Ultra-light gaming mice are where it’s at right now with many brands jumping on the trend. Of course, this also means that many of them are charging a small premium for them over standard gaming mice. There honestly isn’t much difference between them in functionality, only that you are shaving off quite a bit of weight for the sake of faster response times and comfort. Anyways, Monoprice has also jumped into this trend by offering the new Dark Matter Hyper-K Wireless Ultralight Gaming Mouse but at a fraction of the price that others are asking for. That doesn’t mean they’ve skimped on features however as this mouse offers every fit of functionality that others do.
ESIGN
The Dark Matter Hyper-K looks very much like every other ultralight-weight gaming mouse out there. It’s a full-sized mouse that’s ergonomic and features two customizable thumb buttons. What makes it ultralight is the fact that it has a ton of hexagonal cutouts on the body that help shave a ton of weight from it. You’re looking at about 2.5oz for the total weight of the mouse which is comparable to the Steelseries Aerox 3 Wireless, which is about 68g and has very similar features.
Anyways, on the top is a nice rubberized scroll wheel along with a DPI button that lets you cycle through six different DPI settings. On the left side are two customizable shortcut buttons. The bottom of the mouse sees four high grade PTFE skates along with the on/off toggle and a pole rate switch. What’s interesting here is that there is a tiny storage slot for the included micro-USB receiver. You’ll need to use the receiver if you want to use the mouse in wireless mode. Otherwise, you can use the included USB-C cable to run the mouse in wired mode.
The Dark Matter Hyper-K does include RGB lighting. The scroll wheel has RGB which changes when you select different DPI settings. Also, the interior of the mouse and the bottom outer strip lights up, but those can only be controlled and changed with software. Otherwise, it just cycles through all the colors.
EXPERIENCE
For the price, the Dark Matter Hyper-K is a very attractive offer. You’re looking at a full-sized mouse that only weighs 2.5oz. It utilizes a 16,000 DPI PixArt Optical Sensor and industry?leading Omron Switches. The mouse also has a 300mAh rechargeable battery which is good for about 50 hours of usage between charges. There is no All of this gives the Dark Matter Hyper-K a premium feel.
In terms of usage, it functions much like what you’d expect a gaming mouse would. The dpi button lets you quickly switch between DPI settings ranging from 800 to 16000 DPI. The mouse buttons are extra clicky and give you confidence with each click. The wireless also is pretty good but you’ll need to use the included dongle to make use of it. There is no Bluetooth on this. Most of you will probably want to run it wired however to reduce any kind of lag you may think you have. Also, 50 hours of usage really isn’t that long if a time especially when gamers can go on gaming for hours at a time.
FINAL THOUGHTS
However, the Dark Matter Hyper-K Wireless Gaming Mouse is still very good and I don’t think loses out to any of the more established brands in this space. It has everything a gamer needs in an ultra-lightweight gaming mouse – fast response, high DPI tracking, integrated RGBs, and shortcut button customization. The price is also very good and undercuts many of the more established brands’ pricing.
Overall, a solid release by Monoprice for their Dark Matter line that helps establish them as a serious brand for gaming accessories and peripherals.
