Evoluent Left Handed Vertical Mouse 4 Ergonomic Mouse

I've only had this for a week, so I may need to update this review once I've used the mouse a bit longer. I am an animator, constantly sitting at a desk and have been told several times over that a vertical mouse is much more ergonomic than a traditional mouse. I've struggled with tendonitis for years, now, and sometimes it would flare up so bad that it was painful to work! Every weekend, I'd have to relax my hands and arms to recover, which is not only super lame, as I'm only 32, but makes it a heck of a lot harder to be productive over the weekend. Ramblings aside, my wrist is no longer swolen/inflamed, and on this fine Saturday, I am comfortable sitting at my computer to work on some personal stuff. I tried a vertical mouse before; It was an Anker - was a nice mouse, and affordable, but WAY too big for me. I'm 5'2", and have tiny hands, and this mouse fits perfectly! It did take some getting used to - maybe a day to get the hang of using it if you're used to a certain workflow. It is awesome having these extra buttons near the thumb. You can assign specific commands to every button on this mouse, AND program it to function differently depending on the programs you use. It's awesome, I have assigned some hotkeys I use in Autodesk Max, which has improved my workflow and alleviated strains - I assigned the top thumb button to act as a middle mouse click, so I no longer have to awkwardly toggle the viewport by pressing that middle mouse...good god, that right there made a world of difference in comfort level. overall, so far, I can't understand why I waited so long to buy this thing. It's worth every penny now that my hand doesn't feel like it's going to fall off all the time. Obviously, overuse no matter what equipment you have can cause strain on your muscles and joints, so regular stretching and adequate breaks helps a lot, too...but this mouse has certainly, so far, improved my productivity. Absolutely worth the money. After just one week, using a traditional mouse feels VERY uncomfortable, haha. Yep. Anyway, right on, I'll update this in a few months, but for now, I am 100% happy to have finally made this purchase. Read more

The Evoluent Mouse is basically a hybrid between the 3-button drafting/CG mice of the 90's crossed with modern consumer optical mice-- tilted sideways to reduce wrist strain. If you work long crunch hours for protracted periods in the CG industry you will find yourself loving this mouse. Here are my personal experiences with this mouse: Evoluent advantages over standard mice: Having a real, dedicated middle-mouse button reduces middle-finger knuckle and tendon strain. Mouse wheels as middle-mouse buttons tend to require more pressure than regular mouse buttons, they force your finger into a harsh clawing arch, and they break more quickly than regular mouse buttons when used for extended time. The sideways tilt of the mouse seems like a gimmick but it stabilizes the wrist quite well, aligning it more naturally with the radius and ulna. Evoluent 4 (Small) improvements over Evoluent 2: On the Evoluent 2 you might find yourself kind of crossing your pinky into your ringfinger and scraping your pinky along your desk, on the Evoluent 4 they increased the width of the lowest button and provided a lip for you to rest your pinky- effectively fixing this issue. The Evoluent 4 has much more responsive buttons (or maybe I wore them out on the 2) and the cutout where you pinch the side of the mouse between your thumb and index is more naturally formed. It looks nicer and has cool lights and stuff. They could probably open a new market by going even more bold with the aesthetics (like Razer) of this mouse and bill it as an ergonomic Gamer mouse. The sensitivity and accuracy of this mouse is already comparable to most gaming mice. I'm 5'7" and I find the small version to be a roomy-fitting mouse, I heard some folks say the large version of this mouse is quite large. This is a great mouse to try out if you experience pain from mousing for extended periods at work, or if you started drafting/cg in the 90's and you miss having a 3-button mouse. Read more