Redragon has always been known for affordable mice, though the last couple of years, they had a hard time keeping up with market trends such as lightweight designs. With the K1NG Pro 4K, this changes, as despite having a completely solid shell, the K1NG Pro 4K is very light at just 49 g. What's more, build quality on my sample at least is in a surprisingly solid spot, too: there is no rattle when shaking the mouse, no creaking or flexing of the shell when applying lateral pressure, and actuating the side buttons by pressing below them cannot be done regardless of the force used.

Looking at the internals, the K1NG Pro 4K likewise punches above its price class. PixArt's PAW3395 sensor is paired with a Nordic nRF52833 MCU, running essentially the same firmware from CompX that we've previously seen on the Ajazz AJ199 4K and Zaopin Z2 4K. Accordingly, performance is very similar if not identical to those mice, though the K1NG Pro 4K actually fares the best out of the bunch. The only larger flaw pertains to CPI deviation, which ends up being far larger than it should be at more than +6%. Thus, when first setting up the K1NG Pro 4K, it is recommended to measure actual CPI using a tool such as MouseTester, to be able to equalize CPI steps between one's previous mouse and the K1NG Pro 4K. This inconvenience aside, there is little to criticize. General tracking is fine regardless of whether MotionSync is enabled or not, smoothing is disabled by default, resulting in consistently low motion delay across the entire CPI range, and polling is generally stable at all available polling rates. While I've been able to observe instances of elevated noise at all polling rates, these do not represent missed polls and therefore have no effect on tracking or motion delay, which is why they can be safely ignored. In terms of motion delay, the K1NG Pro 4K achieves parity with the Logitech G403 (control subject) at 1000 Hz in wireless operation, and by switching to 2000 or 4000 Hz, even an advantage of about 0.8 ms over the G403 can be attained, provided MotionSync stays disabled, as enabling that increases motion delay. These numbers are on par with other CompX mice such as those from Pulsar or LAMZU, and compare favorably to top releases from Razer or Finalmouse. Click latency likewise is on a very good level, with 1000 Hz averaging 1.7 ms in wireless operation, and 2000 and 4000 Hz averaging 1.0 and 0.8 ms, respectively, as long as debounce time is set to the lowest possible value, which is 0 ms. The only downside to setting debounce time this low is slam-clicking, which describes inadvertent button actuation upon resetting the mouse, though merely upping this value to 1 ms gets rid of that, though at the price of accordingly higher click latency.

The K1NG Pro 4K comes with Huano switches for the main buttons, albeit of the blue shell, blue plunger type, which is relevant in that promotional material promises Huano switches with a blue transparent shell and pink plunger, and those indeed have been seen in a disassembly of early batches. Whether this is the result of a silent production change on later batches, or whether some copies just randomly have different switches, I do not know, but it is clear at least that getting the latter type of Huano switches is not guaranteed. In practice, the differences between these types of switches are rather subtle anyway, so one would be forgiven for not instantly being able to tell a different switch is installed. The blue shell, blue plunger type may have a slightly duller response, but still quite snappy and firm nonetheless. Pre-travel is moderate, but post-travel is low, and lateral button movement is quite low even when provoking it, too, and the little movement present isn't felt during actual use regardless. For the side buttons, another set of a different type of Huano switches is used, which have low pre and post-travel, but due to the button design, actuation on the back button isn't fully even, and the buttons don't feel particularly good in general, mostly due to being rather loud. The scroll wheel encoder comes from F-Switch, whose noise levels likewise are on the higher end, and tactility is average at best, as the separation between the individual steps is mostly lacking. If there is one area where the budget stature of the K1NG Pro 4K is most easily felt, it would be the feet, which are the usual black-dyed PTFE fare, albeit very thin and therefore not gliding particularly well. In fact, the sensor ring is so thin that I didn't even notice the plastic film on it during testing. In short, those having higher standards as far as feet go are well-advised to look for third-party replacements. As an added bonus, thicker feet will also bring the positive CPI deviation down.

A 400 mAh battery is used on the K1NG Pro 4K, although Redragon does not cite any battery life numbers. By default, the software only includes a basic battery life indicator lacking a percentage or segmentation, but through a modification within the configuration file, it can be made to show a percentage, albeit an inaccurate one. Using this indicator, I've calculated expected battery life to be in the range of 85 hours at 1000 Hz, which would be in line with similar releases using the same firmware/software package from CompX. Charging is reasonably speedy, though the charging cable is strictly average when it comes to flexibility, and also rather short at just 1.5 m. The software itself is quite familiar from other CompX releases such as the Ajazz AJ199 4K, Fantech Helios II Pro, or Zaopin Z2 4K, having all the important options at a relatively low resource cost, all while being pleasantly bug-free.

At $44.99 in Redragon's shop, the K1NG Pro 4K outstrips even some of the most affordable direct competitors such as the Ajazz AJ199 4K at $55.99 or Zaopin Z2 4K at $59.99. Of course, some compromises need to made, especially when it comes to the feet and scroll wheel, but that is entirely expected at this price point. Finding another mouse this light yet sturdy at the same price will be difficult, and especially one as solid as a performer as the K1NG Pro 4K. With that in mind, the K1NG Pro 4K gets our Recommended and Budget awards.