When you think of HyperX, you probably think of gaming headsets; this Kingston sub-brand is best known for its Cloud line of gaming headsets, among them the Cloud Alpha and Cloud Stinger.
It also aims to be a player in gaming input peripherals, and the gorgeous Pulsefire Surge ($69.99) is its latest mouse effort.
A Best Buy exclusive, this gaming mouse touts 32 zones of lighting as its central focus, and as much as its snazzy RGB bling is the very pinnacle of (or the peak cliche of) gamer chic, it's an otherwise-basic six-button setup.
If the "Pulsefire" name doesn't drive the point home, know that it's suited more toward first-person shooters than MMOs and esports.
Setting aside some inconsistencies we experienced with the software, this mouse is otherwise worth the price of admission if you play mostly shooter games and bling's your top thing.
Just Your Basic, Everyday 32-Zone Lighting
Measuring 1.6 by 2.47 by 4.73 inches, the HyperX Pulsefire Surge is average-size for a gaming mouse.
It's not far off in dimensions from one of our gaming-mouse favorites, the Logitech G Pro ($129.95 at Amazon) , a similar model in the same price range.
It trims some of the fat from the 1.65-by-2.79-by-5.02-inch HyperX Pulsefire FPS that came before it, but it also feels harder and leaner, due to the absence of rubber side grips.
As for weight, the HyperX Pulsefire Surge weighs 3.5 ounces without factoring in the weight of its braided cable, 4.6 ounces with it.
The Logitech G Pro, on the other hand, weighs 3 ounces, and the Pulsefire FPS 3.3 ounces.
Like I said, par for the gaming-mouse course.
What's different from the pack here is the look of this mouse: It's an LED riot crossed with a carnival.
The shape is symmetrical and not overly sculpted; it doesn't have any concave finger niches a la the Razer Basilisk.
(That said, it's good for right- and left-handed players alike, an increasing rarity for modern gaming mice.) The crazy visual flair comes from the fully customizable 32 zones of lighting, each zone being a little bit of the illumination glowing around the mouse's perimeter.
Each zone is a segment, about half an inch long, of the encircling strip.
On a mouse, this is RGB heaven.
(Or Hades, if you're burned-out on RGB bling everywhere.) Even at the mouse's default lighting setting, the illumination around the whole perimeter is mesmerizing.
Before you even touch this mouse, it will make a statement, with animated LEDs swirling around the front, back, and sides, as well as through the logo printed on its heel.
So, it looks like a psychedelic trip in mouse form, but how does it feel? In my hand, the Surge's matte black finish feels right.
It's soft on the top and on the sides, there's a subtle texture that keeps my thumb, ring finger, and pinky from slipping off.
That comes in handy when your hands are sweating while rummaging for resources in the final 10 of your battle-royale game of choice.
The left and right mouse buttons are quick and snappy, with little pushback to stand in the way of you aiming your sights and rapidly firing away at an enemy unit.
They are backed by Omron switches that HyperX says are rated for 50 million clicks.
They do feel suited to fast action games.
Early buyers of the HyperX Pulsefire Surge might notice that the model I'm reviewing here has a wider gap between the left and right mouse buttons.
According to Kingston, an "improved" version of the Surge was sent out to reviewers in late May and early June.
Because certain players (most of whom were using a claw grip) noticed in the early shipping versions of this mouse that the left and right click panels were prone to touch during gameplay sessions, only the new version has this broader separation of buttons.
Fortunately, if you bought the old version, you can swap it out by filling out a request form on the HyperX website.
(According to the company, lot codes 0841711001 to 0841802005 were the affacted models.)
Updates aside, while it doesn't allow you to adjust the wheel-spin resistance, the HyperX Pulsefire Surge packs a fair amount of friction in its scroll wheel.
Moving a web page up or down presents you with satisfying bumps, as does switching between weapons.
The feedback doesn't come off too strong or too light.
It's a nice, healthy, balanced scroll wheel with a well-textured surface to which your finger will adhere.
Behind the scroll wheel is a resolution-switcher button.
By default, it changes the onboard Pixart PMW3389 sensor's sensitivity from 800 dots per inch (dpi) to 1,600dpi and then to 3,200dpi.
In HyperX's control utility for the mouse, which is called NGenuity, you can customize the three settings that the button cycles through, within a range from 100dpi to 16,000dpi.
A 16,000dpi—or really, any five-figure—resolution is wild overkill unless you're mousing around on a bank of big 4K monitors (and even then...), so I'd chalk up the high end of the range to little more than marketing one-upsmanship.
For most users, the 1,600dpi setting is going to be the most comfortable.
The option for higher (and lower) sensitivities is nice, but the ceiling here is just not meaningful for most buyers.
On the left side of the HyperX Pulsefire Surge you'll see two customizable buttons that, out of the box, are set to move forward and back between web pages.
You can program these side buttons in HyperX NGenuity to carry out more relevant shortcuts for whatever you do or play.
(I'll touch on this more later.) Of course, the shortcuts only being on the left side undermine some of this mouse's ambidexterity, making the Pulsefire Surge less appropriate for left-handed users.
On the bottom of the Surge are two glossy panels (one near the front and one at the rear) that help it slide across your desk in moment of intense action.
NGenuity? I'd Settle for Adequacy
It's a bold move to name your mouse and keyboard software "NGenuity," when it still has some major kinks to work out.
An editor at Tom's Guide noted issues in his review with the software failing to recognize the HyperX Pulsefire Surge; I've run into a larger problem, in which the NGenuity software doesn't launch at all.
This didn't happen every time I tried to open the program, but the fact that it happened to me on two out of the four systems I tested it with is worrying.
Also, despite the HyperX Pulsefire Surge being the flashy wildmouse it is, the software itself is, in contrast, lackluster-looking.
The user interface looks bland and dated, though it is intuitive once you get the hang of it.
With the HyperX Pulsefire Surge plugged in, NGenuity (assuming you get it to launch) greets you with a rendering of your mouse off to the right.
But ignore that for now, because your control panel is over on the left side of the screen.
That's where you can select custom lighting color profiles or search for one you've created.
Or you can select among three preset profiles including Wave, Cycle, and Solid that Kingston has created for you.
Below that, once you have selected one of your custom profiles, you can click Customize to sift through the Lighting, Performance, and Macros settings, modifying each to your liking.
In Lighting, you can pick a different color for each of the HyperX Pulsefire Surge's 32 zones.
Alternately, you can make them all the same, or you can mix and match.
You can also decide whether you want the lighting to exhibit itself as Solid (static) or in a Wave formation.
As an alternative, you can disable the lighting completely, although I will say up front: If you don't like flashy lights, you shouldn't have bought this mouse in the first place.
The Performance section of NGenuity is where, as I mentioned earlier, you can change the three sensitivity levels assigned to the resolution button.
It's also possible to color-code those levels inside the software (say, red for the low setting, yellow for the middle, and green for the high).
Only thing is, this color-coding is never seen outside the guts of the software.
Clicking the DPI button on the mouse pops up an onscreen indicator of the new resolution you've switched to, but it doesn't correspond with the color codes assigned to those resolutions in the software.
Another missed opportunity: Nowhere on the mouse itself do these colors show up when you change resolutions, either.
Last, in the Key Assignment subsection of NGenuity's Macros tab, you can switch between left- and right-hand orientations (doing so swaps the left and right mouse-button functions), as well as configure each button on the mouse to carry out non-default tasks.
These include alternative keyboard functions, mouse functions, or recorded macros.
If you want to set up macros via NGenuity, you can record these for yourself in the Macro Library tab, also under Macros.
It's as easy as pressing record, mashing the desired keys, clicking insert, and then saving the recording.
You might expect all of these settings to be stored only in the HyperX NGenuity software.
Plug the mouse into the USB port of another computer, however, and you will notice the same lighting, performance, and macros you configured in HyperX NGenuity still in place.
That's because the HyperX Pulsefire Surge has a small amount of onboard memory for storing up to three profiles, though there's no clear way to choose what is stored on the mouse itself versus what is stored on your system.
A Colorful Twist on Ambidextrous
The HyperX Pulsefire Surge isn't laden with buttons, nor does it take an experimental approach with ergonomics.
It's a classic, conservatively sculpted mouse design whose "gaming" identity stems from the fact that it wields those almost-laughable 32 zones of lighting.
If you're a fan of that sort of thing, this mouse delivers.
Likewise, this mouse is a good value for left-handed and ambidextrous players, a subset of buyers who are often dismissed by makers of peripherals.
Even if you're a right-handed player, though, you'll find plenty to love about the HyperX Pulsefire Surge.
It's comfortable, has a high sensitivity range (even if the far reaches of it are largely unnecessary), and it will out-bling practically any gaming mouse out there.
My only complaint is that the software could use some extra polish.
Hopefully the program-launching issues will get ironed out in a subsequent update.
The Bottom Line
The HyperX Pulsefire Surge is an adequate ambidextrous gaming mouse whose snazzy, encircling RGB lighting sets it apart, but its software needs some fixes.
