinations for office use—has been done away with. Compared to the E1 and NP-01S V2 Wireless, we're also seeing a change to the buttons on the bottom. There is still only a single button used for changing CPI, polling rate, and debounce time, but instead of an additional power button, the XE V2 Wireless has a simple slider, much like the XE-S Wireless had. In terms of build quality, the XE V2 Wireless provides a pleasant surprise. For years, there has been a subtle yet persistent rattle present on VAXEE mice, tracing the origin of which proved most difficult. In any case, it appears that VAXEE finally found it and rooted it out, as the XE V2 Wireless has no rattle whatsoever. There is no creaking or flexing when applying lateral pressure, either, though when applying excessive force, the side buttons can be actuated when pressing below them. In actual usage, this never becomes an issue.

Though VAXEE remains committed to Huano switches, they do like to switch things up here and there, and this applies to the XE V2 Wireless as well. Instead of the usual pink or blue-plunger Huano switches, the XE V2 Wireless comes with those of the blue transparent shell, pink plunger variety, which continue to be very popular among competitors, too. In practice, the choice of switches doesn't make much of a difference compared to previous VAXEE mice, as they continue to deliver a firm and snappy button response. Said response is aided by the highly robust button design, which allows zero lateral play even when actively provoking it. The side button switches are the same that we've seen on the E1 and NP-01S V2 Wireless, namely 2-pin, low-profile switches from Huano with a white plunger. Pre and post-travel once again are appreciably low, resulting in accordingly pleasant actuation. However, and much like on the NP-01S V2 Wireless, pitch changes when pressing the back side button towards the rear, though this seems to be due to improper mounting of the endoskeleton, as after disassembly, this minor issue disappeared. No surprises are found in the scroll wheel encoder department, either: a 7 mm tall encoder from ALPS is used, which can be noisy when scrolling down in particular, but delivers good tactility and controlled scrolling. The scroll wheel switch is also the same as on the NP-01S V2 Wireless, an elevated low-profile switch from Huano to be precise. The feet likewise are well familiar from previous VAXEE mice, being made of pure PTFE and gliding well.

Whereas the original XE Wireless sported a PixArt PAW3395, the XE V2 Wireless comes with PixArt's latest PAW3950. Of note is that VAXEE does not implement the 0.7 mm lift-off distance setting of the 3950 and instead sticks to the 1 and 2 mm LOD levels already familiar from the 3395. Aside from a different battery life profile, the differences between the 3395 and 3950 releases from VAXEE are therefore subtle. Since the MCU and firmware are the same as on the NP-01S V2 Wireless, performance ends up being the same, too, with a single exception: on the latest firmware, wired operation—for the most part—no longer suffers from an issue where motion delay would continually increase. A positive CPI deviation of 2.5 % is present, general tracking is fine regardless of whether MotionSync is enabled or not, and polling is largely stable. That is, there is a certain base level of noise present throughout all polling rates, but no actual polls are being missed, so while not perfect, this has little bearing in practice. Motion delay is on an excellent level: as long as competitive mode is enabled and MotionSync disabled, the XE V2 Wireless has a lead of roughly 0.9 ms over the Logitech G403 (control subject). The lead gets smaller when disabling competitive mode or enabling MotionSync, which is the same behavior we've seen on other 3395 releases from VAXEE, and by comparable amounts. In terms of click latency, VAXEE offers the choice between 0, 2, and 4 ms, but aside from a preference for higher latency due to muscle memory, there is little reason not to use the 0 ms setting, as a flawlessly implemented slam-click prevention algorithm is present. Since the main button switches are supplied with 3.02 V, the odds of double-clicking cropping up anytime soon when using 0 ms debounce time are very low. When using the 0 ms setting, 1.1 ms are averaged at 1000 Hz, whereas 4000 Hz averages 0.7 ms. While VAXEE isn't setting any records with these numbers, they are certainly low enough for competitive play.

Whereas most charging cables are braided, the charging cable of the XE V2 Wireless is made of TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) instead, and ends up being on the stiffer side. According to VAXEE, this decision has been made while knowing that the majority of users at most only use the mouse wired while charging, thus prompting prioritization of shielding and, by extension, stability over flexibility. Given that the majority of users will want to use their wireless mouse wirelessly, this line of thinking can only be deemed sound. Charging at least is decently speedy at a little more than 0.3 A, so downtime won't be particularly long, and runtime from the 400 mAh battery is pretty good on the XE V2 Wireless. When not using competitive mode, VAXEE cites 112 hours, whereas with competitive mode, 38 hours (1000 Hz) to 30 hours (4000 Hz) are indicated. After five hours of mixed usage at 1000 and 4000 Hz in competitive mode, the battery indicator within the web driver showed 90%, lending credence to VAXEE's claims, and they're also in line with what one would expect given the battery capacity. VAXEE actually recommends using competitive mode, which is a different name for the 3950's corded sensor run mode, as default, and with the battery life profile of the XE V2 Wireless there is indeed an argument to be made in favor of doing so.

Aside from the usual on-device configuration, the XE V2 Wireless also offers software customization through a web driver. Much like other web drivers, this one connects through WebHID and thus will only work on Chromium-based browsers. Functionally, the web driver largely matches what the on-device settings are capable of, except for two things: First, CPI adjustment is not restricted to the four pre-defined steps and instead possible in the usual increments of 50 and for up to 26,000 CPI. The 3950 supports up to 30,000 CPI, but only up to 26,000 CPI have been tested by VAXEE, and this limitation may be lifted once higher values have been tested. Second, the buttons may be rebound, though the possible options are rather limited, as only mouse functions and a select few other binds (such as Page Down) are supported. In any case, the added customization is certainly most welcome.

At $139.99, the XE V2 Wireless is priced $10 higher than previous 3395 releases, whose 4K variants in turn were priced $10 higher than the original wireless releases from VAXEE. As such, the XE V2 Wireless creeps closer and closer to the $150 mark occupied by Razer, Logitech, or ASUS, though unlike these, VAXEE mice never go on sale, and Amazon free shipping obviously isn't an option, either. Hence, the pricing no doubt will give some pause, though at the same time, the XE V2 Wireless marks a major improvement in the weight department over the original XE Wireless, and is among the most accomplished mice currently available. Accordingly, the XE V2 Wireless earns our Editor's Choice.