What is the ZD Ultimate Legend polling rate on PC?
8000 Hz on the cable, on current firmware, which is more than the 3000 Hz some retailers still list. Not on the dongle: every Ultimate Legend dongle test gamepadla has published read between 329 and 990 Hz, and buttons came in 5 to 9 ms slower than on the cable. ZD's 8K is a wired feature.
The ZD Ultimate Legend polls at about 8000 Hz on PC over a cable, on firmware 1.18 or later, and at 330 to 990 Hz over its 2.4G dongle. Gamepadla's primary test, on firmware 1.24 under Windows 10, measured 7786 Hz wired with buttons at 2.43 ms and sticks at 1.44 ms, then 330 Hz on the dongle with buttons at 11.2 ms and sticks at 9.64 ms. So the 8K is real, but only on the cable. On the dongle the Ultimate Legend is slower on buttons than a wired Microsoft pad.
Seven ZD pads, measured
One primary test per link, Windows, XInput mode. Gamepadla lists seven ZD controllers, and only the two Legend 8K models reach 8000 Hz on any link.
| Controller and link | Polling (Hz) | Buttons (ms) | Sticks (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Legend, cable | 7786 | 2.43 | 1.44 |
| Ultimate Legend, dongle | 330 | 11.2 | 9.64 |
| Ultimate Legend, Bluetooth | 210.48 | 11.0 | 22.0 |
| Super Legend Excellence 8K, cable | 8000 | 2.53 | 0.57 |
| Super Legend Excellence 8K, dongle | 982.32 | 8.04 | 9.97 |
| Super Legend Excellence 8K, Bluetooth | 268.31 | 7.29 | 12.6 |
| Classic Legend, cable | 900.09 | 8.43 | 15.5 |
| Classic Legend, dongle | 961.54 | 10.7 | 35.8 |
| Classic Legend, Bluetooth | 241.72 | 19.6 | 40.1 |
| Y Shadow Wing, cable | 991.08 | 8.28 | 17.2 |
| Y Shadow Wing, dongle | 220.02 | 12.8 | 38.5 |
| Y Shadow Wing, Bluetooth | 390.02 | 13.5 | 34.3 |
| O Excellence, cable (GPDL) | 801.92 | 9.00 | 7.62 |
| O Excellence, dongle (GPDL) | 261.92 | 14.9 | 26.0 |
| O Excellence, Bluetooth (GPDL) | 163.4 | 25.6 | 40.8 |
| O, cable (GPDL) | 250 | 25.3 | - |
| O, dongle (GPDL) | 255.1 | 14.4 | - |
| O, Bluetooth (GPDL) | 145.24 | 25.2 | - |
| S Super Legend, cable (GPDL) | 500 | 11.5 | 11.5 |
Test details: Ultimate Legend cable and dongle, firmware 1.24, Windows 10, 20 June 2026; Bluetooth, firmware 1.05, Windows 11, 19 September 2025. Super Legend Excellence 8K, firmware 1.12, Windows 11, 25 May 2026. Classic Legend, firmware 1.14, 19 September 2025. Y Shadow Wing, 6 May 2026, firmware not given. O Excellence, firmware 1.0.5, 6 May 2025. O, 2 April 2025: the cable row is on firmware 1.3.8, while the same tester on firmware 1.0.5 that day measured 990.1 Hz and 8.73 ms on the cable. S Super Legend, firmware 1.5, 17 October 2024, cable only.
Where the 3000, 4000 and 8000 Hz figures come from
All three circulate, and all three were true at some point. MaxGaming's listing says the Ultimate Legend has "an ultra-high polling rate of 3000 Hz in wired mode". That is the lowest of the three, and below what even the 2025 firmware measured. The split runs by firmware:
- September to December 2025, firmware 1.05 to 1.09: every latency and polling test on the cable, from eight testers, read 4000 Hz or less.
- April 2026 onward, firmware 1.18 and 1.24: readings of 7786 to 8000 Hz from five testers.
So if your Ultimate Legend reads about 4000 Hz, update the firmware. The rate is also a setting, not a fixed property. One tester on firmware 1.24 recorded runs at 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000 Hz on the same day, and another on firmware 1.18 at 500, 1000, 2000 and 8000. Every 8000 Hz result is XInput on a cable. Switch mode on the cable measured 99.81 Hz and 18.87 ms on buttons.
What 8000 Hz buys on the cable
Very little on buttons. Five tests at each setting, same tester, firmware 1.24, Windows 11 (medians, derived):
| Setting | Buttons, median of 5 (ms) | Sticks (ms) |
|---|---|---|
| 8000 Hz | 2.36 | 1.49 |
| 4000 Hz | 2.32 | - |
| 2000 Hz | 2.49 | 1.60 |
| 1000 Hz | 2.57 | 1.81 |
| 500 Hz | - | 2.29 |
Going from 1000 to 8000 Hz saved 0.21 ms on buttons and 0.32 ms on sticks. The half-interval rule on our polling rate page predicts 0.44 ms, so the measured gain is about half the prediction, and inside gamepadla's plus or minus 1 ms margin. 4000 and 8000 Hz were indistinguishable. Moving from the 2025 firmware to 8000 Hz on 1.24 bought a little more: 2.58 to 2.78 ms on buttons at about 3830 to 3850 Hz then, against 2.31 to 2.43 ms now.
The dongle: never above 1000 Hz, and 5 to 9 ms slower
No Ultimate Legend dongle test reads above 1000 Hz on any firmware. Gamepadla's results run from 329.27 to 990.1 Hz, and the primary test on firmware 1.24 is 330 Hz. The rate is not what costs the time, though. At 330 Hz the half-interval rule predicts 1.45 ms more than at 8000 Hz (derived). The measured gap was 8.79 ms. The Super Legend Excellence 8K makes the point more plainly: its dongle measured 982.32 Hz for one tester and 305 Hz for another, and buttons were 8.04 and 8.07 ms both times.
| Controller and session | Buttons (ms) | Sticks (ms) |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Legend, firmware 1.24 | 8.79 | 8.20 |
| Ultimate Legend, firmware 1.05, tester A | 5.49 | 11.49 |
| Ultimate Legend, firmware 1.05, tester B | 5.14 | 7.83 |
| Ultimate Legend, firmware 1.05 (GPDL) | 4.99 | - |
| Super Legend Excellence 8K, Windows 11 | 5.51 | 9.40 |
| Super Legend Excellence 8K, Windows 10 | 5.53 | 8.44 |
| O Excellence (GPDL) | 5.90 | 18.38 |
| O, firmware 1.0.5 (GPDL) | 5.67 | - |
| Y Shadow Wing | 4.52 | 21.3 |
| Classic Legend | 2.27 | 20.3 |
Across the six pads tested both ways, using one session each, the median button penalty is 5.59 ms (2.27 to 8.79). The cheaper pads lose most on sticks: about 20 ms on the Classic Legend and Y Shadow Wing. For scale, the Ultimate Legend's 11.22 ms on the dongle is slower than a stock Xbox Series pad on a cable (6.50 ms, on our Xbox controller polling rate page).
That is what separates ZD from the other 8K pads we have measured. The Machenike F1's dongle was within 1.03 ms of its cable (Machenike polling rate), the EasySMX Dune 8K's 0.66 ms (EasySMX polling rate), and the GameSir G7 Pro 8K's 2.08 ms (GameSir polling rate). Both ZD 8K pads behave like Machenike's G-series instead: an 8000 Hz cable and a dongle that does not keep up.
Bluetooth and Switch mode
Over Windows Bluetooth in XInput, the six pads with a Bluetooth test measured 145.24 to 390.02 Hz. The Super Legend Excellence 8K was the quickest on buttons at 7.29 ms, faster than its own dongle. The Ultimate Legend's 11.0 ms over Bluetooth is level with its 11.2 ms dongle result, though on older firmware, another tester and Windows 11, so treat that as a tie, not a ranking. Switch mode cost every pad tested: about 100 Hz on the Ultimate Legend's cable and dongle, 124.92 Hz and 10.67 ms on the Super Legend Excellence 8K's cable, and 99.76 Hz and 28.7 ms on the Classic Legend's. On PC, stay in XInput.
Where this stops applying
Each row is one unit on one firmware, measured by a volunteer tester, and gaps under a millisecond sit inside gamepadla's margin. GPDL and Prometheus 82 rows use different methods, so compare within a row type. Firmware numbering on gamepadla is reported by testers, and labels such as 1.05 and 1.0.5 may be the same release. The O and S Super Legend results date from 2024 and early 2025. One stick-tracer reading on firmware 1.05, in December 2025, showed 5196.67 Hz on the cable, so 4000 Hz is where the 2025 latency and polling tests topped out, not a proven hardware limit. Polling readings are from software and can fall short of the true rate because of OS scheduling, as gamepadla notes. Dongle results also depend on placement: a busy USB 3.0 port beside the receiver can raise the noise floor, as our USB 3.0 interference page shows. Everything here is Windows on PC.
What to do
- Ultimate Legend on PC: play on the cable in XInput, on firmware 1.18 or later. That is where the 8000 Hz and the 2.4 ms buttons are.
- Reading about 4000 Hz wired: update the firmware. Every 2025 test topped out there.
- Do not buy either ZD 8K pad to play on the dongle. It ran at 305 to 990 Hz and added 5.0 to 8.8 ms on buttons.
- Do not chase 8000 over 4000 Hz. On the same firmware they measured 2.36 and 2.32 ms.
- Want 8K wireless: the Machenike F1, EasySMX Dune 8K or GameSir G7 Pro 8K, whose dongles stayed within about 2 ms of the cable.
Frequently asked questions
Is the ZD Ultimate Legend 8000 Hz?
On the cable, on firmware 1.18 or later, yes. Gamepadla measured 7786 Hz on firmware 1.24 with buttons at 2.43 ms and sticks at 1.44 ms, and other testers on 1.18 and 1.24 read 7874 to 8000 Hz. Latency and polling tests on the 2025 firmware (1.05 to 1.09) never read above 4000 Hz. On the 2.4G dongle it is not 8000 Hz on any firmware tested: 329 to 990 Hz.
Is the ZD Ultimate Legend dongle slower than the cable?
Yes. On firmware 1.24 the dongle measured 330 Hz and 11.22 ms on buttons against 2.43 ms on the cable, 8.79 ms slower. Three 2025 sessions on firmware 1.05 put the gap at 4.99 to 5.49 ms. Sticks were 7.83 to 11.49 ms slower on the dongle.
Does the Super Legend Excellence 8K poll at 8000 Hz on the dongle?
No. Gamepadla measured 8000 Hz on the cable and 982.32 Hz on the dongle in one test, 305 Hz in another. Buttons were 8.04 and 8.07 ms on the dongle in both, against 2.53 and 2.54 ms on the cable.
Does 8000 Hz make the Ultimate Legend faster than 1000 Hz?
Slightly. One tester ran five button tests at each setting on firmware 1.24: the median was 2.57 ms at 1000 Hz and 2.36 ms at 8000 Hz, 0.21 ms faster, which is inside gamepadla's plus or minus 1 ms margin. The dongle costs 24 to 42 times that.
What is the ZD Ultimate Legend Bluetooth polling rate?
Gamepadla measured 210.48 Hz over Bluetooth in XInput mode on firmware 1.05, with 11.0 ms on buttons and 22.0 ms on sticks. An older electrical test read 185.39 Hz and 13.65 ms. Switch mode over Bluetooth measured 70.71 Hz.