Line result page

Stick Motion Resolution Analysis

This test evaluates the analog stick's ability to register unique positions during a controlled, linear motion from the center to the edge of its range. The analysis was conducted using the Line program, ensuring precise measurement of the stick's resolution, linearity, and response characteristics.

Data Points

Data Points represents the total number of coordinates captured during the stick's movement from the center to the edge. This includes both the stable analog positions and any points affected by signal jitter, noise, or active processing. In this test, we recorded 5311 data points, which is an excellent result that indicates very precise stick movement registration.

Note on variability: This count is not a fixed hardware limitation. It represents the data collected during this specific 11.02-second test. The total number of points depends heavily on:

• Polling Rate: Controllers with higher polling rates (e.g., 1000 Hz) transmit updates more frequently, yielding more data points in the same time frame.
• Movement Speed: Moving the stick slower increases the test duration, allowing the software to collect many more samples. For example, during specialized high-precision bit-depth tests where the stick is moved extremely slowly, the same controller might record several times more points.

To evaluate the actual physical resolution of the stick, it is essential to also look at the Straight Points metric below, which filters out signal noise and duplicates.

Straight Points

Straight Points represent the number of clean, unique positions detected after filtering out duplicates, tremor, and signal processing artifacts during stick movement. This filtering process identifies points that follow a consistently increasing trajectory, representing the true analog steps of the stick. The test registered 823 straight points. This is an excellent result, indicating very smooth and precise stick movement.

Similar to Data Points, the count of Straight Points is variable and scales with the test duration and controller polling rate. Rather than representing a fixed hardware limit, it shows how many stable, distinct coordinates the controller successfully reported during this specific movement sequence. A higher number under similar conditions indicates a smoother, more detailed transition from center to edge.

Resolution

Resolution in this test refers to two complementary measurements:

Total Resolution: 874 positions across the entire stick range. This number represents how many distinct positions the analog stick can detect from center to edge. This might result in somewhat stepped or less smooth movement

Step Resolution: 0.00114 per increment. This value represents the average size of each step between detected positions (smaller values indicate higher precision). It determines how smoothly the stick can transition between positions, which directly impacts precise aiming and subtle movements in games.

A high total resolution combined with a low step resolution provides the optimal experience for precise control in games requiring fine adjustments.

Tremor

Tremor percentage represents the amount of signal variation and micro-jitter that occurs between the physical movement of the stick and the final output. It is calculated as the percentage of data points that do not follow a strictly increasing trajectory. The test measured 84.5% tremor. This higher percentage indicates more active signal processing, which is a characteristic of how this stick handles movement data.

While lower tremor indicates a cleaner raw signal, its presence does not significantly impact real-world gameplay. Different controllers have different signal processing characteristics. Notably, an artificially low tremor (0%) often indicates aggressive digital filtering or smoothing implemented by the manufacturer. While this makes the signal look clean, it can introduce response delay (input lag). Therefore, a moderate level of tremor is typical and often preferred over heavy filtering that degrades responsiveness.

Linearity

Linearity represents how closely the stick movement follows an ideal linear path. It's calculated as 100% minus the nonlinearity percentage, where nonlinearity measures deviations from a perfectly straight line. The test measured 97.1% linearity. This indicates excellent stick linearity, providing consistent and predictable movement.

At the same time, a gamepad stick is not a perfectly linear mechanical system. The stick rotates around a pivot, the cap travels along an arc, and the sensor reads that rotational movement rather than a truly straight physical path. Because of this, a graph that bends slightly below the ideal straight line is often normal. In many cases, that lower arc-like bow reflects the real mechanics of the stick more faithfully than a response that was tuned mainly to look perfectly straight in this specific test.

What matters most is that the movement remains smooth, progressive, and predictable. A mild, even downward curve can be acceptable or even technically more natural, while sharp dips, waviness, uneven acceleration, or asymmetry still indicate worse response quality.

Test Duration

The time taken to complete the test was 11.02 seconds. The test duration was longer than necessary, but this shouldn't significantly affect the results. For the most accurate results, the stick movement should be smooth and controlled, typically taking between 5 and 8 seconds.