The Smartfish ErgoMotion Laser Mouse
Today arrived the Smartfish Ergomotion Mouse which is a original approach to ergonomic mice. The Kool-aid they’re handing out is that there’s no fixed position device that you can use day after day that cures repetitive stress injuries. Instead they created a mouse that pivots freely as you use it, enabling a wide range of motion during use. I drank the Kool-aid & gave it a try.
First off the mouse is surprisingly well build, especially given it’s the 1st product from the startup company. There’s no springs to encourage the mouse into any one position, it’s entirely free flowing. The scroll wheel has a nice grip and feels solid with a slight & appropriate amount of resistance. The mouse is somewhere in the middle in terms of weight.
Only problem I have is with the wireless reception on this guy. Every 30 seconds or so it drops signal for about a second. Given we have about a dozen WIFI signals, 3 air tunes channels, and 50 wireless mice this isn’t the 1st wireless device to have trouble at work.
Update: I remedied the issue by plugging the USB dongle into the keyboard, putting it a little closer to the mouse. There’s not been a single hiccup since.
Ergonomically I think they may be on to something here. On my 1st day of use it was awkward for about 3 hours before I got settled in. Now I find my hand subtly rocking side to side as I move my hand. It seems there’s a few different ways to hold it, and I’m still trying to figure out which way works the best. I’ll need more time to make a final call at which point I’ll update the site, but I’ll leave on this line. Looking at the pictures of the mouse online had me skeptical, but now that I got one in my hand I’m starting to warm up to it.
Update July 3, 2010 (1.5months later): To be completely honest, the jury is still out on this mouse and I’ll need more time to make a final call. I’ve found it to be far less annoying than the Handshoe mouse as far as precision goes. It strikes an excellent compromise between promoting movement in your wrist and having fine grained control. I think if I worked in Photoshop all day or played FPS games I’d throw it against the wall, but as a computer programmer it suites my needs.
My only beef with the mouse is it’s so freeform there’s no resistance whatsoever, no springs, nothing. The mouse plops to wherever you put it with no fight. I think I’d almost prefer a very subtle spring pushing me towards the typical mouse position, just enough that the mouse would hold a normal position if my hand wasn’t on it. That said, this mouse is in a category of it’s own an and I can’t wait to see the next product Smartfish puts out. In the mean time I’m sticking with this mouse.
I’ll leave you with the shameless promotional video: