(Review) - Evoluent’s VerticalMouse 3 is perhaps the most health conscious mouse in the market. It’s not that other companies aren’t focused on ergonomics and comfort, but Evoluent takes their approach one step further. For a company that’s so unfamiliar to mainstream users, we suppose it’s the right strategy for them. To give you an example, Evoluent has closely worked with University of California at Berkeley for their input and recommendation for the VerticalMouse 3, and it’s the only mouse that’s available at the campus store to students, according to the company.

Usually, we don’t put a lot of emphasis on ergonomics, since Logitech, Microsoft and other well known brands already focus much of their attention on such a critical factor. Therefore, it’s not necessary for us talk about the feature in great detail unless the ergonomics are clearly lackluster and discomforting. In Evoluent’s case, however, the design is the key recommending factor.

Unlike other mice, Evoluent’s VerticalMouse 3 stands vertical to locate your hand in a handshake position, or where the arm is in 90-degrees form from the tabletop. It even has a small lip at the bottom to prevent your little finger from touching the desk. According to the company, this is the most natural position for the hand to be in and it reduces a magnitude of stress from your hand, wrist and arm. Apparently traditional mice with horizontal statures twist your lower arm and put unnecessary stress on its vital areas. We must admit that getting used to the mouse didn’t take too long, even though it was slightly awkward to get used to in the beginning. After all, old habits die hard.

Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000

There are 5x buttons on the mouse that are implemented to use your entire hand. All the buttons are relatively normal; they don’t perform multimedia functions until they are programmed to do so. The scroll wheel is available as well, though we would’ve preferred a tilting wheel. The VerticalMouse 3 doesn’t come with preprogrammed buttons out of the box, but the included application let’s you program the buttons based on individual applications. For instance, you could have the thumb button perform CTRL action in Microsoft Word and an ALT action in Excel. Rationally, we don’t expect a lot of users to adopt this feature due to its complexity, but gamers will be delighted to have this feature at their fingertips.

The dpi resolution can be switched between 800 (Off), 1300 (Blue), 1800 (Purple) and 2600 (Red) with a single switch of a button that’s located on the bottom. It’s not an ideal place, but it will do. Again, we don’t expect a lot of mainstream users to switch resolutions regularly. Also, the LED actively alerts you about the selected resolution. Then there’s the Speed toggle function that let’s you switch between 3x speed settings with a keyboard shortcut or a mouse button. Auto Click for automatic clicking in user selected time intervals and Click lock to perform a single action for selected time is also present. In case you get carried away when you are working on your PC, the VerticalMouse 3 will even remind you take breaks with audio and visual alerts.

There aren’t any noticeable drawbacks, but it’s safe to say that it’s not the most technologically updated device in the market. It’s not wireless; it doesn’t come with multimedia keys; and it’s not the most attractive mouse. However, if you are an excessive mouse user, it will do you wonders to pick up the VerticalMouse 3. For $80, it’s not the most affordable mouse in the market, but for users who are health conscious, it will be $80 well spent.

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