Shake Hands with the Zero Tension Mouse 169
ThinSkin writes "Given its shape and ability to cup your hand, the Zero Tension Mouse can be moved around without bending the wrist or moving the fingers, while also keeping the hand in a vertical position and the arm in a more ergonomic neutral position. ExtremeTech reviews the Zero Tension Mouse and, although acknowledging it as 'funny looking,' concludes that it amounts to a whole lot of worth for those who need it, or those who want to take preventative measures against RSI and related ailments."
It's corded? (Score:1)
Re:It's corded? (Score:3, Interesting)
About a year ago I realized I wasn't using the cordless feature at all. At work I simply trapped the cord under a monitor and the cord never got in the way. At home I sat in front of the computer. Why bother with cordless? 99% of the time it wasn't a benefit.
About three months ago I got killed in City of Heroes because my batteries ran out at the wrong moment.
I'm not replacing my mouse and keyboard yet. But next time I need new peripherals, they're going to be co
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
When I used corded mice, I never found the cord really got in my way to the point that I was annoyed by it, but the last 6 corded mice I had all broke where the cord connected to the mouse.
Cordless mice obviously don't suffer that problem.
YMMV, but I won't ever buy a corded mouse again.
Keyboards on the other hand
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
How the hell do you break the cord? I've swung a first-gen microsoft optimouse over my head in a circle and it only broke [the mouse not the cord] when it hit a concrete wall.
You have to be gaming "really hard" to break a corded mouse.
Tom
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
Well, I didn't break the cord right off. I simply broke a wire inside, or at the solder point. I'm not sure what the issue was but I suspect it was getting snagged and then breaking on the "down pull".
It started responding intermittently dropping out everynow and then, and wiggling the cable woul cause the "new hardware detected" bubbl
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
They're great for sniffing passwords!
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
Doesn't really solve the problem - and it's kind of annoying, why not just use a corded keyboard?
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
On the other hand, I have pounded the stuffing out of my 6-year-old corded Intellimouse Explorer and it is still performing absolutely flawlessly. I suspect that has something to do with the fact that it is built like a tank, and this probably is a big reason why I don't
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
Perhaps, for example, it's time to try one of the weirder ergonomic devices, or come up with a new input system . . . but not remove the cord and keep suffering.
Re:It's corded? (Score:2)
Snake oil (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Snake oil (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Snake oil (Score:4, Funny)
Ill stop masturbating at work when they pry my cock from my cold dead fingers!
Re:Snake oil (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Snake oil (Score:2)
I should have known that the release of the sequel was going to spawn more Clerks references.
Re:Snake oil (Score:3, Informative)
I agree...there's already a similar device on the market (a mouse with a vertical bit that you grip like a joystick) that I tried a little while back. It didn't help my RSI at all...in fact, it was a bit worse than a regular mouse. I find 2 things help me. One is frequent exercise, and the other is switching mouse hands/positions. I go back and forth between left and right mous
.... And this one would help you even less.... (Score:2)
And this one would help you even less. It's hard-coded for righties and there is no southpaw version.
This article [rsi-relief.com] recommends alternating a mouse between left & right hands to avoid RSI. I'm too entrenched in my mono chirality ways to learn to do that (I'd give my left arm to be ambidexterous). On the other hand,
Re:Snake oil (Score:2)
works a lot better, it feels like a more natural position than having my arm outstretched to use the
mouse to the right end of the keyboard. When I'm not using the mouse, it sits just below the spacebar
in the open area between myself and the keyboard.
It took a little bit of time to get used to the front of the mouse pointing to the left, but now
its just natural, I even game with it like that. It's also a shorter motio
Re:Get a Trackball (Score:2)
Horrible to use with a keyboard (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Horrible to use with a keyboard (Score:2)
Re:Snake oil (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:we already know... (Score:1)
KFG
Re:we already know... (Score:2, Funny)
In any case. . . (Score:3, Informative)
This is something very different from banning products.
KFG
Funny looking (Score:3, Funny)
Well (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Well (Score:1)
Why does my shoulder hurt?
KFG
Re:Well (Score:2, Informative)
So yes, this is a legitimate product. That doesn't make it legitimate as a tool for RSI prevention, however. That's not to say that it necessarily doesn't help, just that nobody has proven that it does. And there's the rub.
Besides, wrist movement is not the sole cause of RSI
Re:Well (Score:2)
Re:Well (Score:1)
Re:Well (Score:3, Insightful)
Or (Score:2)
As the old joke goes...
Patient: "Doctor, Doctor, It hurts when I do this!"
Doctor: "Then don't do that."
Re:Or (Score:2)
Re:Or (Score:2)
Re:Or (Score:2)
Radical Ergonomics (Score:4, Insightful)
Whats so Radical about this design (Score:1)
I went from using a flat keyboard to a MS natural pro, and OMG I love it. I think that RADICAL changes won't work as a business model. But this isn't so extreme.
The reason Vertical keyboards won't work is because people still look at their keys when they type. Soon, a vertical keyboard may be common as the population ages, and everyone who's anyone will know how to touch type.
Re:Radical Ergonomics (Score:2)
What do you do when the "basic skills" that people already know are the problem?
Enhancing the existing workspace sounds like a prescription for a bunch of incremental tweaks that cumulatively cost a lot but don't really do anything.
Re:Radical Ergonomics (Score:1)
Re:Radical Ergonomics (Score:2)
Re:Radical Ergonomics (Score:2)
Yeah, that's about all they're good for on a desktop.
Now, they're a pretty good input device for a laptop... But I'm pretty used to a trackpad these days.
I just don't ever want to have to touch one of those stupid keyboard joysticks ever again. Those things are torturous to use.
Re:Radical Ergonomics (Score:2)
Are they? Or is it just that nobody has ever really tried hard enough? I mean Dvorak is ok, but its not that much better then Qwerty, since the underlying keyboard itself is still the same, so its not a big suprise that it failed, buying new hardware (refering to 1940 or so when Dvorak layout was born) and doing new training for a rather minimal improvment just wasn'
Re:Radical Ergonomics (Score:2)
Re:Radical Ergonomics (Score:2)
That looks about 64%... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:That looks about 64%... (Score:2)
Re:That looks about 64%... (Score:2)
How about not moving your wrist anyway? (Score:1)
mouse with my fingers, and yet reach all over my desktop. Only gaming demands more "alive" movements.
Re:How about not moving your wrist anyway? (Score:2)
For the people that have problems moving their fingers (as the person with arthritis some posts down), I can imagine they will be happy with the device presented here.
Nice mouse but... (Score:1)
Given that computers have become so common at both work and in leisure pursuits, some long-time users are experiencing a gradual build-up of pain attributed by RSI, or Repetitive Stress Injury.
For me, chock up the RSI to those "leisurely pursuits." The only way this thing could improve over my wireless is if it was easy to use ambidextrously and dispensed lotion...
Easier solution (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Easier solution (Score:5, Funny)
And get writers' cramp? No thanks.
The solution is obvious (Score:1)
Already done... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Already done... (Score:1)
BTW I do not work for Logitech.
Re:Already done... (Score:2)
Does anyone else get a sore thumb from these? I managed to get pretty accurate with one, but had to quit using it after a couple of weeks... it just hurt too much.
Switched to a Kensington Expert trakball, have never looked back. It even has enough buttons for Missile Command :)
Re:Already done... (Score:2)
funny looking? (Score:4, Interesting)
And yes, I did have to walk to school when I was a child. Uphill. Both ways.
It's not new.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Mmmmm-kay... (Score:4, Insightful)
They all end up at Big Lots for $9 after six months...
From the looks of that scroll wheel, it's going to be a banner year for RSI - grab the top of a bottle and roll your thumb straight back and forth over the top like the pictures show for the scroll wheel. If you can do that for more than a minute, you're not put together right.
Re:Mmmmm-kay... (Score:2)
Sounds familiar... (Score:5, Funny)
Yep... that's sounds like a hand position that most slashdotters are quite familiar with! Hmm... I wonder what the inventor was doing when he first got the idea for this mouse?
Obviously (Score:2, Funny)
IIRC the first such mouse was designed by a Norwegian company. (The mouse looks exactly like the one 3M makes, so I guess they licensed the design.) Anyway, to lend some credit to your excellent observation, I can add that "mouse" in Norwegian is in fact a common slang for the Holy Grail of Objects Unattainable to the Average Slashdot User: the female reproductive organ*. Taking this into account, it's hardly a surprise that it was invented in Norway.
BTW, this gives us the euphemism "ergonomically mousing
Have One (Score:3, Informative)
I second this -- Everyone, get one! (Score:2)
Kensington is also a great company. They honors their five year warrantee for me three years in when I (ab)used the trackball far too much and broke one of the little floater things inside. (Note: It is not a basketball hoop.) Without even any proof of ownership and without me sending mine back, t
Re:I second this -- Everyone, get one! (Score:2)
So you're left with the injury?
Re:I second this -- Everyone, get one! (Score:2)
Try swallowing the ball...
Re:I second this -- Everyone, get one! (Score:2)
I eventually had to sell the trackball. I simply could not use it for more than a few minutes at a time.
Re:I second this -- Everyone, get one! (Score:2)
Looks just about perfect to me. (Score:5, Insightful)
I looked at some of the previous ergo mice, and they mostly have the flaw mentioned in the article of having to grip the mouse to push it away (up the screen), I have difficulty with doorknobs, bottlecaps, and steering wheels, gripping is a problem. I also used to work in the Microsoft Hardware (mouse/keyboard) group testing device drivers, where I was working at the time I suddenly developed arthritis (genetic cause, not from work), so I do have some knowledge about pointing devices.
This mouse is basically exactly what the physical therapists described as ideal; hand in the hand-shake position, not needing to bend the wrist, with the arm relaxed. and at $80 it's not bad compared to some ergo devices. It's not a 'quack' device, it's designed to help a real, legitimate medical/work issue. If it's lightweight and Optical (I hate mechanical mice so very very much), I'll buy several. Another few years of work would repay the cost a few thousand times over..
Re:Looks just about perfect to me. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Looks just about perfect to me. (Score:2)
http://www.askergoworks.com/shopexd.asp?id=930 [askergoworks.com]
Re:Looks just about perfect to me. (Score:3, Informative)
One issue I see with this mouse is
Re:Looks just about perfect to me. (Score:2)
Which was good because the SSA sent my hearing notice to the wrong address, lost my file for 9 mo
Re:Looks just about perfect to me. (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm doing the best I can with what I have and the time I have, instead of spending the rest of my life sitting in a trailer watching TV and smoking pot on the government dole, and dying with perfect hands.
My priorities include being a useful person to the rest of the world, not simply doing the best thing for myself.
The first ergonomic mouse (Score:2, Funny)
At a press conference introducing the "radical" Microsoft curved mouse, Bill Gates talked about how 7 million dollars was spent just on ergonomics.
Then a reporter asked about the availability of a left-handed version. After a two second pause, the audience was told that it works either way.
Re:The first ergonomic mouse (Score:2)
In all seriousness... does anyone make a leftie version of the curved style of mouse? I've made it a point to ask the sales people at places like Microcenter or CompUSA, and they always give me a blank look... I end up having to physically demonstrate why the standard ones don't work left-handed ("Here, you try it").
"Cootie" keys for the telegrapher.. (Score:3, Interesting)
No mouse required... (Score:1)
Re:No mouse required... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No mouse required... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:No mouse required... (Score:2)
Switch sides.. (Score:2, Informative)
standard old school keyboard (Score:2)
Were you having pain/problems? (Score:2)
Personally, I use one all the time and for long coding sessions they are essential for preventing pain in my left wrist. I can type equally quickly on both, but when I use my laptop keyboard the discomfort builds up pretty quickly.
Re:Were you having pain/problems? (Score:2)
Shoulder? (Score:2)
--Rob
No thanks (Score:4, Insightful)
Guitarists, for example play for long stretches at a time, but most (decent ones) don't end up hurting themselves. Anyone who's played the guitar can tell you that it's not really an ergonomically constructed device. Why don't we hurt ourselves when we twist our wrists backwards and make strange movements very quickly, while office workers manage to destroy their wrists pushing buttons and scooting a mouse around? First of all, musicians practice for hours to figure out how not to hurt their wrists. Second, musicians don't usually play for eight hours straight. My advice to anyone who feels an RSI coming on is to take breaks, but also to examine very closely how you operate these devices. Are you bending your wrist funny to move the mouse, or reaching with a single finger rather than moving your whole hand when typing?
Basically, it's okay to move joints within their range of motion all you like, but every joint has positions in which it can take some stress, and positions in which it can't. Everyone has been told to "always lift with your legs." You need to know similar rules for other joints. You stress a joint whenever you move it out of its safest position then try to exert force through it. For keyboarding, this means reaching with a finger or bending your wrists back then trying to press a key. Keeping your wrists straight and moving your whole hand when you reach for a key is the way to go. Also, making sure never to stretch your hand out when chording is a good idea. Left shift for right hand keys, and vice versa. For mousing, putting your whole hand on the mouse and bending your wrist to move it strains you unduly. A better solution is to hold it with your fingertips and use every joint you can to distribute the action. The fingertips and wrist for fine motion, and the rest of the arm for gross motions. It's also helpful to rotate your hands a little closer to the handshake position, for both mousing and keyboarding.
Of course, some people have already sustained joint damage, and may need to immobilize the joint until it heals. After that, better mousing technique should prevent further trouble, unless you're prone to injury for some other reason.
IANAPT, but I am a guy who types a lot, mouses a lot, and plays a lot of musical instruments, but has never sustained an RSI (except once when I played with a noisemaker for too long). I attribute that to my amazing technique.
Re:No thanks (Score:2, Informative)
I ran into some RSI tendonitis problems a couple of years back with my mouse hand, which involved being off work for a while. Our HSE advisor got me to try a few different devices, one of which was a similarly styled "joystick" mouse, so this is nothing new. However it didn't
It's an ergonomic disaster (for me) (Score:2)
From the manufacturer's web site [zerotensionmouse.com]:
(my emphasis)It's always the same: you get these beautifully sculpted mice/trackballs/joysticks and they are only good for right handers.
Look at the positive side: (Score:2)
the manufacturer probably thinks that left-handed people are so unbelievably elite, they never get RSI !
Why make an RSI-mouse for these great people ?
ergonomics, noun: (Score:2)
If you have to touch it while you're working, it's "ergonomic" by definition.
Ask for the results of their clinical study. When they can't give them to you, realize that it's cheaper to correct your bad habits than it is to buy their unproven junk. It's a technique that has the added advantage of working ant any computer you sit down at, not just the one with your overpriced peripheral.
Most computer users with a hand or wrist RSI got it doing something o
It looks like a joystick. (Score:2)
Movement precision? (Score:2)
Big crayon (Score:2)
datahand offer (Score:2)
so anyways, these "ergonomic devices" are just crutches that don't make the actual problem go away. Sure, having a crutch is better than having nothing at all, but before long you'll become dependant on it, and thusly begins a downward spiral. Better to fix the problem than to continuously treat a symptom (surgery is usually for a symptom, and not a cause).
With that said, anyone want my datahand for $500?
Re:datahand offer (Score:2)
Two words: (Score:1, Funny)