Thoughts on – Redragon K1NG M916 Pro

The Redragon K1NG M916 Pro is a budget, lightweight gaming mouse. Redragon has been focused on budget gaming peripherals for a few years now, especially mechanical keyboards. I was curious about the specs for the price as I thought even if it isn’t great, it could be a compelling choice given the price point. And it is an interesting mouse, with catchy specs and even more amusing artwork on the shell, though you can opt for it without any art on it as well.

First, I thought the art on the mouse is over the top and frankly funny to me because it is so overtly ‘anime aesthetic’. This one has a white shell with printed art on the buttons and top shell featuring a demon-esque anime girl. Scantily clad, revealing top, a short sword or knife in her dainty hand, white hair, red eyes, and horns. It’s very much targeting a specific demographic and while I’m not quite that target audience, I thought it was amusing enough to buy it largely on a lark because it is so odd compared to the far more subdued choices that are overwhelmingly more common.

The art itself, and the print quality on the mouse, are surprisingly good. It’s clean, with vibrant color and smooth lines. There does seem to be some poor cropping that has cut out some of the outline work but that could also be an aesthetic choice to emphasize highlights. The character’s face does appear to be somewhat distorted, narrow and warped but it might be more due to the nature of printing a 2D image on a heavily curved surface. That tracks, as looking at the mousepad featuring her does appear better proportioned. If you’re curious, her name is Eisa according to the promotional blurb on the mouse on the Redragon website. She’s described as Redragon’s mascot ally, and apparently, waifu. I never thought I’d own anything described as such, but late-night purchases of miscellaneous things I needed while seeing this pop up when I was checking out lightweight mice made a fool of me, I suppose. If you like the look though, know Redragon has gone in on it and you can have a full setup featuring her.

If having anything described as such is just a bit too much for you, and I totally understand that feeling, they do offer the mouse in pink, white, or black solid color as well. Interestingly enough, those are all a few dollars more than the anime variant which seems to be consistently marked down a couple of dollars. Pricing is more volatile right now due to tariffs but even with that it is still a very cheap mouse for the lightweight, wireless gaming mouse segment. They are all $29.99 or under, with the anime variant being a bit over $26. That’s where the specs make it enticing.

It's a solid body mouse and comes in at around 49 grams. That’s in line with many other, more expensive models so that gives it a good start. It’s solidly built too with minimal creaking when squeezed, though there is more body flex than my other mice that I’ve been using, the Razer Cobra Pro and Glorious Model O 2 Mini. It’s not bad, but it is noticeable in comparison. The panels are uniform and clean, with no sharp or protruding edges.

One area where it does feel like they’ve cut a corner though is with the mouse feet. They’re large, thin, and less smooth than any of the others. The first thing I noticed when I used it was that it felt rougher and even sounds rougher gliding on my desk pad which is smooth cloth. I would rate it as being closest to the stock Glorious, and more noticeable when compared to Razer. It could be improved through replacing the feet but many of those would end up being as expensive as the mouse itself, rather negating the price.

Continuing with the build, it uses Huano switches which they claim have a lifetime of 50 million actuations versus 80 million for Glorious and 90 million for Razer. They feel less tactile than the other switches as well. Not mushy or poor feeling, but definitely less snappy and with a deeper resonance as well. They also sound different from each other as well with left being deeper and more resonant and right being higher and more dampened. The side buttons also feel slightly different from each other, even beyond the different texture of the buttons. The forward button, with raised bumps, feels snappier of the two and the back button with a glossy surface feels more subdued.

The scroll wheel also feels softer than the other mice. The tactility is less pronounced but the click is slightly more pronounced than the Glorious but less pronounced than with the Razer. This is another area I found it lacking in comparison as I will simultaneously hold that button and scroll when playing Fallout, to zoom in and out the camera while in third person. With the other mice ratcheting and scrolling still remain smooth but the Redragon feels like it’s grinding somewhat when I do that. I imagine that’s a less common use case, but it’s one that I’ve noticed when I’m playing Fallout: New Vegas as I do that every time I play.

It utilizes the PixArt PAW3395 sensor. That offers a range of 100-26000 DPI. I found a comfortable level at 3600. You can define up to 5 presets and can cycle through them via a button on the bottom of the mouse, definable via the driver software. It also operates at 125, 250, 500, or 1000 Hz, defaulting to 1000 Hz. There is a 4000 Hz model as well, though you must give up the anime girl to do so and pay a few dollars more.

Ergonomically, it fits into a similar vein to the Model O 2 Mini and Cobra Pro. It’s less inset on the sides, giving it a slightly wider feel which is less tapered inward. I prefer the stronger middle mouse inset so it’s further from my ideal, but only by a couple millimeters. Where it’s even further from my ideal is that the top isn’t as outward flared, giving it an overall more egg-shaped feel in hand. That’s more neutral, and less pronounced so if you want a more even feel this would likely appeal to you more.

It has a smoother texture compared to either the Glorious or Razer mouse as well. That’s another aspect that I don’t like as much. It’s almost like the texture of an eggshell, and I don’t really like it. I find it is more prone to exacerbating my sweaty palms when gaming. There is a slight difference in texture between the bare sections and the sections with print as well which has me feeling those parts of the mouse more. It’s a very neutral-feeling mouse, a very simple shape with a subdued design. In attempting to find a more broadly appealing shape, it ironically feels less appealing to me, but I also have well-defined idea of exactly what I want my mouse to feel like.

The cable is braided with a more oversized sleeve. It’s smooth but also retains kinks in the cable more than the others. It is a basic USB-C cable so that’s easier to use, though the port is more recessed in the mouse itself. The receiver itself is very similar to Razer and Glorious, a small transceiver barely larger than the USB-A plug itself. The receiver holder itself takes its design from Razer, being roughly trapezoidal in shape with a rubber base to hold it in place.

It is a tri-mode mouse as well. It has the aforementioned 2.4GHz/1000Hz polling rate mode utilizing the dongle. It also works perfectly in wired mode and finally also works in Bluetooth. The toggle switch is on the bottom of the mouse next to the sensor. It has a 400mAH battery that I found would give roughly 5-7 days between charges.

But, the area where it falls flattest is with the driver software. I simply don’t like it. It’s lightweight but has some quirks that are particularly irritating. What it does do is remap the middle and side buttons. You can also set up your DPI presets with the software. You can set debounce time (default is 8ms but allows anything from 0-20ms), polling rate, lift off distance (1 or 2mm), disable angle snapping and ripple control (default is off for both), create and bind macros, and create profiles. It is quick to load and use but it doesn’t show anything when the mouse is in wireless 2.4GHz mode. To change settings for the mouse it must be in wired mode. That also means you cannot read battery level when it’s in wireless mode which is a particularly frustrating annoyance of mine. Being unable to see battery levels without plugging it in is a strange decision.

Overall, it’s a great mouse for the price. At sub-$30, it’s a solid option for a smaller, lightweight, featureful gaming mouse. It’s a safe, comfortable shape. The build quality is good but not remarkable. It also has some quirks and rough corners, notably the software, that reveal that it is built to a price, to squeeze as much as they could out of it. I think it will be most appealing for the price, and for people who don’t have very focused ideas for what they want in a mouse. More persnickety users will probably find themselves focusing on the compromises whilst more relaxed users will appreciate the features that it does have, even if they are perhaps a bit janky.