Review of Sandio 3D Game O2 Mouse

More Than a Mouse

Sandio's 6DOF Game O2 mouse is designed to let you use one hand to navigate in 3D worlds, such as Google Earth and Second Life. The mouse comes with software drivers for several dozen other 3D games.

Sandio's Game O2 can be used as a regular USB mouse, so you don't have to switch between controllers when you're not gaming.

The mouse is stylish in red and black with blue back lighting. The Game O2 comes with two buttons and a middle scroll wheel, just like most mice. It also has three small, analog joysticks attached to the side and top of the mouse. These joysticks can be manipulated with a single finger. There also two smaller buttons on the left side near the thumb position.

The whole device is made larger but more ergonomic with a built-in wrist rest. At first I thought it looked a bit ridiculous, but the wrist rest really made a big difference in my wrist fatigue level.

The mini-joysticks allow 3D navigation while the rest of the mouse behaves like an ordinary 2D, optical mouse.

The easiest way I found to use all these features on one mouse was to use four fingers and switch between buttons and joysticks. I tried using all five fingers, but this put my pinky on one joystick, and this did not work well at all.

The other option would be to use both hands on the same mouse, but that's even more awkward.

Google Earth, Google SketchUp, and Second Life will auto load drivers as soon as you launch the program. Microsoft Virtual Earth and Photosynth will auto-load in Internet Explorer.

The Game O2 ships with drivers for around three dozen more games.

System Requirements

The Game O2 works on Windows XP and Windows Vista. It requires a USB connection.

The Game O2 does not have any drivers for Mac operating systems.

Using the Game O2 with Google Earth and SketchUp was easy. The controls are fairly intuitive and work similarly for both programs.

Using the Game O2 with SketchUp was particularly helpful, because it saved the time it took to switch between rotating and editing objects. The Game O2 will only move in one direction at a time, but that's not always a disadvantage. It's easy to lose control in 3D space when you're moving in multiple directions at once.

Gaming

The Game O2 was designed as a game mouse. It worked especially well in popular virtual reality game, Second Life. Jumping, flying, and moving were intuitive movements. I also liked being able to program custom keyboard shortcuts into the mouse to extend the capabilities here. Avid Second Life gamers may want to give this mouse serious consideration.

Custom Configurations

If you want to use an application that has not been pre-configured, you can make your own custom configuration. There are 16 programmable button combinations, and the configuration screen is smart enough to interpret control + key combinations when you type them.

Setting up a custom configuration for a game is still tedious. You have to program up, down, left and right for each of the joysticks and each combination of pressing both side joysticks at once.