Battle Of The Ergo Mice - Evoluent vs Contour Design

[MsKeyboard]

Ripster,

I will be interested in your thoughts on this mouse.  Give it some time, just like the Contour it will take some getting used to.

I am currently using a Kensington Expert mouse, but am thinking of going back to the Evoluent.  The angle on the Expert is just too extreme for me when combined with my desk height.

I know that you like more than two buttons, but we had someone in the office that fell in love with the 3M Renaissance mouse.  Also was having wrist problems, and this was the only mouse he could get to use without discomfort.

Good Luck

[microsoft windows]

Look at those newfangle things people call mice! I'm still using my Microsoft Serial mouse!

[Hak Foo]

What surprises me is that there's no ridge below the Evoluent's right side... it would seem like you'd rub your hand constantly as you slid the mouse around.

[DesktopJinx]

Thank you for the review. I have an Evoluent on order.

Do you find the lower lip crowds your pinky finger at all?

Were you good about not parking your wrist on the desk before, or are you still adjusting to the "whole arm" method? Was your deltoid sore the first couple of days?

[MsKeyboard]

DesktopJinx,
I think you will find that the Evoluent fits in a very natural way.  Your hand actually kind of floats, as its resting on top the mouse with what feels like very little pressure.  You rely on the side of your forearm as a rest, and when you actually use your whole arm it is not very noticeable.

As Ripster said, no mouse if perfect, but the Evoluent kind of makes you forget its there.  Hope it works out for you.

Later........

[Manyak]

Man, opening those pics on this 100KB/s connection here in Beirut was terrible. I miss FIOS /sniff.

But anyway that's awesome it works well for you, it always seemed like the best ergonomic mouse because you keep your wrist in a natural position and that's where almost all computer pains stem from. The Contour mouse seems more geared towards people who's fingers cramp up because they're using too small of a mouse (or a really badly shaped one).

[patrickgeekhack]

Got my Evoluent mouse today. It will take some time getting used to it, but I think I'll like it a lot. It forces me to use my whole arm instead of just my thumb, pinky, and wrist to move it around. I'm currently evaluating it at work since I spend more time on computer at work than at home.

A keyboard tray would be nice. The one I have at work is the worst designed one. I did not think I would say this one day, but I might consider a Tenkeyless keyboard for work because it will get the mouse closer to me. Since I always have a second keyboard connected anyway, I can use it whenever I need a numpad.

[MsKeyboard]

Been using the new Evoluent Vertical Mouse for a few days now, and not really much to complain or cheer about, but I do like this mouse.

The DPI setting on the front is kind of handy, but I don't really change my settings enough for that to be a big deal.  It is out of the way and fits into the body very nicely, so I don't find myself hitting it by accident.  Also, the LED indicators on the top are a nice touch, but more bling than function.

The one big change, besides the extended lip under the side of your hand which isn't as big a change as I thought it would be, is that they created a whole new thumb section.  There is this real nice chrome inset that now houses upper and lower slim buttons.  The real difference with this new inset is that it is slightly deeper so the thumb fits into it a little more securely.  This did change the way I grasp the mouse, and the jury is still out on whether this is a good or bad thing.  Time will tell..........

As I stated, I REALLY like this mouse, and think more people would see the benefits of this design if they could get past the odd shape.  Of course, YMMV............Later

[DesktopJinx]

I've been using the Evoluent 3 at work and the Wireless at home, or vice-versa, for the last year, sans specific drivers (because last I checked specific drivers didn't exist for Win x64). They do work well, except that the wheel can be slippery which leads to failed scrolling and inadvertent clicking. I liked the wheel of the Microsoft 6000 better.

Quirk when using generic drivers: the buttons are mapped differently between them. Switching back and forth still screws me up for the first few minutes.

[sordna]

Has anyone used the 3M ergonomic mouse? It's another (older) vertical mouse that looks kinda like a joystick, and I'm wondering how it compares to the Evoluent.

[sordna]

On a related note, your avatar (very nice by the way) made me at first think you are female, thanks for clearing up the confusion.

[sordna]

Haha. What's this neat geek girl character though, I haven't seen it before I joined geekhack, any pointer please?

[ricercar]

Has anyone used the 3M ergonomic mouse? It's another (older) vertical mouse that looks kinda like a joystick, and I'm wondering how it compares to the Evoluent.

l have a few 3M Ergonomic Mice. I use a large one often at work.  I'm particularly fond of the ' ledge'  on which I can rest the edge of my hand. The size (height) is important-My large hand really doesn't fit the smaller 3M vertical mouse. FWIW It's more comfortable to use a large 3M ball mouse than a small 3M laser mouse.

 The Contour  Vertical Mouse was unusably uncomfortable IMO.

[trav]

I have an older evoluent mouse, and the new lip for you pinky finger is a great improvement. Even with such a large mouse my pinky constantly drags.

My biggest annoyance with the evoluent is when i move from keyboard to mouse i sometimes smack he mouse off my desk since it is so darn tall!
The contour isnt as tall, so it has that going for it.

I also had work buy me the evoluent keyboard, biggest waste of money ever. Crappy keys and horrible layout..


The evoluent mouse has greatly improved my hand pains. I used to go to bed at night with my pinky and index fingers constantly twitching.. Now things dont twitch, woot!