Wow Pen Joy WP-012-BK-E Vertical Ergonomic Optical Mouse Right Hand Black

I am writing this from the perspective of both a PC gamer and from having to do a lot of data entry at work. I bought this mouse because I had developed severe inner elbow pain, called "mouse elbow." Pain has been worsening for months to a point where I could no longer pretend it would just go away by my eating advil all day. I looked at several other "vertical" mice, and this looked the best from a gamer's perspective. The mouse was immediately recognized by my PC and worked fine with just a slight adjustment of the pointer speed, in windows and in WoW. I dove right into WoW, and for three hours straight had zero arm pain for the first time in months. I had stopped taking advil the day before to test this mouse. I was frankly stunned. Not a single tinge of pain. I did a lot of battlegrounds and farming, and one dungeon, no pain. Only took about 30 minutes to adjust to it. Use/Fit: I saw reviews here that speak of the mouse not fitting a hand right. That is because, as I learned, you have to make other adjustments when switching to a new piece of equipment. It is true that if you just do what you did before, you may find that your ring and middle finger line up with the buttons instead of index and middle, or that the buttons are harder to press. I found that by adjusting the height of my chair higher, moving the keyboard a bit to the left (for gaming), and changing my usual arm position so that my wrist was aligned straight with the back of my hand, I got a perfect fit. This meant that my fingers, now perpendicular almost to the desk surface, were curled around the mouse, sort of like holding a can of coke. This made the buttons highly responsive, as my fingertips were over the front edge of the mouse. Feel: This mouse felt like part of my hand once I made the adjustments mentioned above. The buttons were highly responsive, and it was easy to reach and click the side buttons with my thumb. The mouse wheel was smooth and quiet. As I said, the button clicks were easy. The people above who spoke of having to push hard on the buttons are simply holding the mouse wrong and need to make other adjustments that I mentioned. This mouse did not feel "cheap" like others mentions. It is light, and therefore easy to move. I am definitely buying another one for work. I have tried switching to my left hand for data entry at work, but that has been annoying at best. Addendum/Update 1/17/12: Still using this mouse, arm pain was/is completely cured. I tried ging back to a regular mouse, but it just did not feel as good as this one. My arm/hand feel more normal with my hand in the semi-vertical. I decided at work to continue using my left hand for my data entry and computer, since I do alot of gaming in the afternoon and evenings. This divides the time between arms. My left hand mouse usage is easily as good as my right ever was. Read more

The summary: I work 8+ hours a day at a home office, and my old Dell mouse was ok, but awkward. After talking to a coworker, he suggested the vertical mouse. After some research of reviews, I found the Wow Pen mouse, and have been extremely pleased with the ease of use and overall benefit to my wrist. The details: With standard mice, I found myself not experiencing wrist issues, but instead dealing with a whole other aspect of frustration. No matter how I positioned my mousepad, my mouse, my desk, or my chair, I was consistently not in the right place with my mouse. Multiple times a day I would note having to lift up the mouse to reposition it, as my arm would naturally drag towards the wall or the edge of the desk, and reducing my effectiveness. Once I started using the Wow Pen, I noticed immediately that my positioning was more precise. Reviews discussing hand size should be taken very seriously, someone with large hands might not find this product useful since they would be wrapped around it more than gripping it. I'd say if your hand can wrap around a standard 12-16 oz tumbler glass (maybe 2.5" diameter) and you can touch your fingertips to your thumb, or come very close to it, this product isn't for you. It works the fingers more, as you would with a pen, but less of a strain from grip. I notice myself being very gentle with it naturally, and using my fingertips more than my palm. Overall, great buy for a good price. Read more

ORIGINAL REVIEW (12/7/2010) I just got this mouse today, so the review may need to be updated later. As of right now, it's only registering every 3 of about 4 clicks - only a 75% rate. In my opinion, that's not how a good product is supposed to perform. I'm having to press the main two buttons extra hard or am having to make sure I press firmly and securely in the exact right place to register the click. This is super frustrating. I'm hoping after using it for a few days or a week this will 'break in' and register easier. As other reviews have said, the mouse does make a very loud noise when you click - even with a slight press of the button. This isn't a big deal with me as I usually have other background noise at the same time. It is a tad bit small but it fits the curve of your hand nicely. Maybe someday they'll offer a "small" (this one) and a "large" (for people with normal/large hands) size. The other thing that concerns me - also pertaining to the effort I need to exert to press the main buttons - is having to grip the mouse harder to complete these clicks. In doing so, I'm actually causing pain to my hand/thumb/wrist that this mouse is supposed to eliminate. I am actually fortunate enough to have the Evoluent VerticalMouse 3 (corded) at work for my wrist/thumb joint problems. It works like a dream once you get used to it! If this mouse (the Wowpen Joy) doesn't fix it's kinks, I'll had to return it and try the VerticalMouse 4. Too bad it's 3x the price :( It's totally worth it, though, absolutely no pain at work! I'm just cheap. Also, this Wowpen isn't quite as 'tall' and doesn't get accidentally knocked around like the VerticalMouse does (though it's quite sturdy - even after being knocked on the floor more times than I can count, it hasn't suffered any fatal casualties!) Overall, it's 'meh'. If the VerticalMouse was closer in price I would hands down buy that. You do get what you pay for :) Maybe some of the mice constructed are better at registering clicks - otherwise how are there 4 and 5 star reviews? UPDATED (12/14/2010): I ended up returning this product to Amazon due to the clicking problem. They were wonderful about the whole process and the new mouse is functioning perfectly (no un-registered clicks). I'm so impressed they were willing to ship a new mouse the same day I started the return - so long as they get the old mouse back within 30 days I won't be double charged. Wonderful customer service! Read more