The Evoluent mouse that somebody recommended a week or two back finally arrived. The principle behind the thing is that if you mouse with a regular mouse the bones in your forearm are rotated to full extension, stressing the arm. This mouse is worked from a “handshake” position, so that the arm is in a more relaxed position.
It feels great.
It also has nifty programmable buttons, and an uber-cool “speed toggle.” I configured it so that when I smack CTRL-Windows and it toggles between ultra slow and fairly zippy, allowing me to switch between detail work in one spot, and grabbing a tool on the 2nd monitor without having to pick the mouse up.
It also doesn’t need to be picked up. Because of the way it’s laid out you can just tip it to the side and scoot it in order to reposition it on the mouse-pad.
I’ve had it for a day and I love it enough to recommend it.
Alas, it doesn’t seem to come in a left-handed version. I’m one of those recalcitrant muties who insists on putting his pointing device on the port side of the keyboard.
(Note that this centers the TYPING portion of the kb on my desk — trackball on the port side, keypad on the starboard. How you dexter-mousing sorts can tolerate the dramaticly off-center layout that results when you have your mouse off in the Far East is beyond me.)
That was my first concern without even looking at the website. I do note that they have the earlier version in the left-handed form.
…then I contemplated how I operate the three-button mouse with my left hand and note that I tend to rest the side of my hand on the pad, leaving my hand more upright, anyway. On the Mac laptop, I work the trackpad with my right hand, mostly.
I’m a pretty solid lefty for many things, but far from all. For example, I play sports right handed.
http://evoluent.com/ergonomic/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=38
Is too a leftie version…
And Howard, I like their keyboard too… I shall be plotting my purchase of these items (though a rightie mouse for me)
I can attest that the principle is sound.
When I developed tendonitis in my right wrist (never officially diagnosed – I was a poor college student with no health insurance), some careful investigation determined that holding my arm on a flat mouse was painful, while holding it more vertically was less so.
Fast-forward ten years (my gosh, has it been that long?!), I’ve been using the Freaking-Huge Logitech gaming mice, and I use a trackball at work. Both of these push my palm well off of the table, forcing my hand into a more vertical position. I’ve never had any scientific evidence to back me up, but empirical evidence from years of sampling nerve data indicates this is better for tendonitis.
It was only a matter of time before some company picked up on the idea and decided to make a buck off of it.
The cool thing is that it’s not “some company.” It was an individual who had a cool idea, and who got turned down by Microsoft (they said there was no evidence it would help.) So he started his own company and began shipping mice.
The first version was buggy. The second worked well. The third, at least from my experience, is very refined.
–Howard
That’s pretty darn cool.
Hm. I might have to try one of those.
looks cool, but then for 80 bucks it should do…
Amazon has it cheaper, though I can’t tell if that’s Rev 2 or not. Other places might have it even cheaper that Amazon; try shopping around a bit.
I’ve also found that modifications like this can help. I did the same thing with my old Trackman Marble FX trackball, they had designed it so your thumb went to a button on the bottom left near the table, I found it much more comfortable when I changed the thumb button to one that was much higher off the table and rested my arm more sideways. You can see both buttons in that picture I linked. I should probably look into a different mouse myself.
On the cheap
After seeing this, Wulf built a tiny easel that holds the mousepad at a 45º angle. It is surprisingly comfortable. Need to test it with a few hours of gaming, though…