If your hand leaves the keyboard every few minutes to grab your mouse, Keychron thinks it has a fix. I’ve spent a few weeks testing the company’s Nape Pro trackball mouse. It changed a few of my habits fast, even though it brought some of its own quirks along with it.
Keychron built its name on keyboards. The $89.99 Nape Pro is a small trackball mouse you can place anywhere on your desk. What caught my eye when Keychron first announced it was the idea that it could sit right below your keyboard’s spacebar instead. Instead of reaching sideways for a regular mouse, you move the cursor with your thumbs. The rest of your fingers stay on the keys.
For anyone who types most of the day, that could really change how your hands move around the desk.
Small, Light, and Stickier Than I Expected
My first impression wasn’t great. The Nape Pro felt so light that I worried it would slide around every time I nudged the trackball. The rubber feet on the bottom proved to be more effective than I thought. It stayed put through quick trackball movements far better than its weight suggested.
Keychron clearly thought about how a mouse could work on a keyboard-first desk. Placing the trackball between your thumbs sounds strange until you try it. Once I got the hang of it, I stopped lifting my hand off the keyboard to grab a mouse. That saved more time than I expected going in.
There’s also a small dial that wraps around the trackball. By default, it controls volume. But you can reprogram it for almost anything through Keychron’s software. I set mine to scroll instead, and it turned into one of my favorite parts of the whole device. Every button and the dial can be set up to match how you actually work, not how Keychron assumes you will.
If you’ve used one of Keychron’s mechanical keyboards, this level of customization will feel familiar. The company seems to be carrying that same habit of letting you tweak everything over to its mice.
A Learning Curve and a Few Gripes
The clicks are my biggest complaint. The buttons on the device feel soft instead of sharp. If you like a clicky, tactile feel, you might miss it here. That softness does make for quieter clicks, though, which some people will actually prefer if they share a desk or work in a thin-walled office.
The trackball itself takes some getting used to. I’ve relied on a regular desktop mouse for most of my working life, so my muscle memory didn’t transfer over right away. Keychron’s software lets you slow the cursor speed down while you adjust. That softens the learning curve instead of throwing you in at full speed from day one.
Battery life held up well. I went a few weeks of daily use without needing to plug it in once. My other gripe is the software itself. Every time I want to change a setting, I have to open a browser page instead of a standalone app. It’s a small annoyance, but an unnecessary one for something this small.
That being said, it’s worth noting the Nape Pro is no longer available for presale. A Keychron representative told me demand has been high enough that regular in-stock availability isn’t expected until around October 15.
At $89.99, the Nape Pro isn’t a cheap accessory. But if you spend most of your day moving between a keyboard and a mouse, it’s worth trying. Also, you might want to give yourself a week to adjust to the trackball before deciding whether it earns a permanent spot on your desk.