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Rating: 
Summary: The BEST way to mouse
Review: Carpal Tunnel? Can't work due to pain? Can't use a computer because your wrist hurts?I answered "yes" to all three questions and was on workman's comp. and then I found this mouse. Back to using the computer eight hours a day with no problems. This is the way mice SHOULD be made to fit your hand. The mouse looks strange at first and feels even more so, but after about three months you won't ever notice. It does take patience at first, but just keep at it and it becomes second nature. Works great in most every app you can use. I'm a heavy gamer and it works a treat. Don't expect to be the master first person shooter around any longer, but you will be able to finish a game like Half-Life on its hardest difficulty without problem. Best of all you will BE ABLE to play without pain! Cons:
- Mouse feet too small. This mouse takes the full weight your lower arm which puts a lot of pressure on the feet. They wear down fast! I use Everglide's mouse feet tape to help extend the life of the pads. - Not optical! This is a huge drawback to this product. Mouse balls are a thing of the past and this product is made with an inferior one at that. It's already hard to be precise moving your entire arm and having to fight an inprecise ball makes it all the more difficult. Still, it will do the job. - You can't click on both the left and right mouse buttons at the same time. Not a problem for most apps, but certain games require both buttons to be pressed at the same time. You just can't by design. - More buttons needed. They could have fit a fourth button in on the middle of the handle shaft. - Very poor drivers. Actually, you will probably use the standard Windows drivers which are not feature rich. 3M, give us a optical version!!! I love this mouse! Note: Just got this email from 3M, "We do indeed have an optical version of our mouse. It was put on the market about 5 or 6 months ago [Spring '03]. The product number for the optical version is EM500 GPS (small/medium) or GPL (large). The look and fit is the same as the mechanical version."
Rating: 
Summary: More product information
Review: In case someone is interested here's some more information I gleaned about this product. The product appears rather old. The page I found about it was copyright 1998... If the link doesn't appear, here is the info: 1. Size: there are two.
You can determine which size you need by measuring the distance between the base of your palm and your index (finger closest to thumb) finger. (My hands are pretty small, but it seems I need the large "mouse".) Small/Medium (2.75 - 3.50 inches)
Large (3.50 - 4.0 inches) 2. OS supported:
PC windows 95 & 98, NT4, 2000 (the latest revision of the software was on Dec. 12 2000) MAC OS 8.1+ (usb only on mac, no software for mac, device is plug and play.) 3. Buttons - three. The third button is programmable only in windows. 4. Type: 3M site says PS/2 and USB, but not to use a PS/2 to serial adapter (site says trying to plug mouse into serial port could harm your computer.) 5. Right handed only. 6. 3M Site says to make sure your forearm is resting on something while using the mouse. Site recommends that you move the mouse by moving your arm, not your wrist. Apparently if the mouse hurts, you're using it incorrectly.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST way to mouse
Review: Many years of using standard mice had left my hand with ever-increasing pain, and I had a hard time holding or squeezing things. I visited many electronics stores, but didn't find a mouse that felt very comfortable. I did find that the joysticks felt more comfortable and natural than the mice did. I decided to buy this mouse because it was designed with ergonomics in mind, and because it looked a lot like a joystick. It took about a week for me to get used to the new design. For example, both the left- and right-click buttons are controlled with the thumb. There is a second, squeezable button that can function like a scroll-wheel, and it took a while to get used to moving my arm when I wanted to the page to scroll. I was a bit worried that the software wouldn't be fully compatible with my PC (Windows Me), but I have found very few problems. Occasionally, I'll find a problem with scrolling, especially horizontal scrolling, but this doesn't bother me very much. Also, I was worried that the software wouldn't let me play 3D games. I haven't had any problems with it, though, even with games such as the demo of Unreal Tournament 2003. It really works - after about two months, my hand feels as though it's almost back to normal. It's much easier to hold and squeeze things, and the constant clicks and double-clicks (especially in the games) no longer create such pain. The mouse has come to feel very natural. In fact, standard mice now feel very strange and unnatural. I have the large mouse, and I think that it would fit most people's hands. If anything, it feels slightly small to me. One of my favorite things about this mouse is that other people who use my computer and who don't have problems with standard mice, use a standard mouse without restarting the PC or making changes to software settings. They simply move the ergonomic mouse off of the pad, and use up the standard mouse. They can do this because my ergonomic mouse is plugged into a USB port, and the standard mouse is plugged into its standard port. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this mouse. I'm very happy with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Vast Improvement
Review: Many years of using standard mice had left my hand with ever-increasing pain, and I had a hard time holding or squeezing things. I visited many electronics stores, but didn't find a mouse that felt very comfortable. I did find that the joysticks felt more comfortable and natural than the mice did. I decided to buy this mouse because it was designed with ergonomics in mind, and because it looked a lot like a joystick. It took about a week for me to get used to the new design. For example, both the left- and right-click buttons are controlled with the thumb. There is a second, squeezable button that can function like a scroll-wheel, and it took a while to get used to moving my arm when I wanted to the page to scroll. I was a bit worried that the software wouldn't be fully compatible with my PC (Windows Me), but I have found very few problems. Occasionally, I'll find a problem with scrolling, especially horizontal scrolling, but this doesn't bother me very much. Also, I was worried that the software wouldn't let me play 3D games. I haven't had any problems with it, though, even with games such as the demo of Unreal Tournament 2003. It really works - after about two months, my hand feels as though it's almost back to normal. It's much easier to hold and squeeze things, and the constant clicks and double-clicks (especially in the games) no longer create such pain. The mouse has come to feel very natural. In fact, standard mice now feel very strange and unnatural. I have the large mouse, and I think that it would fit most people's hands. If anything, it feels slightly small to me. One of my favorite things about this mouse is that other people who use my computer and who don't have problems with standard mice, use a standard mouse without restarting the PC or making changes to software settings. They simply move the ergonomic mouse off of the pad, and use up the standard mouse. They can do this because my ergonomic mouse is plugged into a USB port, and the standard mouse is plugged into its standard port. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this mouse. I'm very happy with it.
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