Hela rolls out ergonomic Glider Mouse

While the FINGER, Fluffy Soap, LogiNoki, AquaPoint, and Head$h0t mice definitely border on the weirder side of input peripherals, at least Hela's Glider Mouse seeks to decrease the amount of worldwide carpal-tunnel complaints with its creation. Although it isn't the most flattering design, the ergonomic device attaches to the bottom of your keyboard and sports a central mousing surface, left / right wrist pads, and a sure-to-be-misplaced "glider" that bears a striking resemblance to an air hockey striker. Your cursor is controlled by maneuvering the glider around the center pad, and its forthright location deems it useable for righties and southpaws alike; moreover, the 12 integrated buttons are ideal for the plethora of WoW macros you probably rely on nightly. The Glider Mouse is available in both 15.7- and 18.9-inch flavors to function with just about any notebook or awkwardly-shaped keyboard, but the £149 ($288) and up pricetag will likely have you resorting to more wrist-damaging options anyway.

[Via PopGadget]

[Matt B @ Nov 1st 2006 2:24PM]

That is a hela expensive mouse.

[John from Buffalo @ Nov 1st 2006 2:34PM]

Looks like a ski ball machine. He SHOOTs, he SCOOOOOOOOOOREEEEEZZZ!

[GorgeousGeorge @ Nov 1st 2006 2:45PM]

What a hideous contraption. Looks like something you might find in the cockpit of a 1960s-era sci fi starfighter.

[Mr.Ortiz @ Nov 1st 2006 2:46PM]

Say hello to Nintendo's next-next-gen controller!

[Christian Martin @ Nov 1st 2006 2:48PM]

Wow, how completelyand totally ergonomic and useable -- IF YOUR NAME IS IGOR AND YOU WANT TO MOUSE WITH YOUR CHIN.

[GorgeousGeorge @ Nov 1st 2006 2:53PM]

Which button fires the laser beams?

[Chocolate Starfish @ Nov 1st 2006 3:40PM]

If you took your existing mouse and moved it to the same location - between yourself and the keyboard - you would have a more ergonomic and less expensive alternative to this device.

The grasping action required to manipulate the slider will put much more stress on your wrist than laying it on a mouse that is shaped to the cup of your resting hand. The only benefit to this device, aside from the macro buttons, is that moving from the keyboard to it requires a shorter path than from the keyboard to most peoples' mouse location at the side of the board. Otherwise it's design results in the opposite of its advertised reduction in repetitive stress injuries.

(I can imagine it could be somewhat more precise, e.g. for graphic design, because the grasp of your hand would be more like a pen, but at what cost?)

[Farris @ Nov 1st 2006 4:49PM]

How ridiculous. I realize that I will be yelled at for this, but it seems like putting the mouse in the middle of the desk is a bit... difficult.

Try it. The keyboard is now farther away, requiring you to rest your arms on the desk and sit closer to the desk to reach the home row comfortably. Now, quickly move to the repositioned mouse. Unless you're a little bit anorexic, your elbow should connect with your stomach.

What an ergonomics nightmare!

[John Laur @ Nov 1st 2006 5:29PM]

So the guy buys an insanely expensive ergonomic mouse and types on a keyboard like that?!? No wonder he's got carpal tunnel!

[supersocialist @ Nov 1st 2006 7:01PM]

Is this absolute mapping? That won't scale well to widescreen or multimon. If it's relative, how is it better than a track pad?

[GorgeousGeorge @ Nov 1st 2006 8:03PM]

Ergonomics is a pseudo-science. I know the history of Ergonomics!

Don't be glib.

[Cory @ Nov 1st 2006 9:53PM]

How exactly does this "glider" work? Because it looks to me like it's just a knob sitting on top of a trackpad.

[scott @ Nov 1st 2006 11:47PM]

Who cares how it looks? How well does it work?

I would love to see a review of it being used in Photoshop and for Gaming!