‘Book Mystique Review — Cirque Easy Cat Freestanding Touchpad
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
by Charles W. Moore
I’m a bit of a touchpad fan. Being a laptop computer aficionado, I’ve used touchpads (or “trackpads” in Apple parlance) a lot since they were introduced to the world in 1994 on the PowerBook 500 series - the first laptop ever to use these devices instead of a trackball or pointing stick. I find them a satisfactory pointing device solution for most of the mobile computing I do, although I prefer a conventional mouse at my office desktop workstation, especially for precision work like graphics editing.
Some touchpads are better than others, and the very best Apple notebook trackpads in my estimation were the ones in the G3 Series PowerBooks -- WallStreet, Lombard, and Pismo. One shortcoming touchpads have, at least for me, is that in certain high-humidity environments, particularly combined with low temperatures, the touchpad takes on a mind of its own and becomes essentially useless. Of Apple laptop touchpads I’ve used, the G3 Series units are the most immune to this, and the ones in the PowerBook 5300 and 1400 were the worst (although I really like the 1400’s trackpad button). The problem is most often encountered on a cold startup or wake-up, and usually clears within ten minutes or so as the machine warms up.
However, the most moisture-oblivious touchpad of all I’ve ever used is the Cirque Easy Cat, the subject of this review, which isn’t a built-in notebook computer device, but a freestanding unit that can be used with desktop computers also.
One great advantage of the touchpad is that it is the lowest user-stress pointing device on muscles, tendons, and nerves, making it an excellent choice for people who suffer from mousing pain. Touchpads are also compact and since the unit remains stationary and requires no mousepad, it’s an excellent alternative for use in tight quarters.
Touchpads operate by sensing your fingertip’s electrical capacitance, with capacitive sensors arrayed along the horizontal and vertical axes of the pad surface. The location of the finger is determined from the pattern of capacitance from these sensors, which is why they can’t sense inanimate objects being moved across the pad’s contact surfaces. On the other hand, even gloved fingers may work, and I find thin cotton gloves are just fine, and can help in those high-humidity conditions I mentioned.
The Mac OS also supports touchpad “tappability” - that is you can substitute finger taps for mouse clicks, and you can also drag and drop or highlight items without using the touchpad button. You can enable tap-clicking, dragging, and drag lock in the OS X Keyboard & Mouse system preference panel - any one individually or all three as you wish. About the first thing I do with a new Mac or fresh system install is to enable the full slate of trackpad tappability configurations. Newer Mac notebooks with Multi-touch trackpads also support a much wider spectrum of gestures.
Getting back to the Easy Cat, Cirque Corporation was founded in 1991 by George E. Gerpheide, PhD, and James L. O’Callaghan, to commercialize the GlidePoint touchpaad technology invented in the 1980’s by Dr. Gerpheide. The company does supply OEM touchpads for use in notebooks, but Apple has never used Cirque pads, which is unfortunate, because Cirque’s GlidePoint technology, which was also introduced commercially in early 1994, is considered by many, including me from experience, to be the class of the capacitive touchpad field, particularly for it’s crisp sensitivity and relative immunity to moisture and dirt. I can use the Cirque Easy Cat touchpad with wet fingers. It does not work as well with damp digits, but is still usable, unlike the Apple ‘Book units under similar circumstances.
The Easy Cat is the least expensive of three freestanding computer touchpad products offered by Cirque, the other two being the Cirque Smart Cat and Cirque Smart Cat Pro, however they all use the same GlidePoint technology, and for Mac users there is a strong case to be made for going with the Easy Cat, since most of the high-end features of the more expensive units such as, one-touch scroll and zoom, distinctive sounds for each operation. and four unique programmable hotlinks to independently execute programs/commands, open files, control browser functions, assign (toggle) mouse actions and control cursor modes, are not supported by OS X.
The Easy Cat can be positioned almost anywhere within reach of its luxuriously long six-foot USB cord. Because it is so small and light, you can position the Easy Cat on an angled plane for more relaxed wrist positioning, or even hold it in one hand and point and click with the other, use it in bed, or on the floor. The long cord and two buttons also make it easy to alternate hands in order to spread the stress.
The Easy Cat’s sensor pad surface itself, which I think has a more pleasant texture than Apple notebook trackpads, is about one-third larger than the trackpad on my WallStreet and Pismo PowerBooks, smaller than the pad in my 17” PowerBook and a lot smaller than the big, glass Multi-Touch pad in my unibody MacBook. There are two buttons on the near side of the housing. On Macs, these both work is standard mouse buttons.
The buttons are the weakest feature of the Easy Cat, as they are too close to the pad surface for really good clicking ergonomics, are a shade stiff for my taste, as well as being a bit sloppy in action. Fortunately they only rarely need to be used if you enable the tappability feature.
The real beauty of the Easy Cat is its precise responsiveness to finger tapping - better than with Apple notebook trackpads. The Easy Cat responds to the lightest feather touch for clicking, but still does not “misfire” -- a superb bit of engineering.
Nor, as noted above, does this trackpad exhibit the maddening behavior that the Apple trackpads do when your fingers are moist or you use it in high humidity/low-temperature conditions.
To drag, draw, or highlight text, you just double tap rapidly and begin the motion in one smooth movement on the second tap without lifting your finger. (Or hold the left button with your thumb, something I find awkward).
The Cirque Easy Cat’s “GlideExtend” feature allows you to drag farther than the margin of the pad surface. There is a textured margin on all four sides of the trackpad. If you are dragging something and you get to this textured edge zone, GlideExtend will hold a drag for three seconds while you reposition your finger to complete the operation.
The Cirque Trackpads do not ship with software of their own, and basic trackpad functions are supported by the MAc OS without additional drivers. However, some of the trackpad’s advanced features that are supported on Windows PCs are disabled on Mac installations. However, there is a partial workaround.
A shareware device driver software called USB Overdrive created by Alessandro Levi Montalcini is recommended (although not supported) by Cirque for users who wish to configure the Easy Cat Trackpad’s button clicks. USB Overdrive enables button reprogramming, submenu launching vertical scrolling and more. Unfortunately, most of these configurations work only with USB Overdrive for the Classic Mac OS, and are not supported by the OS X version of the software.
USB Overdrive is $20.00 shareware, although it doesn’t offer a whole lot for the Easy Cat in OS X except for more button click configuration options.
You can find out more and download USB Overdrive here:
http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/Information.html
The Cirque Easy Cat is an excellent little pointing device, and is certainly a more than adequate substitute or alternate for a mouse or trackball. I especially recommend the Easy Cat to those who struggle with repetitive stress related pain, and who will find product’s sparkling response to the gentlest of input is a welcome relief. It also may contribute to not developing RSI in the first place, which would be a logical deduction.
Easy Cat’s compact size makes it easy to pack along with a roadgoing notebook. It is available in either white or black.
Easy Cat features:
• GlideExtend virtually eliminates the edge of the pad when dragging
• Small and portable
• Withstands spills and abuse
• Thin and comfortable design
• Easy-to-find textured “right” click area
System requirements:
• Mac 0S 8.5 - OS X (supports basic touchpad functions)
The USB Easy Cat sells for $44.95.
For more information, visit: http://www.cirque.com/desktoptouchpad/productsandorders/easycat.aspx
Appendix - The Other Cirque Easy Cat Trackpads
Cirque Smart Cat Touchpad
The Cirque Smart Cat adds comfort plus performance to computer control with an extra-large touch surface, intelligent software, one-touch scroll and zoom, and distinctive sounds for each operation. Basic mouse functions are a snap. Simply access right-clicks by tapping a finger in the touchpad’s upper right corner, and quickly activate vertical/horizontal scrolling as well as magnification tools by gliding a finger along the touchpad edges.
Functionality:
• Execute, browse at the touch of a finger
• Zoom reduces or enlarges Office documents
• Scroll moves horizontally & vertically
• Right tap mimics a mouse right-click
• GlideExtend virtually eliminates the edge of the pad when dragging
• Adjustable sounds, speed, sensitivity and orientation
Features
• Extra-large touch surface
• Easy-to-find textured “right” click area
• One-touch scroll, zoom and surf
• Three (3) mechanical buttons supported
• Withstands spills and abuse
• Easy USB or PS/2 connectivity
• GlidePoint Technology - Cirque’s capacitive touch technology provides complete navigation control of any graphical interface, packed in a space-saving, low-friction, durable mouse alternative. Glide-Point’s sophisticated sensor system quickly responds to precise finger movements.
Cirque Smart Cat Pro Touchpad
The Smart Cat Pro combines all the power of a top-of-the-line mouse with the unrivaled comfort and durability of a touchpad with intelligent software, one-touch scroll and zoom, and distinctive sounds for each operation. Additionally, four unique, programmable hotlinks independently execute programs/commands, open files, control browser functions, assign (toggle) mouse actions and control cursor modes.
Functionality:
• Execute, browse at the touch of a finger
• Zoom reduces or enlarges Office documents
• Scroll moves horizontally & vertically
• Right tap mimics a mouse right-click
• GlideExtend virtually eliminates the edge of the pad when dragging
• Adjustable sounds, speed, sensitivity and orientation
Features:
• Four (4) programmable hotlinks
• Extra-large touch surface
• Easy-to-find textured “right” click area
• One-touch scroll, zoom and surf
• Three (3) mechanical buttons supported
• Withstands spills and abuse
• Easy USB or PS/2 connectivity
• GlidePoint Technology - Cirque’s capacitive touch technology provides complete navigation control of any graphical interface, packed in a space-saving, low-friction, durable mouse alternative. GlidePoint’s sophisticated sensor system quickly responds to precise finger movements.
For more information, visit: http://www.cirque.com/desktoptouchpad/productsandorders/smartcatpro.aspx
Note: Letters to PowerBook Mystique Mailbag may or may not be published at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.
Opinions expressed in postings to PowerBook Mystique MailBag are owned by the respective correspondents and not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Editor and/or PowerBook Central management.
If you would prefer that your message not appear in PowerBook Mystique Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.
CM