Like most of you, I sit in front of a computer for a large part of my day. Over time, sitting and working on the computer has caused me varying physical issues, like back, wrist, and elbow pain. To alleviate this, I bought a desk with an adjustable height, an ergonomic keyboard, and an Aeron chair. These have helped greatly. But the one issue that kept coming back was wrist pain. I tried several types of mice, with varying shapes, but none of them dealt completely with the issue. For me, a big part of the discomfort in my hand and elbow came from constantly reaching over for the mouse, as well as gripping it. It might sound silly to some, but when you do this thousands of times, it adds up!
Then, about six months ago, I found a blurb about the RollerMouse Free on some tech site. Having used it daily for a while, I can say that this mouse is an excellent option to a traditional mouse.
The RollerMouse sits directly under your keyboard, just past the space bar. To control the cursor, you roll a bar up, down, and side to side. It sounds bizarre, but it works very nicely and was easy to get used to. The bar moves very smoothly, and is very accurate. You can easily move it with your thumbs, and you barely have to move your hands off the keyboard, or you can use your fingertips. Either way, it's far better than reaching over for a normal mouse.
I still keep a regular mouse as well, but I use it pretty infrequently (except for gaming!). This odd new RollerMouse is the workhorse now. I just wanted to mention this device in case anyone else has similar problems and was frustrated trying to solve them. I was uncertain about how this thing would work out, but it really does work well. There's a video at the product web site which shows how it works in more detail, if you're interested to see it in action.
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# Posted By Russell Brown | 2/26/10 9:59 AM
Everything except the price tag look fantastic... How long did it take you to get use to it? I try to use the mouse as infrequently as possible while programming, but this would take things to that next level...
# Posted By Tracy Logan | 2/26/10 5:17 PM
Hey, this is great! I used to have a keyboard with something very much like this built in, and it was absolutely terrific; I was devastated when it died, years later, after failing to catch on enough to still be available.
Like Russell, I'm a keyboard-centric programmer, so getting my thumbs back on that roller is a dream come true (I can't tell you how many hours I wasted trying to repair that ancient keyboard!) -- thanks for finding and mentioning this!
# Posted By Brian Kotek | 2/26/10 5:35 PM
Glad you guys found it useful! Russel, it didn't take long to get used to at all, maybe a day. It's very easy to use.