Tecware Pulse
Tecware has made a reputation for itself as a purveyor of tech goods that provide excellent bang for your buck. Much like the SuperSolid Gemini One I reviewed recently, the Pulse packs many features of a top-tier wireless gaming mouse at a third of the price. It’s got a super flexible paracord-style cable, a comfortable and versatile shape, and a honeycomb shell.
And as it turns out, it’s similar to the Gemini One in more ways than one. They both share an uncanny resemblance to the Logitech G Pro Wireless, from the unique curvatures of their shape to the modular side buttons. Both the SuperSolid and Tecware mice also share the same modular shell and internals, which makes me think they came out of the same factory. In the case of the Pulse, the internal compartment houses a 400mAh battery instead of the customisable weight system. There’s also a separate niche where you can store its 2.4GHz dongle.
At 91g, the Tecware Pulse isn’t the lightest mouse around, and the honeycomb shell only shaves off a few grams. It doesn’t really fit into the ultralight category, and the difference in weight with the G Pro X Superlight Wireless is vast.
That said, build quality could be improved. There is some creaking when pushing down on the bottom, and noticeable rattling when shaking the mouse. The Huano switches are nice and crisp, however, with a pleasant amount of resistance. There is some post-travel, but nothing that would interfere with your gaming experience. The scroll wheel offers well-defined notches, and is reasonably quiet. The mouse feet offer a smooth glide right out of the box as well, with no scratchiness.
With the same shape as Logitech’s much-vaunted wireless mouse, the Pulse might not score any points for originality, but it sure scores for function. Its shape is exceedingly comfortable and versatile, and it’s difficult to see anyone having a problem with it.
The modular side buttons add even more versatility, allowing you to configure the mouse for left- or right-handedness, or have side buttons on both sides if you wish. It is on the larger side, so folks with small hands might find it less agile.
The 16,000DPI PixArt PMW3335 optical sensor used here, is a low power version of the PMW3389 better suited for wireless mice. Tecware claims up to 50 hours of battery life, and the sensor offers flawless performance with no noticeable acceleration or jitter. However, the same can’t be said of its wireless performance.
There’s frequent lag and skipping with the dongle plugged into the back of my PC.
The paracord-style cable plugs into the mouse via a USB-C connector in the front. It’s soft and super flexible, with minimal cable drag.
The software itself offers myriad options to choose from, but it could use some polish. One quirk I noticed was that the “Improve pointer precision” option was checked by default, which introduces some prediction to your mouse movements. You should definitely check to make sure you have that turned off.
The mouse is illuminated by RGB lighting at the scroll wheel and around the base. To conserve battery, the lights only come on when you’re active and moving the mouse about. An eco mode setting goes a step further and turns off the RGB lighting around the base, so only the scroll wheel and Tecware logo at the rear are lighted. You can enter eco mode with the switch at the base of the mouse. Another button at the base also lets you change the RGB light patterns on-the-fly.
At $59, the Tecware Pulse packs a lot of features into a very small price tag. Incredibly, it’s even cheaper than the SuperSolid Gemini One. I want to say that it’s a budget G Pro Wireless, but the flawed wireless performance stands in the way of that.
If the Pulse was a wired mouse, I’d say unreservedly that it’s a solid offering. But because of the erratic wireless performance, it becomes a mouse that you could maybe take a gamble on, and if it doesn’t work out, at least it won’t have made much of a hole in your wallet.
FEATURE-RICH AND BUDGET FRIENDLY, BUT SACRIFICES MADE TO ACHIEVE ITS PRICE TAG.