Mouse double click test — switch chatter and polling rate
When one press behaves like two. Read the interval in milliseconds instead of guessing.
When one press registers as two, or a drag drops halfway. Check in the browser whether it is switch chatter before you try to fix anything. Polling rate, wheel and buttons are checked on the same page.
Click in the area below, then move the mouse quickly left and right. Two presses of the same button within 60ms count as chatter.
Left, wheel and right buttons light up when pressed
Click log —
Chatter shows up the moment you click
Chatter is a worn or contaminated switch contact bouncing, so one physical press enters as two electrical signals. The everyday symptoms are a drag that drops halfway and a single click that opens a file. If the test above repeatedly records gaps under 60ms on the same button, that is faster than a hand can press twice — we read it as chatter.
How many hits counts as a fault
Press slowly twenty times. One or two flagged intervals is an early symptom; five or more is already interfering with normal use. If the warranty is still valid, photograph this screen exactly as it is and attach it to the claim.
Do not take the polling rate at face value
The figure is derived from the gaps between mouse events the browser received, so it reads lower than the hardware's actual polling rate. Browsers also sometimes batch events to the display refresh rate, which is why a 144Hz monitor can produce a reading near that number. Use it to compare two mice under the same conditions, not as an absolute measurement.
Where the 60ms threshold comes from
The fastest deliberate double-click a person can make lands roughly 100–150ms apart. Even trained hands cannot separate two presses below 60ms. So a repeated sub-60ms gap on one button is a signal the switch produced, not your finger. Conversely, readings clustered near 120ms are most likely legitimate double-clicks.
Rule out settings first — that is not the same as a broken mouse
If the operating system's double-click interval is set too long, two separate clicks get merged into one double-click. Windows keeps this in Mouse Properties; macOS keeps it under Accessibility → Pointer Control. Set it mid-range and measure again. The tell for a settings problem is that this tool shows normal intervals while the symptom still appears in the file manager.
Buttons do not wear evenly
The left button goes first. It takes overwhelmingly the most presses, so its contact wears fastest, and most chatter reports are left-click. Wheel clicks and side buttons often stay fine for years — which is why a fault on left-click alone points to that one switch, while several buttons misbehaving at once points at the board or the cable. Press each button in the test above and check that it lights up before you conclude anything.
How to measure properly
- Charge it first. A wireless mouse lowers its own polling rate when the battery is low
- Close other tabs and windows. A busy browser stretches the intervals it reports
- Press slowly, twenty times. Rapid clicking mixes in real double-clicks and blurs the verdict
- Drag as well — some units click cleanly but only drop out mid-drag
How it gets fixed
Contact cleaner sometimes revives a switch, but only temporarily. On a hot-swap design, replacing the switch is the reliable fix; otherwise it needs soldering. Inside the warranty window, service or exchange comes first.
Frequently asked
It only chatters occasionally. Is it still broken?
That is the early stage. Contact wear does not reverse, so the frequency climbs over time. If pressing slowly twenty times flags one or two intervals, the mouse is still usable — but if the warranty is still valid, claim it now. Later the symptom is easier to reproduce and the warranty may have expired.
It reports 125Hz but my mouse is 1000Hz.
That is expected. The figure is derived from the gaps between events the browser received, so it reads lower than the hardware value. Browsers also batch events to the display refresh rate. Use it to compare two mice under the same conditions, not as an absolute number.
Can software fix chatter?
There are utilities that ignore a second click arriving too soon, and as a stopgap they work. But if the cause is a worn contact the symptom grows more frequent, and the longer you set the ignore window the more you also block legitimate fast double-clicks. If the warranty is valid, service comes first.