While it used to be next-to impossible to find ambidextrous mice with thumb buttons, it's fairly common these days. This is coming from a left-handed PC gamer. We now have several options, including a few options that are exclusively for south paws. This one is a little different, though. Roccat decided to make an ambidextrous mouse with removable covers for the thumb buttons. This change allows the user to convert the mouse from left-handed thumb buttons, to right-handed thumb buttons, to both, to neither.
Unfortunately, Roccat doesn't say exactly how many buttons there are. I'm looking specifically at the front middle. It looks like a simple scroll wheel with a single button behind it. Roccat calls the wheel a “2D Titan Wheel” but, as far as I can tell, and I've searched for quite a while about this, it's just their brand name for a high-quality, one dimensional scroll wheel. Physically speaking, a “2D scroll wheel” should have tilt, but it doesn't seem to. 2D is up, down, left, right; 1D is up and down; 0D is a point, which I guess would be a button?
Anyway, the customization feature sounds nice, but I'm not sure how useful it is in practice. It could be nice for a family, where some users are right-handed and others are left-handed. A single person is going to stick with a single handedness, though. This makes me consider other uses cases, where a single user would want to adjust their button layout for reasons other than handedness. Perhaps the user doesn't want to feel buttons under their pinky and ring finger when playing certain genres, but want it for some reason (DPI adjustment?) in other games. It's a struggle, but maybe there's a potential market for it.
This is the same mouse as above, just with its sides replaced.
On the other hand, Roccat plans to release “3D print support”. Maybe the draw was never intended to be the four included panels. Perhaps the goal is to provide a platform for users to create their own sides, and the ambidextrous nature was just the default for non-enthusiasts (or until the user gets around to making their own)?
Pricing and availability have not been announced on their website, but Tom's Hardware seems to think it's $49.99, and available November 27th. It's probably in a newsletter or press release that I missed.
I’m right handed,but use my
I’m right handed,but use my mouse with my left hand. At present I Use the Taipan. This looks like another option.
Ooh, me likey.
Ooh, me likey.