Home > Consumer Reviews > 3M Ergonomic Mouse SMALL/MEDIUM

I felt the difference in my right wrist instantly. According to websites, "Ergonomic design keeps the arm positioned for natural, comfortable movement. It is clinically proven to reduce muscle strain and discomfort associated with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and repetitive stress injury. The 3M Ergonomic Mouse is compatible using any USB port computer."

Ever notice that Gamers don't have carpel tunnel syndrome like most typists even though they likely spend more time at the computer? Well, 3M noticed! Your wrist sits on this ergonomic mouse like it does on a video game joystick. The weight of your hand is no longer carried by your wrist. Rather, your hand is relaxed on the mouse.

The relief in pressure on your wrist is instant. The cost may seem high, but it's less than a chiropractic appointment. Comes in 2 different sizes (small/medium and medium/large). This is a RIGHT handed mouse. You can program the left/right clicks if you are left handed, but the "joystick" is angled, so it's not as wonderful if you are a lefty.

Added note: The above review was written 2 years ago. It has been 3 years that I have been using this mouse. My wrist pain is completely gone. This mouse is so worth it. That being said, it is a P.O.S. as others have mentioned: the mouse does not travel well (it breaks if not protected in your computer bag) and breaks when dropped on hard surfaces -- I put a carpet under my desk and bought a glue gun to cut down on mouse costs. After gluing them back together, 3 have acquired the "double click" disease. Even with these drawback, I still feel that this mouse is worth it. I have purchased 8 over the past 3 years - I now keep one at work, one on my desk at home, and a "floater" for my home laptop that moves from room to room but does not leave the house unless carefully wrapped in it's original box. For "daily travel", because the 3M mouse has helped my wrist heal, I am now able to use a regular mouse, so I now keep a regular mouse in my backpack.

I run the IT department in a small office (around 30 users). Four of the users who had turned to this mouse to deal with carpal tunnel issues initially found it quite comfortable. However, that changed over time with each one complaining of pain from the thumb to the wrist.

The problem, as far as I can tell, is that this mouse requires too much extension of the thumb -- far more than one would expect in a normal mouse. I'd suggest staying clear of it and replacing any that you may have purchased with an alternative that does not require as much thumb movement.

Though it takes a little getting used to, once you adapt to this mouse it really is indispensible. After about two years of too much mousing at too many poorly adjusted tables, I had developed fairly regular pain in my right hand and wrist, so much so that I started favoring my left hand for carrying objects. After switching to this mouse and an ergonomic keyboard (the Belkin Ergoboard to be precise) this pain is completely gone and a bump that I had started to develop on a tendon on my right hand has almost completely receeded (and my doctor had said that it was caused by mousing). In other words, if you have any pain at all from mousing, you should get this mouse. It works well, is durable, and really does all that it should do. I can't recommend it enough.

I developed tendinitis on my right wrist due to computer mouse problems, and decided to buy this product.

This mouse helped a bit with my wrist tendinitis, but GAVE ME PROBLEMS WITH MY THUMB!! That part of my right hand where the thumb meets the wrist ached so much that I had to quit using this mouse. The pain disappeared soon thereafter.

I now use the "Ergonomic Quill Mouse", and it works like magic! Although a bit more expensive than this one, it is well worth the money.

This mouse is different from other mice - it has its pros and cons and is worth the money but is not all good.

Assumptions:
You have Windows and are right-handed. If not, my review won't apply to you.

Pros:
It does keep the hand in a position that feels more natural and I like clicking with my thumb (people use their thumbs for remote controls, cell phones, etc.). It also looks and feels pretty nice.

If you have real problems with your wrist (I don't) skip the cons and get the mouse.

Cons:
The movement is less precise because you have to move your entire forearm rather than the tip of the fingers. You can try to remedy by lowering the cursor speed (so slow movement is more precise) and increasing acceleration (so fast movement shoots the cursor through the screen allowing you to still cover the entire area of the screen without lifting your elbow), but it's not quite the same. Also you need an "elbow pad" - as you move your forearm most of its weight is supported by the elbow and it gets uncomfortable (I put bubble wrap but I need something more permanent that doesn't pop all the time :).

The most irritating issue I found was the lack of a scroll wheel. You'd see the same problem mentioned in other reviews (I did) and probably disregard it (I did). It's probably not a big deal if you don't scroll a lot, but if you do, you'd be irritated. You can use the 3rd button scrolling (try it with a regular mouse - press down the third button (which is the scroll wheel on most mice) and move the mouse around). It works well enough but not everywhere (Windows Explorer, for example, can't be scrolled that way). I'd suggest you try scrolling this way for a while with your regular mouse and if you can live with it, go ahead and get the 3M mouse.

The software that comes with the mouse (you have to get it from 3M's website) is not bad (you can tell they've spent some effort into making it), but it's just not good enough to be actually useful. It offers some functionality (alternate active programs or quickly launch a shortcut), but that is easily done through Alt-Tab or putting shortcuts on your Start menu, task bar or desktop. If you're very uncomfortable configuring your Windows though, you may find it easier. They also have custom-built scrolling that works in some places where the third button scrolling doesn't, but then there are places where third button scrolling works OK and theirs doesn't. It also has some quirks (bugs). In the end, I found that I gained about as much as I lost by installing their software and scrolling with it so I ended up uninstalling it and now I just use the third button scrolling where I can or the scroll bar where I can't.

Bottom line:
The mouse is worth the money, but it requires you to change your habits and not all in a good way. Overall, though, I'd recommend it.