Chances are, if you're thinking of a computer mouse, something like this is going to be
the first thing that comes to mind. It's what we know of as the standard mouse. But just
because it's the standard, doesn't mean it's the best design. For instance, using a mouse
like this for an extended period of time can introduce repetitive strain injury. Well,
recently, Fersgo Ergonomics reached out to me and offered me to try out the Ergoslider
Plus. So, here are my first impressions.
The Ergoslider Plus promises: An evolution of
cursor control; to relieve pain from ergonomic injuries; a modern and nifty design; plug
and play functionality; and a satisfaction guarantee. I've been using the Ergoslider
Plus for about a week and here is my general user experience. The Ergoslider Plus has actually
been unexpectedly fun to use. It's a unique and unfamiliar form of input. Yet, it's surprisingly
intuitive. It just takes some time to adjust. I often found myself reaching for the computer
mouse, or sometimes even slowing my movements down just to make them more precise. Obviously,
I would expect these kinds of kinks to be ironed out with more experience over time.
The Ergoslider is nice because it uses a roller. And this means you have to barely even move
your wrist in order to interact with your computer cursor. Your cursor movements on
the screen corresponding to the movement of the slider on the device. So, in order to
move up, you just push the slider up; to move right, you push right and etc.. Once you reach
the end, horizontally, there's a button that actually gets pressed. And this just moves
your cursor further along on the screen. There's nothing to grip and as a result, this reduces
strain on the wrist. I can really see this product being used in an office environment.
But this is no excuse, by any means, to not take a rest every once in a while. One thing
that I feel like I have to mention is that the ends here kind of came loose when I opened
the product. And that would kind-of create an angle here. So whenever I pushed the roller,
it would kind-of just jump right off the Ergoslider. I put down a little bit of superglue and it
worked like a charm. I ended up using the Ergoslider Plus [in] a few different situations,
so here are my thoughts. For browsing the internet, the experience is pretty laid-back
and you don't have to move your wrist very much. That makes it very nice. But then for
something like editing... I edit videos regularly. And so, I'm not so accustomed to the inaccuracy
that was introduced by the roller mouse. Surely, this will be ironed out with more usage, but
for now, I prefer the computer mouse and honestly, I really miss the horizontal scrolling. I
think that if the little scroll wheel on the Ergoslider Plus could be changed to something
like a ball that allows for horizontal scrolling, this would be a more viable option for video
editors since timelines are horizontal.
"Oh, turn-
turn around!"
Well, clearly you can
see this mouse isn't very good for gaming. Technically, it has the full range of functions
that a regular mouse has. But it just isn't really built for something like gaming. Because
once you hit the edge of the roller, you have to wait for the cursor to slowly drag around.
I don't know why you would think of getting one of these for gaming, but if you were thinking
about it at all, I would take a hard pass on that. In the end, I'm not sure if the Ergoslider
Plus is a product that I would've considered for myself; but I'm glad that they sent me
a unit here to try out because I actually really like it. I can see myself using it
for tasks like coding or writing articles, or even just browsing the web or watching
YouTube videos. It's just a more natural way to interact with the computer. So, what are
your thoughts on the Ergoslider Plus? Let me know in the comments section below. That
is it for this video, thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next one!