Mouse Arena

Most of the mice presented here are closely following the standard design issued back in the 1960’s. OK, the Zalman FPS gun-like mouse doesn’t count. Although mice makers have tried to tweak the original design in order to offer ergonomic devices, it looks like the RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome still give people rough times in many cases. Evoluent thinks that their vertical mouse design could solve all these problems, plus it makes for a good wireless solution.

Evoluent Wireless Vertical Ergonomic Mouse 3 combines the convenience of a wireless mouse with the comfort of a uniquely designed ergonomic mouse to help prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI) in computer users. Unlike any other so –called ergonomic mouse you’ve seen, the Evoluent Vertical offers full support for Mac or PC users and is fully customizable to fit your individual needs.

The Evoluent Vertical was tested, evaluated, and approved by the University of California at Berkley's team of health services (including doctors, therapists, and administrators). The mouse proved to be comfortable and easy to adapt to for new users. The patented shape of this cleverly designed ergonomic mouse supports your hand in a fully upright position, which seems like you’re actually handshaking the mouse. This position is supposed to eliminate forearm twisting which can lead to Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI).

The design integrates a lip at the bottom of the vertical mouse, preventing your pinkie finger from rubbing as it is moved. All five buttons can be easily clicked without contorting your fingers. Additionally, you can program all of them using the free downloadable driver available at the websites listed in the instructions.

The package also includes a compact receiver that plugs into your computer's USB port and enables the Evoluent Vertical to be operated from up to 30 feet away (the pictures actually show the wired version). The design itself seems a good idea, but Evoluent sort of exaggerates with the price. Amazon has the vertical mouse for $109.

After seeing that Gizmodo compares a Razer mouse with a SteelSeries (who?) one, I went ahead and checked out who the latter manufacturer is and found out that its laser mice are not that bad. SteelSeries’ latest model is the Ikari Laser.

SteelSeries claims that it has put 15 months of extensive research of ergonomics, technology, shape, motion, hand grip and play styles into their Ikari Laser mouse. It seems that SteelSeries has collaborated with professional players in order to come up with better shape, materials and specifications for the Ikari. Players from Team 3D, compLexity, mousesports, SK Gaming, Team NoA and other world-class gaming organizations provided valuable feedback for the Ikari model.

Ikari is practically made by gamers for gamers, featuring programmable macros for RTS and MMO games and a high precision sensor, especially suitable for FPS gamers. Ikari is also a completely driverless solution, which enables the mouse to remember settings and macros when plugged into tournament computers - without installing any drivers or software.

Here are some more specs:

- 40.000 samples per second (SPS) for unbeatable tracking
- 1 to 3.200 DPI (changeable in increments of 1)
- Built in LCD display (on the underside) to help set CPI values on-the-fly
- Chassis material and shape best suited for professional gaming

SteelSeries recommends a £60 price for the laser model.

If you really got tired of wired mice, you can obviously make the jump for Bluetooth mice. Sure, these might cost a bit more, but if you look at what Targus has to offer, you’d find some pretty affordable wireless rodents that are actually good enough for gaming, too.

The Targus Rechargeable Bluetooth Laser Notebook Mouse is designed uses the Bluetooth technology and it will best work with a notebook PC or Mac that doesn’t require a receiver. Thanks to the advanced Bluetooth technology, this mouse works up to 33 ft away. It’s got a laser engine so you know this one is quite precise, allowing you to switch from 800 to 1,600 dpi on-the-fly for heightened sensitivity during gaming especially. Targus even claims that this mouse provides up to 20x more tracking sensitivity than typical optical mice.

You don’t have to worry about dead batteries anymore as the mouse comes bundled with a USB cable that enables charging while in use. Furthermore, travelers will really enjoy the Bluetooth Laser Mouse because it’s lightweight and includes a carrying pouch for added convenience. The mouse also features a three-button design and the usual scroll wheel for easy navigation.

Amazon has the Tragus Bluetooth mouse for $44.26.

Gamers tend to exploit their mice to the maximum, using them for more then 3-4 hours continuously. While this won’t present a real challenge to your digital rodent, your palm and hand could be experiencing some discomforting situations. Frisby has an interesting solution for these situations – the Cool Fan Mouse.

This mouse is specifically designed to help alleviate the curse of SPS (Sweaty Palm Syndrome) for gamers and Internet surfers via an ingenious ventilation system. The Cool Fan mouse isn’t quite gamer-oriented as it only sports a 800dpi optical sensor. Firsby provides an ergonomic designed that suites right and left handed users alike. Frisby claims that the operation of the fan is fairly silent and can’t really be heard above the ambient noise of a PC system.

You get the usual three buttons and the vertical scroll wheel, a 5 ft long cable and a black/silber color finish. Moreover, the mouse is plu&play so you won’t be needing any drivers as long as you have a free USB port. After inserting the USB plug, the mouse begins to glow with a blue light due to a special LED installed inside.

Frisby’s Cool Fan Mouse can be found on Amazon for about $30.

A mouse can sometimes take the form of a “presenter” and help you special reports that necessitate PowerPoint presentations or other related stuff during meetings. While I’ve already showed you some interesting presenters in the past couple of months, let’s take a look at what Gear Head has to offer.

Gear Head claims that their 2.4 GHz wireless presenter mouse combines 4 unique products in one sensational design. You practically get a wireless optical mouse, wireless presenter, integrated laser pointer, and remote scrolling trackball. OK, not exactly 4, but even a 2-in-1 design saves you some money.

This is a rechargeable device that comes bundled with a desktop receiver/recharger, a mobile USB receiver (dongle), a mobile charger cable and convenient travel pouch. The device comes in a black with silver accents flavor and integrates six buttons, being built to fit the contours of your hand, comfortably and efficiently.

Its effective range is around 30 feet away, so you can focus on your presentation and get personal with the auditorium at the same time, in order to deliver the message right. The package also includes 2 Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and a USB connector.

You can get one of these from Amazon for $44.24 .