Sandio 3D Game O' Mouse

Reviews: Peripherals

Accessories | Gaming Devices | Keyboards / Mice | Printers

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Anthony Fiti
Beth
Sandio
Sep. 10, 2007

Specifications

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Introduction

Mice are a critical, yet lower cost component of your high performance PC. A cheap $9.99 mouse might not be able to get you very far in your quest to become the champion of your favorite game.

Sandio shipped us their new 3D mouse. They're calling it their 3D Game O' 6DOF (six degrees of freedom) Mouse. Quite the mouthful, huh? I'm not quite sure what the "O'" is in there for.

Product naming aside, Sandio is promoting the mouse as innovative. By allowing the user to manipulate the mouse with additional four-way HAT switches located within easy reach, the mouse can simulate a full six degrees of freedom - you'll be able to move throughout 3D space fluidly.

It sounds interesting, but how well will I be able to move through space? Will it give me an edge in games? Will 3D applications, like Google Earth and Doom, and 2D arenas, like Photoshop and Warcraft III, be improved by the 6DOF?

First Looks

The first things you notice about the mouse are the three four-way HAT switches on the left, top, and right side of the mouse. Once I put my hand on it, though, I quickly realized that maybe they added one too many switches, as I now needed to use all five digits on my hand, from thumb to pinky, to control the buttons and switches (left HAT, left mouse button, middle HAT/scroll wheel, right mouse button, right HAT switch).

Next is the built-in wrist rest. Instead of the back of the mouse being a curved surface that ends at an abrupt angle with the mousepad, the Sandio 3D mouse has a wrist rest built into the back of the mouse. At first I thought it was an innovative idea. But, after more than a week of using it, I found the device annoying due to my mousing style - using my fingers to move the mouse around and keeping my wrist stationary. Luckily, you can just pull off the wrist rest from the bottom of the mouse. I was able to use the mouse sans wrist rest without any problems.

The buttons felt good, with the exception of the forward/back buttons near the thumb HAT being slightly undersized (sometimes they were difficult to press). The HAT sizes themselves are good, but I believe the middle HAT may have benefited from a different style instead of the concave form-fitting finger HAT and more of a convex surface.

Left handers, beware; this device is not friendly for your left hand. The mouse's HAT button positioning on the sides are geared toward having your thumb on the left side and your ring or pinky finger on the right. Likewise, the wrist rest is geared towards right handers.

Finally, the package comes with a short instruction manual, as well as a small CD that contains drivers and software.

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Page 1: Introduction & First Looks
Page 2: Testing
Page 3: Conclusion

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