Your combined reaction time and keyboard response is among the fastest measurable with a browser-based tool. At this range, keyboard input delay is not a limiting factor in your gameplay or typing speed.
A normal result for most players. Human reaction time alone accounts for 150–250ms in most people, so an average in this range means your keyboard is contributing minimal additional delay on top of your reaction speed.
Keyboard input delay may be adding a few milliseconds above what your reaction time alone would produce. Check your keyboard’s polling rate with the keyboard polling rate test — a keyboard reporting at 125Hz adds up to 8ms of delay compared to a 1000Hz keyboard.
At this range, either your reaction time is adding significant delay or the keyboard itself has a measurable input lag problem. Test on a different keyboard to isolate whether the delay is human or hardware. Also check for wireless interference if you’re using a Bluetooth keyboard — Bluetooth HID adds latency that wired and 2.4GHz wireless keyboards don’t.
What is a good keyboard latency for gaming?
A good keyboard latency for gaming is under 1ms of hardware delay — which every quality wired mechanical keyboard achieves at 1000Hz polling. The number this tool measures is not keyboard hardware latency alone. It measures your total end-to-end response: your personal reaction time + keyboard scan time + USB polling interval + browser event processing.
Human reaction time averages 150–250ms for a visual stimulus. The hardware contribution from a 1000Hz keyboard is 1ms. The browser event processing adds roughly 1–3ms. That means the keyboard itself contributes under 5ms of the total number this tool shows — the rest is you.
What this tool is actually useful for: comparing two keyboards against each other under identical conditions. Run 10 trials on keyboard A, then 10 on keyboard B, same person, same browser, same machine. If keyboard B consistently shows 15ms lower averages, the hardware difference between them is real and measurable.
Does keyboard polling rate affect latency?
Yes — directly and measurably.
A keyboard at 1000Hz polling sends its key state to the PC every 1ms. A keyboard at 125Hz polling sends its key state every 8ms. That’s a maximum additional latency of 7ms on a 125Hz keyboard compared to a 1000Hz keyboard — every single press.
Most budget keyboards poll at 125Hz. Mid-range gaming keyboards poll at 500Hz or 1000Hz. Some enthusiast keyboards now ship at 2000Hz (0.5ms) or 4000Hz (0.25ms), though the performance gain above 1000Hz is debated and largely imperceptible in practice.
Check your keyboard’s actual polling rate using the keyboard polling rate test — the number on the spec sheet and the number the OS reports are sometimes different, especially over Bluetooth.
Wireless vs. wired — which adds more latency?
Connection type affects latency, but not always in the way you expect.
USB wired at 1000Hz: 1ms maximum polling delay. No wireless interference. The baseline for latency comparisons.
2.4GHz proprietary wireless (Logitech LIGHTSPEED, Razer HyperSpeed, SteelSeries Quantum): 1ms polling achievable, comparable to wired. These protocols bypass Bluetooth entirely and perform identically to wired in controlled conditions.
Bluetooth: The Bluetooth HID protocol adds variable latency — typically 7–15ms above wired, sometimes spiking higher in environments with heavy 2.4GHz congestion (Wi-Fi routers, other Bluetooth devices nearby). For typing and everyday work, Bluetooth latency is unnoticeable. For competitive gaming, it’s a measurable disadvantage.
If your latency test results are consistently higher than expected and you’re on Bluetooth, switch to USB and retest. The difference will be visible in the averages.
Why this test measures reaction time, not just keyboard latency
A hardware-only keyboard latency measurement requires dedicated equipment — a high-speed camera, a solenoid trigger, and a frame-by-frame analysis of the gap between physical keypress and screen pixel change. That’s how publications like Rtings.com measure keyboard latency to the sub-millisecond.
A browser-based test can’t do that. The browser receives keydown events after the OS has already processed them, and the visual stimulus (the green circle) is rendered through the same browser pipeline — so both the input and the output pass through layers of software that add their own timing.
What this tool gives you instead: a consistent, repeatable test environment for relative comparisons. Run it on your current keyboard, then on the keyboard you’re considering buying. The person stays the same, the browser stays the same, the machine stays the same — the only variable that changes is the keyboard. Any consistent difference in averages across 10 trials is a real hardware difference.
The keyboard hardware itself should add under 1ms of delay at 1000Hz polling — any quality wired mechanical keyboard achieves this. The number you see in this browser-based test includes your personal reaction time (150–250ms average for most people), so an average result of 80–130ms is normal and indicates no keyboard latency problem.
Yes. A 1000Hz keyboard polls every 1ms, a 500Hz keyboard every 2ms, and a 125Hz keyboard every 8ms. The difference between 125Hz and 1000Hz is a maximum of 7ms per keystroke. That’s measurable and real — check your keyboard’s polling rate with the keyboard polling rate test.
The Bluetooth HID protocol adds 7–15ms of latency compared to wired USB, and can spike higher in environments with heavy 2.4GHz wireless congestion. Proprietary 2.4GHz wireless (Logitech LIGHTSPEED and similar) achieves 1ms polling and performs comparably to wired. If Bluetooth latency is a concern, switch to a proprietary 2.4GHz dongle or a wired connection.
Yes — this is the most useful application. Run 10 trials on the first keyboard, note the average, then switch keyboards and run 10 more trials under identical conditions. Any consistent difference in averages reflects a real hardware difference between the two keyboards. One-off results vary too much — always compare 10-trial averages.
Actuation point depth affects how quickly the switch registers — a shallower actuation point (1.2mm on speed switches vs. 2.0mm on standard Cherry MX) means the contact fires earlier in the key travel. This can contribute a small latency reduction (typically 1–3ms) compared to deeper actuation switches. The effect is real but small compared to polling rate differences.