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I’m a software engineer. I spend a lot of time typing. When I’m not writing code, I’m writing about writing code. When I’m not doing that, I write about tech. It’s a wonder I find time to eat. I’m at an incredibly high risk for carpal tunnel. Before I switched to using a gaming mouse for work instead of one of Apple’s Trackpad. Between typing all day and the jerking motion I’d make with my wrist to perform multi-finger flicking gestures on the track pad, I developed wrist problems. I’m sure the fact that I was playing tennis on occasion didn’t help either.

When I got a MOBA gaming mouse, the Steelseries Rival 500, things got a lot better for me. But I still occasionally have a flareup. Could things be even better? I saw vertical mice before, but never thought of trying one out. Amazon had a deal where I could get one for around $5, so I figured I’d be silly not to try it.

So, I used a vertical mouse for a while, specifically Aukey’s wired vertical mouse. What did I think?

Vertical Mice in General

This was my first vertical mouse, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on vertical mice in general before getting into the specifics of my Aukey vertical mouse review.

Comfort

I wasn’t sure if changing the angle of my wrist would make a dramatic difference. But it does feel a lot better than I expected. In fact, using this has changed how I hold normal mice. Now, I have more of a sideways grip than I did before using this. If you have wrist problems, this is definitely a more comfortable position for your wrist.

I did find I was seemingly locking my wrist in that position. When I use a normal mouse, there are ways to shift your grip slightly, so your wrist is still moving. Vertical mice keep your wrist still. This can be okay for carpal tunnel, but your wrist could still get stiff if you’re using it for a long time. As with any mouse, take some time every hour to stretch out a little. That goes for your typing hands as well. And, of course, every 20 minutes, be sure to look away from your screen at something that’s at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds (the 20-20-20 rule).

Using it Everyday

If you’re accustomed to a mouse that has many buttons, you’re going to be disappointed by vertical mice. I haven’t found a single vertical mouse that compares to your average gaming mouse. That’s actually why I don’t use my vertical mouse anymore, I needed those mouse buttons.

I also noticed that “up” doesn’t always feel like “up.” It feels like sliding your hand up and to the right, following the position of your hand, should be up. Though this will, as you’ve probably guessed, push the mouse up to the right. This doesn’t take a long time to get used to though.

Vertical Mice: Overall

Overall, I do recommend vertical mice for people who care about the ergonomics of their devices. It’ll put your wrist in the right position for ongoing comfort. It’ll likely help your carpal tunnel as a result, as long as you remember to move your wrist on occasion. The only drawback? So few buttons! I need my 15 button mouse!

Aukey Vertical Mouse Review

I wasn’t sure if I was going to include this section. You see, Aukey no longer sells mice. It’s a shame, really, this one was reviewed surprisingly well for such a cheap mouse. However, production costs may have caught up to them. Regardless, there are other vertical mice nearly exactly like this one, and in the same price range. For example, the Anker Vertical Mouse is nearly identical to this one. So, if this mouse sounds good to you, you should pick up the Anker version of what appears to be basically the same mouse. Aukey started as a German company, but is now in China. Like many Chinese electronics brands, the designs between products and between companies are suspiciously similar. Chinese brands are often well known for copying each other. So, if this mouse sounds good, feel free to check out Ankers!

Comfort

What I said of vertical mice is still true here. This is a comfortable wrist position. The Aukey mouse has a sort of soft touch plastic that’s very nice to hold. It’s comfortable texture is surprising, given how cheap this mouse is. I’ve had more expensive mice use less high quality plastic before.

Quality

The mouse cable is a braided cord. You won’t even get that in most smartphone manufacturers selling $1,000 phones! (I’m glaring at you, Apple.) That’s great for a mouse, as mice move around a lot. The fabric wrap makes it slide across your desktop, and you don’t have it bunching up or becoming tangled as frequently as you would with a lower quality cord.

The clicks are firm, the texture is nice, the cord is nice. Overall, this is a surprisingly high quality mouse for its price. It is an optical mouse, rather than a laser mouse, so it’s not going to be quite as accurate as some more expensive mice. However, in everyday regular use, you won’t notice this very much at all. Occasionally I felt as though it sort of “swam,” like the mouse on my screen was skimming across water, traveling just a little further than I wanted it to. However, this is easy to get used to and compensate for. I don’t think it’s a remark on the quality of the mouse so much as a point about optical mice vs laser mice.

Everyday Use

The biggest problem I had with this mouse were the buttons on the side. It can be difficult to differentiate between the forward mouse button and the back button. Furthermore, on my Mac, I needed to use BetterTouchTool to set up these buttons as forward and back buttons. By default, the OS just recognized them as “Button 3” and “Button 4.” BetterTouchTool is an app every Mac user should own, but it’s still disappointing that I needed to use third party software to make this mouse function as expected.

However, once you get it set up right, it’s a joy to use every day. The clicks are sharp and clicky, the mouse wheel has a nice notchiness to it, and the mouse wheel clicks, so you can use it as a third mouse button (the OS see’s it as a “Middle Mouse Button,” which often does the same functionality as “Button 3.”

Bells & Whistles

There aren’t many. This is, after all, a budget mouse. However, there were some surprises. There’s blue LED lighting, which gives it a nice curved pattern on the side where you place your thumb, as well as some LED lighting on the outside edge. It’s sharp, and compliments the color of the dark plastic quite nicely. It’s not RGB lighting, but it’s still nice, and can help you find your mouse, even in the dark. The lighting isn’t perfectly uniform. It gets darker along the arch. This is because it’s not lit by as many LEDs, obviously to save cost. Still, it does improve the look of this mouse, if only slightly, due to the cheap look of LED non-uniform lighting.

There’s also a DPI switch on the top. This can be useful in games, to make the mouse slower and more accurate. You likely won’t use it in everyday use, and would probably have preferred the mouse button do something else. However, this button is not controlled by software or your OS, and only works on the firmware of the mouse. It cannot be reassigned. Still, it’s surely a nice feature for gamers or anyone who may have wrist or mobility problems and wants a nice, convenient way to switch the accuracy.

Overall

Overall, this is a comfortable mouse that conceals its price tag quite nicely. Looking at it and using it, you’d never believe I bought it for under $10, even on sale. The Anker version of this mouse has very similar lighting, and all the same buttons. It’s the same shape as well. It’s currently $15, which seems reasonable for a surprisingly high quality mouse with a unique(ish) shape. I wish I could tell you to get this particular mouse, but it’s no longer in stock on Amazon, and is presumably discontinued, looking at Aukey’s website. However, I believe the Anker version is very similar if not identical, so it may be a good bet for you.

A fun fact about Anker: the name comes from the German word for anchor. Clearly Anker is trying to imitate Aukey’s branding a little, and hearken back to the idea that German engineering is precise and reliable. If it’s anything like the Aukey version, that branding is fair.

Take care of your wrists! If you don’t need the RGB lighting of a gaming mouse, or its 15 buttons, you should definitely be using a vertical mouse. I recommend it to everyone, and even bought one for my White Elephant gift swap for my team’s holiday party. If a wired mouse doesn’t sound like your thing, you can get a wireless version for just $5 more. Just be sure to take care of your wrist, you only get two of them!

As for me, I went back to my gaming mouse. However, now I hold it more like a vertical mouse. Once you use one of these things, it can be very hard to go back! If I could get a vertical mouse with 15 buttons, I’d be one happy girl!