Buffalo's Wiimote knockoff: the BOMU-W24A/BL spatial mouse

If Buffalo's disco mouse is just a tad too psychedelic for your tastes, and you've got a hankering for some Wiimote action just a few days early, the company's BOMU-W24A/BL "spatial mouse" should tide you over. Aside from sporting the usual assortment of mouse buttons and a scroll wheel, this critter boasts an internal gyro sensor that allows the cursor to move with the flick (or twist) of your wrist. In case all that twirling gets a bit tiresome, it also packs a standard optical sensor for "normal use," and offers six programmable buttons all around the enclosure. After a hard day's night of pointing it up, this wild child fits snuggly into the USB charging cradle, and can be picked up later this month for over half the price of a Wii itself, or ¥19,780 ($168).

[Via Akihabara News]

[Will @ Nov 16th 2006 12:02AM]

These have been around a while.

http://www.gyration.com/en-US

[jay.viz @ Nov 16th 2006 12:12AM]

I agree with Will. I saw these things back in '99.

[MuShoo @ Nov 16th 2006 12:30AM]

I own one of these things, it's made by Gyration, as the first post says. And you get the mouse and a nice little media-center-friendly laptopesque keyboard for about $130.

[rock99rock @ Nov 16th 2006 12:23AM]

Agreed as well. Not only that, but this one looks twice as large as my gyration. Insert joke here.

[Yoweigh @ Nov 16th 2006 12:31PM]

I'm on my 3rd one of these things. This Buffalo device is a rebranded Air Mouse from Gyration. [gyration.com] BTW, this is NOT the same tech in the Wii. This has gyroscopes where the Wiimote has accelerometers and the infrared sensor bar.

[Neuralgia @ Nov 16th 2006 12:45AM]

Mine was a GyroPath or something like that, and had to be plugged into the PS/2 port and the RJ modem jack... now that's old ;)

It was a great device, it still works, and still use it for some presentations... the company dissapeared.

[godzilla1 @ Nov 16th 2006 5:29PM]

nintendo invested in gyration in 2001. gyroscopic mice isn't nintendo's innovation (they're sold on ebay for about 15 dollars-well worth it).

previously, the hardware could not recognize the mouse's location in 3d spatial space. with the sensor bar-the gestures can be interpreted in relation to the tv.

[mec11 @ Nov 16th 2006 1:15AM]

Damn everyone beat me to it (http://www.gyration.com/en-US/ProductDetail.html?modelnum=GC1005M&accshow=3) ;)

I own the keyboard (off of ebay) and is great for my gaming computer so my 'keyboard' tray can house my mouse w/ large mousepad and ergodex controller.

[Nick Eddy @ Nov 16th 2006 1:19AM]

Is it just me, or does that woman have some ugly ass hands?

[kyler @ Nov 16th 2006 2:26AM]

i dunno about the hands, but that is definitely an ugly-ass thumbnail

[mirko @ Nov 16th 2006 9:10AM]

I bought the gyration keyboard and mouse from office depot for $99 way before Wii.

[aidan @ Nov 16th 2006 8:20AM]

yeah... its a rebadged gyration mouse. We had them in every multimedia room at UNC until we realized they crap out after a month and none of the professors can figure out the gyration function.

[Wonderboy @ Nov 16th 2006 9:15AM]

How are these types of mice to use? Does it become a pain in the butt if you're doing normal pc stuff (i.e. going back and forth between the keyboard and mouse)?

I'm in the market for a new wireless K/M for my HTPC... any reviews of the Gyration Optical Air Mouse?

[wfcentral @ Nov 16th 2006 10:19AM]

"How are these types of mice to use? Does it become a pain in the butt if you're doing normal pc stuff (i.e. going back and forth between the keyboard and mouse)?"

I also own one of these that I bought several months ago (Gyration at Office Depot for $99)

To answer your question Wonderboy - the mouse can be used on a desktop just like a regular wireless laser mouse - when you pick it up and hold the trigger in it becomes an "air mouse" - I use mine 80% of the time as a regular mouse, but like the fact I can pick it up and use it from across the room if needed...

[Nick @ Nov 17th 2006 5:40PM]

I got my gyration keyboard/mouse refurbished for about $35 a year a go. The secret is to keep it well charged and it works great. It can be used as an ordinary optical mouse, or picked up, its probably best to pick up only on low mouse intensity stuff, i.e. Media PC stuff, but I can't imagine doing much else from my sofa anyway.

[Nick @ Nov 17th 2006 5:40PM]

I got my gyration keyboard/mouse refurbished for about $35 a year a go. The secret is to keep it well charged and it works great. It can be used as an ordinary optical mouse, or picked up, its probably best to pick up only on low mouse intensity stuff, i.e. Media PC stuff, but I can't imagine doing much else from my sofa anyway.

[Zuke @ Nov 17th 2006 2:56AM]

How well do you think this would work for gaming? Quick enough response time? Do you tend to overshoot things with the pointer?

Thanks

[MasamuneX @ Nov 16th 2006 10:22PM]

Looks like shes gonna use that thing to shave her man's back!

[mec11 @ Nov 17th 2006 1:24AM]

Upon looking again... bet that is a dude's hand.