Page 2 - A Closer Look - Hardware
Taking a peek at the HyperX Pulsefire FPS, you can see it looks like a traditional palm grip mouse. The body is not exactly symmetrical, as it favors right-handed users in regards to the button placement and the curvature of the shell. The entire mouse is made of a hard shell plastic with a smooth coating. This is generally quite hard to grip, so side rubber grips are included on this mouse to make picking up the Pulsefire FPS easy. The matte black finish is relatively good at hiding fingerprints and marks, but if you have dirt or debris like cheese powder on your fingers, you will start seeing stains. Looking at the shape of the mouse, the HyperX Pulsefire FPS' humped middle looks like it is more suited for users who employ a more palm-like grip, but I will get into this later. The two primary buttons also have a slight curve, with flaring out and indenting in the middle. In fact, some might see the resemblance between this and the Razer DeathAdder. Overall though, I think the Pulsefire FPS is a very conservative design, and it gets the job done in terms of appearances.
The HyperX Pulsefire FPS measures in at 127.54mm in length, 71.07mm in width, and 41.91mm in height. These measurements are pretty similar to the past two mice I have reviewed, the Fnatic Gear Clutch G1 and Flick G1. However, what is different is the shape of the mouse. The maximum height is reached near the middle of the device, and it slopes gradually towards the front and back. The sides generally have enough space for the fingers that spill over the mouse, including the thumb on the left side, and the ring and pinky on the right side. Of course, this is for my hand size, so I would recommend trying out the mouse before buying. When it comes to the scales, the HyperX Pulsefire FPS is pretty average at 95 grams without the cable. This is a pretty expected weight, especially for a mouse targeted at first person shooter gamers. There are no extra weights to configure the mouse's overall heft, but I will say the weighting is distributed well, with the middle of the mouse found right in line with the sensor. At the top center of the mouse is the black and red braided cable, measuring at a length of 180cm. Braided cables are preferred over the rubber counterparts as they are generally more durable, though they are also generally quite stiff. Otherwise, at the end of the cable is a non-plated USB connector, which should perform as well as any gold-plated connector.
From the left side, you can see all of the buttons on the HyperX Pulsefire FPS. At the front, you have your standard left and right buttons with a scroll wheel in the middle. As previously mentioned, the two buttons have a slight flare at the ends, while the middle of the button indents where the user can rest their fingers. The two main buttons have Omron switches underneath rated at twenty million clicks each. They feel great to press and offers a nice tactile response, as expected from Omron. The scroll wheel is a notched wheel with a rubber tread pattern. To me, the wheel provides the right amount of friction, as it is easy enough to scroll, but not too easy either. The sides are translucent with a single red LED underneath. The wheel is very stable so there is no unintentional side scrolling happening. Underneath the scroll wheel, we have a single rectangle button to cycle through the four DPI settings. This cycles between 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 DPI. Unfortunately, there is no software, so changing the functionality of the buttons or the DPI steps is not available. Finally, on the left side of the Pulsefire FPS, we have two side buttons set to Forward and Back. The secondary keys require slightly less actuation force, and they feel a tad squishy, but it is overall okay. I do wish they were a bit more in reach, but I think it just took a bit more time to adjust to them.
Flipping the HyperX Pulsefire FPS over, we have two polytetrafluoroethylene, commonly known as Teflon, feet to help with keeping a smooth glide. According to HyperX, this translates to a dynamic coefficient of friction of 0.16 and a static coefficient of 0.21. In the middle of the mouse, we have the opening for the sensor. Inside we have a Pixart PMW3310. This is a commonly found sensor found in many mice, including the two previously Clutch G1 and Flick G1. This sensor is specified to offer from 50 to 5000 DPI in sensitivity at a maximum of 6500 frames per second, but it is limited to the aforementioned four levels. It promises true 1:1 tracking with zero hardware acceleration, although it can be enabled up to 30g. Tracking speeds peak out at 130 IPS. While report rate can be adjusted to 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, or 1000Hz, it is fixed at the highest frequency in the Pulsefire FPS. The sensor is also firmly attached to the body of the mouse, and there is no sensor rattle heard.
Otherwise, there is no software for the HyperX Pulsefire FPS, which is not always a terrible thing. It does mean there is no RGB lighting customization, fine tuning DPI settings, changing lift off distance, or surface calibration. I understand HyperX's desire to make a lightweight mouse in both a literal and figurative sense, but it does also translate into less customization for the user. As mentioned previously, there are only four DPI settings. When you cycle through them, the LED underneath the rectangle middle button changes colors. The color cycles between white, red, blue and yellow, to represent 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 DPI, respectively.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware
3. Subjective Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
