How to check a wireless mouse battery on Windows

Before hunting through Settings, answer one question: is your mouse connected over Bluetooth, or through a small USB receiver plugged into the PC? Everything follows from that. It is the difference between a percentage Windows gives you for free and one that only its manufacturer's software can produce.

Short answer: a Bluetooth mouse shows a percentage in Windows settings, a mouse on a USB dongle does not and needs its maker's software. BatteryOnPC can track it too, in the taskbar, next to your controller. Below, where to look in each case.

Bluetooth mouse: Windows handles it

Most Bluetooth mice implement the standard battery service. Open Settings › Bluetooth & devices and the percentage is under the mouse name, with no extra software.

Two things worth knowing about that number. It is not live: the mouse reports when it decides to, and Windows shows the last value received. And it usually moves in steps of 5 or 10 points, so a reading stuck at 60% for two days is normal rather than broken.

Dongle mouse: Windows sees nothing

A Logitech Lightspeed, Razer HyperSpeed or similar mouse is wireless but it is not Bluetooth. It has its own radio protocol, and the little receiver is what talks to it. From Windows' point of view there is a USB device, not a wireless peripheral, which is why it never appears in the Bluetooth settings at all.

The level exists, but only the manufacturer's software knows how to ask for it:

• Logitech: G HUB, or Logi Options+ for office models.
• Razer: Synapse.
• Corsair: iCUE.
• SteelSeries: SteelSeries GG.

Which mode should you use

If you play, the dongle. Its polling rate is higher and its latency lower and more stable than Bluetooth, which is the whole reason manufacturers ship one. The trade-off is a USB port and a battery reading that depends on a vendor program running in the background.

If you work, or you switch between a laptop and a desktop, Bluetooth. You lose a little responsiveness (imperceptible outside gaming) and you gain a level Windows shows natively, plus one less program at startup.

A level that drops far too fast

If your mouse used to last two weeks and now lasts two days, look at the lighting before the battery. RGB is by far the biggest consumer on a gaming mouse, and a profile switched to a permanent effect can cut runtime by more than half.

The second suspect is polling rate. Going from 1000 Hz to 4000 or 8000 Hz noticeably increases consumption, for a gain most players cannot feel. Both settings live in the same vendor software that shows you the battery.

Several devices, one place to look

The real problem is rarely one mouse. It is a mouse, a keyboard, a headset and a controller from four different brands: four programs to install, four places to check, and still nothing common between them.

BatteryOnPC handles PlayStation and Xbox controllers automatically, and lets you add a wireless mouse, keyboard or headset through "Add a device (beta)", each with its own taskbar icon. Coverage there depends on the brand, Logitech being the best served today.