Home > Consumer Reviews > Adesso USB EasyCat 2-BTN Touchpad Black Cirque Glidepoint Technology ( GP160U-121 )

I was looking for an alternative input device for my desktop setup since i was developing carpel tunnel with my mouse. For a while a trackball worked, but the pain merely switched to my elbow.
Since i was so used to the touchpad on my laptop, I started looking for one. The Adesso Easycat is pretty brilliant and works well and has solved my problems for now. I use it in conjunction with a regular mouse (a MS Intellimouse) and switch back and forth as needed. For most things I never have to reach for the Intellimouse at all. The Adesso is very programmable and can do all that the five-button Intellimouse does.

Some observations on the Adesso Easycat USB model:
-Its pretty thin and small and looks quite nice. The price isnt bad considering Adesso pretty much has a monopoly on USB touchpad devices.

-It does not ship with a driver, its supposed to be plug-n-play. HOWEVER, TO USE THE ADVANCED FUNCTIONS on it you DO need to download the driver from Adesso. Otherwise you miss out on a lot of functions and personalization features. The driver can be downloaded from the Adesso website (http://www.adesso.com/products_detail.asp?productid=272).

-Once you have the driver installed, you can customize it in every possible way - sensitivity, reprogram buttons, orientation, etc. It has a very wide variety of features including: horizontal/vertical scrolls, zoom, Browser forward/back buttons, left and right clicks as taps, drag, etc. On top of that, three 'buttons' are customizable (both buttons plus a 'click area'). (the reviewer below who complained that it was too sensitive for him probably did not know that you can install this driver and adjust it).

-On my setup, I had to reduce the sensitivity/speed of the left-click tap feature before it registered correctly.

-I placed mine right under my spacebar, with a piece of velcro. Its brilliant and works and feels more or less like my laptop's touchpad. For most things I never reach for the regular mouse anymore. its very intuitive once you've set it up the way you like.

In sum: It wont cure all your problems, but as an alternative and unique input device it will make your life a bit easier.

My quick review: I love my Cirque touchpad mouse!

My detailed review:

(1) First of all, I purchased the touchpad directly from the manufacturer Cirque,[...]

(2) There are 3 different versions of this mouse (the cirque website has them listed under Desktop Touchpads named Smart Cat Pro, Smart Cat, and Easy Cat) I purchased the Easy Cat b/c they said its the only one compatable with Macs. Not that the other ones wouldn't work, its just that the extra buttons/ features won't work with a Mac. (Too bad, they seemed pretty neat...) If you ARE a Mac user, the only advantage I'd say for going with the Smart Cat (versus the Easy Cat) would be larger touchpad size. The Easy Cat touchpad (usable space) is 2.5" by 1.75" so its plenty of space. A nicer toucpad would be nice, but if its worth the extra $20 is up to you.

(3) I got this touchpad because of problems I was having with my carpal tunnel. It got especially worse when I had days with heavy data analysis and lots of clicking to do. I figured the double-tapping motion would be better than repeated clicking. I haven't had it for long, but so far, I can definitely feel an improvement. It does take a few days to get used to the tapping instead of clicking but compared to the pain I was having before its well worth the "training." And if you like the regular clicking, the buttons are very large and soft to press.

(4) The features: basically I can do everything without ever having to click a button. The vertical scroll area is textured so all you have to do is place your finger over it and you can scroll up/down. If you click once in the upper-right hand corner, its the same as a double click. And you can easily double click and drag without having to press a button.

Overall- I think its the best mouse I could have gotten for my carpal tunnel (and I searched all over the place) especially for the price. If you have a PC, you might want to go to the Cirque website to determine if the more expensive versions are worth the money for you. If you have a Mac, the Easy Cat is the one to get (but if you want a larger touchpad, get the Smart Cat Pro even if you can't use the extra buttons).

It does everything it should. It seems to have a "smart" feature that remembers where the cursor is when you lift your finger quickly, so a change in the position when you lift your finger doesn't produce an improper selection. I believe it would be better if the definition of quickly were relaxed a bit.

Overall, after a brief acclimation, it is my input device of choice.

I bought this one because of having pain working with a regular mouse.
I've tried them all - the cheap mouses, the expensive, the ergonomic ones.
This touch pad is fantastic, very comfortable and most important - makes it easy to work for long hours with no pains.
The side and top areas of the touchpad use for zooming, scrolling and back-forward buttons for internet explorer. Also, there's an area used as a right-click button which is great!

A minor thing I should point out:
I was having problems installing it on IBM Thinkpad with Vista. It kept on finding new unfamiliar hardware. I think it's because of the built in touchpad. Anyhow, I bought it for my office and there on a desktop with XP it works great and installation was easy.

Other then that, highly recommended!

I've tried so many other types of mice and this is by far the most stress free on my hands/wrists. Like any mice whether its conventional or trackball or touch pad, they all take getting used to. If your hands/wrists are hurting you, give this a try!