Vertical Mouse - an idea whose time has come

[Duleigh]

I've seen them popping up and since I really like using an ergonomic keyboard I decided why not an ergonomic mouse?

If you haven't seen one, instead of having what looks like a little Prius on your desk, it looks like your mouse crash landed onto something and is sitting at a 45 degree angle. I am really getting into using this thing. When moving your hand from the keyboard to the mouse, to me it feels like the mouse fits my hand better than the little Prius. I remember the news of the invention of the mouse breaking! (November 17, 1970) I remember the jokes about having a mouse on your desktop, you were accused of not knowing how to use a keyboard. Then when I finally got one it was OK at best. You youngsters don't know the pain of being tech support and having to walk an angry customer through the ritual of cleaning your mouses ball. Let's not discuss a track ball, history will be served best if we ignore that.

The Prius shaped mouse has been adequate but I didn't realize how inadequate it was until I've tried the vertical mouse. I have been strapped to a keyboard/mouse/screen combination 16 hours a day since 1996 and when my wrist ached I have been trained to think the keyboard was causing that, but after using the vertical mouse my wrist feels a whole lot better after hours on the keyboard/mouse/screen combination. Just that simple rotation of the hand a few degrees feels incredible! I didn't go out and spend a huge amount of money, the PC Guide picked the Logitech MX Vertical Wireless mouse as #1 and that was $85 at Amazon, but with the exception of Microsoft's entry (at #50) the rest of the top runners are all under $20

Give it a try, I think you'll like it.

 

[BobbyLaker]

I've seen them popping up and since I really like using an ergonomic keyboard I decided why not an ergonomic mouse?

If you haven't seen one, instead of having what looks like a little Prius on your desk, it looks like your mouse crash landed onto something and is sitting at a 45 degree angle. I am really getting into using this thing. When moving your hand from the keyboard to the mouse, to me it feels like the mouse fits my hand better than the little Prius. I remember the news of the invention of the mouse breaking! (November 17, 1970) I remember the jokes about having a mouse on your desktop, you were accused of not knowing how to use a keyboard. Then when I finally got one it was OK at best. You youngsters don't know the pain of being tech support and having to walk an angry customer through the ritual of cleaning your mouses ball. Let's not discuss a track ball, history will be served best if we ignore that.

The Prius shaped mouse has been adequate but I didn't realize how inadequate it was until I've tried the vertical mouse. I have been strapped to a keyboard/mouse/screen combination 16 hours a day since 1996 and when my wrist ached I have been trained to think the keyboard was causing that, but after using the vertical mouse my wrist feels a whole lot better after hours on the keyboard/mouse/screen combination. Just that simple rotation of the hand a few degrees feels incredible! I didn't go out and spend a huge amount of money, the PC Guide picked the Logitech MX Vertical Wireless mouse as #1 and that was $85 at Amazon, but with the exception of Microsoft's entry (at #50) the rest of the top runners are all under $20

Give it a try, I think you'll like it.

Great tip.
Though I don't use one myself yet, a number of my colleagues do and I doubt any of them would switch back to a traditional, horizontal type.

Track balls! What is this spawn of Satan of which ye speak? Diode types only please. My (cheapo) long-time fave is by Sweex - quite a sexy name incidentally

Cheers!

 

[Handley_Page]

I liked my Trackerball thing.

 

[TxRad]

Watch your mouth. I love my trackball mouse. Of course the one I use has a ball bigger than a ping pong ball. Two fingers on that ball and your wrist never moves.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I use an ergonomic mouse which fits in my hand, supporting the arch of my palm.

Hard to find without going to an actual shop, but Logitech customer service are wonderful - "Hello, I need a mouse the same shape as your MX. I don't need any other functions."

(Charming Swiss bloke asks bunch of questions about my broken one). "We'll put a replacement in the post to you. No charge."

Very glad when my offspring got big enough to use a normal mouse, as I couldn't use those toddler-sized ones at all.

 

[Duleigh]

Great tip.
Though I don't use one myself yet, a number of my colleagues do and I doubt any of them would switch back to a traditional, horizontal type.

Track balls! What is this spawn of Satan of which ye speak? Diode types only please. My (cheapo) long-time fave is by Sweex - quite a sexy name incidentally

Cheers!

Welcome to the gang Bobby! I see that your very first story just went up this week. When I have some feedback for you I'll put it in a DM rather than on the story. Good first try!

 

[Duleigh]

I use an ergonomic mouse which fits in my hand, supporting the arch of my palm.

Hard to find without going to an actual shop, but Logitech customer service are wonderful - "Hello, I need a mouse the same shape as your MX. I don't need any other functions."

(Charming Swiss bloke asks bunch of questions about my broken one). "We'll put a replacement in the post to you. No charge."

Very glad when my offspring got big enough to use a normal mouse, as I couldn't use those toddler-sized ones at all.

I used to support computer interface devices designed for children by Fisher Price, they connected to the computer at the same time the adult keyboard and mouse were attached. It was awesome stuff but FP suddenly pulled out of the market and I was searching for a job

 

[BobbyLaker]

Watch your mouth. I love my trackball mouse. Of course the one I use has a ball bigger than a ping pong ball. Two fingers on that ball and your wrist never moves.

Dang! I was thinking 'traditional' mouse with the fluff-collecting rubber ball underneath.

I know the type you mean now and, yes, little or no wrist movement ... save that for other things

 

[BobbyLaker]

Welcome to the gang Bobby! I see that your very first story just went up this week. When I have some feedback for you I'll put it in a DM rather than on the story. Good first try!

Many thanks Duleigh.

Yes, it was quite exciting at this end last week. Seems to have gone down fairly well which is nice - hope that's not put the kiss of death on it.

It was really my second attempt which I knocked out pretty quickly (Oooer!) to see how the system worked. As it was short, it was quicker to edit etc. so was up and live before what I think of as my true, first attempt - Susan's Awakening. I've literally just finished editing and uploading this 30k word story.

I hope it goes down well. I'm really pleased with it.

Onto the next ...

 

[NotWise]

My son-in-law has been using a vertical mouse for a couple years. He likes it.

I've had repetitive-use injuries from traditional pointers over and over. The worst was the "ergonomic" mouse that fits in your hand--like the one Kumquatqueen likes. It raised swollen, sore bumps at every point where my palm normally touched it.

I've tried other mice (smaller works better for me) and regularly switching hands--left and work, right at home, or changing hands whenever symptoms started--but it was always just a matter of managing the inevitable. Now I use a touch pad at home and a mouse at work. I'm waiting for my wrist to start acting up from resting it on the table while I use the touch pad. It's been about a year. So far, so good.

The mouse did not cause my worst computer-related repetitive-use injury. That honor goes to my tendency to lean on my elbow while I'm at the computer, which I do mostly at work. My left shoulder is worn out from bearing weight it wasn't built to bear.

 

[Duleigh]

I've had repetitive-use injuries from traditional pointers over and over. The worst was the "ergonomic" mouse that fits in your hand

I always thought it was the Keyboard doing it to me. An ergometric keyboard helped, but I was spending the day buried under spreadsheets and didn't think once about the mouse and I was using that the most. *self administered dope-slap*

 

[WyreBendr0417]

I still use a standard keyboard, but have been using marble mice for many years. Switched to the Logitech MX Ergo a few years ago because the ability to change the angle at which it rests helped with arthritic wrist pain. I can't hardly stand using a traditional mouse anymore.

WB

 

[Bisexguy70]

I've seen them popping up and since I really like using an ergonomic keyboard I decided why not an ergonomic mouse?

If you haven't seen one, instead of having what looks like a little Prius on your desk, it looks like your mouse crash landed onto something and is sitting at a 45 degree angle. I am really getting into using this thing. When moving your hand from the keyboard to the mouse, to me it feels like the mouse fits my hand better than the little Prius. I remember the news of the invention of the mouse breaking! (November 17, 1970) I remember the jokes about having a mouse on your desktop, you were accused of not knowing how to use a keyboard. Then when I finally got one it was OK at best. You youngsters don't know the pain of being tech support and having to walk an angry customer through the ritual of cleaning your mouses ball. Let's not discuss a track ball, history will be served best if we ignore that.

The Prius shaped mouse has been adequate but I didn't realize how inadequate it was until I've tried the vertical mouse. I have been strapped to a keyboard/mouse/screen combination 16 hours a day since 1996 and when my wrist ached I have been trained to think the keyboard was causing that, but after using the vertical mouse my wrist feels a whole lot better after hours on the keyboard/mouse/screen combination. Just that simple rotation of the hand a few degrees feels incredible! I didn't go out and spend a huge amount of money, the PC Guide picked the Logitech MX Vertical Wireless mouse as #1 and that was $85 at Amazon, but with the exception of Microsoft's entry (at #50) the rest of the top runners are all under $20

Give it a try, I think you'll like it.

Thanks for that info! I remember cleaning those track balls. I was a new Engineer and using a standard mouse. Another Engineer was showing me something and using my standard mouse. He immediately turned me on to the one he had which was more ergonomic and had multiple programmable keys. Boy did it make life easier and more productive. On a side note, i remember using a stylus pen on a stylus pad in 1988 on an autocad computer. Tandy made some cool products and were ahead of their time.

 

[Duleigh]

Tandy made some cool products and were ahead of their time

The first computer I ever tried was a Tandy 1000!

 

[Britva415]

A really big trackball is the shit.

I had to google vertical-mouse to see wtf we were talking about here because the description made me think it came with some kind of steeply inclined surface to roll over. Now I know what it is.

 

[MajorRewrite]

How long until someone derails this thread with a discussion of Danger Mouse?

 

[jsmiam]

I use an ergonomic mouse which fits in my hand, supporting the arch of my palm.

Hard to find without going to an actual shop, but Logitech customer service are wonderful - "Hello, I need a mouse the same shape as your MX. I don't need any other functions."

(Charming Swiss bloke asks bunch of questions about my broken one). "We'll put a replacement in the post to you. No charge."

Very glad when my offspring got big enough to use a normal mouse, as I couldn't use those toddler-sized ones at all.

Interesting tip, maybe I’ll try with the too large collection of bad
of logitechs I have. (I partly gave up on them as a brand due to them all failing too soon, compared to other brands and to my expectations.)

I like programmable multi button mice. Logitechs have the ones with the best-ish features for that, but I gave up on them (above). Gaming mice tend to be most likely to have programmable buttons.

 

[Duleigh]

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!


Danger Mouse was only seen in the UK and not the US
Coincidence? I think not...​

 

[Kumquatqueen]

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

View attachment 2258616
Danger Mouse was only seen in the UK and not the US
Coincidence? I think not...​

Holy moly, Penfold! You're saying the dastardly Baron Greenback never appeared across the Atlantic despite being named after their currency??

 

[Duleigh]

Holy moly, Penfold! You're saying the dastardly Baron Greenback never appeared across the Atlantic despite being named after their currency??

I think he was from... dun dun DUUUN!... Poughkeepsie

 

[BarracudaSwordfish]

May give this a go. A few years ago, a very nice physiotherapist lady prodded me somewhere under my aching shoulder blades on each side and told me, 'these are your mouse muscles'. The same area still hurts now.

If nothing else, I may have just given myself an idea for another story...

 

[Duleigh]

Mouse Muscles... ? What the heck, just wondering what category that would fit in