posted on Thursday, February 10, 2005 12:35 PM
by
thomasswilliams
My New Mouse
I got a new mouse last week. Here's his story (I shall call him Mousey, and he shall be my Mousey...)
About 8 months ago, my boss and I had a discussion regarding me getting a new mouse for my PC, which ended with him telling me to pick one, and he'd order it. I scoped out various mice and at that stage decided to wait for the then-upcoming MS mouse with vertical and horizontal scrolling.
About 5 months ago (either I was still mulling over my decision, or I'd forgotten completely about it) I started to get wrist soreness that worsened whenever I used a mouse at home or at work. My doctor recommended some anti-inflammatory cream which I used half-heartedly, because the pain was only present when “mousing“ and the cream didn't really help.
I was in shock that I'd get a wrist ache - I considered myself too fit & strong to be irritated by some simple repetitive wrist movement. But then I admit I have bad posture and bad practices - often I sit at my desk for lunch, I don't wear my glasses unless I get a headache from looking at the screen, and sometimes I hunch over the keyboard and don't move for 4 or 5 hours when I'm in the middle of a big task...and that's got to have some side effects!
I started looking at ergonomic mouse designs but, to my frustration, could not test drive any as our local computer shops didn't stock them (I especially wanted to try out the Evoluent Vertical Mouse). I finally settled on a 3M Ergonomic Optical Mouse (a review I read here influenced my choice) which arrived over my holidays, and I unpacked and installed it last week. The mouse comes in two sizes, so I got the large one (my hand is 10cm across the palm and 25cm from the tip of the pinkie to the tip of the thumb, outstretched).
The point of the story is that my wrist soreness has disappeared, the mouse feels comfortable and it's button action is quite smooth. I don't have anything to compare it to (e.g. a trackball) for ergonomic value, but after only a short time I have found it quite good. I've heard it takes 6 weeks or so to fully adjust to, though, so I hold off on final judgement until then.