A strong ergonomic PC peripheral makes use feel as natural as possible. That means avoiding tension and unnecessary pressure, lots of support, minimal movement and, if you’re sitting at a desk, helping to maintain 90-degree angles in the arms and legs. For example, vertical mice make the palm face more sideways, resulting in less forearm pronation and a 90-degree angle with the rest of the arm. But what about a horizontal mouse?
On Sunday, the ConceptPix Horizontal Mouse launched on Kickstarter. Like any crowdfunding project, I will not hope for this product to hit the market. I may even have less hope here than some other crowdfunding projects, as ConceptPix hasn’t launched anything else on Kickstarter (at least not under the ConceptPix name). Other red flags include: the ConceptPix brand has little internet presence and its profile is private on Kickstarter; the project’s creator is listed in Hong Kong, but ConceptPix’s bio claims Miami Beach, Florida; and the crowdfunding goal is an absurdly low $119.
Still, less likely products have emerged from crowdfunding. And the creators have at least shared a video on the Kickstarter showing a supposedly working prototype. Either way, a horizontal mouse is intriguing to anyone who has used a vertical mouse or is looking for a more comfortable or less painful alternative to traditional mice.
Just as a vertical mouse is taller than it is wide or tall, the horizontal mouse is wider than it is tall or tall. According to the Kickstarter, the peripheral is 3.15 inches wide, 1.57 inches long, 1.18 inches long and weighs 1.36 ounces.
Compared to other miniature wireless mice, the Dell MS7421W is 2.4 x 4 x 1.4 inches and 2.82 ounces, and the Razer Pro Click Mini is 2.5 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches and 3.1 up to 3.9 ounces, depending on whether you use one or two AA. batteries.
Vertical mice have also become a trendy design. We recently reviewed the Logitech Lift, a smaller version of Logitech’s MX Vertical mouse. Lenovo and Anker make vertical mice, and the category is Evolunet’s specialty. That’s just to name a few.
But examples of so-called horizontal mice are scarce and most take a different approach than ConceptPix’s device.
It’s hard to imagine a taller “mouse” than Counter Design’s RollerMouse Free 3, which measures 19.25 inches horizontally. But one look at it and you can see that it works very differently from a traditional PC mouse or even the horizontal mouse.
The SpaceMouse Wireless from 3Dconnexion is no wider than long, but the same width and length (3.1 x 3.1 x 2.1 inches).
Still, it functions more like a big button and as a complement to another mouse.
ConceptPix claims that the horizontal mouse concept reduces the amount of squeezing required to use the peripheral. It also claims that the mouse puts your hand in a more favorable position. One of the alleged features is that the mouse puts less pressure on your wrist because the wrist doesn’t support the mouse as much. Furthermore, the Kickstarter says that the mouse “prevents the fingers from curling too much”.
