At $129.99, the VAXEE Zygen NP-01 Wireless certainly is no bargain, which is why it is no wonder that other manufacturers try to step in with lower-priced variants of their own. While the GHERO Pro ends up being a bit smaller than the NP-01 Wireless, albeit still larger than the NP-01S Wireless, the shape is essentially the same. At 65 g, the GHERO Pro isn't among the lightest mice around, but is still 7 g lighter than the NP-01 Wireless.

The similarities continue in the buttons department. Much like the NP-01 Wireless, the GHERO Pro exclusively utilizes switches from Huano. For the main buttons, the blue transparent, pink plunger variant finds use, which are known for delivering snappy and firm actuation. By and large, this is still the case on the GHERO Pro, though due to the moderate to high pre-travel, button response is slightly spongier than it could be. Thankfully, post-travel at least is low, and lateral button movement is kept to a minimum, too. On the side buttons, the situation is reversed, as pre-travel is low, yet post-travel is high, as each button can be pressed into the shell by a decent amount. That said, the actuation point is even, and button response quite satisfying nonetheless. The scroll wheel encoder comes from TTC and is of the blue/yellow core variety. Unfortunately, noise levels are substantial, and scrolling feels somewhat hollow and "cheap," for lack of a better word. Tactility isn't all that great, either, and merely ranks slightly above average, as the individual steps leave something to be desired in terms of separation. The feet are of the same type as the ones previously used on the Incott HPC01M Pro, are made of pure PTFE, and their glide still is very good.

Much like the NP-01 Wireless, the GHERO Pro combines PixArt's PAW3395 sensor with an MCU from PixArt, though instead of a PAR2862QC, a PAR2862QN is used. The firmware/software package, on the other hand, comes from CompX. Accordingly, performance is on an expectedly good level. The biggest issue, or rather the biggest inconvenience, is CPI deviation being rather large at +5%. Correcting this deviation is easily done, but as always, the target value being met out of the box would be preferable. General tracking is without issue, regardless of whether MotionSync is enabled or not, and which sensor run mode is selected. Much like on other CompX mice, one can choose between different run modes for the sensor, which broadly define its operating parameters, including fundamentals such as maximum tracking speed, framerate scaling, power consumption, and so on. Three modes are available: LP (low power), HP (high performance), and corded mode. Unlike other releases, the software for the GHERO Pro does not impose any restrictions based on connectivity, so even in wired mode, one could choose a run mode other than corded. While doing so serves little purpose, selecting corded mode in wireless operation does lower motion delay by 0.5 ms, whereas LP and HP land at a motion delay differential of 0.5 ms relative to the Logitech G403 (control subject) with MotionSync disabled, or 1 ms with MotionSync enabled. Polling stability is in a good spot: in wired operation, only 1000 Hz is stable, but in wireless operation, everything but 125 Hz is fully stable, which is close to perfect. Click latency is an interesting case on the GHERO Pro. The lowest possible debounce time value is 1 ms, which results in an average click latency of 2.0 ms. Somewhat counterintuitively, a value of 2 ms doesn't increase click latency by 1 ms, however, but rather by 0.2 ms. Hence, the debounce time values aren't actually representative of the amount of debounce time added, and scaling isn't linear, either. An interesting facet of this is the fact that slam-clicking, which describes inadvertent button actuation upon resetting the mouse, only disappears when setting debounce time to 5 ms or higher. Now that we know that setting debounce time to 5 ms instead of 1 ms doesn't increase debounce by 4 ms, but rather by around 1 ms, this oddity makes a lot of sense.

As a separate purchase, Incott offers an 8K dongle for the GHERO Pro, which makes polling rates of 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz available in wireless operation. Before that, one has to pair the dongle to the mouse, which is more difficult than it sounds. On most other mice, one simply needs to open a pairing utility within the software, or press a couple of buttons while plugging the dongle, or similar shenanigans, but on the GHERO Pro, the process is more involved. First, firmware updates for all devices are in order, and by order I mean the correct order. Then, the mouse needs to be set to a specific 8K pairing mode by keeping select buttons pressed while turning the mouse on, and only after having done that successfully does pairing become possible. Unfortunately, pairing the GHERO with the 8K dongle unpairs the default 1K dongle, so using the same mouse on two computers or similar schemes are not possible. In terms of performance, the 8K dongle without a doubt provides an uplift, but it's not exactly groundbreaking. At 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz, the GHERO Pro will be ahead of the G403 (control subject) by 0.8 ms, provided MotionSync stays disabled. Compared to the 1K dongle with corded mode enabled, this is merely a difference of 0.8 ms, so hardly worth writing home about. The polling target values are met, and polling is largely stable, except for 8000 Hz, where polls are commonly missed by multiple intervals, leading to delayed tracking. Click latency is also improved, although only marginally so: at 1000 Hz, 1.5 ms are averaged instead of 2.0 ms, at 2000 Hz, 1.3 ms are averaged, and 1.2 ms are averaged at both 4000 and 8000 Hz. These numbers still cannot compete with several 1000 Hz mice, and the gains over the regular 1K dongle are simply too small to be considered relevant. As such, I wouldn't spend the $16.99 asked for the 8K dongle.

Incott cites up to 143 hours of battery life at 1000 Hz, which strikes me as a bit optimistic. A 500 mAh battery is used, which, if we compare it to VAXEE's wireless mice using the same sensor, MCU, and switches, should easily last for more than 100 hours, but not quite 143 hours. Since the battery life indicator lacks any kind of segmentation or percentage, giving any kind of estimate sadly is impossible, so I can neither confirm nor deny this figure, though I'd rather expect 100 hours and change. Ultimately, battery life isn't all that important on the GHERO Pro anyway, since charging is fast, really fast. At around 0.5 A, the GHERO Pro skates right around the limit defined by USB specifications, and to top things off, the charging cable is quite flexible to boot, too, and even comes with an angled connector to reduce cable drag. In short, charging is not a concern at all on the GHERO Pro. Speaking of the software, this one comes with all the relevant options, is completely bug-free, and barely takes up any resources. In one word: perfect.

All in all, the GHERO Pro is not an original mouse, but it manages to be a solid contender through and through, and at $59.99 on Mechkeys.com, value for money is excellent, too. The $129.99 VAXEE Zygen NP-01 Wireless is the better mouse, and I'd always advocate supporting the originals instead of their clones, but given the pricing difference, I can't blame anyone opting for the GHERO Pro instead. The $16.99 for the 8K dongle, on the other hand, are a waste, as the performance uplift is too small to be worth the hassle. In any case, the GHERO Pro earns our Recommended and Budget awards.