Customer Reviews

Evoluent VM4 Vertical Mouse Right Handed - The Patented Shape Supports Your Hand

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The obvious selling point is the neutral vertical (or handshake) position your hand will stay in during use but version 4 ("VM4R") has some notable improvements over other versions (I also own version 2) that definitely justify the slight price difference:

1. Stickier material - makes it easier to grip the mouse with less effort.

2. Mouse wheel - has tiny rivets making it easier to grip and turn (mouse wheel was entirely too slick on past versions).

3. Pointer speed buttons included on the mouse (with an electronic display showing your current speed) - it can get very fast which equates to a lot of movement with little wrist work.

4. Bigger flanged web at the base on which the pinky fingers rests so it doesn't drag across the mouse pad

General notes:
1. You definitely need to use this mouse with a wrist-rest-mouse-pad to keep your arm and wrist in alignment.

2. There are 3 finger buttons, 2 thumb buttons and 1 mouse wheel button all of which are programmable. There's an additional 4 combination button clicks. Any of these can be programmed (software is easy & intuitive) for helpful functions to minimize keystrokes / mouse movement. To name a few: Cut, Copy, Paste, Backspace, Back, Forward, Delete, Double Click, Enter, F1-F10, Show/Hide Desktop, Spacebar, Start, Tab, and many more.

3. It works well for most hand sizes: it's used and loved by both a 6'-0" 180-lb male and a 5'-0" 100-lb female in my household.

4. The corded version is lighter than the wireless version due to the batteries' weight.

In Closing:
I have wrist tendonitis and as a mechanical engineer, computing is 95% of my day. Obviously this mouse is not a cure but it does make it possible for me to get through the workday in significantly less pain than I had using a standard mouse. I highly recommend it (Version 4!) for anyone using a mouse for many hours at a time. I have also found the Kenesis split keyboard with the VIP freestyle mount very beneficial.

Don't wait until you have tendonitis, carpal tunnel or some other repeitive stress injury and spend $1,000's on physical therapy and accupuncture as I have done. Start your preventative maintenance today. Best of luck,

Dave

I bought this mouse from the manufacturer before it was available here. I have big hands, my wife says they are bear paws.

The mouse has a flange on the bottom to keep your little finger from dragging on the mouse pad; I was concerned my hand would be too big. As it is, there is no problem with my hand's size. The manufacturer's reviews have some women whose hands are too small for this mouse.

As far as use of the mouse, their is an ergonomist's posting on another version of this mouse that I think is worth reading. I try to take his advice on using this mouse.

In addition to giving you a more natural grip, like a handshake, the mouse gives you 6 buttons, and a wheel. Evoluent provides a driver so you can program the buttons to any one of quite a few functions, and they are easily reprogrammable.

The bottom thumb button (there are two) allows you to give the finger buttons alternate functions when they are pressed. I've programmed my alternates to top button = BACK. middle button = Open Explorer. and bottom button = page down.

I've programmed the top thumb button to change pointer speed. You get up to three speeds to select from. I have speed 1 the fastest, and at that setting I can move the cursor a long way with very little hand motion.

I'm an electronic engineer and mostly develop software that interacts with hardware. I'm always opening up explorer to goto another directory to find a file I need. With this mouse, I don'tr need to cursor to the START button; I just press the bottom thumb button and the middle finger button, and explorer starts up. How cool is that?

I spend about 3 hours working with my investments every weekend, and I'm currently taking it home with me on Friday, and bringing it back to work on Monday. I'm seriously considering getting another on just for home.

If I did a lot of continuous typinng, I'd get a Kinesis Keyboard, and a number key pad to complete the ergonomic setup.

One final note for gamers. I'm not a gamer, but there are big mousepads out there so you can move your mouse a lot without going off the pad. With this mouse set to the highest speed, I think a standard mouse pad will be more than sufficient.

Going through a hub, instead of directly plugging into a computer's USB port doesn't seem to affect the mouse's response time.

I like the mouse, but I have small hand; a little too big for me. I returned this one because I found out that they do have a small version for small hand. Just search "Evoluent VerticalMouse 4 Small" in Amazon. It is purple color. Model #: VM4S

I just bought one to replace my failing Vertical Mouse version 3. It has everything that makes the Evoluent mouse unique and wonderful, plus it has an updated new look, and a new extra (programmable) button.

I have owned Evoluent Vertical mice from day one. Every time they update the model I buy a new one. I am totally in love with this mouse. Using the Evoluent Vertical Mouse healed me of a very serious and painful RSI condition. I will never again be without one.

This newer version has some obvious improvements, most notably a slightly wider area at the base where your pinky finger rests. On the bottom, the glides are not little spots anymore, there are two large glide pads. Also, there is now one more programmable button.

I am very happy that Evoluent finally gave us 64 bit drivers for Windows. But if you use Linux, etc., this mouse works as a two-button without any special drivers. I don't use most of the buttons anyway. For me the primary value in this mouse is the ergonomic design which is so brilliant and effective at bringing comfort and healing.

Generally, the Evoluent mice are very high quality and a pleasure to use. I also think they are very stylish looking.

This newest version has some little green lights on the top/rear that are hidden when your hand is on it, and the logo on the rear now glows cool blue. I don't know why they added the lights, but I don't mind them. It adds a little razzamatazz, but otherwise is unimportant.

I should add that they also make one for very small hands, but my hands are small, and the regular size is fine for me.

I am a digital illustrator, so mouse precision and ease of use is important to me. A lot of my (older) colleagues have told me about wrist pains from prolonged mouse use, and my hope was to prevent this from ever being an issue for me.

My main concern before buying this mouse was how it would affect my pointing accuracy. I knew there would be an adjustment period so I kept both mice plugged in (the other being a traditional mouse), and I'm happy to say after less than 2 days the old mouse is out of the equation. I started with the Evoluent just for web browsing, then I managed to do some Photoshop work with it, and the last piece was 3D Studio Max. As any Max user knows, multiple mouse button functionality and coordination is paramount, and this mouse leaves nothing to be desired.

Despite it's size, which is rather large (no sweat for me having average male sized hands), it is extremely light. It moves well, and the clicking response is the best I have ever experienced. Even better than my $120 Logitech behemoth.

Long story short, if you're skeptical of your ability to adjust to this mouse, don't worry about it. Even with an mouse-accuracy driven career, you will have no trouble getting used to it in a couple of days.

Never did I imagine that my standard design computer mouse was causing soft tissue problems until I developed "mouse shoulder" a couple of weeks ago. My "mouse shoulder" pain was almost as severe as the carpel tunnel pain I experienced 25 years ago.

The "Evoluent Vertical Mouse 4" is the best investment you can make in ergonomic computer equipment.

The use of the mouse is completely intuitive and the transition from a standard issue mouse design is effortless.

Don't think twice about the $89 price. It is a bargain at twice the price !!

I just started to use this and absolutely love this.
Using this mouse and doing exercises with dumbbell cured the sensitivity problem in my right arm.
The reason why I started to use this mouse is that I had developed this weird pain in my right arm and right hand became really weak.
I changed my mouse to this and also started to exercise with dumbbell (3lb) regularly.
Now I am pain free and dumbbell weight became 5lb with no problem.
So happy with this product.

I work as a video editor and I do a lot of pc gaming as well. My forearms / elbows get very sore and I believe I've been developing tendinitis from so much mouse use. While this mouse still leaves me sore after hours at the computer, it is much better than using a normal mouse. I like that you can reprogram the buttons and customize it to what feels best in your hand. I changed the middle button to also be a left click so that I could use the top or middle one and it was much more comfortable for me.

The only thing that bothers me is having my thumb up on the ledge the whole time sometimes I want to move it closer to my fingers and give it a rest. I wish it was maybe a little thinner, but that is just a personal preference. Great mouse so far!

I think the design is great but missing a key component...a track ball. If they come out with one with a track ball I will be glad to buy multiple mice. I mouse all day and the track ball has been my favorite feature but if these manufacturers would combine the vertical placement with a track ball at the thumb it would produce the ultimate mouse.

I've been dealing with tennis elbow for about 6 months. Now that I have this vertical mouse my elbow seems to be feeling better. Without it I doubt it could heal completely. I am a CAD operator and use a mouse for eight hours a day and a standard flat mouse was killing me after only a few minutes. When I got the vertical mouse I could feel a relief as soon as I started using it. The only issue I have is I'm constantly missing my target if I work too quickly. That might just take time to get used to but it seems a bit too sensative at times.