Does anyone have any recommendations for an ergonomic mouse?

I spend a good amount of time at work in front of a screen. Lately I've been finding my mouse hand feeling stiff and I think its from arching my hand all day. I currently use a generic optical mouse from Dell.

Thanks

7/22/2009 9:53:25 AM

or perhaps it's from using a mouse all day.

and i used this one for a while but it felt really heavy to me which i didnt like.


[Edited on July 22, 2009 at 9:55 AM. Reason : asf]

7/22/2009 9:54:59 AM

^damn, about to post that one


Hve had it for about 6 months now, my hand pain has eased. (well mine is the mx1100, iirc)

7/22/2009 9:56:58 AM

hand pain or wrist pain?

Formally for hand pain, bigger is better. I hate little mouses and have found because I like to formfit my hand to them, I end up crimping my my hand around it. Ive got a trackball now,as most of them force you to relax your hand on them.

7/22/2009 9:59:45 AM

i use the VX Revolution



[Edited on July 22, 2009 at 10:05 AM. Reason : .]

7/22/2009 10:05:26 AM

i 3rd the logitechs above. i have one very similar, not quite as wide at the thumb part, but i use it allllll day with no problems. it's lighter than that first one. it was part of a wireless set w/ a keyboard but i think they sell it separately.

7/22/2009 10:23:36 AM

just picked up the logitech mx revo from the recent special - pretty impressed with it so far - the battery life has been much more impressive than i anticipated

7/22/2009 10:31:40 AM

yeah, I used to use the MX (the big one), but I actually swtiched to the VX (the little one). The MX felt a bit bulky and slow. The VX feels good, if not a little too small - sometimes I find my hand arched pretty far over it

7/22/2009 11:02:37 AM

i purchased a logitech trackman marble. you can still find them on ebay. great mouse. relaxes your hand. moving the ball with your thumb is wayy more comfortable than using your wrist.

i dunno if you want to do that, but for me it's been great. have them at home and the office. need to buy a spare JIC.

7/22/2009 11:05:38 AM

4lyfe!

7/22/2009 11:50:09 AM

Quote :

"hand pain or wrist pain? Formally for hand pain, bigger is better. I hate little mouses and have found because I like to formfit my hand to them, I end up crimping my my hand around it. Ive got a trackball now,as most of them force you to relax your hand on them."

Not really pain at all but hand stiffness.

I didnt consider track balls. I dont do any CAD work, art, or other high precision things which I associate a trackball with. Are they useful and more comfortable for general pointing?

Also, what the deal with the vertical mice? Is that strictly for carpel tunnel?

7/22/2009 1:31:34 PM

i can almost promise you that if you get a trackball you'll never want to go back to a regular mouse. i'm not real sure why they didn't stick around but everyone i've known that has honestly used them for more than a few days has loved them (including me)

7/22/2009 1:36:01 PM

Quote :

"i can almost promise you that if you get a trackball you'll never want to go back to a regular mouse. i'm not real sure why they didn't stick around but everyone i've known that has honestly used them for more than a few days has loved them (including me)"

this is me, exactly...i did a government internship back in '99 and all they had for me was a trackman...i hated it for 2 days while i was learning to use it...after that summer, i bought one myself and i'm using the SAME one still (i take it with me when i move jobs, no less)

newegg or some company had white box versions (new, but no retail packaging) for $12 shipped a few months back and i bought a spare one for the day that this one quits working (if it ever does)

they sell a cordless version, but unless the area where your mouse/trackball will be is very far from your tower, there's no reason not to go with the corded version (since it's not like you're moving it)

my only complaint is that, since it IS a ball, you sometimes have to pop it out and wipe the gunk off the risers that keep the ball elevated...it takes all of 5 seconds and isn't hard to do, but them's the breaks

7/22/2009 1:41:50 PM

I recently switched to a trackball at work and will never go back. My hand stays relaxed and my wrist is no longer uncomfortable.

I love using a mouse for FPS, and I still feel like I have better control with a mouse, but for the daily grind I find the thumb-trackball to be superior with eliminating discomfort.

I don't understand now why ergonomics people don't push trackballs more, and why there is such a slim offering. I mean, why can't Logitech update this trackball to have more than 2 buttons and a scroll wheel?

Regardless, we seriously need to come up with a better way to interface with a computer that does not involve risk of carpal tunnel.

7/22/2009 1:45:11 PM

Quote :

"they sell a cordless version, but unless the area where your mouse/trackball will be is very far from your tower, there's no reason not to go with the corded version (since it's not like you're moving it)"

yea i've been looking at some bluetooth ones. i'm already lacking on the usb ports so i try to use bluetooth when i can.. and it's less to keep up with that way.

7/22/2009 1:49:46 PM

^ seen any that look any good? i looked for a bluetooth trackman and stumbled across a petition to logitech

http://www.petitiononline.com/logbttrk/

[Edited on July 22, 2009 at 2:59 PM. Reason : link]

7/22/2009 2:58:54 PM

nah.. i've found some pics of cool designs..but i can't find anywhere to actually buy them. i guess theyre all photoshops

7/22/2009 3:11:08 PM

i love the VX Rev. single AA battery lasts a couple months and i've never used a mouse i like more.

for the super-ergo people, a co-worker has a "vertical mouse". it's actually pretty comfortable, but it's not for me.

7/22/2009 6:22:20 PM

I am in love with my G9. I can find no fault with it, and will likely never go back to wireless.

7/22/2009 7:29:25 PM

I have an Intuos3 (the new 4's are awesome) and I really like it. Switching from a mouse to a pen is much faster for navigating around file trees and moving files around and such. Obviously it's great for any design stuff, and if you're in CAD all day, you'll love it.

http://www.wacom.com/intuos/

They're not cheap, but they're worth it. If my hand gets tired of mousing, I just switch to the pen.

7/22/2009 10:34:26 PM

Trackballs such as the Logitech Trackman Wheel are great. I use mine for everything, including games. I had one that worked for 5 years until it generated some odd problem in one of the ICs and died at a LAN party, at which point I finished off a fifth of bourbon and didn't care that the trackball wasn't working anymore.

7/23/2009 3:26:59 AM

Put in a request to IS for a trackball. I'll post what shows up in the next week or two.

7/23/2009 12:07:32 PM

^^ you left out and then proceeded to take it apart and attempt to fix it for 6 months.

7/23/2009 12:25:10 PM

Learn to use a trackball. They take a while to get used to (and a while to get un-used to), but they're a lot better on your wrist.

7/24/2009 2:11:24 AM

Quote :

"i can almost promise you that if you get a trackball you'll never want to go back to a regular mouse. i'm not real sure why they didn't stick around but everyone i've known that has honestly used them for more than a few days has loved them (including me)"

ugh. I played through all of Half life 2 on my roommate's computer once and he only had a trackball. I never got used to it and the whole time I felt like a retarded gorilla trying to use a computer.

7/24/2009 7:02:19 AM

http://ergo.contourdesign.com/products/product-detail.aspx?id=49#

This is what showed up yesterday. At times it definately feels better but it tends to get in the way of the keyboard. Im going to drive it for a few more days before passing judgement.

8/6/2009 12:18:41 PM

i dont even see how that works

8/6/2009 12:23:01 PM

^^ that's so strange...i had never seen or heard of that thing before i was in my girlfriend's office a couple of weeks ago...that's what she uses

kinda cool...she loves it, i'm not sure if i would like it or not...feels kinda strange

also, $200 is a pretty expensive mouse, but hey, that's private industry for you!

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 1:28 PM. Reason : i'm quite sure i couldn't get that approved ]

8/6/2009 1:27:56 PM

Theres an oversized pencil like object thats suspended by a rod running through it. You move the pencil left and right on the rod to move left and right. You rotate the pencil forward and backwards to move up and down.

The pitch is that you keep the mouse in front of your keyboard so theres no lateral movement, keep your hand relaxed while gliding it over the bar, and switch off between hands easily.

^ Military contract work ftw

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 1:37 PM. Reason : ^]

8/6/2009 1:31:48 PM

Wow, that's a pretty sweet idea ... way too expensive so far, but nothing a little bit of time can't fix.

8/6/2009 2:06:49 PM

http://www.americas.futuremouse.com/

thinking about getting this. i've been enamored lately with the idea of a mouse that you hold like a pen



either that or the microsoft touch mouse seems appealing too

9/23/2011 10:15:23 PM

I love my Mamba:

9/25/2011 11:25:58 PM

9/26/2011 7:07:01 AM

i went from the absolutely wonderful logitech performance mx to the apple magic mouse - it is still a choice i'm not overly happy with as far as ergonomics go but the gestures that i can do on the magic mouse make it overall more useful in day to day use - that and my logitech used a usb receiver and the magic mouse was bluetooth so i freed up a usb port on my mbp

if ergonomics are the main factor go with the logitech

9/26/2011 7:17:08 AM

ms intellimouse explorer 4.0

9/26/2011 8:47:35 AM

I'm still using the same Logitech Trackman Wheel (Thumb-ball) and love it. They have a new Cordless version too.

However, I'm considering the new Wireless Trackball M570 ... more buttons, finally! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104407





[Edited on September 26, 2011 at 9:55 AM. Reason : .]

9/26/2011 9:54:20 AM

lol trackball users

give it up already

9/26/2011 10:35:48 AM

Yeah seriously the tracking technology/DPI is horrid compared to modern optics used in mice.

9/26/2011 10:42:32 AM

^ i'm not sure what your point is, other than to come up with some irrelevant point of contention because you're incapable of using a trackball efficiently

the trackball (especially the trackman using your thumb to move the ball) is proven to be better for your wrist than ANY "traditional" mouse because the inherent problem with moving a mouse around a surface and that is, of course, the purpose of this thread

the overwhelming majority of people would be just fine with 400dpi (the trackman may be less, even, i don't know), as evidenced by the 4.5/5 stars from 499 reviews on amazon

[Edited on September 26, 2011 at 11:15 AM. Reason : or the 5/5 stars from 148 reviews on newegg for the M570 (400dpi, i think)]

9/26/2011 11:13:45 AM

My point is I've used them before and they're not sensitive enough. Plus when I travel/move around for meetings I'm not carrying a trackball in my laptop bag with me.

Quote :

"the trackball (especially the trackman using your thumb to move the ball) is proven to be better for your wrist than ANY "traditional" mouse because the inherent problem with moving a mouse around a surface and that is, of course, the purpose of this thread"

I don't know about this. I'm not disagreeing but you're saying there's more inherent problems with moving your hand around then keeping it static? My hand always got tired staying in one place using a trackball. Then again I'm always jumping all over the place so I guess I like the movement.

9/26/2011 11:33:04 AM

A quick push of the ball with your thumb sends the cursor to the other side of the screen very quickly ... it takes some time to get used to a trackball for work stuff, but so much better. I don't take it with me when traveling, and I miss it. Maybe I should get that new M570 afterall, definitely would make it easier since there's no cord!

Trackballs are more than sensitive enough for work, but I still prefer a mouse for gaming. I found that I have to increase the movement speed in the OS when using a trackball, makes zipping and clicking about much easier.

I feel a Christmas gift coming soon.

[Edited on September 26, 2011 at 11:44 AM. Reason : .]

9/26/2011 11:39:34 AM

I use the Logitech Performance Mouse MX



I swore I would never get another wireless mouse because I hate keeping up with batteries but this one is rechargeable via USB even while you're still using it. I've been very pleased so far.

9/26/2011 12:38:42 PM

I have been playing FPS's (and every other game) for over a decade with a trackball. I have also tried out "gaming mice." The biggest difference is the ability to adjust DPI on the fly, assign more buttons, etc. I noticed no discernible difference in my ability to pwn noobs

excited to see a new wireless trackball on the market with programmable buttons from logitech.

9/26/2011 9:03:56 PM

I'm thinking one of these:

9/27/2011 2:38:32 AM

handshoe mouse

9/27/2011 3:59:37 PM

Update on that Ergo pointing device I posted earlier.

After using that mouse for over a year, I switched jobs and got demoted back to a cheap Lenovo branded mouse. I've decided that I'm going to try the Logitech MX1100 this time around and might possibly buy a trackball to try also.

The Ergo mouse seems good in theory, but I found that I was still arching my fingers awkwardly while using it. Definitely better than the small basement level mice, but I think there has to be something better. I was also never able to get the speed or precision to an acceptable standard.

10/4/2011 11:47:25 AM

Quote :

"I use the Logitech Performance Mouse MX"

Just picked one of these up after the left click button on my old Logitech wireless mouse failed. It lasted nearly 7 years, so it had a good run.

After a day, I'm really liking the this one.

10/12/2011 2:36:19 PM

10/12/2011 2:56:16 PM

mx1100 on slickdeals for $33

10/12/2011 4:15:55 PM