rollermouse pro 2 pics!

[woody]

Got the Free 2. Roller bar is smooth, so we can safely assume that jpc's sample had some troubles.

Pros: the roller is smooth and has nice momentum, so pointing with it is easy and comfortable. Clicking the bar at the lowest setting works good.

Cons: three unusable buttons, as already reported - hardwired Copy, Paste and Double Click. That's a major flaw for a product oriented at prosumers.

Neutral: scrollwheel is OK.


At this point I am not very sure about the button layout and I feel some tension in my hands, but could be well from trying something new.

[Input Nirvana]

Welcome to the club!

Rollerbar=PIMP. Unquestionably.
Hardwired buttons in this day and age=Do not understand and personally not a fan. I want a workaround.
Scrollwheel=Much improved over the 'standard' ratcheting, narrow wheel. My only thought might me a HyperScroll wheel in its place. What are your thoughts?
Button layout=Don't know, hopefully it's because it's new and there is some muscle stress.

[woody]

Hardwired buttons in this day and age=Do not understand and personally not a fan. I want a workaround.

I need workaround, too. Or it will be one expensive wristrest.

Scrollwheel=Much improved over the 'standard' ratcheting, narrow wheel. My only thought might me a HyperScroll wheel in its place. What are your thoughts?

Pretty good and smooth scrollwheel, and clicking it is also good. Don't know what HyperScroll is, before the Slimblade I used to scroll with arrow keys.

Button layout=Don't know, hopefully it's because it's new and there is some muscle stress.

I will report on that later. For now I have to look down quite often to find what I'm looking for.

To minimize hand movement I'd preferred to have the left click right under the roller, so just a thumb action is enough while the four other finger stay on the keyboard (at home row position, or whatever).

I will give it a week to see how well I could adapt. Still, I'm mad at Contour for there are only three usable buttons - Left click, Right click and Scrollwheel click.

[Input Nirvana]

You can click the rollerbar. As a left click. I use that 90% of the time. Your unit will do that.

Look up Hyperscroll on the inter-toobs. It's a neat Logitech innovation.

[jpc]

I'm mad at Contour for there are only three usable buttons - Left click, Right click and Scrollwheel click.

 
For me the scroll wheel click is semi-usable. It's easy to scroll by accident, esp. without click-stops in the scroll wheel. It works, but it takes work.

The cardinal sin of pointing devices is having one surface control multiple functions. (begin rant) Apple is excommunicated. It started with the mouse that you can't rest your hand on without accidentally clicking, because the button is on the bottom. Wow, that's... innovative. They outdid themselves with the Tragic Magic Trackpad with two buttons on the bottom of a device whose top surface is entirely touch sensitive. I cringe...

Keep your discreet buttons. Give me discrete buttons.

(end grouchy old man rant)

[Input Nirvana]

I have used the click on the scroll wheel for auto-scroll only since there are other click options. I assume the new wheel will work better for that (I'm not actually using the RMFree2 at this point)

I like the Magic Track Pad, but have not pressed it to "click". GESTURES BABY!

[woody]

You can click the rollerbar. As a left click. I use that 90% of the time. Your unit will do that.

Yup, it works ok for me even at the lowest force setting. It's not very ergonomic for hitting small targets though as pushing down may move the pointer.
What I tried to say is that the Left/Right click buttons should be closer to the bar, to allow for thumb action on them. The goal of RM is minimizing hand movement and staying on the keyboard, no?

Look up Hyperscroll on the inter-toobs. It's a neat Logitech innovation.

Just looked it up. For me the Free 2 scrollwheel is good enough, and Slimblade scroll is ftw. There's PgUp/PgDn for hopping in bigger amounts.

[woody]

For me the scroll wheel click is semi-usable. It's easy to scroll by accident, esp. without click-stops in the scroll wheel. It works, but it takes work.

For a somewhat rarely used 4th button I can accept it being funkier. But where's the 3rd button on Free2 that I frequently need? ...

Keep your discreet buttons. Give me discrete buttons.

True.

[Björn]

To get around the hard-wired functions, especially in Free2   -   if you have a PC:

Posted today on european (UK) Contour Ergo web pages     www.contour-design.co.uk    >   support   > drivers  
A Microsoft certified Contour 32 and 64 bit Windows driver (7, Vista, XP)       for:    Free2, Pro2,     also should work for "old" Pro and Contour/Perfit Mouse

The driver has a limited feature set, (if you have seen the old "advanced" driver) but it will allow swapping around the clicks, such as putting left and right clicks near the rollerbar on 4th and 5th button.

(A later release in a couple of weeks is to include some support for original RM-Free.)


And yes, I work for Contour in Europe :-) I hope you appreciate the heads up.
(And I am not coding the stuff, myself, just to be clear.)

[woody]

Hello, Björn, nice to hear from Contour staff.

But the problem is we have PCs ... and no Windows(tm). That's why our rant for having hardwired (unusable) functions on a device which must've simply supplied plain buttons that anybody could then customize to their own heart. Isn't the MCU in Free2 flash-based, i.e. upgradeable?

EDIT: If the Pro2/Free2 have the same guts, then Pro2's firmware on Free2 is good enough.

[Input Nirvana]

Just to add, info on Pro2 verses Free2 is helpful and how it relates to Macs as well.

Thank you!

[TheAmpersand]

Hmm, a free trial offer is highly enticing. I main get fatigue/RSI in my right wrist from using a mouse at work, and I've been weighing my options. I was considering getting a trackball since the cost of entry is lower. How would you say this compares? Personal preference?

[jpc]

Hmm, a free trial offer is highly enticing. I main get fatigue/RSI in my right wrist from using a mouse at work, and I've been weighing my options. I was considering getting a trackball since the cost of entry is lower. How would you say this compares? Personal preference?

I use the Kensington Expert Mouse, Logitech m570, and Logitech Trackman Wheel (predecessor to m570) regularly and prefer all of those to any standard mouse.

Ergonomically, the rollermouse is most similar to a trackpad. You might consider that on a budget.

So...

Rollermouse: pricey, very ergonomic, precise cursor control
Trackpads: cheap, very ergonomic, less precise cursor control
Index finger trackball: medium price, somewhat ergonomic (you need a tall palm rest to avoid dorsiflection), precise cursor control
Thumb trackball: cheap, very ergonomic, less precise cursor control

This omits the legendary and discontinued MS Trackball Explorer, which is an index-finger trackball that appears to be uncompromisingly ergonomic. I don't have experience with this class of trackball.

It's very difficult to guess what you'll like before you get it and try it. Just start acquiring lots of stuff :biggrin:

[sordna]

Good breakdown jpg, I agree 100%
Wow, new (old stock) MS Trackball Explorer are like $400-500 bucks! Never tried it... The Logitech Trackman Marble is a pretty good and cheap index/middle finger trackball.

[Björn]

Hello, Björn, nice to hear from Contour staff.

But the problem is we have PCs ... and no Windows(tm). That's why our rant for having hardwired (unusable) functions on a device which must've simply supplied plain buttons that anybody could then customize to their own heart. Isn't the MCU in Free2 flash-based, i.e. upgradeable?

EDIT: If the Pro2/Free2 have the same guts, then Pro2's firmware on Free2 is good enough.

Hi,

I understand completely your views and they are of course relevant.
It's basically a matter of "potential market/demand", costs for enabling multiple product versions and facing the historical decisions already made.

To answer from another end, our main customers are business users on a Wintel platform (but Mac is growing) who work with computing intensive tasks, such as administration/accounting/finance/secretary/customer service etc.

Most users get a RollerMouse because they have very real problems and pains.
On average these users are not computers experts or geeks.
Many of these customer environments have policies that restrict installation of drivers.
Some users do not even know how to change the cursor speed in the normal control panel.
Traditionally, also the kind of resellers who have sold products such as RollerMouse, are not very computer savvy.

Those factors have made us inclined to prepare the product with preferred features, so it can be used "out-of-the-box".
So we provide our "double-click" button and the "Copy" and "Paste" functions without forcing the need for a driver.

Yes, the Pro2 has the fallback option, so that you can get back to standard 5-button mouse mode.
On the Free2, current edition, the "normal mode" wasn't implemented, to reduce features that some users didn't understand.
(We've had a fair share of users complaining that their double click was gone, when in fact it was just that someone had flipped the switch that makes Pro2 go to normal mode.)

So, we make choices and it's tricky to cater for all wishes.

Our aim is to expand and be able to better adress more and different specific needs and wants, by different products,
and we are grateful for all and any input that better help explain this.

[Björn]

Just to add, info on Pro2 verses Free2 is helpful and how it relates to Macs as well.

Thank you!

Some notes:


MAC

Out-of-box, the Free2 4th and 5th button do not work on a Mac.
But there is a Mac driver to adress this.

On the Pro2, you can flip the switch to make the buttons behave like a normal 5-button mouse.

But actually, on a Mac, nowadays, the biggest practical "difference" is that Apple have implemented so many multi-finger gestures that require Apple input devices to work.


General differences Pro2 and Free2

Pro2 builds on same form factor as first RollerMouse from 2001.
Free2 was created in late 2009 and has benefited from available thinner sensor components.


Free2 is considerably flatter. With the wrist rest removed, it has very small foot print.
The fully open bar on Free2 allows much greater variation of hand/arm posture and angle from body.
Free2 is adapted to the trend of shrinking keyboard sizes.   >   Pro2 still popular among those with 104-key "biggies"

If the keyboard has a very thick front edge, Free2 may actually feel as if it is too thin.
This can me "solved" by allowing a small gap between keyboard and Free2.
(I am typing this on a Topre Realforce with a Free2, and i prefer a 1/4 inch gap to allow my fingertips better move the rollerbar as I wish.

In Scandinavia, Pro2 is deployed in a variery of ways, such as by the addition of our our own extended wrist rest, RollerWave2,
or by separate underarm supports (from third party suppliers) that provide a nice zone to rest your underarms on when you work standing up.
(Electrical tables almost standard now in offices.)


And yes, it was on this forum that I got the longing for a Topre ;-)
Bought from KeyboardCo, of course.

[woody]

@Björn: Thanks for this alternate view. I also fully understand the reasoning behind. The only problem is, if Free2 is targeted to some niche Wintel copy/pasters, that still doesn't make people like me "geeks" (btw, I have sometimes severe wrist aches, so I have enough motivation to look for better input devices). Even the Double Click button I cannot understand - it's much simpler to tap the left button twice by muscle memory and without utilizing additional brain resources, than finding the special button and tapping it once. Then the Copy/Paste buttons - still faster and more convenient to do from keyboard, IMHO.

And even if we ignore the Double Click and Copy/Paste buttons as if they weren't present and the scroll wheel is counted as normal (albeit not that easy to press) button, I and probably many other people still need at least one more. For example, if I try to browse this forum using the Free2, I have to regularly move hand back to the keyboard to press keys to move step backward in history. And that simple convenience in browsing is not really geeky, plus it partially destroys the benefits of RollerMouse and the expected less hand motion.

While I am impressed by the feeling and the precision of the roller, the overall use of Free2 for me is so-so - still too much hand movement just because 3 out of 6 buttons are dead.