Key Takeaways
- Fun and colorful tech products once dominated the consumer electronics scene.
- In the 90s and 00s, many PC peripherals — including optical mice — shipped with translucent casings and even liquid-filled interiors.
- The so-called Aqua Mouse lives on, but only if you’re lucky enough to live in Australia.
The 90s and the early 00s were a time to be alive — we had sit-down Pizza Hut restaurants, Blockbuster video rental stores, and even the downright legendary AOL Instant Messenger. This time period also gave birth to a particularly creative tech product: the aqua mouse.
Aqua mice hit the scene at a time when tech manufacturers weren’t afraid to get creative. Translucent consumer electronics were all the rage, with their semi-see-through casings and bright colorways. This was the era of the bondi blue iMac G3, the atomic purple Nintendo 64, and the transparent yellow Tamagotchi.
Aqua mice adopted this same design mantra, but with a twist: injecting fluid within their transparent casings, while suspending figurines or other floating decorations within these aquatic chambers. It’s not an exaggeration to say that at one point in the late 90s, aqua mice could be found on desktops the world over.
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The Cat Aqua Mouse is a vestigial reminder of the good old days
This heavy duty machinery-themed mouse isn’t fueled by diesel, but rather by nostalgia
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These days, it’s nearly impossible to find an aqua mouse for sale outside of the used market. The style’s unique blend of translucent plastics and fluid-filled interiors fell out of fashion in the mid 2000’s, and hasn’t reemerged since. Nevertheless, one holdout still remains, and it’s called the Cat Aqua Mouse.
One TikTok user by the name of ratgirl.333 went on a mission to find herself an aqua mouse still in active production, and she stumbled upon what might be one of the final options still on the market. Say hello to the Cat Aqua Mouse: a $17 AUD (roughly $11.30 USD) optical mouse sold by the Aussie-based Cat equipment provider WesTrac.
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As you might expect, the Cat Aqua Mouse leans heavily into its machinery aesthetic. It’s a wired USB-A mouse with a prominent Cat design print, and it incorporates a floating D11R Cat machine replica within its liquid-filled base. According to the WesTrac storefront, the peripheral is compatible with Windows 98, NT, 2000, ME, and XP machines. While there’s no word on compatibility with newer versions of Windows or other operating systems, I’d imagine very little tinkering would be required to get it up and running on Windows 11, macOS, or even Android.
As you might expect, the Cat Aqua Mouse leans heavily into its machinery aesthetic.
Unfortunately, the Cat Aqua Mouse is available for purchase exclusively within Australia, and there’s no option to ship internationally. If you’re like me and live thousands of miles away from the island nation, then you’ll have to experience your helping of nostalgia vicariously through ratgirl.333.
Cat Aqua Mouse
An optical USB mouse that hearkens back to the good old days of fun PC peripherals, with a translucent casing and a floating D11R Cat machine replica.
Could we be in for an aqua mouse renaissance?
Aqua mice probably won’t be coming back anytime soon, but translucent devices appear to be on the rise
Unfortunately, I don’t expect aqua mice to make a triumphant comeback in the consumer space anytime soon. As fun and unique as they undoubtedly are, their fluid-filled insides are limited by practical manufacturing constraints. Modern PC mice have a lot going on internally these days, cramming lithium-ion battery packs, Bluetooth radio antennas, USB-C sockets, and sophisticated optical sensors into a rather small package.
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That being said, we are bearing witness to something of a resurgence in translucent consumer tech products on a broader scale. The UK-based Nothing smartphone brand is arguably leading the charge with its lineup of smartphones and Bluetooth accessories, including the firm’s new semi-transparent Nothing Ear (Open) earbuds. Even industry juggernaut Samsung has jumped on the bandwagon with its latest Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro models. It’s unclear whether this trend is simply a play on nostalgia, or if it’s a genuine design ethos with legs.
On a personal level, I would love to see the return of Nintendo’s legendary atomic purple colorway.
On a personal level, I would love to see the return of Nintendo’s legendary atomic purple colorway in its upcoming successor to the Switch gaming console. A translucent Magic Mouse would also have me grabbing for my wallet, but Apple’s recent USB-C refresh of the peripheral makes this an incredibly unlikely prospect.
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