When it comes to gaming accessories, it can be hard to make your product stand out. If you do nothing new, you're no different than the plethora of other mice out there; if you innovate too much, you can ruin the tried-and-true functionality of a key part of somebody's setup. One new idea to come along for mice in the last two years has been the increasingly-popular trend of lightweight gaming mice. The goal of these mice is to shave as much weight off as possible in order to deliver the smoothest possible experience. There are a few commonalities you'll see between pretty much any mouse of this type: holes in the main body to reduce overall weight, PTFE mouse feet to reduce resistance, and an extra long cable made of a lightweight fabric (nylon, in this case) so that it doesn't get tangled up or otherwise restrict the movement of your mouse. HK Gaming's new lightweight gaming mice, the Mira-M and Mira-S, don't do anything to break out of this basic framework, but their design manages to nail these aspects so well that they're still attractive options.

Tech Specs: Mira-M

Height: 4.88 in (124 mm)
Width: 2.5 in (64 mm)
Depth: 1.55 in (39.5 mm)
Weight: 63 g (±2g) (mouse only)
Buttons: 6 buttons
RGB: Scroll Wheel
Coating: Matte
Cable: Paracord
Feet: White PTFE
Sensor: PMW3360
Resolution: Up to 12000cpi
Main Switches: Omron 50M

Tech Specs: Mira-S

Height: 4.5 in (114 mm)
Width: 2.37 in (60 mm)
Depth: 1.55 in (39.5 mm)
Weight: 61 g (±2g) (mouse only)
Buttons: 6 buttons
RGB: Scroll Wheel
Coating: Matte
Cable: Paracord
Feet: White PTFE
Sensor: PMW3360
Resolution: Up to 12000cpi
Main Switches: Omron 50M

As lightweight mice have begun flooding the market, many people have been sceptical that reducing the weight of a mouse can be that beneficial; after all, it wasn't very long ago that plenty of mice had removable weights inserted into them so people could make them heftier. While it'll never be possible to fully convince people without them using a lightweight mouse themselves, I've always found them to be extremely beneficial and will evangelize for them at any opportunity. It's not simply the lack of weight--the PTFE feet and paracord cable help it glide along any surface uninterrupted, and the mouse becomes unnoticeable. This should really be the goal of any game input device; to be an extension of the player, breaking down one more barrier between you and the game world to help you become better immersed. As the mouse becomes an extension of yourself, it breaks one more link in the chain between thought and action and it becomes easier to forget you're playing a game at all.

While these aspects certainly help with immersion, the performance benefits are significant as well. Specifically in first-person shooters, I found that I had to reduce my DPI settings and physically move the mouse more than I would with heavier mice, to accommodate for the lowered weight and lack of resistance, but that my reaction times had improved over all. Sensors have improved to a point where most gaming mice are able to offer similar performance. While there might be some minor technical differences, the vast majority are more than good enough to meet most player's needs, making things like form factor and weight more important than ever.

The Mira-M (left) and Mira-S (right) side by side

The other issue most people seem to take with lightweight mice is that the holes will trap dirt in them. Having alternated use of HK's offerings over the last few months (and exclusively using Cooler Master's lightweight MM711 for about half a year before that), I've never found this to be an issue. These mice are sprayed with a protective coating to keep the innards free from dirt, and while that sounds like an overly simple explanation, it appears to work. I haven't had to change my habits at all to accommodate this design and I haven't had to clean them, either (I didn't touch them before taking pictures for the review, so you can see for yourself what they look like after a few months of use). If yours do get dirty, a can of compressed air should provide a pretty simple solution, so it shouldn't be a major concern.

With the main focus of these mice being the weight, there aren't a ton of other features packed in, but they don't skimp on what would be considered standard for gaming mice. It features six buttons: left and right click, scroll wheel click, two buttons on the left side only (favouring right-handed users), and a button under the scroll wheel for switching DPI on the fly. The customization software is fairly robust, allowing you to remap the buttons, create macros, customize the polling rate and to save settings for up to five different profiles. When customizing the DPI, you can even turn on or off some of the presets, so if you only use two different DPI settings you can easily switch between the two rather than having to scroll through all six, and you can assign a custom RGB to shine from the scroll wheel to help you remember which DPI setting you're on with a quick glance. (If you leave the software running in the background, a small window will tell you what your DPI is every time you switch it.) This touches on the one aspect where the Mira-M and Mira-S falls short of its competitors: there's almost no options for RGB lighting. A small light under the scroll wheel, but nothing else.

The Mira-M and Mira-S are essentially the same mouse. The only difference between the two is that the Mira-S is very slightly smaller (about 0.33 inches in height and 0.13 inches in width) and weighs two grams less. Both retail for $60USD, so while the Mira-S is probably the better option because it's a hair more slight, they're both great options. Truthfully, as little as they do to stand apart from each other, they struggle to stand out from the increasingly-crowded lightweight gaming mouse market. This is both a blessing and a curse; these are perfectly fine choices and it's hard to imagine anyone being dissatisfied with the purchase, but there's nothing you can point to to mark them as the top of their class.