Slashdot Mirror
Are Vertical Mice The Next Ergonomic Trend?
ThinSkin writes "Devoid of kookiness like many of its ergonomic counterparts, the VerticalMouse 2 is shaped like an ordinary mouse, only turned 90 degrees so that your arm is in a natural 'handshake position.' ExtremeTech's review of the VerticalMouse 2 suggests that its horsepower and familiar feel make it a worthy candidate to replace a horizontal mouse. Some of the drawbacks include its $75 price tag and difficulty to pick up in 3D gaming scenarios."
If you compare the design of the VerticalMouse 2 with the Quill Mouse, you can see that they're virtually identical...with one important difference. The Quill Mouse is equipped with a shelf where the edge of your hand rests. The VerticalMouse 2 has no such shelf. Without a support for your hand, you'll have to support the weight of your hand by:
or,
Now add to all this the discomfort the large-handed will suffer as the edge of their hands develop friction burns against their desktops.
Any way you slice it, this product is a bad design and a non-starter. Save your money.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
A main driver for this is the desire to reduce the risk or pain associated with carpal tunnel syndrome and other RSI disorders ... The idea is to allow your arm to control the mouse in a more natural position, with the thumb up, in a hand-shaking position. Doctors who specialize in ergonomics consider this position preferable.
I have to ask, did anyone at ExtremeTech actually talk to a doctor who specializes in such things, or were these comments lifted from an Evoluent press release?
The reality of RSI is just so, so much more complex than these simple solutions would suggest.
Although how can you argue with a review like this:
Gained all the votes in terms of comfort and facility of use, of "look", colour and sympathy: the panel as a whole totally adhered to this new product.
Three Squirrels
Basically, no they're not. No more than we are ever going to drive our cars using joysticks or keyboards. People like what they're used to. This is a gimmick. Move along, nothing to see here.
Tomorrow, I may eat another house plant
One of the major reasons that the standard mouse caught on is that a 2-year old child can understand the concept of reaching out and grabbing something. The traditional mouse layout mimics this behavior. This 90-degree rotated mouse is counter-intuitive to reaching out and grabbing...
Long story short, you might like using this mouse but don't count on it ever replacing the current "horizontal" mouse for standard users.
I could see a tilted mouse working but full on vertical is a non-starter I think. My guess would be that vertial is to steep for the vast majority of people. Shaking hands is something that one does breifly and therefore I am willing to move my body into a less than optimal position. I don't find shaking hands particularly comfortable therefore I don't think I would find shakign hands all day with a mouse comfortable. Anyway, the big problem I see is that the mouse will tend to move away as you click. This makes sense as it has nothing to push against. A hand rest would solve that at teh expense of making the device clunky.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
Console gaming is largely 3D gaming as well. So if PC 3D gaming is going out, then so is console gaming and frankly I don't see either of those happening.
And as far as the upgrade thing is concerned, you buy a new console every few years, why not some new hardware every few years? You don't have to have the latest and greatest always you know. Just IMO though.
Ok, on the graphic example of the "twisted" arm, the hand holding the regular mouse, is twised WAY to far.
(Link to graphic in the article here.)
Also, it seems to me, holding the mouse in a 90 degree angle, like their many examples show, would stress my THUMB more than holding a regular mouse would stress my "twisted" arm..
Try it yourself. Hold your arm like in their example, pretend like your holding the 90 degree mouse. Now move your wrist 90 degrees, as if you were going to hold a mouse. I'm not sure about everybody else, but my wrist mostly moved, NOT my arm.
Nice try though.
-Mikey
Actually, I'm totally the opposite and can't see how trackballs ever even got a chance. Personally, trackballs drive me completely insane. With a mouse, if I want to make a small movement and then have the pointer just sit there, I don't have to keep taking my hand off of the mouse, I just rest. With a trackball, I have to keep taking my finger or thumb off of it because, I don't know about you, but I haven't got 'surgeon's hands' that stay rock solid still while being suspended by their muscles. No I don't have any kind of 'tremors' I just find it difficult to keep a finger perfectly steady that is not resting on something solid. So then I put my digit back onto the trackball and 'zoom' there goes the pointer off in some random direction while I get my bearing again on what part of the ball I'm on... No trackballs at all for me, thanks. More for you I guess, so we both win. :)
For most people, the keyboard is still a significant UI and key-tomouse transitions won't be facilitated by having to go through a flat (keyboard) to vertical (mouse) sequence.
Perhaps a more natural thing would be to to use your feet under the desk or something like that.
Engineering is the art of compromise.