Alternate Mouse Solutions

[Garpocalypse]

Lately my tendonitis has been flaring up alot and it's really been killing my studio time. I was wondering if anyone has been using any alternate means to control their DAW that would be easier on the wrist. I've tried using control MK and a gamepad but the lack of precision is extremely frusterating when i'm trying to operate in Sonar.

Right now i am looking into something like these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1KT0EB8019

but still have yet to hear some good things about them. Plus i'm worried that the excessive thumb movements would still aggrevate the injury.

Does anyone have any setup suggs that would limit the need for using a mouse?

Thanks!

[Rozovian]

I've been using a trackball for a while now, for gaming, music, everything. Got tired of Apple's silly mouse and the once nice but quickly clogged up scrollball, and picked up this as a replacement.

Dunno if it's any better to get around tendonitis, but it's worth considering. Logitech also have a couple of other trackball options, where the ball isn't rolled with the thumb. Dunno if that's any better.

So my suggestion is to look at trackballs. Dunno how well they get around the problems you're having with the mouse, but it works just as well as a regular mouse. Took me a week or so to get used to it, and now it feels a little weird to use a regular mouse.

[Garpocalypse]

Thanks Roz.

I'm looking for anything that I can just hold in a different position and still get good control from. Having my arm extended seems to be part of the problem.

Right after I made this post though I did find something pretty cool called Enable Viacam from sourceforge. Using my webcam it moves the pointer based on where I am looking. The sad thing is it's nowhere near usable for what i need it for but it is kind of fun to surf with.

[Flexstyle]

Don't know if this would help at all or not, but a lot of people at one of my workplaces used these: http://www.amazon.com/Evoluent-Vertical-Mouse-Right-Handed/dp/B00427TAIK

[Moseph]

Some people report that drawing tablets cause less hand strain than mice. I have one, and it's perfectly usable for precision studio work, although I find it difficult to move as quickly as with a mouse. Monoprice has some good cheap tablets if you're interested in going that route.

[Garpocalypse]

Tough call. I'm torn between the tablet and the trackball.

The tablet seems like it would work the best but how well does scrolling work?

btw if you have a webcam you gotta check out viacam. I just rearranged my desktop icons by looking at them.

[theshaggyfreak]

I've know a few people who switched to tablets for this very reason. I have one that I sometimes use but it definitely takes some practice to use them. In the end, I found it was the shape of the mouse that was the problem for me. A smaller sized mouse always strains my hand much quicker.