This is a translation of a foreign article, so there may be inaccuracies.
https://hothardware.com/news/airra-rotary-mouse-ditches-the-scroll-wheel-for-a-dial-to-fight-finger-fatigue
Airra Rotary Mouse Adopts a Dial Instead of a Scroll Wheel to Reduce Finger Fatigue
Airra Labs has just unveiled a rotary mouse that it claims is the world's first. Except for the fact that Airra's rotary mouse uses a rotary wheel divided into 6 sections instead of the conventional scroll wheel, it looks similar to a typical modern wireless mouse.
The scroll wheel has remained largely unchanged over the past few decades. Gaming mice eventually introduced infinite scroll wheels, but this was merely allowing the wheel to rotate freely without distinct tactile feedback. More recently, Razer added an esports-grade optical scroll wheel to the DeathAdder V4 Pro, claiming it tripled durability and provided more consistent and precise control, but ultimately it's still just a high-quality scroll wheel.
The Airra rotary mouse appears to provide more definitive feedback when scrolling in a way that is closer to a Steam Deck or Steam Controller than a conventional mouse. On the touchpads of these devices, page scrolling is performed with circular motions, which is supplemented by haptic feedback. The rotary mouse uses similar clockwise motions for long scrolling and has built-in physical detents, allowing for high-speed scrolling without the loss of control that occurs from rotating an infinite scroll wheel.
Airra emphasizes the utility of the rotary wheel for 1:1 steering control in racing simulations.
Considering all these points, the rotary mouse design appears superior to the conventional scroll wheel in many ways. Even if you don't use rotary motions at all and stick with your existing muscle memory, simple scrolling on the Airra rotary mouse is also clear and highly responsive.
The Airra rotary mouse is not yet available for retail purchase. In fact, the Kickstarter campaign hasn't even officially launched yet and is scheduled to open on June 17. When the campaign launches, backers will receive the mouse with a 65 percent discount and free shipping. The retail price is expected to be 139 US dollars, but with the early bird price, it drops to 49 US dollars.
It remains to be seen whether the Airra rotary mouse will make waves in the gaming mouse market as it appears to be innovative. For business and professional users, its utility appears especially clear, particularly at early bird pricing.
