Vertical Mouse - Reviews and Observations

[fohat.digs]

So I had never really considered vertical mice until a thread here a couple of months ago piqued my interest. The concept made sense, and I found a good cheap Chinese mouse on ebay.

I had made the switch to left–hand mousing a year or two ago, and have been delighted with it. Although I am strongly right–handed, I have decided that mousing is a secondary task, not a primary one. Freeing my right hand for writing, operating the numpad, and answering the phone has been great.

My first vertical mouse was a right–hand knock–off of the Wow Joy Pen mouse, and I love it! It took my hand about 3 days to settle onto the proper position, but from there it has been smooth sailing. I have large hands, and kept trying to stay “up on” the mouse. When I finally realized that I needed to drag the last two fingers on the ground, they became my movers and navigators, which is far more precise than using the wrist and forearm.

As I understand it, this is not the fastest mouse for gamers, but I don’t care. Yes, they should lighten the click and improve the wheel, but the price was less than half the price of the name brand, so, even better!

But, what I really wanted, of course, was a left–hand mouse. Not only is there no cheap left–hand Chinese knock–off of the Joy mouse, apparently there is no name brand lefty, either. Damn!

As far as I can tell, the only left–hand vertical mouse is the Evoluent, so I got one.

It just plain sucks. Everything about it is wrong. The Joy is nice because it leans over at about 45 degrees toward the center so that your arm is completely natural.

I really get it – that a conventional mouse forces you to rotate your forearm about 45 degrees too far counterclockwise (the right–hand model, that is). That is a strong and valid argument. But the Evoluent is too upright! It forces your forearm to rotate 45 degrees too far – out!

But the greater problem is that it forces you to actually “hold” the mouse in a sort of clamping or pinching action. If you try to click with a finger, you have to be resisting that force with your thumb, or else the mouse moves rather than the switch activating. With a conventional flat mouse, you can simply tap the button with your finger and gravity assists you. Then if you want to push it around, that is another motion that you can do with any part of your hand, for me, it is the heel of my palm.

Bottom line – I hate the Evoluent mouse because of its upright posture, which makes it far too difficult to use, and the fact that my thumb must be involved at all times.

Does anyone know of a good left–hand, vertical mouse that is easy and comfortable to use like the Wow Joy Pen?  Now that I feel how nice it is, I am very frustrated that what I want does not exist.

[kurplop]

Thanks for your review/comparison of the Evoluent and the Joy Pen knock-off. Your observations reinforced my suspicions. While we all have different needs and one style or shape isn't going to work for everyone, just looking at pictures of the the Evoluent made my wrist cramp. I imagined that holding it would be like palming a basketball, it appears a bit bulky. I questioned the extreme vertical angle and anticipated the pinching/clamping issue. Conversely, the Joy Pen's form seems like it would cradle your hand. The beauty of the competitive marketplace is that it thrives by meeting our wants and needs. Maybe we'll see a left hand version of the Joy Pen before long.

It is not my intention to criticize the Evoluent because I have never used one. I am curious to hear from fans of the Evoluent who have found it to be a good solution to their ergo issues.

[natas206]

Looks like that is an older Evoluent version, possibly the first ever. There is now an Evoluent 4 (see image below) which the overall design is a bit better with additional features and it also comes in an optional smaller size (as well as wireless).



I've found pointing devices are really personal preference. What works for one person may not for another. I love trackballs myself but probably only a tiny percentage of people feel the same way.

[fohat.digs]

I had a trackball back in the 90s for a couple of years, but eventually I decided that it was just too erratic and "sloppy" for me. That probably has more to do with me than with it, of course!

Lucky for me that I got a Joy mouse first, if the Evoluent had been my first experience, I would have disregarded vertical mice forever.

My Evoluent is a 2, and, as I understand it, the configuration of the current model 4 is slightly changed so as to not be "quite" so upright, and that is some improvement, of course. But the change looks to be very minor and does not alter any of the inherent problems I have issue with, first and foremost that gravity is always your enemy with this design rather than your friend.

Also, I have large hands and the mouse would probably be considered a "perfect fit" size-wise.

After using it for the better part of a week, it has gotten a tiny bit easier to tolerate, while I have totally fallen in love with the Joy.

And, if I change out the switches, I am sure that I will like it even better.

[arn]

I can't offer any insight into left handed versions.   But my mouse of choice is a vertical mouse from 3M:

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergonomics/home/products/ergonomicmouse/

There is no left-handed version, but I really like this one.  It looks like a joystick in the pictures, but it's actually one unit.  Clicks are activated by thumb, and there is also a button on the stalk as well.  Your hand has somewhere to rest on the base.  As you move it around with your arm.  Clicks are pretty natural using the thumb.  I map the shaft button to do a hold-grab to replace the scroll wheel function.

[conandy]

Fohat, I feel your pain.  I think the Evoluent is a well made mouse, but is too vertical.  I found that clicking the buttons actually moved the mouse, often.  I had to sort of wedge the mouse between my index finger and thumb to make my hand grip it without effort, and this helped some.  God forbid you use it for gaming, 'cuz you can knock the mouse across the room when swapping hand from keyboard to the mouse, due to it's being so tall and having to lift your hand over the top.

I agree 100% with you that the wowpen joy mouse is the closest thing out there to a truly ergonomic, comfortable, mouse.  They suffer from being too small for almost any hand (and my hands are small) and the build feels cheap, the button click is clunky, and the sensor is pitiful.  But other than those issues, the Wowpen would be wonderful. 

I tried going left handed mouse for awhile due to some pain issues and surgery in my right arm, and it was very frustrating that there are so few left handed ergonomic mice. 

You are probably going to have best luck mod'ing an ambidextrous mouse design to fit your left hand in a more vertical type of grip arrangement. Good luck.