One of the main criticisms brought up against VAXEE mice has been the weight, which was never high, but not particularly low, either. With the XE-S Wireless and E1 Wireless, these complaints have been addressed successfully, owing to a newly designed internal structure saving significant weight while keeping structural integrity and button quality intact. The NP-01S Wireless now receives this same treatment with the NP-01S V2 Wireless, bringing the weight down from 68 g to 57 g. Most importantly, this comes without any downsides in regard to build quality, which is great on my sample: there is no creaking or flexing of the shell when applying lateral pressure, and actuating the side buttons by pressing below them is impossible. The only (and returning) flaw is a minor rattle when shaking, though I still haven't been able to find exactly where that rattle comes from. Either way, it is completely unnoticeable during actual use.

After the main buttons of the E1 Wireless had been outfitted with pink-plunger Huano switches instead of the usual blue ones, the NP-01S V2 Wireless now comes full circle and goes with the blue-plunger Huano switches once again. In practice, the difference is miniscule, but the change deserves mention nonetheless. Once more of note is the excellent button design, as there is zero lateral play of the buttons even when trying to provoke it, and though button pre- and post-travel are moderate, this is intentional and well-tuned to avoid accidental clicks. The side buttons likewise come from Huano, and are surface-mounted. Pre- and post-travel are remarkably low, though on my sample at least, feedback changes when pressing towards the rear, although the pressure point remains even. This (very) minor flaw aside, VAXEE continues to provide among the best side buttons around. The scroll wheel encoder of course comes from ALPS, which delivers good tactility, albeit at elevated noise levels. Instead of a full-size mechanical switch, VAXEE has opted for an elevated 2-pin, low-profile switch from Huano for the scroll wheel click, which ends up being a bit stiffer compared to the latest VAXEE releases. The feet also are well familiar from previous VAXEE mice, being made of pure PTFE and gliding well.

Much like the XE-S and E1 Wireless, the NP-01S V2 Wireless comes with PixArt's latest PAW3950 instead of the trusty PAW3395. In practice, this has little bearing, aside from a different battery life profile. Using the standard sensor run mode, battery life is up at 1000 Hz compared to the 3395, whereas when using competitive mode at 1000 Hz or 2000/4000 Hz proper, battery life is down. Other than that, nothing has changed in terms of MCU or firmware, which is why performance ends up being virtually the same, too, except for competitive mode, which received latency improvements. A positive CPI deviation of 1.9 % is present, general tracking is fine regardless of whether MotionSync is enabled or not, and polling is largely stable. That is, there is a certain base level of noise present throughout all polling rates, but no actual polls are being missed, so while not perfect, this has little bearing in practice. Motion delay is on an excellent level: as long as competitive mode is enabled and MotionSync disabled, the NP-01S V2 Wireless has a lead of roughly 0.9 ms over the Logitech G403 (control subject). The lead gets smaller when disabling competitive mode or enabling MotionSync, which is the same behavior we've seen on the 3395 releases, and by comparable amounts.

Where the NP-01S V2 Wireless does things differently is click latency. Whereas previous VAXEE mice had a selection of 2, 3, 4, and 8 ms for debounce time, this has been simplified on the NP-01S V2 Wireless, which now offers 0, 2, and 4 ms. Notable of course is the 0 ms setting, which marks a first for VAXEE and helps bring click latency more in line with the top competitors. When using the 0 ms setting, the NP-01S V2 Wireless now averages 0.7 ms at 4000 Hz, and only marginally worse 1.1 ms at 1000 Hz. In short, the NP-01S V2 Wireless finally catches up to the very best, and since VAXEE has implemented a (flawless) slam-click prevention algorithm, there is no real reason not to use the 0 ms setting. Eventually, double-clicking may show up, but until then, 0 ms debounce time can be used without a second thought. Interestingly, the main button switches on the NP-01S V2 Wireless are supplied with 3.02 V instead of 2.06 V, which may be a deliberate change to prevent double-clicking for as long as possible when using the 0 ms setting. Compared to previous releases, the higher voltage may end up lowering battery life slightly, however.

Whereas previous VAXEE wireless releases all came with a braided charging cable, the charging cable of the NP-01S V2 Wireless instead is made of TPE (thermoplastic elastomer), and ends up accordingly stiffer. According to VAXEE, this decision has been made in knowing that the majority of users at most use the mouse wired while charging, thus prompting prioritization of shielding and, by extension, stability over flexibility. While this is certainly less than ideal for those who do want the wired option or tend to forget charging before use, there is a different and arguably more relevant reason to avoid wired operation on the NP-01S V2 Wireless. Testing suggests there being a bug resulting in motion delay continually increasing in wired mode, and this happens regardless of MotionSync or any other setting. Given that this is a wireless mouse, I consider this negligible, but there is no doubt that wired mode is not a priority on the NP-01S V2 Wireless, and should be avoided as much as possible. Charging at least is decently speedy at a little more than 0.3 A, so downtime won't be particularly long.

As a first for VAXEE, the NP-01S V2 Wireless offers software customization through a web driver. Much like other web drivers, this one connects through WebHID and thus will only work on Chromium-based browsers. Functionally, the web driver largely matches what the on-device settings are capable of, except for two things: First, CPI adjustment is not restricted to the four pre-defined steps and instead possible in the usual increments of 50 and for up to 26,000 CPI. The 3950 supports up to 30,000 CPI, but only up to 26,000 CPI have been tested by VAXEE, and this limitation may be lifted once higher values have been tested. Second, the buttons may be rebound, though the possible options are rather limited, as only mouse functions and a few select other binds (such as Page Down) are supported. In any case, the added customization is certainly most welcome.

At $139.99, the NP-01S V2 Wireless is priced $10 higher than previous 3395 releases, whose 4K variants in turn were priced $10 higher than the original wireless releases from VAXEE. As such, the NP-01S V2 Wireless creeps closer and closer to the $150 mark occupied by Razer, Logitech, or ASUS, though unlike these, VAXEE mice never go on sale, and Amazon free shipping obviously isn't an option, either. Hence, the pricing no doubt will give some pause, though at the same time, the NP-01S V2 Wireless is a marked improvement over the already excellent NP-01S Wireless, and leaves very little to be desired. In addition, it remains one of the more unique shapes, in spite of clone wars participants such as the Incott GHERO Pro, which may be more affordable, but hardly compares to the NP-01S V2 Wireless on any level. Accordingly, the NP-01S V2 Wireless earns our Editor's Choice.