It’s been over a month since the German non-profit Nager-IT announced that the first partially-fair computer mouse was available for sale. I promised then to deliver a review as soon as I get my hands on a specimen.
I’ve been using my mouse for a while now, and I’m very satisfied. The mouse comes in a compact cardboard box, only accompanied by a sheet of paper containing product information. None of the obnoxious plastic-shell packaging that somehow has become popular. Even this first impression tells you that a lot of thought has gone into the ecological aspects of the mouse as well.
The mouse itself gives off a robust and well-made impression. I quite like the marbled look of my mouse, which makes it a unique piece; the bio-degradable shell of the mouse is pleasant to touch (it feels like very slightly roughened plastic). The green LED is a nice touch as well. Functionally, it does what a computer mouse is supposed to do: Two buttons plus a clickable scroll wheel, all working as expected. It’s an optical mouse with a cord length of about 1m.
With regards to size, the mouse occupies a middle ground: it’s neither as tiny as a laptop mouse nor as huge as a high-end product. This means that it’s compact and light enough to carry along, but still large enough to provide for comfortable regular use. It’s probably not the most ergonomic mouse ever produced (if there can even be such a thing as an ergonomic mouse), but the symmetrical shape means that it works equally well for left-handed use as for right-handed – something that is often missing in other mice.
So if you want to do something to support Nager-IT, who have released the mouse after years-long research and will continue to investigate ways to produce computer hardware more fairly, you can order this mouse for the price of 26,90 € off their web site. Unfortunately, there is still no order information in English; however the form is fairly self-explanatory. Note that the clickable scroll wheel is an add-on that requires you to check a corresponding box.