Price Tag: $58.00
Age Range: 9+
Official URL: www.3dconnexions.com
Rating:

The “Space Navigator� is a 3D mouse. That is, it is a mouse that operates not only by moving around on a two-dimensional surface such as a mousepad, but which also can move “in� and “out� and rotate. Or “up� and “down�, depending on how you look at it. In other words: It’s really freaking cool.
While it certainly seems a natural for games, support for those have been a bit slow to come. However the first officially supported game is now out and called “Multiwinia�. In addition to this game, Space Navigator works with a growing range of productive and educational applications such as “Google Earth� and “Sketchup�. Check the 3dconnexions website for the updated list of supported applications, they are aggressively growing it every month.

THE EXPERIENCE

Paired with the right program, Space Navigator is such a significant step up in user interaction, going back to a traditional mouse feels a lot like taking your skates off and having to walk again. Like walking, a traditional mouse will get you where you want to go, but it will take longer and certainly won’t be as cool an experience.

The Space Navigator gives a bit of the feeling of a stick shift on an expensive car, or perhaps more precisely the control stick of a plane (though we can’t speak to that example from first hand experience). It is tactile, real-world, and truly three dimensional. Let it rip with Google Earth’s satellite imagery and your child will feel as if he’s zooming through the air hundreds of feet above the planet. Wild!

QUALITY AND CONSTRUCTION

This device is roughly the size of a doorknob, and very heavily weighted so that it won’t slide around on your desktop or be picked up too easily when you’re zooming in and out of a virtual world. The various surfaces are made of slick plastic, metal, and a very nice “grippy� rubber. It looks and feels like something you’d find in a space ship, like a controller from something out of Star Trek.

INSTALLATION

Installation is pretty quick and easy. Just insert the CD, run the setup program and follow the instructions. (Downloading the latest drivers instead might be an even better option than the CD, since support for new programs is added frequently).

The default option for installation is “Completeâ€? which apparently installs an insanely long list of items, so unless you’re very heavily into 3D, I would suggest you click “Customâ€? and just install the software for the applications you plan on using. The custom install should be the default, as we can almost guarantee that there is no one on the face of the planet that uses every single application on the list. And if they do, they don’t have time to have kids anyway, so they’re certainly not reading this article!

PACKAGING

The Space Navigator mouse is packed in a simple box that opens up to show an inner box, plastic container and thin plastic envelope that contains the installation CD, and three CD-sized guides: Quick Start for OS X, Unix and Linux, and Windows.

The Space Navigator device is packed in a molded plastic container- no need to cut it open, simply remove the round sticker from the bottom of the cardboard and pull the device out of the plastic container. The silver ring around the bottom is covered with a protective film which should be removed. And it is packed with a Silica Gel packet to keep it from being damaged by moisture, so be sure to grab that before the little ones do.

The USB cable is tightly coiled and secured with a black twist-tie. The USB connector is guarded with a little plastic nub that slides easily on and off.

I wish every company would package their products in such a pleasant and ecological manner. Big points here! This packaging can easily be used to store the device when not in use.

BOTTOM LINE

The 3DConnexions Space Navigator 3D mouse is an excellent tactile tool for children learning the basics of geometry or geography. The ability to turn 2D images into 3D in Sketchup, or zoom around satellite imagery in Google Earth is breathtaking. Using a normal mouse just feels kludgy and makes the whole thing seem unreal. The Space Navigator makes your child feel like they’re zooming through the air over the planet instead of staring at a two dimensional computer screen. It’s an awesome learning tool.

We love it so much that we wish someone would write a generic mouse driver for it that would allow it to be used as a mouse replacement. It’s such a pleasure to use. This would make a great gift for kids from about fourth grade and up.