Looking for mice [mouses?] that are straight plastic. Hard to find. Found a sweet mini Logitech, not gunk on the sides, but the wheel is gunk. And those get crazy gooey.
I sometimes have to do a lot of repetitive mouse work & 5-6 years ago tried a lot of mices(?) to find one that didn’t cause me RSI. In the end the Corsair M65 Pro was perfect and it started going sticky on the top/sides a couple of years ago, it was fairly easy though time consuming to clean it all off, I’ve also had to replace the left click switch recently that got double click happy, but it would fill me with horror to have to try and find another mouse that’s as comfortable. The mouse actually feels a lot better without the rubber too. The mouse wheel uses rubber but it must be a non sticky kind as it’s still fine🤞
I look after my gear and it’s happened on my Push 2 which is pretty annoying. It’s depressing to fork out 500 quid to watch it disintegrate before my eyes. I’ve tried to block it out and not let it bother me but something about it doesn’t sit right. The feeling of distaste is always lurking when I use it, in that it’s probably not worth the hassle because it’s out of warranty but you still feel ripped off ever-so-slightly. I can’t for the life of me think why on earth these companies still use this stuff. I had an old Nikon camera from the 80s and that went the same way, so it’s not exactly a ‘new’ issue.
The Novation Ultranova also had goo - on the wheels and the two small knobs above the wheels. Not sure if the other knobs were made of different material, but they weren’t troublesome on my unit.
I ended up “sanding” off the goo with my partner’s recommendation of damp baking soda and elbow grease.
I’ve lost a few other things to the goo:
cheap shortwave radio that turned into a sticky mess
Voigtlander Bessa-L camera - this one really bothers me because it’s somewhat of an important camera in the renaissance of mirrorless cameras and looks like a huge pain to “clean”.
It looks like there are at least six major subvariants of “TPE”. Since I’m not sure what materials are involved in the various products, I prefer to call the bad stuff “goo”.
Playstation3 controllers had bad plastic that turned to goo on the thumb sticks. I haven’t had any issues with my PS4 controllers. So whatever Sony is using maybe the good stuff.
I’m in the same boat with my Push 2. Not a ton of use on it either. Not sure whether or not to leave it be, use isopropyl alcohol to try and get at least the sides and front clean (risk making it worse) or thought about trying to cover it with vinyl wrap.
Sucks. Somehow feels worse than outright planned obsolescence.
Yeah, it’s very annoying isn’t it? It puts me off buying anything with this bag of shit ‘coating’ on again. I might try and remove it, but then can I be arsed with the hassle… probably not!
I’m surprised that 16 'nauts voted “I like it” - is that sarcasm?? I can’t imagine anyone likes the sticky mess that these soft-touch coatings turn into…
Personally, I’d encourage anyone who has gear that they like that’s got this issue, to just go ahead and put in the effort to clean the gear. 91% isopropyl alcohol worked like a charm for me with a few different pieces of gear (Roland R-8 & R-05, Mini & Microbrutes, ergonomic computer mouse, and a couple others that I don’t remember). Yes, it’s a hassle, and it takes a bit of time and effort, but once it’s done it’s taken care of, and you can enjoy your gear without being irritated or disgusted or distracted. My suggestion is to just do it - you’ll be better off, even if you have to replace the front panel legending with handwritten labels.
I had issues with soft touch plastic coating on push 2 and midi fighter twister (not sure if it is still shipped with the same coating) and if I not mistaken a4 mk1 encoders was also sticky.
I don’t like it much even when it is new, it collects fingerprints easily.
People need to stop arguing and pointing fingers at each other about this issue, and instead unite in taking manufactures to task over it.
It’s not a matter of washing your hands or keeping your gear away from heat or direct sunlight. Yes, those things do play a role in the degradation of various polymers. But the bottom line is, TPE and other similar compounds will eventually break down into a sticky, oily mess, regardless of their environment. And they will do so in a much shorter period of time than harder plastics.
If you keep your gear for long enough, it will happen to you, no matter how diligent you are.
At this point in time, we have plenty of perspective on this. It is a well-known and well-documented problem. Therefore, any manufacturer that persists in using these compounds in their products deserves the flak and ought to be held accountable.
