Customer Reviews

Evoluent Vertical Mouse Optical

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My Evoluent has tremendously speeded up my computer use, from being very accurate to having customizable buttons. Although, what I like most is probably the comfort and the button configuration.

From the on-line photographs I didn't see much comfort for the Evoluent, but the comfort is there and is quite an amazing setup for a mouse. I also did not have the opportunity to first try out the Evoluent mouse so I was a little skeptical buying on-line. I didn't think the on-line photos were very convincing, but the reviews were most convincing.

With my old intellimouse I would often have wrist pains and I believe this wrist pain was mostly from my wrist lying flat, as well as tension from clicking and moving. I would feel it that's for sure and it got quite annoying. The Evoluent mouse has dramatically changed that. It's the position. When I hold the Evoluent mouse, my arm and hand are in such a comfortable natural gripping position it is unbelievably comfortable. It's like you are shaking someone's hand, or reaching for a small cup with your fingers. Such a great position. And it eases my finger clicking tension as well. I find now that I can click a lot more without any tension as compared with my Intellimouse. With my Intellimouse my fingers would strain and ache after hours of clicking, not any more.

I also have played a number of computer games and found the Evoluent great with computer games, even first-person shooters and adventure games. No problem here at all, actually I now prefer it better to any other mouse I have owned. With how your hand is positioned I find that I can get very accurate control dexterity as well as pinpoint accuracy. I can click for hours with no pain in my wrist or fingers and my palm does not hurt at all from lying flat.

I found that a good mouse pad was extremely helpful with the Evoluent mouse. With my Evoluent I use a mouse pad with a nice wrist cushion. I find it supports my wrist and the mouse puts my arm in a relaxed and very comfortable position. I also use a keyboard wrist support as well. I found wrist supports invaluable now with all of my computers.

I also learned from several ergonomic websites that a smaller keyboard may also be helpful ergonomically. I found out if you have a smaller keyboard you can easily move your arm to your mouse with much less distance to cover as compared to a large standard keyboard. This would help from overextending your arm at times. I use a Happy Hacking keyboard which is quite small in size and has a custom key layout which makes it much better for hitting certain keys (ctrl, Backspace, Esc) And I can also reach my mouse with the littlest arm movement that is possible with my setup. It really does speed up my writing, editing, and program use and I don't overextend my arm. Very comfortable even for long use.

The buttons & button configuration is outstanding and very customizable, another major plus. There are basically 5 buttons on this mouse

Top Button, Middle Button, Bottom Button, Wheel Button, & Thumb Button.

The Top Button (index finger) cannot be changed. But all the other buttons can be changed. On my mouse I have the Middle Button (middle finger) set up as the classic "right click." The Bottom Button (ring finger) I have setup for "show/hide desktop". And the Thumb Button I have set up as "Backspace." And of course, the Wheel Button for "Auto-Panning"

What a time saver! Getting to my desktop is a breeze and my backspace is easily accessible for fast webpage backup. Of course, the pointer speed and the double click speed can also be adjusted. The wheel button speed can also be adjusted to one/or many lines at a time, or even 1 page at a time. There is also a "button find" customization and a "Loop" customization. "Click Lock" is another where you can enable the mouse to single click and drag a picture or file and then single click again to release it. That's about it for the major software tweaks. There is also a new driver update for Evoluent; this can be found on their website. The driver located on my installation CD was an older version. I had no problem at all with set-up and installation. Also, to get the full capabilities for customization you have to use it as a USB mouse instead of a PS/2 mouse.

Using my mouse almost daily it is definitely worth it weight in clicking gold. I'm extremely happy and don't usually write technology reviews but this little gadget is an exception. If my mouse eventually wears out there is no doubt I will buy another one to replace it. Highly recommended.

There's no doubt that the idea of a mouse oriented in this is a good idea, and helped with a lot of shoulder and arm pain I was having.

But I've had nothing but problems with this thing. After about a month of use, it started to behave erratically. The page scrolls up when I'm scrolling the wheel down (but only sometimes), or I roll just one little tick on the wheel and the page jumps to the bottom. I thought the wheel perhaps needed cleaning, but there is no way to open the mouse, no screws, no obvious place where it could be pried open without breaking it.

The most recent problem is that the mouse turns itself off after about 30 seconds (but only sometimes) -- and I mean completely off. The only way to get it to work is to unplug it from the USB port and plug it back in, which I am now doing at least a dozen times a day.

All of this would be fine if the company offered to replace it, or at least offered some decent technical support. But they are really missing in action here. E-mails go unanswered. A phone call put me into voice mail which was never returned. Obviously the other reviewers here really like this mouse, and I would too, if mine worked.

Buy it if you want, and hope you get one of the good ones.

I bought the vertical mouse after reading a positive review about it. I have repetitive stress injury in my wrist, so any device to minimize this is a boon. The vertical mouse does help keep my wrist in a different position than usual, which is nice. And the optical sensor ensures smooth scrolling without worrying about dust bunnies or stuck rollers.

There were some initial problems with the Evoluent driver which caused the mouse to freeze when I used one of the alternate buttons. This caused me to shelve the mouse for a while. However, not too long ago I saw an updated driver on the Evoluent website. This newer driver seems to have solved whatever problem plagued the first one. The only other complaint is that the rubber pad on the thumb side seems to be peeling off slightly. I guess I can superglue it back on if it comes off.

Gyration makes a wireless mouse which you can wave in the air. Alternating between the vertical mouse, the Gyration mouse, and a trackball mouse helps a lot ergonomically.

The vertical mouse may seem like an odd idea, but it works! I've been struggling with wrist and elbow problems from mousing and even after just a couple of hours, I can tell this will make a big difference. the vertical mouse does take some getting used to, and the lightness is odd after the traditional ball mouse (this one's optical) but the product does everything it claims. If you are having problems like mine, definitely worth getting. Also Evoluent delivery service is first-rate (ordered on a Tuesday evening, arrived on Friday).

Out of all the mouse products that I have come across (and I have come across quite a few) that promise ergonomic comfort, this is the first to really live up to it's claim. It takes several sessions in order to get used to leaving your hand in the natural posistion, but after that you'll feel weird and uncomfortable holding an ordinary mouse. The price is higher than other mice, but then again you don't get the comfort with the others. I would be glad when other companies offer a competing product.

I have tried two vertical mice - The "Quill" mouse and the Evoluent Vertical. Hands down, the Evoluent wins. The Quill mouse was a huge dissapointment to myself and several others who purchased it at work. You will be dissapointed if you order the Quill mouse - it is large, awkward, goofy, feels like you are wearing a cast, is made out of [plastic], and has no resistance because the plastic is so light... Avoid the Quill Mouse! It is twice as expensive as the Evoluent and just horrible. It sits in a shelf in my office and when people come in looking for a mouse, I show them the two mice and they all are amazed at the difference.
The evoluent is more of a normal mouse turned on its side, made of quality plastics and is programmable. It feels "right". It feels normal. I am very happy with it and have no more carpel or "tingling" problems associated with having a traditional mouse.

I create detailed drawings and use a mouse for long periods of time. For the last year I've had almost constant pain in the top of my hand and in my wrist area. I tried pads, gloves, ACE bandages and pills. Finally I realized the pain was caused by holding my index/ring finger on my right hand poised over the right mouse button that was causing the pain. A trackball won't allow the precision dragging lines and symbols because I tried a really nice optical one. This Evoluent vertical mouse solved the problem and I am now pain free. YES !! Too bad I paid +$150 to doctors and other products.

If you took this away from me now I would pay hundreds of dollars to get it back. It's a bargin at the price. I was ready to quit using the computer (and I program for a living) because my arm was getting so sore. I was even having problems when I was away from the computer and it was getting so bad that my productivity was going way down. I tried everything - ergonomic chairs, desks, keyboards, mice, keybord trays, wrist braces, etc.

Just a few days after I got the Evoluent mouse I could tell the problem was going away. It has been about two weeks now and almost all of the soreness is gone. My productivity is back up - I don't even mind doing extra typing (like this review) that I avoided in the past. I am about to buy a second one for my home computer.

Thanks Evoluent !!

After only a short period of time using this mouse, the pain in my wrists is a fraction of what it was. I spend a considerable amount of time on the PC, and the pain was quite unbearable. I can now alternate between a regular mouse and the Evoluent (home and work), with very little discomfort. I;m sorry I didn't try it sooner.

I have used this mouse for about six months now. It took no time at all to get used to it. It is very comfortable and I'll probably never go back to a regular mouse, at least not at work. Being optical and having the extra buttons makes it as usable as the Intellimouse Explorer.
The only downsides are:
1. The mouse arrow occasionally jumps accross my screen.
2. The mouse cable seems a bit flimsy and could be a tad longer.
If it weren't for those two points, I would rate it at 5 stars.