Wouldn't surprise me if they started selling them around 2001 and just made slight revisions over time. Microsoft still sells the same beige optical mice they were selling in the early 2000s, still comes with a USB to PS/2 adapter too. Only a few minor changes to the color scheme, and the old Microsoft logo being replaced with the new one.
The phones of 2001 looked nothing like that what i remeber and computers and computer stuff was still beige!. Flip phones came around 2005-8? So just around when this was realeased and by then black computers had took over
This looked pretty dumb at first, but being able to copy the numbers on the calculator to PC actually makes this really useful! I kinda need this for work now.
@@DOSRetroGamer I could see few applications for this that make sense, for instance playing factorio on single monitor set up and trying to figure out optimal output for your factory or optimal size of your construction line etc.
@@DOSRetroGamer I have a calculator near my computer. I hate having to switch application and copy pasting number from say the full screen browser to the calc app.
A calculator built in to the keyboard, with it's own display (that could be used for other stuff too), connected to the numpad, and possibility to copy to the clipboard or just insert result as keystrokes would be awesome!
“Only sold in Japan” Honestly I’m surprised. This probably would’ve caught on as an office space solution in the right circumstances. This feels like what the Prohance was trying to accomplish done with a little more finesse.
@@DOSRetroGamer Japanese offices are cramped. They often use laptops, so when somebody has paperwork out, the laptop may have been closed and put away. Or else if they had a desktop, they might have moved the keyboard out of the way. This would be a quick and easy solution instead of getting the computer out and turning it on again.
An optical mouse as a calculator looks cool, I remember when Casio made digital calculator watches, even ones that actually connected to a computer as storing memos.
At first I was like "oh no, what kind of stupid device is this!?" and once seeing it in action I'm like, "hey, that's actually pretty nifty" especially if you are doing lots of calculation. It seems much simpler than toying around with an extra application, copying and pasting or rewriting the calculator app results into your program. In this case you can use the calculator independently from your computer work. And once all calculations are done you can just send it into the computer. That's way more useful than I thought. Especially for cramped office spaces.
I'd love a device like that. I do lots of spreadsheets at work and really need the numpad. I replaced my otherwise good but lacking a numpad laptop when I started working remote during lockdown. Having an external mouse and numpad hooked up at the same time was too messy for me. A mouse like above would be really helpful to me, I'd like to buy 2 or 3
I'd say it's pretty much for legacy purpose only... If the whole company is set up to handle data in a digital way, you would calculate all these in spreadsheet with proper formulae anyway. The only reason why you would need a calculator that can send its digits to a computer is when you are just filling forms for printing, when hand-filled forms aren't allowed, without having to computer process the data at all.
I had a mark II for a very very long time, in part because they were fairly high-dpi mice- folks at the office always got a HUGE kick out of the extra utility from the calc, and this was only a couple years ago. Also super handy to hold in your hand and use as a handheld numpad.
@@fonkbadonk5370 no the device shown is a canon ls-100tkm, this dude is on about the canon x mark ii which is a second revision of the canon x mark i...
This is one of the things where i went "Why the hell would you built something like this?" to "Why the hell don't i have something like this?" real fast.
Hotdamn! I would have used it just for the removable usb cable, imagine not having to throw out a perfectly functioning device because of a single strand of copper that bent one too many times.. just fantastic!
As someone who's getting into Blender and CAD I can see this as very useful! I like using the calculator on screen but it clicks off the program, but this being separate and can enter the result!.. If I saw this at a store or thrift store I'd get it in a heartbeat
You can do pretty much any calculation in the blender fields! It's something I often find myself trying to do in other programs and getting minorly annoyed when they don't allow it, lol. Although I've ran into a couple that will do simple arithmetic in fields, even tho they don't mention it.
With my extremely limited knowledge of pretty much anything, I get the impression this is the kind of product a company makes when they have a surplus of something (or can buy other company's surplus for very cheap) and want to find a way to turn it into a small profit. If you take into consideration when it was released and the parts it uses (optical mouse laser, whells/buttons, led calculator screen, flip-phone buttons), I wouldn't be surprised if someone at Canon was tasked with recycling old stock into this nice little gadget.
@@estebanvasquez2307 I didn't think about the open price thing, but yeah, that's probably a great indicator of an "improvised" product. Make it as seductive to retailers as possible, with little-to-no care to the prestige of the product-line itself.
I don't think there's any surplus parts in this. It might be that the screen is from a pocket calculator, but the digits seem taller and narrower than any i can think of, so i'm not convinced, after all there aren't really calculators with keys THIS tiny. Surplus mouse pickups aren't really a thing, because you can just make... normal mice with them, even more so with microswitches and other standard parts, there's no point really making a non-mouse. The button pad is not from a phone, because the legends are unique and the complete right column is missing from phones, and there are too many rows as well. This seems all purposefully designed, to be similar to a standard laptop mouse and also to a flip phone, to invoke familiarity. I'd really love to see the PCB of this... because they're presumably getting a decent life out of a CR2032 in calculator mode... but without a dedicated calculator chip, that's going to be difficult to impossible, but if you do use one, how does the handoff to PC connected mode work with all the features? Might very well be that the Canon calculator division made a dedicated chip for this that handles standalone mode, and also buttons read and display output for the USB microcontroller, but that would have been quite a bit more expensive than you'd expect from a cash grab surplus reuse product. LCDs are actually manufactured on demand and setting up a dedicated one isn't very expensive at all, actually an order of magnitude cheaper than a set of plastic parts. Like you could pay a couple dozen grand for a set of moulds but only half a grand for a set of LCD manufacturing masks. There's little point in ordering a big stack of LCDs if you aren't going to use them all, surplus can happen but it isn't usually all too generous. Open price is neither here nor there... after all the vendors aren't exactly getting these for free... nothing unusual except the MSRP is not published.
Oh man this awesome. Wish we had gadgets like this nowadays. Also, cool to see your XP machine! I've rewatched that build video a hundred times, talk about nostalgia.
There are more weird gadgets nowadays than ever, you just gotta look through the internet. Guaranteed there is way more weird and novelty stuff out there than you can believe
this is actually a really neat device, the concept makes perfect sense for a small office or home desk setup. Especially as apartments in places like Japan are really small, you might not have the space for a d-pad add on and all the other stuff so having it all in one convenient place is useful. and as the product description said, perfect for travels.
Every time I had a really bad day, or feel like I'm lost and lonely, I watch some videos from you and I feel a little better. Thank you so much for your work. It helps a lot to keep my train on the track. Oh, and thank you for the subtitles! This is awesome!
the weird mice / keyboards are honestly some of my favorites. maybe because I think it's funny how you always try to play games with them and it usually turns out horribly because they're not made for that. lmao
this is a pretty good example of differences in how a creator and audience understand their content. I was wondering why this wasn't an oddware episode and the reason given is because it's made by canon
yeah in terms of Oddware, it is odd but not really obscure (since it was released in Japan and seemed to have a presence in '08 and it's made by Canon) and definitely not obsolete since it's a USB mouse, Calculator and numpad all in one
No kidding. I would definitely have considered this Canon mouse to be Oddware, as it's an obscure device that targets a somewhat niche market (supplementary numpads) in a novel way. I'm a bit confused by the reasoning that this device avoids the Oddware designation because of its maker. The Zip drive ended up getting filed under Oddware, despite its maker, Iomega, being arguably similarly well-known as Canon to the average computer buyer in the 90s and early 00s. Iomega stuff was pretty unavoidable in electronics and big box store circulars during this time. And that's leaving aside the fact that the Zip drive targeted a more mainstream market than this random Canon numpad mouse. To be clear, I'm not complaining about free content. It's not like LGR's choice to not put this video under Oddware radically upends my life or anything. I'm grateful to be able to watch it regardless of what it's called. I'm just a little confused by the seeming inconsistency.
I believe he was just trying to say that there wasn't enough to talk about, and that the company being well known meant there was no reason to talk about the company that made it either (to flesh out the video). There has been Oddware videos about devices from HP and Sony, so it is not just because it is from Canon. In the description he writes "It's not quite obsolete or complex enough for the full LGR Oddware treatment, but it sure is an oddity!".
That wasn't the reason, length of the video and "backstory" was (since Oddware is also about the history of the company or item). And I mean, yeah, it's cool, and it's odd. But I'm not sure you'd get a full Oddware from it.
It’s not the company, it’s that there’s simply not that much going on beyond being a normal optical mouse with extra buttons and stuff. No weird connection method, no strange drivers, no obsolete tech, no dead-end ideas, no unique backstory. It’s a normal mouse with a unique shape and extra features. If I were to call this Oddware, then any modern MMO macro mouse would also be Oddware, y’know? But honestly the real reason it’s not Oddware is because I say it’s not ;) I made up the term, its only meaning is what I’ve given it. And if it doesn’t feel like Oddware material to me, then welp, it isn’t Oddware. Just one of those things where I know it when I see it, and this ain’t _quite_ it.
This quirky mouse looks like it might've actually been useful for specific games like MMOs. So many buttons! Not only that, the number pasting on the text file looks especially interesting; imagine preloading a number combo on the calculator and then sending it to the computer at the right moment 🥊
For MMOs it likely won't work, though. It either works, but in that case so do macros (which is rather standard for MMOs), or it doesn't, in which case you would want to lower its input speed but there's no such option.
Dedicated ''MMO Mice'' exist that have up to 12 buttons (the 1-12 number keys) on the side. They pretty much fill that exact need for more buttons right under your thumb. You can rebind them, too, via software. Ones like the Razer Naga are a good example.
why do people act like LGR only does retro stuff lol even back in the old days, one of his biggest series was The Sims 3 reviews back when that game was still receiving expansions
@@LonelySpaceDetective LGR also built a modern PC recently (the pyramid). It's weird people just associate him with old tech when the name LGR isn't inherently about old tech.
You know... This is one of those things that I am surprised 100 other people didn't also make and isn't still made. At least 3 times a day I need a calculator and so I grab my phone and open it up and such. It actually would be helpful to have something like that I could just flip up in my hand already!
Honestly if they made it slightly bigger, with USB-C instead of Mini-USB, middle click support and a button to launch a calculator application on PC, thousands of people would buy it now.
You know how in Voltes V when they "volt-in" into their mecha mode, their steering/control wheel expands and opens up to reveal a series of buttons? Yeah, this is the equivalent for PCs.
That's a good comparison. And speaking of Voltes V: the whole Robot Romance-"trilogy" with the other two series Combattler V and Tōshō Daimos is pretty awesome. Probably the first more "realistic" Mecha-series.
I'd have these even today. This will be a star for those in the accounting. Its connected to the pc, so no more annoying 'who took my calculator!' conversations. It replaces the numpad too.
i don't hate the idea of having the right side numpad of the keyboard on the mouse. i don't necessarily like this design, but i think it could be done.
10:52 that's actually super smart. I can imagine if you need to do some calculation you could do it on your mouse and just press the button and have it automatically paste it into whatever you need it to.
@@Famix i know, it's so strange because I remember "the 80s" being such a punchline in the 90s and it was so distinct from the decades on either side of it. But the last 20 years has barely felt much different
As much as I love the scripted videos that are super well researched and have awesome history and info, these unscripted "things" are just wonderfully charming and delightful. I love the variety between the more difficult videos.
Just found out about these a few weeks back, found one on a Japanese auction site for ~£100 so couldn't buy it myself unfortunately so good to see you covering it!
Yeah in the 2000s laptops didn't have numeric keypads, and it is laptop mouse size, a little minified compared to PC desktop mouse. It is definitely a laptop accessory of the era.
@@SianaGearz Yeah, I don't really recall even seeing many modern laptops with numpads; mine is certainly lacking! The added silliness of the calculator just makes this little thing extra charming.
Had the same thought... I have tried a cheapo USB numpad, using it left handed took some getting used to! Just ok at best, the one I bought (walmart house brand IIRC) has buttons that tend to bind if not pressed right in the center.
Razer and others have gaming mice that have a full numbpad on the side, all of which can be rebound to any key or combination, so those could be a good option for that kind of stuff.
@@TheJadeFist those are great for macros but if you're used to 10-key typing I think a mouse like this would be more effective. Plus it can send a calculated value to the clipboard, it hasn't gotten to that part when I left my first comment but that is extremely useful as well. I decided to order one of the current ones the X Mark 1's after this video so we'll see how effective it actually is. Just wish it had scientific functions or could store variables.
I don't know why, but my first reaction after seeing this thing was to imagine this hypothetical person using the numpad inside the mouse to type into the Windows calculator instead of just using the integrated one. And even though this person doesn't exist, I'm still kinda mad at them.
I think it can't Rollover cause it kind of already does as the Mouse movements are transmitted as well as the key press. Or it would have needed a (at the time) more sophisticated USB controller which would have driven costs up.
Wow looks amazing... always hated mice for the inefficiency l'm more of a pro keyboard user but that thing would allow for some sick data entry in spreadsheets.
Hey LGR, hope you’re well. Been a long time fan since the Red Baron coupon video. Weird question but is there potential that I saw you Wednesday on 40 the other night around 7:30pm near Cary??
@@LGR Oh cool! Yeah I saw an “LGR” license plate and when I got closer it kinda looked like ya. Thanks for the reply and thanks for all the hard work you do to keep us entertained.
Looking at the thumbnail, I thought this was an old flip phone... Then that resemblance is one of the first things you mention in the video...lol! And oh, I see what you did at 10:54 ;-)
Another fine example of Japanese engineering. Looking quite functional and despite being an odd peripheral I'd say this is pretty cool! Awesome to see GTA played with this lol
I would love to see a ever so slight updated version of this thing. Add an actual cell phone, middle click and a rechargeable battery and it would be golden!
What about a mouse that includes a Joystick or something? being able to move both something in-game and the camera at the same time sounds like a real innovation to me xD
Oh I remember seeing one of the posts about this thing a few weeks ago, I knew it would be great for LGR but I didn't expect a video to come out so soon I remember having a wireless keyboard that had a small LCD screen built in that allowed you to use it as a calculator with the numpad and IIRC the numlock key toggled it, I think I still have it but it has that soft rubbery coating on the handrest which turned into goo
You know, considering dual monitor setups were still relatively rare (not to mention nonexistent with laptops), this was probably incredibly useful for doing calculations without having to alt-tab constantly, especially with being able to type the results.
I could see a revival of this kind of thing: just use a rechargeable battery, add Bluetooth, and omit those silly extra buttons on the lid. It would be very useful for TKL-keyboard users, I think.
2008... Windows Vista was a good year or two into its release and I'd bought a couple of laptops. One of them came with Vista and in 2008, I 'downgraded' it to XP. For me, XP was always going to be king until I made the Switch to 7. Then 7 was king until 10. I bet a lot of us were like that. Honestly that's one nice and useful peripheral, really surprised they never marketed it outside of Japan because at that time we were all about portability - we were messing about with the infancy of smartphones, netbooks and plenty more small things. I'd have loved one of those Canon mice in my laptop bag. Great vid!
This is such a wonderfully 2001 device for 2008.
Wouldn't surprise me if they started selling them around 2001 and just made slight revisions over time.
Microsoft still sells the same beige optical mice they were selling in the early 2000s, still comes with a USB to PS/2 adapter too. Only a few minor changes to the color scheme, and the old Microsoft logo being replaced with the new one.
It looks just like a flip phone from that era.
The phones of 2001 looked nothing like that what i remeber and computers and computer stuff was still beige!. Flip phones came around 2005-8? So just around when this was realeased and by then black computers had took over
Surely this was available earlier
This looked pretty dumb at first, but being able to copy the numbers on the calculator to PC actually makes this really useful!
I kinda need this for work now.
Same here, I was like "wah, this is stupid" but the more I watched and thought about it, I want one now lol.
Why don't you use the calculator installed on your PC?
@@DOSRetroGamer I could see few applications for this that make sense, for instance playing factorio on single monitor set up and trying to figure out optimal output for your factory or optimal size of your construction line etc.
@@DOSRetroGamer I have a calculator near my computer. I hate having to switch application and copy pasting number from say the full screen browser to the calc app.
A calculator built in to the keyboard, with it's own display (that could be used for other stuff too), connected to the numpad, and possibility to copy to the clipboard or just insert result as keystrokes would be awesome!
“Only sold in Japan”
Honestly I’m surprised. This probably would’ve caught on as an office space solution in the right circumstances. This feels like what the Prohance was trying to accomplish done with a little more finesse.
You think it's a good idea? Always opening the thing to enter some numbers?
Sounds easier to open the Windows calculator app 😌
Ok, you can use the mouse when it's open. Makes it a little more usefull I guess
@@DOSRetroGamer Japanese offices are cramped. They often use laptops, so when somebody has paperwork out, the laptop may have been closed and put away. Or else if they had a desktop, they might have moved the keyboard out of the way. This would be a quick and easy solution instead of getting the computer out and turning it on again.
The computer it's attached too probably has a calculator though.
Surprised? By 2008 you couldn't expect to see this much variety in things anymore except in Japan
And the packaging isn't designed to slash your hands to pieces while opening it
truly it is some kind of wonderland
And didn't even need anything sharp to open it either!
oh how i miss the days of great packaging!
I’m surprised Canon makes computer mice, it looks like something Casio would make with a built in calculator!
Oops, thanks for pointing that out. It's just a bug in the Matrix. It'll get fixed witht he next patch.
well it is an optical mouse so ...
An optical mouse as a calculator looks cool, I remember when Casio made digital calculator watches, even ones that actually connected to a computer as storing memos.
@@Markimark151 They still make them to this day.
@@MirekFe that’s cool, I haven’t seen digital calculator watches in stores since the Apple Watch and other smartwatches made them obsolete.
Of course Japan gets a mouse/calculator/numpad hybrid. I would have guessed this would have come out earlier than 2008.
It makes sense. Japanese PC users prefer numpadless keyboards for some reason.
@@poisonouslead85 PC gamers don’t use keyboards with numb pads, I live esportists
Japan is always super slow to catch on to things.
@@poisonouslead85
It saves space and you can always get a separate numpad, so it doesn't surprise me.
At first I was like "oh no, what kind of stupid device is this!?" and once seeing it in action I'm like, "hey, that's actually pretty nifty" especially if you are doing lots of calculation. It seems much simpler than toying around with an extra application, copying and pasting or rewriting the calculator app results into your program. In this case you can use the calculator independently from your computer work. And once all calculations are done you can just send it into the computer. That's way more useful than I thought. Especially for cramped office spaces.
I'd love a device like that. I do lots of spreadsheets at work and really need the numpad. I replaced my otherwise good but lacking a numpad laptop when I started working remote during lockdown. Having an external mouse and numpad hooked up at the same time was too messy for me. A mouse like above would be really helpful to me, I'd like to buy 2 or 3
I'd say it's pretty much for legacy purpose only... If the whole company is set up to handle data in a digital way, you would calculate all these in spreadsheet with proper formulae anyway. The only reason why you would need a calculator that can send its digits to a computer is when you are just filling forms for printing, when hand-filled forms aren't allowed, without having to computer process the data at all.
Having to look down from the screen is a massive downside. It's the same reason apple touch bar was annoying.
I think they made a newer one with nicer buttons and without the moving piece.
I had a mark II for a very very long time, in part because they were fairly high-dpi mice- folks at the office always got a HUGE kick out of the extra utility from the calc, and this was only a couple years ago. Also super handy to hold in your hand and use as a handheld numpad.
what is a mark 2?
@@DeanWilliams1987 Obviously a second revision of the device shown.
@@fonkbadonk5370 no actually I found it it's a different product line... Not a mark 2 to this version.
@@DeanWilliams1987 Good for you!
@@fonkbadonk5370 no the device shown is a canon ls-100tkm, this dude is on about the canon x mark ii which is a second revision of the canon x mark i...
When Canon discontinued something, is it considered a retcon?
Lmao
No, Canon rebooting a device would be a retcon.
Or a redesign.
This is one of the things where i went
"Why the hell would you built something like this?" to
"Why the hell don't i have something like this?" real fast.
I love how he spells "boobs" or "boobies" when enters a number with te keypad
@@losojis I mean, it's a tradition for all calculators.
Hotdamn! I would have used it just for the removable usb cable, imagine not having to throw out a perfectly functioning device because of a single strand of copper that bent one too many times.. just fantastic!
My soldering iron does not understand that comment.
@@eDoc2020 probably cuz its chinese
"Sold only in Japan"
Once again Japan gets all the COOL SH*T
Canned bread? like C'mon dude! thats awesome
They get all the cool guitars too!
@@HeelBJC Brazil takes that prize (I love nylon strings)
@@catfree WHAT
All the cool stuff, like the cool aging population and cool karoshi/overwork to literal death
As someone who's getting into Blender and CAD I can see this as very useful! I like using the calculator on screen but it clicks off the program, but this being separate and can enter the result!..
If I saw this at a store or thrift store I'd get it in a heartbeat
you can usually just type in the calculation in those situations, for this exact reason 👍
You can do pretty much any calculation in the blender fields! It's something I often find myself trying to do in other programs and getting minorly annoyed when they don't allow it, lol. Although I've ran into a couple that will do simple arithmetic in fields, even tho they don't mention it.
With my extremely limited knowledge of pretty much anything, I get the impression this is the kind of product a company makes when they have a surplus of something (or can buy other company's surplus for very cheap) and want to find a way to turn it into a small profit. If you take into consideration when it was released and the parts it uses (optical mouse laser, whells/buttons, led calculator screen, flip-phone buttons), I wouldn't be surprised if someone at Canon was tasked with recycling old stock into this nice little gadget.
Pretty sure you're right. Another thing to take into consideration, is that right from the get go, it was sold at an open price.
@@estebanvasquez2307 I didn't think about the open price thing, but yeah, that's probably a great indicator of an "improvised" product. Make it as seductive to retailers as possible, with little-to-no care to the prestige of the product-line itself.
I don't think there's any surplus parts in this. It might be that the screen is from a pocket calculator, but the digits seem taller and narrower than any i can think of, so i'm not convinced, after all there aren't really calculators with keys THIS tiny. Surplus mouse pickups aren't really a thing, because you can just make... normal mice with them, even more so with microswitches and other standard parts, there's no point really making a non-mouse. The button pad is not from a phone, because the legends are unique and the complete right column is missing from phones, and there are too many rows as well. This seems all purposefully designed, to be similar to a standard laptop mouse and also to a flip phone, to invoke familiarity.
I'd really love to see the PCB of this... because they're presumably getting a decent life out of a CR2032 in calculator mode... but without a dedicated calculator chip, that's going to be difficult to impossible, but if you do use one, how does the handoff to PC connected mode work with all the features? Might very well be that the Canon calculator division made a dedicated chip for this that handles standalone mode, and also buttons read and display output for the USB microcontroller, but that would have been quite a bit more expensive than you'd expect from a cash grab surplus reuse product.
LCDs are actually manufactured on demand and setting up a dedicated one isn't very expensive at all, actually an order of magnitude cheaper than a set of plastic parts. Like you could pay a couple dozen grand for a set of moulds but only half a grand for a set of LCD manufacturing masks. There's little point in ordering a big stack of LCDs if you aren't going to use them all, surplus can happen but it isn't usually all too generous.
Open price is neither here nor there... after all the vendors aren't exactly getting these for free... nothing unusual except the MSRP is not published.
“I plugged it into a Windows98 PC because the box said ‘don’t do that’ “ - excellent!
Oh man this awesome. Wish we had gadgets like this nowadays.
Also, cool to see your XP machine! I've rewatched that build video a hundred times, talk about nostalgia.
There are more weird gadgets nowadays than ever, you just gotta look through the internet. Guaranteed there is way more weird and novelty stuff out there than you can believe
Canon still sells calculator mice.
Calcumice? Mousulators?
this is actually a really neat device, the concept makes perfect sense for a small office or home desk setup. Especially as apartments in places like Japan are really small, you might not have the space for a d-pad add on and all the other stuff so having it all in one convenient place is useful. and as the product description said, perfect for travels.
Every time I had a really bad day, or feel like I'm lost and lonely, I watch some videos from you and I feel a little better. Thank you so much for your work. It helps a lot to keep my train on the track.
Oh, and thank you for the subtitles! This is awesome!
I love how clint has such a great time with such an obscure clunky device!
the weird mice / keyboards are honestly some of my favorites. maybe because I think it's funny how you always try to play games with them and it usually turns out horribly because they're not made for that. lmao
this is a pretty good example of differences in how a creator and audience understand their content. I was wondering why this wasn't an oddware episode and the reason given is because it's made by canon
yeah in terms of Oddware, it is odd but not really obscure (since it was released in Japan and seemed to have a presence in '08 and it's made by Canon) and definitely not obsolete since it's a USB mouse, Calculator and numpad all in one
No kidding. I would definitely have considered this Canon mouse to be Oddware, as it's an obscure device that targets a somewhat niche market (supplementary numpads) in a novel way.
I'm a bit confused by the reasoning that this device avoids the Oddware designation because of its maker. The Zip drive ended up getting filed under Oddware, despite its maker, Iomega, being arguably similarly well-known as Canon to the average computer buyer in the 90s and early 00s. Iomega stuff was pretty unavoidable in electronics and big box store circulars during this time.
And that's leaving aside the fact that the Zip drive targeted a more mainstream market than this random Canon numpad mouse.
To be clear, I'm not complaining about free content. It's not like LGR's choice to not put this video under Oddware radically upends my life or anything. I'm grateful to be able to watch it regardless of what it's called. I'm just a little confused by the seeming inconsistency.
I believe he was just trying to say that there wasn't enough to talk about, and that the company being well known meant there was no reason to talk about the company that made it either (to flesh out the video). There has been Oddware videos about devices from HP and Sony, so it is not just because it is from Canon. In the description he writes "It's not quite obsolete or complex enough for the full LGR Oddware treatment, but it sure is an oddity!".
That wasn't the reason, length of the video and "backstory" was (since Oddware is also about the history of the company or item). And I mean, yeah, it's cool, and it's odd. But I'm not sure you'd get a full Oddware from it.
It’s not the company, it’s that there’s simply not that much going on beyond being a normal optical mouse with extra buttons and stuff. No weird connection method, no strange drivers, no obsolete tech, no dead-end ideas, no unique backstory. It’s a normal mouse with a unique shape and extra features. If I were to call this Oddware, then any modern MMO macro mouse would also be Oddware, y’know?
But honestly the real reason it’s not Oddware is because I say it’s not ;)
I made up the term, its only meaning is what I’ve given it. And if it doesn’t feel like Oddware material to me, then welp, it isn’t Oddware. Just one of those things where I know it when I see it, and this ain’t _quite_ it.
Most calculators sold in Japan have a soft plastic over the keys so you can judge the feel of them. Is the key too soft or too hard, etc.
Some days I feel like someone is controlling me poorly with a clamshell calculator mouse in a game
This quirky mouse looks like it might've actually been useful for specific games like MMOs. So many buttons!
Not only that, the number pasting on the text file looks especially interesting; imagine preloading a number combo on the calculator and then sending it to the computer at the right moment 🥊
the key rollover issue does hamper it a bit, but it seems like it'd work well for roguelikes
For MMOs it likely won't work, though. It either works, but in that case so do macros (which is rather standard for MMOs), or it doesn't, in which case you would want to lower its input speed but there's no such option.
Dedicated ''MMO Mice'' exist that have up to 12 buttons (the 1-12 number keys) on the side.
They pretty much fill that exact need for more buttons right under your thumb.
You can rebind them, too, via software. Ones like the Razer Naga are a good example.
2008 is now retro? Damn!!
2009 will be next soon enough... hell... maybe the 2010s!
why do people act like LGR only does retro stuff lol
even back in the old days, one of his biggest series was The Sims 3 reviews back when that game was still receiving expansions
@@LonelySpaceDetective This is oddware material! Weird, maybe not obsolete due to a "lite" version... I cannot blame anyone for thinking it's retro!
@@LonelySpaceDetective LGR also built a modern PC recently (the pyramid). It's weird people just associate him with old tech when the name LGR isn't inherently about old tech.
You know... This is one of those things that I am surprised 100 other people didn't also make and isn't still made. At least 3 times a day I need a calculator and so I grab my phone and open it up and such. It actually would be helpful to have something like that I could just flip up in my hand already!
It could also be useful for people with the use of only one hand if the buttons were better..!
@@TeruteruBozusama It's one of those things that sounds ALMOST useful. Just a hairs breadth from being great.
I've gone the other direction, and have an LED calculator by my computer.
Honestly if they made it slightly bigger, with USB-C instead of Mini-USB, middle click support and a button to launch a calculator application on PC, thousands of people would buy it now.
You know how in Voltes V when they "volt-in" into their mecha mode, their steering/control wheel expands and opens up to reveal a series of buttons? Yeah, this is the equivalent for PCs.
That's a good comparison. And speaking of Voltes V: the whole Robot Romance-"trilogy" with the other two series Combattler V and Tōshō Daimos is pretty awesome. Probably the first more "realistic" Mecha-series.
@@nettils5555 Some old Anime-series from the 70s.
You can now be "a cold and calculated killer"
It's like this thing was made for you specifically to review, perfect!!!D
I could definitely see the benefit of a mouse like this on a laptop to still get full use of a numpad. Very cool piece of kit.
I'd have these even today. This will be a star for those in the accounting. Its connected to the pc, so no more annoying 'who took my calculator!' conversations. It replaces the numpad too.
Love you did 58008 x 69 to test the calculator. An ancient art of memeage from a more civilized time.
If it is on stock now I would definitely buy a pair of this! It's awesome for my notebook activities! Thanks for review and your highlights! 🔥
i don't hate the idea of having the right side numpad of the keyboard on the mouse. i don't necessarily like this design, but i think it could be done.
Yeah they were later making a bigger flatter mouse with nicer bigger calculator buttons. And without the clam shell piece.
Anxiously waiting for that "Computer Reset" update video to drop! - It was great meeting you in person!
10:52 that's actually super smart. I can imagine if you need to do some calculation you could do it on your mouse and just press the button and have it automatically paste it into whatever you need it to.
lmao you totally missed the point as well xD you do know he also spelt Boobies backwards xD 5318008 - BOOBIES backwards ;P
"It doesn't let me press more than one button at once."
So basically the mouse turns you into a Half Life 1 grunt?
"It's just hard to get it in there, but once you do it's quite satisfying." - Out of Context LGR
Thanks for these fun retro videos. I love looking at old tech, especially from the 90's. I look forward to your Friday videos! :-)
20mins long, I'd call it enough for an Oddware episode. :)
Oddware is determined by substance, not length ;)
I don't know
but this channel gives me peace.
the music and the voice is so relaxing
Emulating Java mobile games with that as a controller. Weird but PERFECT.
Watching you play GTA one handed has such chaotic energy I love it.
2008, that’s not that long ago…..wait
Feels so weird, man. The 2000s are now what the 80s were to the 2000s
@@Famix i know, it's so strange because I remember "the 80s" being such a punchline in the 90s and it was so distinct from the decades on either side of it. But the last 20 years has barely felt much different
As much as I love the scripted videos that are super well researched and have awesome history and info, these unscripted "things" are just wonderfully charming and delightful. I love the variety between the more difficult videos.
damn, dunno why, but i wanted to see you use the PC calculator, with the mouse numpad.
Maybe he'd save that for the Blerbs.
Wow this is actually kinda cool If it was released like 8 years prior lol. Never seen one of these in my life. Great vid.
Just found out about these a few weeks back, found one on a Japanese auction site for ~£100 so couldn't buy it myself unfortunately so good to see you covering it!
all 87 cent
what'd shipping cost?
@@09f9 shit, never mind, not worth it
Don’t apologize brother. We love this stuff.
5318008?
A gentleman and a scholar I see.
Damn that "Hand Canon" joke was smooth af
the fact Canon still sells this concept of oddware is amazing
Where? I can't find anywhere to purchase
11:42 "It's just hard to get it in there, but once you do - it's quite satisfying." -Clint 2022
This seems perfect for a laptop! Odd or not, it sure is neat! I lowkey want to track one down.
Yeah in the 2000s laptops didn't have numeric keypads, and it is laptop mouse size, a little minified compared to PC desktop mouse. It is definitely a laptop accessory of the era.
@@SianaGearz Yeah, I don't really recall even seeing many modern laptops with numpads; mine is certainly lacking! The added silliness of the calculator just makes this little thing extra charming.
I've been watching you for a long time and your videos are always comforting / entertaining! Thank you for all the great content over the years.
This would be perfect for someone who's travelling with a laptop and needing multi-purpose devices to save space.
I feel I helped with this video, as I was one small voice among hundreds on those groups saying "send that to LGR stat!"
I have something similar to this though it's more compact and Bluetooth. It's also manufactured by cannon so it's somewhat odd.
As shown in the video! th-cam.com/video/IZghNXI1t7s/w-d-xo.html
Such a perfect timing for a new video after hard week at work. Cheers Clint, you're awesome.
This would work well for CAD. Drawing and dimensioning figures without going back and forth between the keyboard and mouse to enter the numbers.
Had the same thought... I have tried a cheapo USB numpad, using it left handed took some getting used to! Just ok at best, the one I bought (walmart house brand IIRC) has buttons that tend to bind if not pressed right in the center.
Only LGR can make a 20 minute video about a mouse and have it be as good as CRD's videos like it.
For certain CAD work I could see having a numpad on a mouse being extremely useful
Razer and others have gaming mice that have a full numbpad on the side, all of which can be rebound to any key or combination, so those could be a good option for that kind of stuff.
@@TheJadeFist those are great for macros but if you're used to 10-key typing I think a mouse like this would be more effective. Plus it can send a calculated value to the clipboard, it hasn't gotten to that part when I left my first comment but that is extremely useful as well. I decided to order one of the current ones the X Mark 1's after this video so we'll see how effective it actually is. Just wish it had scientific functions or could store variables.
11:45 "It's hard to get it in there ... but when you do, it's quite satisfying" xD
I love this kind of tech 🥰
99% a useless gimic, but the 1% of the time it actually comes in handy, it makes you feel like James Bond.
Love the addition of 5318008… takes us back to middle school 😂😂
Wow, this makes me wish all modern mice had these features!
l love when LGR ALWAYS analyses even the unanalysable ones!
I don't know why, but my first reaction after seeing this thing was to imagine this hypothetical person using the numpad inside the mouse to type into the Windows calculator instead of just using the integrated one. And even though this person doesn't exist, I'm still kinda mad at them.
>Hand Cannon Joke
“The Universe releases A Collective Groan”
🙃
I thought it was a flip phone for a second.
That's so cool IMO! Is my nerd showing? Great Duke voice!
Sounds like if it had key rollover it would be amazing, but that 0-key rollover REALLY hurts it.
Considering that wasn't what it was designed for...still, it'd be nice to see an updated version of that for current machines.
I think it can't Rollover cause it kind of already does as the Mouse movements are transmitted as well as the key press. Or it would have needed a (at the time) more sophisticated USB controller which would have driven costs up.
I have really enjoyed all of these odd mice you have covered recently
Wow looks amazing... always hated mice for the inefficiency l'm more of a pro keyboard user but that thing would allow for some sick data entry in spreadsheets.
this makes you wonder why the idea never caught on. this is genius.
Yeah, would also eliminate most of the need for moving your right hand between mouse and keyboard.
@@runeodin7237 precisely...
I came here to watch an amusing oddware video, not to learn I’ve been missing out in life.
Hey LGR, hope you’re well. Been a long time fan since the Red Baron coupon video. Weird question but is there potential that I saw you Wednesday on 40 the other night around 7:30pm near Cary??
Could've been my brother, he's over that way!
@@LGR Oh cool! Yeah I saw an “LGR” license plate and when I got closer it kinda looked like ya. Thanks for the reply and thanks for all the hard work you do to keep us entertained.
would love more videos like these like "oddities" stuff that's not oddware, but stuff that's definitely not conventional
I like how LGR titles use words like Weird and Thing.
Looking at the thumbnail, I thought this was an old flip phone... Then that resemblance is one of the first things you mention in the video...lol! And oh, I see what you did at 10:54 ;-)
Another fine example of Japanese engineering. Looking quite functional and despite being an odd peripheral I'd say this is pretty cool! Awesome to see GTA played with this lol
I would love to see a ever so slight updated version of this thing. Add an actual cell phone, middle click and a rechargeable battery and it would be golden!
A modern version of this with multi-press and more "gamer" focus keys could be awesome.
You could buy a moba mouse and program the thumb buttons as a numb pad.
Though I'm not sure, how good of a user experience it would be...
Most MMO mice with the 1-12 number buttons are pretty much exactly that.
You can even rebind the keys via software to fit your needs.
One handed GTA?! I need this!!!
What about a mouse that includes a Joystick or something? being able to move both something in-game and the camera at the same time sounds like a real innovation to me xD
What happens when LGR and Techmoan run out of obscure gadgets? 😥
They continue making excellent videos of the second most obscure gadgets! :D
Oh I remember seeing one of the posts about this thing a few weeks ago, I knew it would be great for LGR but I didn't expect a video to come out so soon
I remember having a wireless keyboard that had a small LCD screen built in that allowed you to use it as a calculator with the numpad and IIRC the numlock key toggled it, I think I still have it but it has that soft rubbery coating on the handrest which turned into goo
Probably it will be useful for accountants who use a laptop while traveling
it's completely situational, but there are a lot of situations it would be a lot of help in.
You know, considering dual monitor setups were still relatively rare (not to mention nonexistent with laptops), this was probably incredibly useful for doing calculations without having to alt-tab constantly, especially with being able to type the results.
I could see a revival of this kind of thing: just use a rechargeable battery, add Bluetooth, and omit those silly extra buttons on the lid. It would be very useful for TKL-keyboard users, I think.
Thicker plastic and updated mouse buttons would go a long way
I love the ingenuity of putting so many devices into one solid piece.
A thing you can do many things with.
There's something really funny about LGR shooting up a bunch of pedestrians in GTA and then going "oh dear!" when he can't drive his getaway vehicle
It's amazing how pretty much every one of those desktop icons on your XP machine triggers intense nostalgia in me, haha.
It still is the best version of windows in my opinion.
Your sense of humor with numbers is immaculate
5:45 LGR never disappoints ! Yes! Yes! You typed *80085* ! And not only that... You multiplied with *69* ! You are *the man* !
Nice.
2008... Windows Vista was a good year or two into its release and I'd bought a couple of laptops. One of them came with Vista and in 2008, I 'downgraded' it to XP. For me, XP was always going to be king until I made the Switch to 7. Then 7 was king until 10. I bet a lot of us were like that. Honestly that's one nice and useful peripheral, really surprised they never marketed it outside of Japan because at that time we were all about portability - we were messing about with the infancy of smartphones, netbooks and plenty more small things. I'd have loved one of those Canon mice in my laptop bag. Great vid!
"Lets calculate how many body parts we have" My fav Duke Nukem Quote
i am a fan of chunky MMO mouses with as many buttons as possible,, that thing looks right down my alley.
Always a delight to see a new thing from LGR😄