HyperX Pulsefire Haste Review – Ultralight For The Win
HyperX Pulsefire Haste is a new entry into the ultra-lightweight mouse category. A solid combination of features for the price.
Alright people, this is a pretty rare moment. The Gamer Matters boys got a set of gaming gear to review. HyperX graciously offered us to take a look at some of their new gears that will be officially sold in Malaysia starting February 2021. My colleague Putera Danial reviewed the Cloud Stinger Core Wireless recently. For this article, we are going to take a look at their latest gaming mouse offering, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste.
Packaging
HyperX does not disappoint in the packaging department. Firstly, the box includes replacement PTFE skates. A big thumbs up from me personally. One of the problems I face with mouse longevity is the skates will eventually wear out from use and require replacement purchase. The extra skates are very much appreciated.
Secondly, a set of pre-cut grip tapes are included too. The reason being the shell is fully plastic (you will see why later) and the tapes help add grip surfaces on the chassis sides and L/R buttons without resorting to rubber structures. However, self-application of the tapes are required. Once done, worry less of your slippery hands making you miss the headshot on Warzone last circle.
Physicals and Specifications
Here is the specification for you mouse nerds out there.
| Shape | Symmetrical / Ambidextrous |
| Sensor | Pixart PAW3335 |
| Resolution | Up to 16000 DPI |
| DPI Presets | 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 DPI |
| Speed | 450ips |
| Acceleration | 40G |
| Buttons | 6 |
| Left / Right buttons switches | TTC Golden Micro Dust Proof Switch |
| Onboard memory | 1 profile |
| Polling rate | 1000Hz |
| Cable type | HyperFlex USB Cable. |
| Connection type | USB 2.0 |
| Skate material | Virgin-grade PTFE |
| Weight (without cable) | 59g |
| Weight (with cable) | 80g |
| Dimensions | Length: 124.2mm Height: 38.2mm Width: 66.8mm Cable length: 1.8m |
If you pay close attention to the specs, you will notice the fact that this mouse weighs just 59 grams. 59 grams. For context, even light Logitech mice that I’ve tested weigh 85+ grams mouse only. For analog comparison, the Haste weighs as much as a medium-sized bag of chips. This puts the HyperX Pulsefire Haste among the lightest high-performance mice in the market right now.
“How did they accomplish this?”, you may ask. The answer is holes. A figurative metric ton of holes. Instead of a smooth solid surface, they designed the fully plastic shell with hexagonal honeycomb structural holes to reduce material and weight while sacrificing little to no chassis strength. You can see the same strategy employed by other ultralight gaming mice like the Cooler Master MM710 , Glorious Model O and Xtrfy M42.
Additionally, the holes should also be able to provide some ventilation like reducing hand sweats, for instance. However, a negative aspect I see here is those with trypophobia (fear of clusters of small holes, bumps, or patterns) will absolutely stay away from getting or even looking at this mouse.
The cable is a 1.8 meter lightweight fabric-sleeved type called HyperFlex and adds a mere 21 grams to the overall 80 grams weight. Certainly helps with faster swipes without cable weight being on the way. Even with all the lightweight design choices, the chassis remains solid and strong enough for intensive usage, no creaks or deformations felt during my time of use. Overall a solid build quality.
You will also get 6 buttons here, the L/R buttons, scroll wheel/middle button, DPI switcher button, and 2 left thumb buttons. The L/R buttons use TTG Golden switches and are claimed to be dust-proof. All of the buttons are programmable with HyperX NGENUITY Software. A customisable RGB LED is also present but only inside the scroll wheel.
Sensor wise, it employs the Pixart 3335 sensor with up to 16,000 CPI. From my quick research, it is considered a mid-tier sensor which should be good enough for all users except the sweaty tryhards wannabe pros and real professionals. Shots fired, fight me.
Software and Customization
Customization of the Pulsefire Haste can be done through HyperX’s NGENUITY software. Here, you can remap button functions, set DPI levels, customize RGB light and set polling rate. All settings can be saved onto the mouse itself so you can plug it into another PC and keep your settings. Furthermore, you can create several profile presets, but only one onboard profile save is available thus no profile switching on the fly for users in case of PC switching.
Button remapping works decently. You can map for various functions like music playback, Windows functions and even custom macro recording except for the L/R button whereby only function swap allowed. Alas, there is only a single layer mapping, no multi-layer maps for extended macros.
Personal Enjoyment
My daily driver is the well-acclaimed Logitech G502, and that thing is a heavy boi. Compared to the G502’s 120g weight, HyperX Pulsefire Haste 59g is like using air. As a first-time user of these ultralight mice, I’m still amazed at the weight reduction possible while maintaining rigidity and performance that these things have. Kudos to the engineering design team for the feat.
The mouse being lightweight combined with the excellent PTFE skates makes fast edge-to-edge sweeping effortlessly smooth and less fatiguing in the long run. I bulldozed through two 10+ hours sessions of Valheim and the only fatigue I got is from lack of sleep rather than heavy mouse usage. Good times.
The TTG Golden switches click pressure are light but not hair trigger level sensitive like the Razer Deathadders, and the scroll wheel has distinct spacing and definitions between ticks. The thumb buttons and middle mouse buttons are also satisfyingly tactile. Overall a pleasing experience in tactility.
Sensor performance wise, I can’t say much as I am a terrible PvP FPS player. The sensor can keep up with my tested line of shooting games such as Apex Legends, Cyberpunk 2077, CS:GO and The Division 2. What I can truly commend is its capability for more precise actions such as my GIMP image editing workflow and Valheim base building that requires some small precise movement and I feel no deviation at all. Personally, I do not plan to use the full 16K CPI as 1000 CPI is sufficient for me but supposedly the higher sensor resolution does help in those more precise movements on lower CPI.
Final Say and Verdict
In conclusion, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste is a great high quality no-nonsense gaming mouse with being super lightweight as the main selling point. Nothing fancy, no frills, no atrocious gimmicks as it presents itself as solid combo of features, capabilities and qualities that suffices for the average gamer.
Unfortunately, one downside is the Ringgit Malaysia tag. For the price, I honestly think you are better served by other manufacturers’ offerings with similar features (except the weight advantage) at lower price. If money is no object and you are a fan of HyperX gears, you can’t go wrong with picking this up instead.
HyperX Pulsefire Haste is available for purchase here in Malaysia with MSRP of RM199. Find out more about Pulsefire Haste from HyperX website here.
Review hardware provided by HyperX.
Solid combo of features within a lightweight chassis.
- Price 7.5
- Personal Enjoyment 9
- Design 9