All of us are familiar with the traditional computer mouse. Over time, manufacturers have made efforts to produce a more ergonomic and comfortable to hold mouse, but the overall shape and functions have remained the same for productivity, that is until today. Recently, the guys over at Fersgo reached out to me and asked me if I’d like to try their Ergoslider Plus mouse. Being that it was such a unique product, I couldn’t say no.
Checkout the Ergoslider Plus on Amazon here.
The Ergoslider Plus acts like an add-on accessory to your existing keyboard. Basically, it’s a wrist rest with a build in mouse. Yeah, you heard me correctly, the wrist rest has a built-in mouse. Before I get into how it works, let’s get into a quick unboxing.
The packaging is fairly minimalist but has a premium feel. Included in the box, is the Ergoslider, a roller bar which is essentially the mouse, and a small instruction booklet.
The Ergoslider makes the perfect addition to a tenkeyless board. It is the exact same length as my Drevo Calibur keyboard. The Ergoslider connects to your computer via usb, and doesn’t require any special software or drivers to get going. It’s a straight forward plug and play device. Unlike track-pads on all-in-one keyboards, the Ergoslider is extremely responsive and allows you to keep you hands in a typing position while still having the ability to control the mouse functionality.
Where with a traditional mouse you use your wrist to guide your cursor around the desktop, with the Ergoslider, you only use your fingers or thumbs. This completely eliminates excessive movement of your wrist.
So the most important question is does it work? And the answer is an outstanding yes. The included roller bar works similarly to that of a rollerball style mouse. By rolling the bar up and down and side to side, with you finger or thumb, you move your mouse curser around the screen. It is extremely intuitive to use. The roller bar is very sensitive and responsive. You have your left click and right click as well as a scroll wheel. Within half an hour of use, I was very comfortable using the Ergoslider as a mouse replacement.
I’m using a 34” ultra-wide monitor with a second monitor in portrait mode. I can comfortably move the mouse curse from one end of the ultra-wide monitor to the other. On each end of the roll bar housing are end buttons which the roller bar can bump into which moves the curse to the left or right by about an inch or so if you run out of space.
So who is this product targeted to? In a nut shell, I feel it’s targeted to people who spend a lot of time on the computer and are looking to improve their work-space ergonomic. The main target is likely for people suffering from repetitive wrist injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, or people looking to alleviate wrist pain due to mouse use. Studies show that if you spend a lot of time on a computer you are more likely to increase the risk of developing carpal tunnel. Being that the Ergoslider reduces the overall strain on your wrists, it’s a great preventative tool to reduce this risk.
Some negatives of the Ergoslider is that it doesn’t have standalone software for remapping the mouse buttons such as the forward and back buttons. The roller bar also works as a left click by pressing it down. I found as I was getting used to using the roller bar, I’d accidently click the roller bar. If there was a way to deactivate the roller bar left click via included software, that would be helpful. Lastly, I have to address the price of the Ergoslider. At $179, it’s pretty pricey. The price may potentially turn off prospective buyers; however, if you’re someone who suffers from wrist strain or is looking for a device to prevent wrist strain from happening in the first place, $179 is actually a small price to pay.
Although the Ergoslider isn’t perfect, I think it’s definitely worth checking out if you spend lots of time at your computer.