An important feature for any electronic gadget is continued expansion of its capabilities (without having to buy a new replacement device). SpacePilot PRO is getting considerable support from 3DConnexion. The SpacePilot PRO, and the rest of the current 3DConnexion 3D mice line-up, now supports both SolidWorks 2010 and CATIA V6R2010.
According to 3DConnexion, their 3D mice now complement new SolidWorks 2010 functions such as Rapid Dimension Tool and Mouse Gestures. I’ve personally not had a chance to evaluate these improvements with my SpacePilot PRO (which was, as I stated in a previous article, given to me without any strings attached by 3DConnexion in April 2009).
For CATIA V6, 3DConnexion doesn’t seem to really add any new support for functionality, but rather it is simply fully compatible with it.
One additional note, there was a recent price reduction! SpacePilot PRO price was reduced from $499 to $399! Although this is still expensive for some, it does make the device more accessable for others.
maybe this is just me, but does anyone find that the buttons on the SpacePilot Pro seem slow? In my case it got to the point where it was faster to just press the key directly on the keyboard, or click the command. Also, the tactile feedback on the buttons is awkward. What I mean by this is that I would rather the buttons feel more like laptop keys, how I imagine the keys are like on the Spacepilot. I strongly agree with your earlier comment, fcsuper, about having a separate mapping for sketches. This is a good product, but I did expect better. Does anyone else agree?