Aim Trainer

Hitting a target quickly and accurately is a mix of seeing, deciding and moving. Players of shooters and strategy games practise it; so do people who want to test a new mouse, a different sensitivity or a new screen. This trainer puts targets in a practice area, times your clicks and gives a score you can compare between rounds.

How a round works

Choose the number of targets, their size and the time you have for each, then press Start a round. One target appears at a random spot. Click it before it disappears. A click on empty space counts as a miss, and so does a target that expires. A counter shows how many targets have appeared, for example 7 / 20. After the last target the round ends and the result shows your accuracy, the number of hits out of the total and your average time.

What is measured

The reaction time of a hit runs from the moment the target appears to your click, so it includes seeing the target, moving the pointer there and clicking. It depends on distance, target size, your mouse and the screen’s refresh rate. The page shows the average time, the median, which is less affected by one slow hit, and the fastest hit. Misses have no time. Accuracy is hits divided by all targets.

The score

Score = accuracy in tenths of a percent minus the average time in hundredths of a second. For example, a round with 90 percent accuracy and an average hit time of 450 ms scores 900 − 45 = 855. Higher accuracy raises the score, and a slower average lowers it. The number has no meaning outside this page; it only compares rounds at the same settings. The best score is saved separately for each combination of number of targets, size and time.

Settings

Ten targets make a short warm-up and fifty a longer test of consistency. Large targets at 1.8 seconds are easy, while small targets at 0.8 seconds are demanding. Change only one setting at a time when you compare mice or sensitivities, and use the same ones when you retest. The Sample button starts a round with your current settings.

Practice habits

Short rounds with a break in between beat one long session. Keep the same posture and surface, and do not change the mouse sensitivity between rounds you want to compare. If your hand or wrist hurts, stop. If you want to test the hardware, the Mouse Test and the Refresh Rate Test show how much of the delay comes from the equipment rather than from you.

Edge cases

A touchscreen can be used, but the times then include a finger and are not comparable with mouse rounds. On a small screen, the practice area is smaller, which shortens distances and lowers times, so compare rounds only on the same device and window size.

Limits

It is a simple trainer, not a clinical or competitive test. Results vary with the day, the equipment and the screen. Only your best scores are kept, in this browser, and nothing is sent.

Choosing settings for a purpose

The three target sizes are 64, 44 and 28 pixels across, so the small target is less than half the width of the large one and demands much finer control. The three time limits are 1.8, 1.2 and 0.8 seconds. For a warm-up, use large targets at the slowest limit. To train precision, keep the time generous and shrink the target. To train speed, keep the target medium and shorten the time, and accept that accuracy will drop at first.

Related tools

• Mouse Test checks the buttons and polling rate of the mouse.
• Refresh Rate Test shows how much of your delay comes from the screen’s update rate.
• Keyboard Test checks the keyboard that goes with the mouse.
• Gamepad Tester checks controllers for games.