We don’t often review mice here on YD unless it’s something really unique and or special. When Cyber Sport approached us about reviewing the Orbita, a hockey puck shaped mouse, we thought “hey why not!” My last experience with a puck mouse left a bad taste in my mouth (ahem: iMac) so I was prepared to be let down, or was I? Hit the jump!
To be frank I’m not really looking for an improved mousing experience. I primarily use a Wacom tablet for everything and on occasion pull out the gorgeous Logitech MX Air. Needless to say I’m a bit out of practice when it comes to traditional mice. I cleared off my desk, unboxed the Orbita and proceeded with the short but specific installation instructions. Let me digress.
To be clear, the Orbita is a wireless puck mouse wrapped in a squishy silicon body. You left click like traditional mice but right clicks are activated by a gentle squeeze. The most useful and endearing function is scrolling. You spin the puck in place letting you scroll freely without friction or even stopping. A BOON for me skimming their my 300+ RSS feeds.
The Orbita sits on a USB powered base that keeps the little guy charged. You know I must like it if I’m referring to it in an anthropomorphic manner. Two little LEDs on the base tell you if your mouse is properly seated and when it’s fully charge. The first initial charge takes a few hours. Once it’s juiced, you sync the mouse. Since the Orbita spins 360º, it has to know which way is up. There’s some clever wizardy going on there that I’m not gonna delve into. Needless to say it works flawlessly. Never once did the Orbita “lose it’s sense of direction.”
It’s way bigger than the original iMac puck mouse so hand cramps be damned! It’s actually quite comfortable. The left click works like it’s supposed to but right clicking is annoying. As I said before, you squeeze to initiate a right click. It takes very little pressure which is supposed to lesson hand fatigue but the design backfires. It’s way too easy to accidentally squeeze, interrupting your workflow and as customizable as the Orbita is, there’s no way to adjust squeeze tension. However a neat function that many of you designers might be interested in is the 3D-axis control over objects in your favorite modeling software. It works quite well. If you’re used to the $300 options from 3Dconnexion, then you’ll be at home with the Orbita.
What we liked:
- Soft squishy exterior is comfortable in hand
- Totally wireless and the longest battery life we’ve seen of any mouse
- Installation and setup is easy
- Spinning scroll action is smooth and accurate
- Always knows which way is up
- 2 traction pads are included for different desk surfaces
- OS X and Windows compatible including Vista’s Smooth Scroll feature
What could be improved:
- Right click squeeze is hyper sensitive
- $98.50 is pricey
Company: Cyber Sport [ Buy it Here ]
