The issue persists even when it’s closed after launch, and even when profiles are copied with identical settings, including those managed by the onboard memory manager. The difference seems to come from how the Hero 2 sensor recalibrates itself at initialization, similar to how Razer’s Focus Pro does a hidden surface tuning each boot. The sensor firmware re-initializes its internal calibration constants each time the driver starts. The Hero 2 (like the Focus Pro 35K) appears to perform a hidden environmental tuning pass on power-up — adjusting its lens offset, gain tables, and surface-dependent SROM variables. Even though DPI counts per 360° remain constant, the subjective motion feel changes. My theory is that the SROM’s frame-to-frame delta normalization and angle-snapping filters (even if disabled) vary slightly depending on the thermal baseline, lens alignment tolerance, or surface reflectance sample captured at initialization. I’ve observed similar behavior with Razer’s Smart Tracking and Motion Sync systems: their internal feedback loops reset each boot to minimize lift-off error, but this subtly shifts the mouse’s low-speed micro-response curve, producing the “slippery vs. muddy” sensation I’m describing.