Fingerworks iGesture Pad

by Fingerworks

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00013MVT4
• Item model number: IGESTURENUMPAD
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 26, 2003

Product Description

FingerWorks iGesture Pad replaces computer mouse for input commands. Improves productivity and reduces hand, wrist and finger injuries caused by using a computer mouse. Plug & Play- downloards automatically.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Someone has built a better mouse, March 1, 2004

By 

D. Steffy "dbsteffy" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fingerworks iGesture Pad (Personal Computers)

I have owned my iGesture pad for about a year now, and would like to share my observations with the Amazon community. Especially since the product page doesn't tell you anything about it!

This product is a mouse alternative. It's basically a flat, smooth surface; there are no moving parts. An embedded processor responds to the contact and motion of your finger(s) (which are referred to as "gestures") and translates that to common mouse commands or keyboard macros. It connects via USB; I've used mine on Windows (2KPro and XP).

I bought this for two reasons, one practical, one not.

Ergonomics: The traditional mouse was starting to cause me trouble in the hands -- I'd get pain after increasignly-shorter use periods. And, that pencil-eraser-like nubbin on my laptop keyboard is awful for my hand. The iGesture is a vast improvement -- no fatigue or pain after long periods of use. The required touch is extremely light, so there's no pressure on the muscles.

Cool factor: Ever see that movie "Minority Report" where they move stuff around this glass panel using their hands? It's kinda like that, and it really works! Granted, the pad is smaller, and your monitor doesn't change :) but the idea of the gestures works.

In its basic mode, there are certain groups of gestures that map to things like mouse movements, left- and right-click, double-click, and scroll. There are also keyboard substitutes, like cursor movements (the arrow keys), cut, paste, copy, undo/redo. There are also gestures for other common "super-mouse" functions like browser fwd/back, and zoom. You can even switch among apps (a la Windows ALT-TAB).

(There are also other modes, such as EMACs, Photoshop, and GAME modes, but I've never tried them.)

It took me a couple of days for these to become second nature, but the learning curve wasn't steep at all; it comes with a handy cheat-sheet to help you through those first few days. The gestures are pretty intuitive (for example, for the "cut" command, you make a motion like you're picking something up with your finger and thumb), which helps.

After a few days, I was using it to read my mail and maintain my inbox (MS Outlook) without touching the keyboard or using a pull-down menu. With one exception: there was no gesture for the "delete" key. But, from their website, you can download a utility which allows you to edit the built-in gesture-to-action mapping, so I just found an empty gesture (I could have overridden an existing gesture), and programmed it for the delete keystroke. Worked great.

As an added bonus, it's really slim (less than a half-inch think) so it slips into my laptop bag really easy, unlike a standard mouse.

All accompanying software (such as the gesture editor mentioned above, firmware updates, etc.) have all been stable.

If you have more questions, be sure to check their website (fingerworks.com) for details.

Disclaimer: I don't work for, know anyone who works for, nor am I otherwise compensated by FingerWorks. I just like this product!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent trackpad and easy to learn, August 14, 2004

By 

E. Brodeur (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fingerworks iGesture Pad (Personal Computers)

I've been looking for a trackpad to replace my optical mouse. Wrist fatigue was setting in. I love the trackpad on my Apple PowerBook but couldn't find anything comparable for the PC except for very small pads. I tried using a pen-based pad but that was quickly wrapped up and taken back to the store.

I stumbled upon iGesture and figured I'd give it a try. I've had connected for a few hours and it works wonderfully. I had the basic mouse navigation gestures down in 5 minutes. It's a piece of cake to learn and the drivers installed flawlessly under Windows XP.

I have more to learn, however the iGesture unit has been working great so far. I highly recommend trying it out.

I bought the product from Amazon and opted for the 2-day shipping. I got it in two days - thanks!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars helps with wrist pain, August 2, 2004

By 

Matthew Henry (ANN ARBOR, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fingerworks iGesture Pad (Personal Computers)

By around 11 AM every day, my wrist would be killing me from using the mouse. I'd switch hands and then both wrists would be hurting. Using a trackball helped a little, but not very much. I got an iGesture touchpad and it helped immediately. Even though I'm right handed, I put it to the left of my keyboard, so I don't have to move my hand far to use it. I tend to use my pinky and ring finger to move the mouse pointer, which lets me keep my hand in a more natural, close to vertical, position.

The gestures take some practice. There's only about 5 that I use regularly so far (minimize, close, right click, drag, paste, and scroll), but they are quite handy. It's a little tricky until you get the hang of it. For the first week I'd frequently grab my mouse (I keep both plugged in) when I needed to do something fast and was frustrated with using the touchpad. Now I use the touchpad almost exclusively.

I still get a little pain some days near the end of the day, it might be that it'll take a while to undo the damage to my wrists. If only I'd gotten this touchpad earlier.