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geekhack Community => Ergonomics => Topic started by: Gerk on Mon, 06 January 2014, 20:36:53
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I'm in the market for a new mouse (my wife forcibly claimed my backup mouse and I need something better at work than the crappy $5 logitech). I'm using a Goldtouch mouse at home right now -- I think it's called the Comfort Mouse or something similar, it came as a bundle deal with my keyboard.
I've tried quite a few other ergo mouse choices and none impressed me that much. I have an Evoluent and it's too vertical for me. I've also tried the 3M vertical mouse, a couple different roller mouse type setups, trackballs, etc, etc. The Orthomouse type approach seems the best for my needs. I'll probably grab one either way but I'm just curious as to what others think of it if they have tried them.
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I haven't personally but that looks awesome
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sounds like you need to lower your table.. not another mice.
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The angle looks pretty good and it has extensions to change the size for different sized hands (6 different configurations). I think the curl may be a bit more than my own natural rest position, but it's not bad.
The sensor on the wired is only 1000dpi, but that's okay for most desktop work, wireless goes up to 1600dpi. No scroll wheel, but it's got two extra thumb buttons for that function. Seems to be a reasonable price, too.
I wouldn't get one since I need something I can also game with, but it may do the job well for "normal" use. Hopefully someone with actual experience with one can give more useful feedback.
It does bug me that there aren't any "normal" mice with a better angle to them, somewhere from 15 degrees to 45 degrees or so feels about the best to me. The last one I remember is the Logitech Mouseman Wheel USB.
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sounds like you need to lower your table.. not another mice.
Ummm .... thanks for the armchair diagnosis but no thanks. Definitely need another mouse.
Oobly: THe Goldtouch I'm using sounds a lot like what you're looking for in a "normal" mouse. Definitely not a gamers mouse though: http://www.goldtouch.com/p-13-goldtouch-usb-comfort-mouse-right-handed.aspx
1000dpi will be fine for me (in fact 800 will be fine which is probably what I will go with as it's cheaper), not gaming or doing sensitive graphics work, mostly coding, remote desktop, web browsing and that sort of thing (I look after Mac labs in a school).
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Well I ordered a pair of them today and will post my thoughts on them once I have had time to play with them for a bit :)
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I'll be interested in what you think of it. I thought these looked pretty good but don't have any experience with them.
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where is your discomfort coming from
Is it the wrist / forearm/ shoulder/ trap-muslces/ inner shoulder (rotator cuff)
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where is your discomfort coming from
Is it the wrist / forearm/ shoulder/ trap-muslces/ inner shoulder (rotator cuff)
I have Cubital Tunnel Syndrome (among other issues including arthritis in my hands) with partial Ulnar nerve entrapment at the elbow as well as Ulnar obstruction in the back of my hand, but most of my current issues involve the outer elbow area. My workstation ergonomics are very good. Scroll wheels are not a good thing for this kind of condition so the thumb approach for scrolling as well as a more appropriate angle and sizing for my hand are most of what I'm looking forward to with this mouse.
I've been seeing specialists for this for almost 20 years and take lots of steps to ensure my workstation setups are ergonomically sound, which is why I declined the diagnosis that my setup was not correct :)
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Gerk, you hit the jackpot. 777 posts
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Hi there,
I once tried the Orthomouse because it looked fantastic.
After about one week, I chose to send it back.
I really wanted to like it, but I had some gripes.
The biggest problem was my pinky.
There is not enough space to put the pinky, so you have two options:
keep it on the mouse or put it on the table.
The problem is that the mouse shape restricted where my pinky could rest.
Basically there was too much material to let my pinky just rest on the table comfortably
and too few material to actually let my pinky rest on the mouse itself comfortably.
So I could either force myself to keep the pinky on the mouse or
try to rest it on the table in an awkward angle.
I tried both.
But no matter how I tried it, after only 1 or 2 hours of use I would get bone pain in my pinky.
Another gripe I had are the different shape adapters.
The upper adapters only changed the looks for me, so I thought they are useless.
In the pictures you can see that I'm not even touching them.
Basically the only useful adapters are the prolongers.
The longest was not long enough to support my wrist fully.
So only a small part of my wrist could rest on it, making movement very awkward.
The middle one was okay, it left my whole wrist on the table.
The small one was too small.
I really liked the thumb scrolling buttons, the placement was really perfect (see pic)
and using them was a delight. I missed them a lot afterwards.
Iirc the mouse buttons were okay too.
The pinky was a no-go for me though, I could really feel that this was not healthy.
So basically I would recommend trying it out.
I have quite long hands, which often creates problems with holding mouses comfortably for me.
Maybe it's just right for you! :)
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where is your discomfort coming from
Is it the wrist / forearm/ shoulder/ trap-muslces/ inner shoulder (rotator cuff)
I have Cubital Tunnel Syndrome (among other issues including arthritis in my hands) with partial Ulnar nerve entrapment at the elbow as well as Ulnar obstruction in the back of my hand, but most of my current issues involve the outer elbow area. My workstation ergonomics are very good. Scroll wheels are not a good thing for this kind of condition so the thumb approach for scrolling as well as a more appropriate angle and sizing for my hand are most of what I'm looking forward to with this mouse.
I've been seeing specialists for this for almost 20 years and take lots of steps to ensure my workstation setups are ergonomically sound, which is why I declined the diagnosis that my setup was not correct :)
I also have cubital tunnel or something very like it due to an old break. I have a vertical mouse (the penguin) and it does well to take pressure off my ulnar nerve, but I agree it might be a bit too vertical. I'd like to hear how you like the Orthomouse.
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I also have cubital tunnel or something very like it due to an old break. I have a vertical mouse (the penguin) and it does well to take pressure off my ulnar nerve, but I agree it might be a bit too vertical. I'd like to hear how you like the Orthomouse.
I've used a couple of Orthomouse exclusively for a while now so wanted to come back and share some thoughts.
In terms of comfort level and relieving my pain they have been fantastic, no more pain even after doing long computing sessions (16+ hours). I use one on my main workstation at home and also on my main machine at work. So in that vein they are a total success for me. But ... (there's always a but) ...
I find that they are incredibly clunky pointing devices. It's hard to be accurate with them. It has less to do with the DPI/resolution of them and more of the general shape and the angle your arm is in when using them. To me they kind of feel like I'm throwing with my "off" hand, but again it's worth the price in my mind. No more pain trumps all. That said I would hate to try and game with these!
Lastly the thumb scrolling options are extremely limited on OSX. For me it's either too fast or too slow, there's no in between. I'm still pretty disappointed in this in terms of configurability. I've tried a couple of third party solutions, none of them make much of a difference. The problem is that it seems to use something for scrolling that they changed up in OSX recently. The first scroll speed is so slow in most apps you can barely tell it's working. The second is a tiny bit faster, but still super slow, and the third and final "speed" is so fast you might as well just be hitting the end key or holding down page down. Hard to blame the mouse maker here as it seems to be something that the OS has changed up. Also some of the things they advertised (such as the press a button to get a scrolling lock) only works on Windows. They were not clear about that on their website or product pages (which was a big disappointment as well).
Here's a youtube video showing just how slow the scrolling in on OSX.
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So do you still use it or have you found a suitable alternative?
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So do you still use it or have you found a suitable alternative?
Still using them as my daily drivers on both my main machines. I'll take feeling a little clunkier clicking things over pain any day :)
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So do you still use it or have you found a suitable alternative?
Still using them as my daily drivers on both my main machines. I'll take feeling a little clunkier clicking things over pain any day :)
Sounds good to me. Thanks for responding!
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Thanks for your feedback on your experience, Gerk.
I've had a similar experience with mouse software on OS X. It pales in comparison to what's on Windows as far as configuarability.