Mayflash F500 Firmware Update V1.26 - Lower Input Lag?

[BloodHawk]

So I have a Mayflash F500 (version 1) arcade stick, but usually I don't mess with it too much as I have gotten more used to gamepads over the last couple years. However, I recently checked Mayflash's website and their latest firmware update from July 2021 is labeled "Arcade Stick F500 V1.26: Real lowest 1ms input lag for all platforms". That got me curious and I actually found some free time, so I decided to test it out myself and share the results for anyone else who has these sticks:

I tested it by playing Caladrius Blaze on PC, PS4, and Switch at 1080p on my LG TV 55SM9000PUA, which has been measured by rtings.com to have a 13.8ms response time at 1080p 60Hz; 7.1ms at 1080p 120Hz - https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/sm9000

Footage captured at 240fps, took and averaged 50 samples, then divided the number of frames by 4 to reach 60hz frames.

PC - (with G-Sync, 120Hz, Low Latency Mode set to "On" in Nvidia Control Panel)
Old Firmware v1.23 - 2.80 frames
New Firmware v1.26 - 1.96 frames
Reduction of 0.84 frames

PS4
Old Firmware v1.23 - 4.23 frames
New Firmware v1.26 - 3.31 frames
Reduction of 0.92 frames

Switch (docked)
Old Firmware v1.23 - 4.57 frames
New Firmware v1.26 - 3.93 frames
Reduction of 0.64 frames

Sure enough, they actually did improve the latency with this update. I am pleasantly surprised since these sticks have been out for years now, I didn't think they would focus on reducing lag this late in those stick's lifecycles.

[BONKERS]

I was wondering how much they were actually able to do, because I saw that on their website as well. I'll definitely update the firmware on mine now.

[NormalFish]

Is it easy to update the firmware on these? Thinking I might pick one up over the holiday.

[jamisonia]

I see there is a version for the V2 as well. I would have never thought to check the firmware on a controller like this if I didn't see this thread.

BTW does anybody know a way to make this USB style arcade sticks work on older hardware? I'd love to have a truly universal stick.

[bobrocks95]

I see there is a version for the V2 as well. I would have never thought to check the firmware on a controller like this if I didn't see this thread.

BTW does anybody know a way to make this USB style arcade sticks work on older hardware? I'd love to have a truly universal stick.

Throw a Brook Retro Board or MC Cthulhu inside it, I have a recent thread asking about comparisons between them but overall both seem like good options.

Assuming the bult-in PCB is common ground you should be able to keep the original board with its USB and use either retro board with a separate connector. There may be a better way to combine the two bu I'm not sure.

[BloodHawk]

Is it easy to update the firmware on these? Thinking I might pick one up over the holiday.

As long as you have a PC it's easy. Just open and run the updater program, plug the stick in (while holding select+start IIRC) and click "update", wait for it to finish and you're done.

[NewSchoolBoxer]

I really like your post. Thanks for being scientific here and taking 50 measurements on each test. Not necessary but I'd be curious if the standard deviation was reduced as well. 240 fps camera or cellphone recording is as far as my budget goes so I'm pleased to see that's enough to show a difference.

Do you think every button has that same input lag? Not something I thought about until I looked at Dualshock 4 v2 info. There is a thread at acidmodding forum I linked in PSTV thread that states:

D-pad and all face button are active low logic, they go to ground to activate.
L1, R1, L3 and R3 are active high logic, they go to 3.2V to activate.
L2 and R2 each have their own pulse width modulation (PWM) line.

Time delay from high to low logic is not exactly the same as delay from low to high. Maybe L2 and R2 have lowest delay.

Also interesting to see Bluetooth input lag almost always being less than USB. Difficult to 'scientifically reconcile' but each form of input goes through different circuitry that would have different delays. Bluetooth delay can be worse if you have 2.4 GHz WiFi devices nearby due to same frequency interference.