Shake hands with your mouse: Evoluent's Vertical Mouse 3

Stop reading this post right now after this sentence and drop your hands to your sides (and then come back, please). OK, how did your hands align on their own? Were your palms facing to the side or facing to the front? For most folks they should have faced inside unless you consciously turned them, of course. That's the natural position for your hands and wrists, so Evoluent decided to make a mouse that takes advantage of it.

TechwareLabs gives the Evoluent Vertical Mouse 3 a review and I'll admit: I'm intrigued! You grab the mouse with your hand as if you're shaking hands with it: your fingers are out to the side, not rotated over the mouse. It actually does look more comfortable to me and it's no slouch in the hardware department either. You can change the optical res from 800 to 2600 DPI and you've got five hardware buttons to use. For an MSRP online price of $59.99, I might shake hands with a new mouse!

Comments

[laura]

it appears to be selling for $80.00 on their website. Where did you find the $59.99? I'm interested at that price.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Laura, the review link showed two online retailers that offer the mouse for $60 but for some reason the link wasn't in the post. I've just added it so folks can read the review and see the pricing links. Thanks for the catch!

[Jordan Running]

I seem to recall seeing a similar input device maybe five years ago that had more of an air-hockey-paddle form factor. Both that and this look like they'd be a little awkward to use--my suspicion is that something in between the vertical and horizontal design would be more ideal. Something that would still allow you to rest your palm on a surface (rather than the side of your hand), but would keep your hand at a 45-degree angle or so. But what do I know? I'm certainly no ergonomics expert.

[Donovan]

I have been using the version 2 of this mouse for almost two years at both work and at home, and it has really good in stopping my hand pains. It is a pretty big mouse, so you need to have big hands, which I do!

D

[Cheryl]

Interesting. I have a WowPen mouse that I found at Fry's, that is more like using a cross between a digitizer pen and a mouse:

http://www.wow-penusa.com/products.php

After a while of getting used to it, I much prefer it over a regular mouse. And when I need to switch hands (yeah, I'm an ambidextrous mouser :) ), even though it's meant for a right-handed person, it works fine in my left hand in a pinch. I found out recently that they offer a wireless version. If they have it at Fry's, I'd pick it up. Might order it if it's not available locally.

P.S. I use it with my iMac.