Introduction

Founded in 2019 by several former Zowie employees, VAXEE is a peripherals company and shop platform. The AX marks VAXEE’s second cooperation with an esports figurehead. This time around, VAXEE joined forces with former CS professional player Zhengwei “alex” Bian and his brand, Outset. Whereas the Outset lettering features prominently on the AX, the line “powered by VAXEE” is hidden on the back of the mouse, underlining that the AX is the result of a joint creative process. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll nonetheless refer exclusively to VAXEE throughout the review.

In many ways, the Outset AX is no different from the Zygen NP-01. PixArt’s PMW3389 sensor, Huano switches for the main buttons, a fairly flexible, soft, braided cable, 24-step optical scroll wheel: The AX focuses on performance and to that end does without RGB lighting or resource-heavy software, but instead comes with extensive on-device configurability, including CPI, polling rate, lift-off distance, and button response time. VAXEE still is of the opinion that pursuing the lowest weight possible isn’t necessarily most conducive to in-game performance, instead settling on a reasonable middle ground of 81 g. Aside from the shape, which is essentially a differently balanced EC2, some improvements have been made to the AX: The scroll wheel has been refined and is smoother, the stock mouse feet are 0.6 mm thick, and the matte coating is, well, more matte now. Speaking of which, variants in matte black and glossy white are available exclusively through VAXEE’s own shop.

Specifications