It was very affordable (sub $20), came in lots of colours (including this lilac colour that I love!), and is super comfortable too. The vertical mouse I used previously, a Ugreen one, had a narrower grip that was less than ideal.
The mouse is by “Sanwa Supply”, model number “GMAERGWBT22V” (V for violet I presume, it shows up at just “BT22” when pairing with Bluetooth), though I’m sure there are plenty of identical models from other brands.
The plastic finish is nice and will last a long time, as there isn’t rubber everywhere like on the ridiculously priced MX Masters. The buttons are silent and have a nice click, the side buttons for forwards/backwards are nicely placed, you can switch between 3 devices (two Bluetooth, one with the dongle), and the scroll wheel is nice (though not a metal one)
The mouse came with a magnetically attached wrist rest too, which is nice, and even without it, it does not suffer from the trailing pinky finger issue of other vertical mice. The magnets are strong enough where it isn’t super loose but not too strong where it’s hard to detach. It’s a nice bonus when I’m at my desk for long hours, and it can be removed if I need to pack it.
BUT one of the main reasons I bought it, aside from the fantastic colours, is that you can use it with a AA battery! No glued in nonsense, it’s super easy to swap it out, and the dongle is also stored in the battery compartment too (always a nice bonus). I use it with rechargeable IKEA Ladda batteries, and it’s been awesome.
Seems comfy but why don’t put the left click on the left side and the scroll on top? I know this is a standard design but vertical mouses feels wrong to me (never tried one)
Because doing it this way let’s you reuse most of your muscle memory, but with a rotated wrist.
I understand. What about semi-vertical models?
The semi-vertical ones help compared to a standard (horizontal) mouse, but as someone who had a lot of pain, they were not enough for me. For example, I had the Microsoft sculpt mouse, which came with their split keyboard (the main reason I bought it) and still experienced pain. Then I went more vertical to the Logitech Lift which was better, but did not eliminate the pain entirely. Finally, I now use the Evoluent Vertical mouse and now no longer experience pain in my mousing hand.
The only drawback is when I used a standard mouse (totally horizontal), I used to switch hands and use it ambidextrously. Now I obviously can’t switch hands with these mice.
I think for someone who doesn’t experience persistent pain, a semi-vertical mouse may be well enough.
vertical mouse helps with the carpal tunnel syndrome. Your wrist stays straight in a natural posture and that helps if you’re working with a mouse all day long.
you can see this by just looking at your hand. Flat mouse forces your hand to be in a “wrong”, meaning stressed, position.
that said, this isn’t the most ergonomic vertical mouse. It looks more like a rotated flat mouse.
I’ve tried a vertical mouse very similar to this one and they relieve carpal tunnel a bit until they cause it again in a different way. Because it still fully rotates your arm it’s not great. I have used ‘hybrid’ mice now for a few years with success. A hybrid mouse is rotated halfway between a regular mouse and a vertical mouse.
My partner has been using the vertical mouse daily for about 5 years now. For now wrist pain isn’t “caused again in a different way”. All this depends, of course, on elbow and up to shoulder posture.
i’ve always used a tablet with stylus and I’ve never had wrist pain. Have you tried ditching mouses and trying a stylus instead?
I’m curious. You use a stylus as a mouse replacement? Do you have a screen on your stylus for precision or is it just muscle memory?
I actually remember in the 80’s/90’s, before mice were standardized, you would see a stylus or a trackball almost as often as a mouse. They work great, they take a second to get used to but after that it’s smooth sailing.
You could definitely set it up as any regular touchpad so the movement is relative to the mouse, but making it act as an identical second touchscreen is also possible
muscle memory. I don’t even need to drag or move the cursor from one end of the screen to the other. I can just “touch” the other side and cursor jumps.
And when you need more precision (and feedback), hovering the stylus above the tablet is enough to move the cursor before touching.
Which one have you been using?
I use trackballs and vertical mice (and fully split keyboards) because of wrist pain - all of those allow a more natural posture and put less strain on your tendons if you’re spending a large chunk of the day in front of a computer.
Vertical mice are AWESOME! Super comfy and it feels more natural for me to move the mouse around.
I imagine you can rebind the side buttons to whatever if you wanted to, but a scroll wheel on the top would be difficult to reach!