At just 59 grams, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste is one of the lightest mice to ever hit the market.
The HyperX Pulsefire Haste is an ultra-lightweight gaming mouse. It weighs in at 59g, boasts a sleek honeycomb design, a cycle button for DPI presets (400, 800, 1600, 3200), mappable forward and back buttons, and two RGB strips accenting the scroll wheel.
The first question you probably have (and one I certainly did) is what is the point of lightweight mice like the HyperX Pulsefire Haste? I’ve seen honeycombs for a while now, and didn’t really understand the hype.
The answer is, disappointingly, the fact that I’ve been aiming wrong. The push for ultra-lightweight mice in the FPS community has been underpinned by a switch in shooting technique between wannabe pros and amateurs. The general consensus is that movement stemming from your elbow allows smoother motion and greater control than flicking from the wrist, which can be twitchy and inconsistent.
That alone was worth the price of entry for this mouse for me. I’ve been a wrist flicker from day one, and preferred mice with a bit of heft. After putting the HyperX Pulsefire Haste through its paces on 3daimtrainer.com, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Fortnite, I found myself enamoured with this strange little shell in my hand.
Admittedly, I didn’t get stuck into a MOBA or RPG, so I can’t talk to its efficiency with those gaming styles.
It’s important to note that a mouse alone won’t turn you into Mint Blitz, but it might make the difference in those tight moments. Most importantly, I found that switching up my style was a hugely fun process. It let me approach games I know and love in a brand new way.
Moving beyond the broader philosophical implications of lightweight mice in the gaming community, the Haste is a nifty piece of tech. It feels excellent, looks great, and has an exceptionally responsive sensor. It took almost no time to adapt to the differences.
The first point to note with the Haste is that it’s ambidextrous and has hard, flat sides, going somewhat against the grain of more ergonomic designs which curve in to hold your thumb in place. In a 125g mouse, this makes a big difference, as your thumb is utilised in pushing the mouse around the mat. With the Haste, and my newfound elbow movement technique, that feeling of newness vanished within an hour.
The Haste comes with grip tape for the sides and mice buttons, an interesting idea, but one that didn’t work for me. The grip tape is exceptionally effective, to the point that it felt like the Haste was holding my hand. I preferred the natural smoothness that the Haste came with and lasted a little over a minute before peeling the grip tape off again.
The tactile response from the TTC Golden micro switches is great. Despite the lightness of the mouse, there’s a sense of weight behind the pressure needed to land the clicks in. Rated for 60 million clicks before it dies, I was happy to slap it around a little without fearing of damaging it. The Haste is light, but never fragile.
The HyperFlex USB cable is a lovely addition, feeling like a piece of rope instead of a rubberised cable. It makes this play more like a natural extension of your computer, instead of a peripheral. The texture allows for it sit in ways and places that rubber simply couldn’t.
At $70 AUD, this isn’t the cheapest mouse on the market, but it’s definitely not the most expensive piece of tech either. It sits in the perfect pocket of slightly above average, but crushes with value for money. You can pay more and get less performance with any number of competitors.
Overall, this mouse is an excellent addition to any gaming set up. It’s absolutely overkill for your office job, but if you want to flex on your co-workers, this is 100% the way to do it.
What made the Haste stand out for me wasn’t any individual aspect – no part of this mouse is a game-changing improvement to the mouse world – but rather the fact that every aspect of the mouse is of the highest quality. It stands out as a consummate all-rounder. It’s excellent at everything it does, and it’s this focus on detail that made me fall in love with it. It converted me from a doubter of the lightweight gang into an avid believer.
Find more about the HyperX Pulsefire Haste here.
