After using traditional PC mouse for most of my computing life, I decided to finally see what all the fuss was about with a Vertical Mouse and I'm sold.
I've been through a lot of mice over the years from cheap stuff with no branding, to the "gamer" stuff full of RGB lighting and more. Not only that, I've used Trackball mice before and found them interesting to try but thoroughly weird and just too bizarre to keep going with. After growing up with the likes of the Amiga, I've pretty much seen it all when it comes to inputs like this.
Why the change? Well, a little known fact is that I have a permanent injury in my main hand (skateboarding hurts, kids). Often it causes issues and longer periods of using a traditional mouse really quite badly brings out the pain. After researching for some time and gathering some opinions, I went for a Vertical Mouse to see if it would make a difference — and I'm a little bit blown away.
The model I went for to test the waters was the CSL TM137U from CSL-Computer (Amazon), which only cost £13.99 so it felt like a reasonably entry point to try one out.
As it turns out, there's a lot of variants of this design and model, with Anker being one of the most well-known and both the Anker version and the CSL were highly rated, so I thought I couldn't really go wrong with it. As it turns out, it seems CSL simply have an unbranded version (sold out) of what Anker sell so they're pretty much the same. CSL was just the cheaper option at the time.
The benefits of using a Vertical Mouse are surprising. Instead of flattening your arm which twists your muscles around (causing some strain), it gives you a nice handshake-style grip that just feels so much more natural and ends up reducing the strain often felt using a traditional mouse. You don't feel the need to clinch your fingers up on the main buttons because there's no need with how your hand rests on it too. I don't want to jinx anything but honestly, it's completely stopped any hand and wrist pain I was having - it's absolutely marvellous for that.
So it sorted out my main issue but is the mouse overall any good? After using it now for a few weeks I have a few thoughts on it. Overall, it is a genuinely good mouse. However, there's a few points for me that go against it:
- The size - it's a bit bigger than what I am used to (small hand problems) and so if it was a bit shorter and thinner, it would have been perfect.
- Retraining my brain for clicking in the middle button is still a work in progress. I keep going to click it directly down like you would a normal mouse, but flicking against it to the side is the sweet spot for this model. It also feels at times a bit too sensitive and feels like it can double-click sometimes.
- It's a bit slippery. A nice texture due to how you grip it would have been much nicer
Minor gripes aside, overall it's a good choice to start with if you're looking into picking one up. With a single-click button to switch it between 1000-1600 dpi it works well there for different uses. Two extra buttons by your thumb are ideally placed too, makes switching back and forth in your browser easy and using them in games is great too. On top of all that, it looks pretty nice too.
I've enjoyed using it so much that my Razer DeathAdder Chroma is going off to the retirement home. I shall continue using this, at least until a find a slightly smaller version.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
UnixOutlaw Aug 5, 2021
Anyway - my facebook feed gets plastered with ads for "ergonomic" vertical mouses constantly - but - THEY NEVER have left handed models, it's hardly "ergonomic" to force me to use my right hand - or worse - force me to use a right handed vertical mouse, with my left hand!
The main reason I wanted to break out that Evoluent mouse was that in FPS games - it feels much more like holding a gun than a flat mouse does...
I prefer bluetooth, or wired, I'm constantly losing those 2.4 dongles, or mixing them up...
That being said, taking a break for a couple of minutes now and then, and stretching a bit also helps a lot.
I also have a regular mouse that I use mainly for games that require speed and precision (FPS, RTS).
Though I do wish it was slightly bigger... using the mouse wheel isn't all that comfortable.
Definitely try before you buy if you have the option.
But when I hold my arm like this and move it around "mouselike", it seems hard to imagine, that I land a single kill with such a mouse on CS:GO.
It is surely a matter of weeks, to get the same precision, you are used to, isn't it?
Looks interesting.
But when I hold my arm like this and move it around "mouselike", it seems hard to imagine, that I land a single kill with such a mouse on CS:GO.
It is surely a matter of weeks, to get the same precision, you are used to, isn't it?
The only real difference I found was that those mouses have usually a max of 1600dpi while when gaming I was used to 6400. Since then I stopped playing "competitive" games so I don't really care anymore. Mouse agility is not a big deal when playing EU4 or the likes. It might become an issue again the day I embrace 4K monitors though. That I can't tell you.
At work instead all we had available were 800dpi garbage shit. To give the idea: the old man running the IT had a box of mouses were he was storing all the mouses that were "rejected" by employee because of malfunctioning. When he had to give out a replacement he took another one from the very same box. So in order to save $ necessary to buy new mouses, the issues were never resolved. They were just being passed around from employee to employee so they could continously affect the performance of $$$$ paid engineers. So yeah, there the quality of life improved quite a lot.
I've been #TeamTrackball for decades, once I got past the initial weirdness of the change, which lasted roughly 1 day, I found them way more comfortable to use. To be specific, I prefer trackballs where you move the ball with your index, middle, and/or ring finger, rather than your thumb.
I'd be keen to hear more about this Keyrock. Would you be willing to post a link or picture of your model mouse? I've become so enamored with the trackball emulation on the Steam Controller that it's like slogging through waist deep snow whenever I have to resort to a track or mouse pad (calf-deep snow with a mouse). I'm already making plans for what to use when all three of my Steam Controllers break beyond repair.
Last edited by Nanobang on 5 August 2021 at 1:45 pm UTC
officernice Aug 5, 2021
I recently got myself Logitech MX Vertical, because wireless mouse is better fit for my ergonomic solution and it's a really good mouse. It fits my hand almost perfectly and I didn't had any issue with it for the last few months.
And the pain I had in my wrist from using the standard mouse for long times is gone now :-)
I've been using this model Logitech too for the past year or so and I can't imagine going back to a non-vertical mouse.
Also it has a "rubberised" grip so that may help keep it in your hand easier. It certainly helps me, I can grip mine very delicately and I have no problems moving it around etc.
I've been really interested in that Logitech mouse. How is the open source software for it? I saw someone had made something on GitHub some time ago. How long is the cable that comes along with it? You seem pretty happy with it in general? :D
Anybody with that mouse are very welcome to chime in. :)
furaxhornyx Aug 5, 2021
Before, I was sometime felling pain on the top of the hand, between the index and the middle finger ; now, it has been replaced by a (lower) pain on the side of the wrist (little-finger side)...
Unfortunately, it was already difficult for me to choose a correct "standard" mouse, but with vertical mices, the choice is even more limited (but I think there is more choice now than a few years ago, maybe correlated with the g@merz ageing ?
)I've been #TeamTrackball for decades, once I got past the initial weirdness of the change, which lasted roughly 1 day, I found them way more comfortable to use. To be specific, I prefer trackballs where you move the ball with your index, middle, and/or ring finger, rather than your thumb.
I'd be keen to hear more about this Keyrock. Would you be willing to post a link or picture of your model mouse? I've become so enamored with the trackball emulation on the Steam Controller that it's like slogging through waist deep snow whenever I have to resort to a track or mouse pad (calf-deep snow with a mouse). I'm already making plans for what to use when all three of my Steam Controllers break beyond repair.
I guess it is probably something like this ?
!like this
I owned a trackball years ago, but it was only 800 dpi, and thus not very practical with modern resolutions. The ball was moved with the thumb ; I had doubts about the ones moved with the other fingers... But I am curious to see Keyrock's actual model as well
Currently rocking a zelotes c18, pretty great budget mouse for big hands!
Though i'm still thinking about getting a logitech mx vertical...
AnachronyX Aug 6, 2021
KrejsyLainen Aug 6, 2021
I also have a Kinesis advantage keyboard, so my desktop is the ultimate repellent for people wanting to use my PC.
Last edited by KrejsyLainen on 6 August 2021 at 8:19 am UTC
I'm seriously looking at that Logitech MX. I don't want to be switching to another mouse for games but considering I'm average at best at FPS and the like, I don't see that being a problem.
I'm team thumb trackball, and unlikely to ever switch to anything :) No need to move hand is super good, also now with mx ergo even hand positions is similar to vertical mouse. And I have no problems with precision, play PoE or WarFork with it without issues. Thumb ball ftw!Yeah, I use a trackball too. We bought one for our family computer in the early days, and I've stuck with it ever since.
I use the Elecom thumb trackball.
I have no issues with gaming on a trackball. It's nice to be able to lean back and rest the mouse on my thigh while gaming.
I'm not amazing or anything, but it holds up just fine with aiming for online FPS games.
I'm left-handed, but I use a right-handed trackball. Honestly, using my left hand with the mouse would feel weird to me.
https://github.com/sezanzeb/key-mapper/
I've been using it for my Delux T9 (similar to the Logitech G13), my Razer Orbweaver and other previous Razer/Belkin gameboards. It works really well! I've not tried it with a mouse but the "Issues" pages refer to using it for mouse keybindings alot, with alot of closed issues. I'm using it instead of Keyboarding Master because its not written in Java, and works really well for my uses.
Hope you like it as much as I do!
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