I actually sold my Axe Fx II in order to get a Helix or Ax8 (yea regretting that decision right now lol)
So I got a Helix.....the tones out of the box are meh (best way to describe them) you will not be wow'd. You will love the scribble strips, the pedal functionality is great as well. It is super easy to edit from the actual pedal. It looks fantastic......though, (at least when I owned it) they have no computer editor. So it takes forever to set up tones because you have to do it from the screen (good thing it looks nice).
Anyway, it was buggy, to say the least. It wasn't saving things correctly, any IR's I loaded seemed to have weird issues, so on so forth.
Needless to say not long after buying The Helix had the black screen of death. It would make sound but you could not edit it, switch presets, or do anything. I returned it very quickly.
Now the Ax8 is really what I am wanting. I never used even half the functions of the Axe Fx II and I hated having to lug around a foot controller, a powered speaker, and a rack. Also at the price point (with everything included way over 3000 dollars in gear), so that is why I decided helix or Ax8 (I am far less worried about losing 1400-1500 dollars).
I can tell you from experience though, the Axe Fx tones just kill anything Line 6 has ever done.