In this hands-on review, we take a look at some of Orbitkey’s most popular products to see how they stack up.
You may know Orbitkey for their key organizers, but their Desk Mat and Nest have generated a lot of buzz too. I tried some of their products, and I’m going to give my honest opinion of them.
Quick Take
The Desk Mat can be a useful product, just make sure to measure your desk to see if the mat will fit well. The Nest is a nice little storage spot for miscellaneous items that would otherwise clutter your desk.
You can check out Orbitkey’s Desk Mats here and the Nest here, or read on for our full review.
About Orbitkey
Orbitkey is based out of Melbourne, Australia, and was co-founded by Charles Ng and Rex Kuo in 2013.
They started with the mission of finding a better way to organize keys. That launched their flagship product, the Key Organiser.
We’re a small team of creative and passionate organisers who want to make an impact in the world of organisation.
from Orbitkey’s About page
These days, they have all sorts of accessories for sale, and their Key Organiser is still going strong.
The Products I Tried
I tried a couple of Orbitkey’s most popular products:
- Desk Mat (medium and slim sizes)
- Nest
Let’s get to the review!
Desk Mat
The Desk Mat comes in three sizes; slim, medium, and large. I tried the slim and medium sizes.
Function
The gist of the Desk Mat is that you put it on your desk under your laptop, keyboard, or whatever else you have on your desk. Orbitkey’s Desk Mat is a good product because it adds some functionality instead of just being a piece of leather that sits on your desk.
First of all, the toolbar is awesome. It goes a long way to have a designated area to keep pens on my desk. You could keep other small accessories there too.
On the toolbar, there’s also the magnetic cable holder. It’s a very organized feature, and I appreciate it. The magnet is very strong.
A really clever feature of the Desk Mat is the document hideaway. When you lift up the top layer of the mat, it reveals an area to keep documents, notes, etc. that you want quick access to. That feature really adds a lot to the mat without requiring it to be bulky.
The Desk Mat also works well with a mouse so you won’t need a dedicated mouse pad.
Materials
When I first looked at the Desk Mat, I thought it was leather. It turns out that it’s vegan leather made from polyurethane.
It’s a nice smooth finish, but it has a subtle texture similar to leather. Any leather purists out there can rest assured that while the mat isn’t made from real leather, it actually looks very good. Plus, the vegan leather is water-resistant.
On the medium-sized mat, the bottom layer for document storage is made of recycled PET felt. There’s not any additional material on the bottom to help the mat grip your desk, so hypothetically it could slide around somewhat easily though I haven’t that issue.
The slim mat is made of the same vegan leather and PET as the medium, except they did add what looks like rubber to the bottom so it will grip your desk.
Size
When it comes to the sizes of the mats, that’s where they had a fall from grace for me. The medium mat is simply too wide for my desk. In fact, it would be nice to have an option with less length too.
I was excited to try the slim mat in hopes that it would solve the dilemma of the medium being too big.
Well, the width of the slim is great, but it’s even longer than the medium which was already a little too long for my desk setup. I don’t understand why they made a slim version instead of just making a small size. The size options are slim, medium, and large. To me, it’s a no-brainer to make a small size.
The medium mat is 27″ x 14.69″ x 0.19″, and the slim mat is 31.4″ x 12.2″ x 0.19″. Having a small size that’s an even 24″ x 12″ would be great.
The height of the mats is fine by me. In fact, I didn’t really notice it. They’re about 1/5th of an inch high, and they sat nicely on my desk without feeling bulky.
Nest
To put it (kind of) simply, the Orbitkey Nest is a portable desk organizer that also functions as a wireless charger. There’s a lot to explore with this small product.
The top of the Nest is like a small catchall that has a wireless charger built-in. It’s kind of small and shallow so I still prefer to use a dedicated catchall.
You may also want to use a standalone wireless charger. The Modest Man’s founder, Brock, has noted that the wireless charger on the Nest doesn’t work as quickly as his normal wireless charger.
When you open the Nest, you’ll find a customizable storage area for small items. There are six little plastic dividers with velcro bottoms that can be arranged in any way you like.
This is a good spot to store miscellaneous cables and adapters, pens, headphones, and pretty much any other small items that you want to keep organized.
Speaking of pens, the clever folks at Orbitkey made the loop on the hinge a pen holder!
The other half of the Nest has an elastic pouch and some slots to store miscellaneous notes as well as cards of many types (credit cards, business cards, SD cards, etc.).
You can see the full materials used on the Orbitkey site, but I do want to note that the top is made of genuine leather. The bottom is fabric, but it would be cool if it had a little grip on it.
Now brings the question, who is the Nest for? It’s certainly a niche product. If you don’t have any kind of desk drawer or caddy, the Nest would be a nice, small option.
Another idea is to use it for travel. I think the Nest would make a nice storage companion that fits in a backpack or briefcase.
I use over-ear headphones on a daily basis, and I’d love to see Orbitkey make a larger size of the Nest that could fit them. Overall, the Nest is a well-thought-out product that helps keep your desk organized.
My Recommendation
Orbitkey’s Desk Mats and Nest definitely function well and feel high-quality. If you think they’d make a nice addition to your office and you don’t mind the prices, go ahead and buy them!
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