After years of using wired mice, it’s always nice to change things up a bit and experience what a wireless gaming mouse offers.
The HyperX Pulsefire Dart Gaming Mouse is, according to HyperX’s website, a “gaming-grade wireless mouse with a reliable 2.4GHz RF connection”. I first saw HyperX’s latest mouse at PAX Australia 2019 and was impressed by the look and feel of the wireless, hassle free, gaming mouse.
Design
When it comes to looks, the Pulsefire Dart takes a rather old school approach, looking more like a professional mouse than a gaming one. This more subtle look makes the mouse one that can be used both in the home and the office.
Size wise, the mouse is medium in size but with a wider build, making it feel a lot more grounded and ergonomic, fitting in my hand easily.
There are the typical left and right buttons, a scroll wheel and two programmable buttons on the left-hand side. Each side also includes leather-like grips which helps keep my hand in position, while providing comfort when holding the mouse.
It also has just the right amount of RBG lighting around the mouse wheel and HyperX logo, perfect for gamers who love RGB lit devices.
Use
To set up the mouse, you first need to ensure that it is charged. This is easily done by simply plugging the USB cable into the mouse and a power source (i.e. your PC). Once charged, the mouse can be used wirelessly by plugging the wireless receiver into your PC, however, HyperX recommends keeping the receiver within 8 inches of the mouse to ensure connectivity and decrease lag.
Using the extender cable helped with this as it allowed the receiver to be pulled a lot closer to where my mouse-pad is. Though I found this a bit bizarre considering other wireless mice I’ve used before simply have a little dongle that plugs into my laptop and worked fine without extender cables and such. It seemed a bit silly to have a wireless mouse still be reliant on a ‘non-attached’ wire.
That being said, the mouse itself was simply to use on start up. As soon as my laptop was turned on, the mouse was immediately recognised. It also felt really good to use in my hands. As mentioned above, it fit in my hand perfectly, with a palm grip, and includes rubberized grips on either side of the mouse allowing me to have a firm grip and more control. Furthermore, the mouse glides over a mouse pad really well, making for very smooth movements.
Software
To customise the Pulsefire Dart to suit your personal preferences and needs, you’ll need to use HyperX’s NGenuity software. While the software is simple and easy enough to use to customise things like lighting effects, buttons and sensors on the mouse, it seemed rather basic, which means seasoned pros wanting in depth customisations and multiple profiles of various configurations may find it a bit challenging to do. That being said, it’s perfect for beginners like me.
My only gripe with the NGenuity software though, is that the mouse needed to be wired and plugged in for the software to pick up the mouse. So each time you want to change anything, you’ll have to essentially plug in your wireless mouse. Again, seemed like it defeats the purpose.
Overall
As a whole, the HyperX Pulsefire Dart Wireless mouse was a light weight, super comfortable and easy to use piece of tech that I really enjoyed using. For my style of gaming and using a mouse, it had everything I needed and more. However, there are little things like having to plug the mouse in to be recognised by the NGenuity software and having to keep the mouse within 8 inches of the receiver that was a bit of an annoyance. Otherwise, it’s a neat little gaming mouse.