The Price

$98.50 $70 on Newegg

The Verdict

Too expensive to be worth it.

The Cyber Sport Orbita Mouse is an interesting anomaly in that it looks and behaves totally different from any other mouse on the market now, but actually does exactly the same things as what you've got in front of you. There's the standard right and left click, then you can twist the mouse to scroll up, down, left or right. If you're familiar with the PowerMate, it's that, plus a right click button.

Despite what the site says, it's not an ergonomic mouse—not when compared to an actual ergonomic mouse—but it does scroll satisfyingly when you twist. Its most annoying factor is the first few minutes or hours when you start using it, thanks to the fact that you actually have to calibrate the mouse. The instructions aren't clear enough to get it done right on the first try, so you may have some bad luck before you finally get the thing to work properly.

If you don't really care about ergonomics, this is a reasonable enough mouse that basically has $45 worth of PowerMate built in, but without the customizability of the Griffin suite. Those of you who have hands that are worried about RSI, a standard ergonomic mouse plus a PowerMate will turn out to be about the same price. But on the same note, why does the PowerMate still cost $45 after so many years? [Newegg and Orbita]

Scrolling by turning is satisfying

Requires calibration

Not very ergonomic

Takes a while to get used to

Costs $70

The Gadget: Logitech's MX 1100 cordless laser mouse, which is a combination of the MX1000 (which we've used for years) and the slightly newer MX Revolution. It's wireless, which is great for most everyone, and contoured to your hand for extra comfort. There's also an on-board DPI toggle for sensitivity and the ability to switch between regular scrolling and super speedy scrolling.

The Price: $80

The Verdict: Our favorite mouse yet. The exterior is totally molded to fit your hand with very cozy grooves for the thumb, ring and pinkie. Like the MX Revolution, it's missing the fast scroll buttons found in the MX1000, but makes up for it with the fast scroll/regular scroll wheel toggle that lets you switch between standard scrolling and the super fast turbo spin that shoots through 10,000 lines of Excel in seven seconds. Then there are the other buttons.

The exterior DPI toggle can adjust sensitivity on the fly without opening up the control app and the "body" thumb button is good for whatever function (Exposé on Mac or Flip 3D on Vista) you want to assign. The forward and back thumb buttons are still there, and are still nice and soft, and the right and left mouse clicks have just the perfect amount of feedback to balance out feeling solid, being quiet and feeling satisfying. It also solves the flaw Logitech mice have had the past few years where it's hard to middle click the scroll wheel because it would tilt to either side, activating the side scrolling.

The two questionable design decisions are its use of AA batteries, which means it's not natively rechargeable, and the fact that lefties will feel even more uncomfortable using this than with previous ergonomically-shaped mice. We're right handed, but a few of our friends (we call them leftovers) wish they could use these along with us. Maybe make a left-handed version with all the internal pieces mirrored, but only 1/20 the production count? As for the batteries, this might be better, since our experience with Logitech mice is that the contacts between it and the docking station always get worn out, which leads to an inability to charge after a few years.

If you're like us and can see past these very minor quirks, you'll definitely be happy picking one up for daily use. At $80, it's not on the absolute highest side of the mice scale, plus it's actually still cheaper than the $99 MX Revolution, so power users will definitely be happy using this for years;or at least until Logitech decides to refine their design even more. [(Logitech (MX 1100) and Logitech (MX Revolution)]