UniTrap: Contour Enhancement for the iMac Mouse

Jun 1, 1999

Price: US$14.99
Makers: Contour Design [www.contourdesign.com]

Who would have thought a year ago that one day they'd be making contoured body-kits for mice? Then it occurs to you: the iMac makes all things possible. Take that whichever way you want.

The UniTrap is an angularly egg-shaped snap-on shell — a body-kit if you like — for the iMac's notorious round mouse. The product comes as a 5-in-1 package that caters to all the current flavors of the iMac. Assembly instructions are clearly illustrated on the back of the packing, which is all that you need.

Something Old, Something New
What makes good economic sense about the UniTrap is that underneath it all still remains your original iMac mouse. So you don't have to feel bad about having to abandon your mouse for a new one, which would certainly cost you more than the US$14.99 price-tag of the UniTrap anyway. The designers of the UniTrap have also managed to keep the width of the device to almost that of the original mouse encased within it. Wise decision.

Mounting the UniTrap
Before mounting on the UniTrap, you first need to remove the colored plastic trims on the sides of your iMac mouse. It's not all that tricky; just gently pry them off from the body of the mouse with your fingertips following the pictorial guide.

Once you've got the trims off, the rest is simple enough. Just seat your mouse onto the bottom shell, taking care to align the mouse cable along the cable guide, and then snap the top shell into place. You do this by sort of tucking the front end of the top shell under the cable guide at the front end of the bottom shell (which also acts as a catch), and then snapping the top shell down at the back. All of that probably took less than ten minutes, and now you've got yourself a new mouse.

Switching between the different colored clickers is just as easy. The flap of the clicker that snaps onto the underside of the top shell is flexible, so you can lift it off to remove and switch between clickers without worries. But be advised not to do this too often in case you wear out the hinges.

Performance and Handling
After fitting on the UniTrap, the utility and accuracy of the mouse remains unhindered, although I detected a marginal increase in friction when moving the mouse about the mouse-pad, probably because of the one extra point of contact. Orientation will most certainly be unambiguous once again for some users.

Having honed my skills in manoeuvring the iMac's round and dimple-free "finger" mouse to a fine art after over two months of heavy use (and not once in recent memory having experienced the cursored "rodenitis wanderitis" affliction), the sudden change to the UniTrap feels alien all over again, if only for a while. Certainly, it's a handful, literally. However, users who have been clamoring for a more ergonomically-shaped mouse would probably welcome the snug and generous palm support offered by the UniTrap. (If you hold it up in your palm, you'll realize why the UniTrap is tapered as it is towards the rear.)

Last Words
All things considered, the UniTrap is a simple yet well-detailed contraption with a translucent matte finish that matches the iMac in looks and tactile quality. It is, as Timothy Donaghy, director of marketing of Contour Design Inc. points out, a solution "that allows the user to keep the state-of-the-art mouse mechanism and top-of-the-line switches that Apple uses in their round mouse" while offering at the same time a contour that more users find comfortable.
 

Sales Enquiry:
Contour Design Inc.
email: tim@contourdesign.com
website: http://www.contourdesign.com

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