Making it in the world of gaming mice is not easy these days. New and exciting releases are dropping regularly and it seems like companies are coming up with innovations that push the standards nearly every month, which means that making a mouse that turns heads is a tall order.
HyperX is a company that’s not exactly known for their mice, but when we saw the specs of the Pulsefire Haste we did become interested. A mouse that weighs under 60 grams with a paracord-style cable, PTFE skates, included grip tape, flawless sensor, and TTC Golden switches coming in at a very budget friendly price point is something that we can always appreciate.
Of course specs alone don’t make a mouse great so we sent one over to our reviewer. Does the Pulsefire Haste do enough to make it one of the better budget-oriented ultralight options or is this more of a Pulsefire hate? Excuse the pun and read the full review to find out everything you want to know about the mouse!
At A Glance
HyperX Pulsefire Haste
Used by 2 players ()In a nutshell: the Pulsefire Haste doesn’t exactly revolutionize the market but as I’ve said in other reviews not every product needs to do that. If you’re looking for a lightweight ambidextrous mouse this is one of the better ones you can get right now.
Pros
- Good coating
- Good clicks and buttons
- Smooth skates
- Great stock cable
- Included grip tape
Cons
- Design with holes is perhaps getting a bit outdated
Specs
Sensor | PMW 3335 |
---|---|
Polling Rate | 125 / 250 / 500 / 1000 Hz |
Button Switches | TTC Golden |
Button Force | 77.6g |
Connection | Wired |
Shape | Ambidextrous |
Length | 12.25cm |
Height | 3.75cm |
Weight | 59g |
Width | 5.99cm |
First Impressions
When this Pulsefire Haste was delivered I was kind of skeptical. I am aware of the fact that HyperX makes gaming mice and that this isn’t their first attempt but I also know that their earlier models didn’t really do anything to excite a lot of people, myself included. Of course it would be unfair to let those prejudices influence my opinion on this product so I put them aside and opened the box, and I was pleasantly surprised pretty much immediately.
Aside from the fact that you get a refreshing amount of extras in the box (I’ll of course go into detail on all aspects of the mouse and the extras later on in the review) the mouse itself just feels like quality. I always kind of ‘feel out’ a mouse when I first unbox it by squeezing it a bit, clicking the buttons, feeling the coating and cable, and so on and this whole experience was very pleasing with the Pulsefire Haste. Ultralight mice can often feel a bit flimsy (especially if the company making them doesn’t have a ton of experience with this type of mouse) but not so with the Haste: everything here feels high quality.
The Pulsefire Haste is an ambidextrous mouse with that very common neutral kind of shell design. Minimal curvature and not a lot of grooves or angles that can make it feel awkward to hold if your grip or hand size doesn’t agree with the shape: those who are into gaming mice won’t find any surprises here.
It’s also very light on the branding: the only logo can be found on the left side of the mouse, but even that one is rather subtle. All things considered this is a clean looking mouse, provided you’re a fan of this honeycomb design style.
Packaging
Inside the box you get the usual documentation, but also a pair of extra feet (I always love to see that) and some custom cut grip tape. It’s cool to see companies trying to upgrade the ‘whole package’ so I always applaud the inclusion of these little extras. Even if you personally don’t use them it doesn’t hurt to have them in the box so kudos to HyperX.
Shape, Coating, and Mouse Feet
The Pulsefire Haste has a very neutral and safe ambidextrous shape. It flares out a bit at the back like a lot of mice do but even that flare is very gradual and subtle so I don’t think anyone will be annoyed by this. At the front you’ve got a tiny bit of an overhang to help with picking it up, and all of this combined with the central and gradual hump makes for a shape that will suit a lot of people regardless of grip. If you want something that’s a bit more formed or less ‘one shape fits all’ this probably won’t be for you but as far as I’m concerned this is a really nice this is a satisfying shell.
Two notable things here: the lack of holes on the side and the rather pronounced grooves found on the main buttons. Holes on the side don’t bother me personally but I know that a lot of people get turned off by them so all things considered I think it’s a good idea to leave the sides solid seeing as those extra few holes won’t save a lot of weight but might cost a company a substantial amount of potential customers.
The comfort grooves on both main buttons don’t look so drastic on most pictures but you can definitely feel them. For me they fit fine and I quite like them but if you’re someone who isn’t a fan of these kinds of main buttons you might want to take note.
On to the coating then. I really like it. It’s ever so slightly textured to provide an extra touch of grip but it’s not overdone so that it becomes annoying and it handles sweat and hand oils like a champ. I always find the coating to be less of a factor with these cheese grater-style mice because there’s just less hand to mouse contact but of course that’s no excuse to disregard the coating so it’s good to see that the Pulsefire Haste’s is up to par.
To be complete I also tested the mouse with the included grip tape. The grip elements feel high quality and while I obviously can’t test them for months they don’t feel as if the texturing on them will start to fade super quickly or anything.
I tested this mouse with and without grip tape and the configuration I left it in was no tape on the sides with tape on the main buttons. I should say that I’m not a fan of grip tape because for me it usually alters the shape of a mouse too much (a couple of millimeters can make a huge difference in how a mouse feels) and I felt the same way here. The included tape is pretty thick, which makes it feel luxurious and premium but for me personally it made the mouse feel a bit too wide when applied to the sides. You might of course feel completely different so it’ll be nice to know that you can reuse the tape without any issues. You won’t be able to apply and remove it thousands of times as the adhesive will naturally degrade but I swapped the grip elements out a couple of times and I had no problems.
On the bottom of the mouse you’ll encounter four small PTFE feet. These are nicely finished so the glide is smooth straight out of the box. The overall glide experience is nice: it’s not super fast nor is it super slow so I suspect most people will be absolutely fine with these stock feet though I personally prefer the feeling of larger skates over smaller ones. That’s not a deal breaker though as these perform just fine and I didn’t have any issues with these at all.
Recommended Grip Types
This type of safe shape without potentially offensive curvature should work for a very large amount of grip types, and depending on your hand size I can see this working for all types of grip. Thanks to the hump it can even be palmed if you’ve got small to medium sized hands though I suspect this will mostly be used by people who have a claw-dominated grip. Fingertipping works too but it’s not a super flat ambi mouse so if you want that kind of thing you should probably look elsewhere.
As always I want to say that all of this is down to personal preference. Everything us reviewers say about grip compatibility is based on our experience but everyone is different (click here to read our article on how to choose a gaming mouse) so use these kinds of statements on grip and size compatibility as guidelines.
Buttons and Scroll Wheel
Underneath the main buttons of the Pulsefire Haste there are TTC Golden micro dustproof switches. The fact that HyperX went through the trouble of specifying exactly what type of switches are being used in this mouse indicates that consumers are becoming more and more interested in what’s used to make things click, and that’s an interesting new development if you ask me.
These TTC Golden switches feel great: the main buttons feel snappy, they sound nice and clicky, and both require just the right amount of force for me personally. That last bit will depend on personal preferences (I don’t like extremely light triggers) but you can definitely tell the designers of this mouse spent some time to make sure the main clicks feel good to use. If I had to offer some criticism I’d say that there’s a bit too much side travel on the main buttons once clicked but in reality you really don’t notice that when gaming or using the mouse normally so all in all this is a very satisfying set of clicks.
The side buttons are a bit less stellar. They actuate with that same click but they have the ‘pivot problem’ where, if you press them anywhere else than straight in the middle, they have a bit too much post travel and go into the shell somewhat. To be completely fair you do need to use a rather high amount of force to really get them to move to the deepest point but I did encounter some tense moments where I had it happen ingame. It’s nothing more than a very minor annoyance and it doesn’t impact gameplay at all but of course I mention these things to be complete.
Luckily the scroll wheel picks up the pace again. This wheel is almost completely silent and has a rather low amount of definition between steps so if you’re someone who needs an (audible) cue between each scroll step you might need to adapt a little bit but for people like me who use the wheel to jump or perform other non-precise actions it’s great. It’s also easy to press and does so with a deeper but still audible click.
Build Quality and Cable
I already noted this in the first impressions part but this is a really solid mouse. It’s dead silent even when I’m shaking it around as if I’m making the world’s best daiquiri and I couldn’t find any spots where the shell flexed to a worrying extent. This is a very nicely built ultralight mouse, and the fact that I couldn’t get any buttons to actuate by pressing on the shell means that it also passes that test, which is something that can’t be said for all ultralight mice.
The cable is fantastic as well. It’s thin, light, and flexible and for me it’s without a doubt up there as one of the best stock paracord-style cables at this point in time. I haven’t yet seen a cable that actually beats a good aftermarket paracord but if I were to use this as my main I personally wouldn’t worry about replacing the cable at all, though that obviously depends on your personal tolerances for these kinds of things.
Sensor and Everyday Performance
Update: I’ve had messages from users asking me about sensor deviation. There seems to be a problem with DPI deviation (meaning that, when you set the mouse to a certain DPI its actual DPI count is off from what you’ve set it to; this happens on pretty much all mice but if it’s within certain parameters there is no issue) that is far beyond what’s acceptable on some copies. I did not have this issue with mine, and tested it again just to be sure, but if you do (these things vary from unit to unit) then you’ll want to make sure that your firmware is updated to the latest version to see if it is fixed. I’m adding this here to be complete and I’ll update this section if any news comes out.
The HyperX Pulsefire Dart uses the 3335 as its sensor. That’s interesting, not because it’s a flawless sensor (these have been standard on gaming mice for a couple of years now) but because of the fact that it’s primarily used in wireless mice due to the fact that it consumes less power than the 3360 and 3389 sensors, to name a few. This might indicate that HyperX is planning on releasing a wireless version of the Haste sometime in the future, but I’m getting ahead of myself here. As you’d expect the gaming performance of the mouse is flawless. This sensor tracks your every move with pixel perfect precision, as you’d expect from any modern gaming mouse worth its salt.
If you want to you can use the Pulsefire Haste without installing any software but if you want to create macros or play at uncommon DPI levels you’ll need to download the NGENUINTY app. I say app because this is a Windows Store exclusive app at this point in time. I don’t know why but I don’t really like the fact that it has to be downloaded through the Windows Store although I do realize that this is some kind of personal beef I have with those kinds of things.
The app itself works great: it’s easy to use and while it’s not the most beautiful or expansive piece of software out there it does allow you to do anything you’d want to do so that’s all aces. Everything you configure in the software can be saved to the mouse itself by the way, so if you don’t want to keep it installed you can just configure your mouse once and be on your merry way.
HyperX Pulsefire Haste Review – Conclusion
If this review seemed a bit short and ‘to the point’ it’s because there just isn’t a lot to criticize about this mouse. The HyperX Pulsefire Haste is an extremely solid ultralight mouse that does almost everything right without making any glaring mistakes.
Purchase the Haste and you get a well built mouse that comes in at a very light weight with good coating, satisfying clicks, smooth skates, and one of the best stock cables in the business. On top of that you get a pair of replacement feet (that’s not that unusual) and custom cut reusable grip tape for both sides and both main buttons.
In a nutshell: the Pulsefire Haste doesn’t exactly revolutionize the market but as I’ve said in other reviews not every product needs to do that. If you’re looking for a lightweight ambidextrous mouse this is one of the better ones you can get right now.
This product was received for free from the manufacturer and given to our reviewer to test and review. Brands and manufacturers have no editorial control over our reviews. For more information, check out our review FAQ.
should i consider buying this or g703 if I’m into fps and battle royale?
Those are two very different mice. The G703 is rather heavy by modern standards, for example, while the Haste is light. It’s also wired versus wireless and ergonomic versus ambidextrous. They’re so different it really comes down to what your preferences are to be honest. Both are perfectly capable gaming mice in their own right but aside from the fact that they’re both gaming mice there’s not much to compare between the two. For BR games we do see that professionals are (comparatively) using more lightweight mice, so you perhaps could look more towards the Haste if that’s your focus, though again: that’s down to preferences.
good mouse for csgo?
If it ticks the right boxes for you it should be great for any first person shooter, including CS:GO!
Do you have info on pro players using this mouse(preferably in fps)?
Ewok and Anas (Fortnite) both use one right now to my knowledge. We are always updating our pro lists and pages so this might of course change in the future.
How is it compared to the gpro wireless? Which is better?
It really depends on what you find important. Of course the G Pro Wireless is a more impressive technical achievement, but the Pulsefire Haste is a great mouse too. I would personally choose the G Pro Wireless though.
have you noticed the “DPI Diviation” issue?
Not personally (mine is within acceptable tolerances, but this stuff varies from unit to unit) but I did read about it on forums. I’ve added a section to the relevant part in the review to inform people of it.
How similar in shape and size is this mouse in comparison to the Zowie S1?
They’re not all that similar in my opinion. The S1 is larger and has a hump that’s more focused towards the back while the Haste has a more centralized hump. If I had to compare the Haste to a Zowie mouse it’d the the FK line.