Vertical Mouse - Gimmick or Great, or Great Gimmick?

Eshelmen

Eshelmen

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Any of you use one of these, or have used one? See any benefits to it?

I kind of laughed when I saw these at first, as they look a bit ridiculous in my opinion.

Apparently, there are some benefits to them.... but are there any differences in performance for you personally with working, gaming, etc?
Or is it all just a gimmick?

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First off - why the heck is the dude sitting so far away in the second pic? Unfair comparison! :p
 
I have 1 co-worker and a decent amount of customers with them. The people who already have wrist issues say it helps. Other people just like anything labeled ergonomic.

You can pickup generic Chinese ones for $10-15, worth a shot if you have wrist pains. I wouldn't use them for gaming, but I don't mind when I have to work at a PC with one attached.
 
Gimmick for most people. If you have terrible arthritis or nerve issues that prevent the use of a traditional mouse, then maybe this would be better than nothing.

When I use a regular mouse, the very bottom of the palm of my hand (right next to my wrist), the tip of my pinky finger, and the very front edge of my thumb are the only parts of my hand that come in contact with my mousepad. This allows for easy, quick, and precise movement of the mouse. Using this "vertical mouse" would mean dragging the entire right side of your hand across the mousepad every time you moved the mouse.
 
If I use a standard mouse for more than an hour I get serious pain. I've been using a vertical mouse since I was 25 or so. I just got my 2nd one, after ten years. Upgraded my Evoluent to a Logitech MX Vertical and love it.

Takes some getting used to(a lot, actually) but from personal experience it's not the end of the world.
 
Vertical mice & trackballs can help if you prefer such shapes & have pain with using regular mice. Though what is most critical is proper rest for the arms & hands, massages, stretches, nutrition and strength training (Do some curls with light weights for example). The key is preventative measures before you permanently damage your arms and hands which would require surgery or severe altercations to your life.

I've tried out vertical mice before though I ended up getting a trackball with lots of buttons in tandem with a separate gaming mouse (Just find a gaming mouse that you like on sale) due to the sensors & orthodox shape, though nowadays mice sensors are usually all perfectly sufficient.
 
There's nothing gimmicky about things made for people with ergonomic issues. That mouse orientation is objectively more comfortable to use for anyone with normal human proportions (hell, even people who use trackballs often prop them up at an angle to increase comfort) , but as to whether or not you'll get any additional benefit from it (e.g. accuracy) depends on how long you use one for. I personally don't care for them because I don't care to relearn 20+ years of muscle memory, plus, I don't have any orthopedic issues, but just from having tried them and seeing how comfortable they can be, I know that they're definitely a game-changer for anyone who can't comfortably use a traditional mouse.
 
Going to say "Great if you need it". I picked one up for about $20 when I injured my wrist, and it helped a great deal. I when from only being able to use a mouse for a half hour to no issue working IT stuff all day. That said, I went back to a nice mouse when I finished healing...
 
I don't use one but was the "mouse guy" at work. Not too many used this but those that did say it lessoned the pressure on their wrists. You can feel the difference in the bottom of the wrist if you merely hold you hands in the horizontal and vertical mouse positions. It was not for me. My problem is I press too hard on my wrists during typing. An ergo eval at work went a long way to point out the flaws in my work posture. Posture is still far from perfect but its much better. and i got a nice chair, mouse, kb and monitor out of it.
 
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