// Link Quality Tests

Connection Stability + Latency Tests

Two tools that test the same controller from different angles. The first watches for dropouts and brief disconnects across a full minute of use. The second runs the controller over Bluetooth and over USB then lines up the polling rate, jitter and reaction time of each side by side.

Typical for
Bluetooth

Wireless link to most modern PCs and laptops. Convenient but shares its airspace with Wi-Fi, mice, headsets and any other 2.4GHz device in the room.

Polling
125–250 Hz
Latency
5–10 ms
Typical for
Wired USB

A direct cable from controller to PC. Faster and steadier on paper but only as good as the cable, the port and the hub it shares power with.

Polling
up to 1000 Hz
Latency
1–2 ms
GamepadTester mascot watching the connection comparison
Your test buddy
VS
// 60-Second Stability Check

Watch the link for missed inputs

A full minute of active polling looking for dropouts. Brief gaps over 100ms get marked in yellow. Anything longer is flagged in orange or red on the timeline so you can see exactly when the link stumbled.

No controller detected — press any button on your pad to register it.
Ready Press start and keep the stick moving for the full minute.
01:00
Remaining
Event Timeline Brief (100–300ms) Medium (300ms–1s) Long (1s+)
0s 10 20 30 40 50 60
Connection Grade

Run the test to see your grade

Dropouts
0
Longest Gap
0ms
Total Offline
0.0s

If the test flags a lot of dropouts: microwaves, Wi-Fi routers and wireless headsets all share the 2.4GHz band with most controllers. Moving the receiver closer to the controller or away from those devices usually clears up wireless instability without any hardware swap.
// the-guide.exe
▢ ▢ ▣
GamepadTester mascot acting as the explainer host
running — explainer mode v2.4
// Why this matters

Stability and latency become the controller's job description

Two numbers describe what a connection is doing under your hands. The first tells you whether inputs are arriving at all. The second tells you how fast they get there. The tools on this page measure each separately so you can see what is actually happening on your specific setup, not what the manufacturer would like you to believe.

01

Stability is whether inputs land

A missed poll over a long enough gap is an input the game never saw. In single-player that costs you a dropped attack or a missed jump. Online the consequences compound because the server and your screen briefly disagree about what happened, and the netcode has to reconcile that gap after the fact.

Measured by Tool 1
02

Latency is how fast they get there

Latency is the time between your finger moving and the browser hearing about it. Five milliseconds is roughly a quarter of a 60Hz frame. Ten is half a frame. Twenty is a full frame of delay between your intent and the response on screen.

Measured by Tool 2
03

Some genres notice, others don't

A racing or open-world game can absorb a few extra milliseconds without much consequence. Fighting games, twitch shooters and rhythm games sit at the other end where stability and latency together decide whether a frame-perfect input lands or drops.

Where it matters
// Side-by-side comparison

Run the same controller through both connections

Two fifteen-second tests, one on Bluetooth and one on USB. Once both slots are filled the comparison below lines up the polling rate, jitter and estimated input latency so you can see exactly what wired is buying you.

No controller detected — press any button on your pad to register it.
Wireless
Bluetooth
Empty

Pair the controller over Bluetooth, confirm it is connected at the top of the page then run the test.

00:15
Live polling: — Hz
Polling
0Hz
Jitter
0Hz
Est. lag
0ms
Wired
USB
Empty

Plug the controller in over USB, confirm it is connected at the top of the page then run the test.

00:15
Live polling: — Hz
Polling
0Hz
Jitter
0Hz
Est. lag
0ms
// Comparison Result
Polling rate
BT
USB
Jitter (lower is better)
BT
USB
Estimated input latency (lower is better)
BT
USB
Estimated latency, not measured latency. The browser cannot see the time between your finger moving and the controller's chip registering it. What is shown here is the connection's contribution derived from polling rate and jitter, which is the part that actually changes when you swap from wired to wireless. The rest of the input chain stays the same.