HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless: Two-minute review

If it seems like big-name brand gaming mice are getting pricey, then the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless should help ease your mind. It joins the growing lot of lightweight wireless gaming mice, which apparently is the new trend according to manufacturers, but instead of going the expensive route and charging you the wireless tax, it’s gone the other way, which should already endear it to the economizing set.

But, HyperX goes further than slapping a budget price tag on it. The Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless is also lighter, longer-lasting, and leans heavily on wireless connectivity by offering both Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless, beating out my previous favorite, the legendary Razer Deathadder V3 Pro, as well as other excellent offerings from Razer and Glorious. HyperX also throws in RGB lighting for good measure, because honestly, what is gaming without it?

This isn’t just one of the best wireless mice on the market today. It’s also among the best gaming mice, especially in terms of value.

With the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless, the brand is hoping to throw another hat into the fast-and-highly-accurate mouse ring. That hinges a lot on the mouse’s weight and sensor, which is why this one only weighs in at 61g, making it 2g lighter than the Deathadder V3 Pro, 7g lighter than the Glorious O2 Wireless, and only 3g heavier than the Razer Viper V2 Pro. 

Unlike the Deathadder V3 Pro, however, it takes on a more symmetrical form, which makes it leftie-friendly, without taking away support, especially from palm-grip gamers. I found that the nice bump on the palm rest smoothly leads to the nicely-indented left and right buttons that suit my hand well, providing the support it badly needs.

Neither side of the mouse is textured for better grippage, but I never found them necessary. My thumb, index, and pinkie fingers all sit comfortably without causing my wrist any fatigue, which is all I could ask for. If you do need a bit of extra help, however, grip tapes – as well as replacement PTFE skates or feet – come included in the box to give you options.

There are several things the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless does better than the competition, and design-wise, those include the lit-up scroll wheel, which also doubles as an indicator light (it turns red when it’s running low on juice), and the USB receiver garage located at the base. As someone who is constantly losing those pesky things, the latter is certainly much appreciated.

Another mention-worthy extra here is its wireless adapter, which I don’t think is all that necessary since you can plug the wireless receiver directly into your PC and it works just fine. You can also connect via Bluetooth as well as use wired connectivity if you need to charge and use it at the same time.

Back to the PTFE skates, some may find them too smooth and low-friction for your taste. That’s especially if you’re not using the right mouse pad or desk pad with the mouse. You understand where HyperX is going with this – the smoother the glide, the lower friction there is, the faster your movements are, and the less fatiguing it is for you. However, the key with these skates is to use the ideal surface. I tested it with two different desk pads, and I found that it’s better to use it on a soft pad with higher friction.

Performance-wise, I cannot complain. The HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless has the usual 1,000Hz polling rate, which is standard and more than enough for most gamers. But it also comes with a new HyperX 26K sensor and new HyperX switches, which are rated at 100M clicks. And gaming with it has been pretty fast and accurate, whether I’m in the middle of a Cyberpunk 2077 shootout or I’m battling supernatural enemies in Kena: Bridge of Spirits. 

I have found, however, that I need to exert a bit of effort for control when I’m not making fast movements – for example, when I’m playing Hogwarts Legacy or when I’m using it for work. Not too much that it ends up being fatiguing, but enough that I catch myself doing it every now and then. But, that happens more with my natural linoleum pad than my actual gaming mouse pad.

I found the switches on this mouse have a little more resistance to them than the ones on my Razer ones, but not to the point where they’re a little more fatiguing. In fact, most of the time, I don’t even notice that resistance. But, it is noticeable some of the time, especially when you’re gaming.

At least the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless beats others out in terms of battery life. At full charge, this delivers up to 100 hours of gameplay. While I didn’t exactly time it, I have more than once gone a week without charging it, using it for more or less 12 hours a day with RGB lighting on.

HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $79.99 / £94.99 / AU$149
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

Much cheaper than its direct rivals, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless will set you back $79.99 / £94.99 / AU$149 in the US, UK, and Australia respectively, and it’s officially available now. That’s actually a very good price of entry for a lightweight wireless gaming mouse, especially considering that the Razer Deathadder V3 Pro and the Razer Viper V2 Pro are both almost twice that price at  $149 / £149 / AU$279. Even the Glorious O2 Wireless is a little pricier at $99 (about £80 / AU$150).

If you want even cheaper options, the Cooler Master MM311 may be a better choice at only $39.99 (about £34, AU$59). 

•  Value: 4 / 5 

HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless: Specs

Should you buy the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless: Also consider

How I tested the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless

• I tested the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless for about three weeks
• I used it for gaming as well as productivity and creative workloads
• I tested it with a bunch of games, Lightroom, Photoshop, and my usual work apps

Using the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless as my main mouse for gaming, productivity, and photo editing on Lightroom and Photoshop for about three weeks, I was able to test it for different use cases. With it primarily being a gaming mouse, however, I did use it to play a bunch of titles, from fast-paced ones to open-world narratives.

I’ve been testing peripherals for years now, first as a freelance tech journalist and now as one of the Computing Editors for TechRadar.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2023

Adobe InDesign is the behemoth of professional desktop publishing software, having wrestled the crown away from QuarkXpress many years ago. Quark’s complacency led to its eventual demise, and with regular updates it’s clear Adobe isn’t planning on letting that happen to its software any time soon. 

See our guide How to try Adobe InDesign for free or with Creative Cloud 

Adobe InDesign 2023: Pricing & plans

• A subscription-based DTP app 

Like all other professional Adobe products, InDesign is available only through a Creative Cloud subscription. The company runs three billing plans - monthly, annual, and annual billed monthly (effectively, a year-long contract with an exit fee if you end the subscription early). 

If you only need InDesign, you can get this desktop publishing powerhouse as a standalone subscription with prices starting at $20.99 / £19.97 / AU$29.99. 

However, one of the great advantages of Adobe products is how well they’re integrated with each other, and if you want to pair the best desktop publishing software with other tools in Adobe’s portfolio like Photoshop and Illustrator, you can opt for the Creative Cloud All Apps plan. Prices start at $52.99 / £49.94 / AU$76.99. 

Being on a subscription you’ll get the latest updates as they’re released, but these won’t be automatically downloaded for you, which is a good thing if you’re in the process of working on a project and don’t want to deal with new features (and occasional bugs). Even better, grabbing the latest major upgrade doesn’t overwrite the previous version you had, making sure your workflow won’t be affected as you try out the latest and greatest.

• Pricing & plans: 4/5 

Adobe InDesign 2023: Interface & tools

• A remarkably streamlined interface, packed with impressive features 

Although InDesign’s initial purpose was for the creation of print documents, it has since evolved, catering to web and mobile needs, including being compatible with audio and video.

One of the main advantages of Adobe - particularly if opting for the All Apps subscription package, is the overall consistency of Adobe’s interface. If you know your way around Photoshop or Illustrator, you’ll understand how InDesign works, and vice versa. There will be differences, since each app is geared for a specific task, but familiarity is crucial for a slick workflow, especially if you find yourself jumping from app to app as you work. As a result, you’ll find InDesign’s workspace immediately recognisable, with the toolbar on the left, properties, and other docked panels on the right, and a menu at the top.

Building up a document is very simple, starting by choosing the design’s eventual destination (print, web or mobile), and set the dimensions. InDesign has a lot of default sizes ready to click on and use, but you’re also free to use custom sizes for specific work. If a blank page feels too daunting, you’ll find numerous templates to draw inspiration from, available via Adobe Stock, most of which are free.

As for building up your document, there’s very little that’s lacking. All the basics are there, from adding text, to creating columns, making the text flow between frames, or around an image, and formatting the content, to adding and altering images. InDesign works by linking content, allowing for greater flexibility - for instance, when making alterations to an image in Photoshop, those changes would be automatically applied to the same file in InDesign.

We might be making it sound simpler than it is. After all, there’s very little here that can’t be done with much simpler - and cheaper - software. Even Microsoft Word can perform some of these functions. But it’s important to note InDesign has been created for professional users with a wealth of detail and control that’s hard to beat. This does allow for power, but also an increasing level of complexity. With the 2023 version, many of the new features are designed to help improve and speed up your workflow. 

• Interface & tools: 5/5 

Adobe InDesign 2023: New formats for 2023

• Full compatibility with modern image formats, and seamless integration between apps 

One of the big changes with this latest version is even more seamless integration with another one of Adobe’s apps, namely Illustrator. 

You no longer need to create an image in Illustrator, save it, and then bring it into InDesign. Instead, moving from one to the other requires a simple copy and paste. This is such a cool feature, you’ll wonder why it was never implemented before, or how you managed without it before. And it really is as simple as selecting, copying and pasting. Best of all, the content you’ve inserted in that way is still editable.

InDesign now natively supports (some might say finally supports) new image formats that have become very popular lately, such as HEIC, HEIF, WEBP, and JP2K. You can add them into a document without any loss in quality, or having to convert them to another format. It’s worth noting that this feature isn’t backward compatible, so  you’ll have issues if you try to open a document with such formats in an earlier version of InDesign.

• New formats: 4.5/5 

Adobe InDesign 2023: Duplication

• A small upgrade that could be a godsend for many 

Another flagship improvement may prove very welcome to those who work with complex multi-page layouts. 

Prior to the 2023 edition, if you chose to duplicate a spread, the copies would be sent to the end of the document - which might not have been your preferred option. 

Now, however, you’re given two options. The default, Duplicate Spread, copies your selected pages and places them directly underneath the originals. The older option is still there, but is now called ‘Duplicate Spread at End of Document’.

• Versatile duplication: 4.5/5  

Adobe InDesign 2023: Auto Styling

• An intriguing and time saving idea, but sadly still in beta 

Something that could be a great addition to the workflow is Auto Styling. Essentially, you can create various styles for your text layout, and set up what the headings, sub headings, paragraphs, and so on, should look like. You then save that as a layout, and apply it to any document you wish. This could be a great timesaver, and the feature also comes with a handful of templates for you to try out, copy and customize.

It is, however, a ‘technology preview’, and we found the concept very intriguing but cumbersome to alter. As a truly basic example, you can’t see a preview of the fonts you’re scrolling through when setting one for a specific style. If you work with thousands of fonts and can’t remember the name of the one you want, this may be an issue.

However, when it’s all set up, like with the templates on offer, you can perform changes to an entire document with a single click. And that’s incredibly attractive. It’s just as easy to switch from one style to another by clicking on the next style, and the next, and the next.

• Auto styling: 2.5/5 

Adobe InDesign 2023: Document previews

• Those who browse through their file system will likely greatly appreciate this 

Another welcome addition is being able to preview Adobe InDesign documents straight from the Finder on the Mac, or Windows Explorer. This doesn’t apply to files you created in previous versions of the DTP software, but only those you save from this latest version onwards.

Still, the feature is great to have, and not only is this on by default, but you also have the ability to customize what is being previewed. You do this by going to the File Handling Preferences, where you get to choose how many pages you can preview in this way (from the first one, to all of them).

There’s also an option to change the size of the preview thumbnail. By default it’s 512x512, but it can be as small as 128x128 or as large as 1024x1024.

We are aware though that the more thumbnails you request and the bigger they are, the larger your document’s file size will be. Still, it’s a feature that will be most useful when looking for that elusive document.

• Document previews: 3/5  

Adobe InDesign 2023: Scorecard

Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You need to create complex documents, be it for print, online or mobile, and need full control, versatility and all the features as you can imagine. 

Don't buy it if...

You just need to create a flyer with a few words and an image or two. There are cheaper alternatives out there for that. 

Adobe InDesign 2023: Alternatives

We’ve tested, reviewed, and rated a range of desktop publishing apps, including the best Adobe InDesign alternatives. 

For similar tools, we recommend checking out Affinity Designer, Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXpress. For a more basic app, try Canva. 

• Best laptops for graphic design: Keep the creativity flowing on the go