In the past, Fantech has gained recognition for offering gaming mice that provided good quality at very fair prices. With the Helios II Pro, Fantech continues to follow this approach, although in terms of quality and feature set, it approaches the releases from competitors such as Pulsar or LAMZU, which typically are offered for $100 or more.

Being the successor of the Fantech Helios XD3 V2, the Helios II Pro sees its greatest improvement in the weight department. At 55 g, the Helios II Pro is a whopping 30 g lighter than the Helios XD3 V2, which is achieved without having to rely on an open-bottom design as seen on releases from Pulsar or LAMZU, and holes are only used sparingly on the bottom. More importantly, build quality doesn't suffer from this weight reduction: On my sample, there is no flexing or creaking when applying lateral pressure, actuating the side buttons by pressing below them is impossible, and the only flaw I could find was the CPI button being loose, resulting in a rattle when shaking the mouse. In terms of shape, the Helios II Pro largely matches the Helios XD3 V2, with two exceptions: The hump isn't as pronounced on the Helios II Pro, and the back doesn't flare out as much. As a result, the Helios II Pro ends up feeling less faithful to the Zowie S2 than its predecessor, and instead approaches the shape of the Pulsar X2V2 or Endgame Gear OP1we.

One of the main criticisms leveled against Fantech's previous premium release, the Aria XD7, was its tendency to quickly succumb to unintentional double-clicking. More specifically, the Kailh GM 8.0 mechanical switches used for the main buttons were suffering from quality control issues, and the only thing one could do to lessen these issues was to increase debounce time, though this in turn increased click latency. To address this issue once and for all, Fantech has opted for optical main button switches on the Helios II Pro, which do not bounce to begin with and therefore do not require debouncing. Though double-clicking is solved, the TTC Optical gold switches chosen by Fantech falter when it comes to the actual button response. On my sample, the left button in particular feels dull and muted to where one could believe it to be faulty, and while the right one is a bit better, neither delivers what I would consider a satisfying button response. Coupled with rather high pre-travel and a decent amount of post-travel, the main buttons on the Helios II Pro simply do not feel good. Previously, these same switches have seen use on numerous releases from Corsair, including the M65 RGB Ultra, M65 RGB Ultra Wireless, Scimitar Elite Wireless, Nightsabre Wireless, Darkstar Wireless, and M75 Air, and while button response was rather dull on these as well, it was nowhere near as dull as on the Helios II Pro. Of course, it is entirely possible that I got unlucky with the switches on my unit, though I'd argue that the button design is at least partially to blame, too, as even the worst switches on the Corsair mice mentioned earlier felt nowhere near as bad as the ones on the Helios II Pro.

For the side buttons, Fantech has opted for mechanical switches from Huano, which are somewhat of a mixed bag. The forward button scores with low pre and moderate post-travel, but the back button suffers from significant post-travel in particular, as the button can be pushed into the shell almost in its entirety. The scroll wheel encoder comes from F-Switch, and while noise levels are rather high, particularly when scrolling down, tactility is quite good, as the individual steps are rather nicely separated from each other. The feet are made of pure PTFE and glide very well, and as with previous releases, Fantech includes a set of replacement feet, along with a set of grip tape, both of which are most welcome inclusions.

Much like LAMZU or Pulsar, Fantech utilizes PixArt's PAW3395 sensor in conjunction with an MCU from Nordic, which runs a firmware from CompX. Performance is expectedly great: CPI deviation is nonexistent, general tracking fine regardless of whether MotionSync is enabled or disabled, and motion delay is low across the board, owing to smoothing having been disabled. That said, much like on other CompX mice, all polling rates below 1000 Hz suffer from periodic off-period polls in wireless operation. At 1600 CPI, without MotionSync, and in wireless operation, the Helios II Pro musters a motion delay differential of 0.5 ms compared to the Logitech G403 (control subject), and by using the HP sensor run mode, this can be lowered by another 0.5 ms, albeit at the price of a significant hit to battery life. As always, MotionSync adds roughly 0.5 ms worth of motion delay at a polling rate of 1000 Hz, too. Click latency likewise is on the expected level, clocking in at 2.4 ms at the lowest debounce time setting in wireless operation. Running a debounce time of zero is possible without drawbacks on the Helios II Pro, as even on mice using optical switches, lowering debounce time to zero would typically introduce slam-clicking, which describes inadvertent actuation of the main buttons upon resetting the mouse, but the Helios II Pro has slam-click prevention implemented, preventing this from happening entirely.

For those who want even better performance numbers, Fantech offers a separately available 4K dongle for a modest $10 premium. After pairing it to the Helios II Pro, the mouse is effectively turned into a USB high-speed device, and polling rates of 2000 and 4000 Hz become available in wireless operation. The lower polling rates of 125, 250, 500, and 1000 Hz continue to be available, though as with many other 4K implementations from CompX, polling stability is significantly worse compared to the regular USB full-speed dongle included with the mouse by default. Both 2000 and 4000 Hz, on the other hand, are mostly stable, aside from irregularly occurring bouts of elevated noise, and missed polls become more common at 4000 Hz. In terms of latency, the Helios II Pro posts slightly better results compared to other CompX mice. Motion delay is marginally lower across the board, and the same is true for click latency, which goes as low as 0.7 ms at 4000 Hz and a debounce time of 0 ms. Unfortunately, the Helios II Pro only allows pairing to a single dongle at any time, which means that after pairing to the 4K dongle, the included dongle will no longer work until it is paired again, resulting in the 4K dongle no longer working, and so on. Hence, if one wants to switch back to the regular dongle for stable 1000 Hz, doing so involves quite a bit of hassle.

As for battery life, Fantech cites up to 60 hours at 1000 Hz and up to 40 hours at 4000 Hz. Since battery life at 4000 Hz is usually a quarter of the battery life at 1000 Hz, I'm inclined to believe one of these two figures must be wrong. Calculating battery life isn't easy, as although the software does have a battery life indicator, it lacks any sort of percentage or segmentation, which, coupled with the fact that it did not move at all during testing, makes gauging anything extra difficult. Still, based on my experience with this chipset solution and the battery capacity of 300 mAh, I consider the 60 hours figure plausible at 1000 Hz and in LP ("low power") mode, and at 4000 Hz, I'd expect around 15 hours. Charging at least is decently speedy, though the charging cable is undoubtedly on the stiffer side, which is why playing while charging is a less than stellar experience. Hence, the Helios II Pro is a mouse that should rather be charged overnight, as the indicator is no help and the cable too stiff to allow playing without feeling severely restricted. That said, Bluetooth at least is on board, which comes in handy for office work or saving battery life.

Recommending the Helios II Pro is a somewhat difficult case. At $74.80, it is priced very fairly, and the 4K Dongle is just as affordable at $10, while providing a decent performance uplift. On the other hand, the main buttons mar what otherwise would be an excellent mouse, as anyone looking for crisp, snappy actuation won't find it on the Helios II Pro. Still, performance is solid, build quality on a good level, and at 55 g, the Helios II Pro is up there with the best. Hence, the Helios II Pro narrowly clutches our Recommended award, along with a well-earned Budget award.