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Turtle Beach Burst II Pro Review: Ultra-light, 8K polling, and a little creaky

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The Burst II Pro is comfortable, ultra-light, and has 8K wired and wireless polling. But the only thing that really differentiates it from its competitors is its creaky sides.

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There are a lot of ultra-lightweight wireless gaming mice with 4K or 8K polling rates out there right now. So much so that it's getting hard to differentiate them, partly because they're not doing much to differentiate themselves. Turtle Beach's new Burst II Pro probably isn't going to make our list of best gaming mice , but it's the latest ultra-lightweight (57g), speedy, stripped-down wireless gaming mouse with 8K polling (both wired and wireless). And, well, it looks a lot like the rest.

The Burst II Pro is an ultra-lightweight wireless gaming mouse with six programmable buttons and eight programmable inputs, and... not much else. It features Turtle Beach's Owl-Eye 30K optical sensor, which has a maximum resolution of 30,000 DPI and a maximum speed of 750 IPS, can handle up to 70 Gs of force, and it gets up to an 8,000 Hz polling rate over both its 2.4GHz wireless connection and its wired connection (it comes with a special, shielded USB-C to USB-A cable to ensure the absolute lowest latency). It's a lot like other ultra-lightweight wireless gaming mice with 8K polling rates, though it does have a DPI button that's located on the left side, near the front — a somewhat unique placement. But, for the most part, it's just like other mice in its category.

The Burst II Pro is available now, in black and white colorways, for $139.99 (though it's recently been on sale for $99.99).

Design and Comfort

The Burst II Pro is an ultra-light wireless gaming mouse with a fairly basic shape — pseudo-symmetrical, with curved sides and a centered, even hump. It features a lightweight plastic shell with a smooth, soft-touch matte finish and a metallic accent line that separates the primary mouse buttons from the palmrest. The finish looks and feels nice, but it does attract fingerprints — I had to wipe down the mouse daily to remove shine.

Turtle Beach's palm tree logo is printed in dark gray on the mouse's hump, and the brand's text logo is printed on the mouse's right primary button (alongside the scroll wheel). "8K" is printed in the corner of the left scroll button, presumably to remind you that this mouse boasts wireless polling rates of up to 8,000 Hz, at the price of battery life, of course.

Image 1 of 2 (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The mouse's shell feels fairly sturdy, but the sides do creak a lot — even with just a little pressure. This wasn't much of an issue for me, as I don't grip the sides of my mice particularly hard (I'm definitely a palm gripper), but it is concerning in a stripped-down, ultra-lightweight mouse. The mouse is aimed at gamers who prioritize speed and mobility over everything else, and many of these gamers do tend to grab and pick up their mice by the sides. While side creaking doesn't usually mean an issue with structural stability, it can definitely be frustrating and noticeable while you're playing.

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