Smartfish Technologies Whirl Laser Mouse Review

1. Introduction2. Smartfish Whirl Laser Mouse3. Smartfish Whirl up close4. Driver features5. Final Thoughts6. View All Pages

Use of a mouse accounts for 30-80 percent of all time spent working at a computer and Prolonged use of a computer mouse has been linked to disorders that include carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis.  Using a mouse places the hand in a position of prolonged and extreme ulnar deviation and wrist extension. Over the last decade various mouse designs have emerged to address this problem. These include trackball designs, joysticks, vertically oriented mice, and touch control devices.

The Smartfish Technologies Whirl laser mouse is an interesting approach to ergonomic mouse design. The pivoting stand that supports the body of this mouse adjusts itself as you use it. This concept should reduce repetitive stress injuries on the hand and wrist caused by the movements when using a standard mouse. The pivoting stand provides a level of comfort not obtainable using a standard mouse and provides the feeling that your hand is ‘floating'. The laser optics allow this mouse to function on pretty much any surface; with or without a mouse pad.

After spending close to a week with the Smartfish Whirl we had no problems getting used to the feel. As we mentioned earlier, our review sample did not ship with any driver disc, but we recommend Windows users snag the updated drivers from the website. We would like to see more time spent on the the drivers package, because although they did suffice for standard daily computing tasks such as emails and web browsing they have no advanced adjustments available. Other than the option to change DPI settings and 4 way scrolling you are stuck with Windows default options. The 4 way scrolling feature came in handy when working on an image that required horizontal scrolling.

We don't think that gamers are considered as a major part of this target market but we had to give it a shot anyway.  We tested the mouse using the single player campaign of Call of Duty World at War to gauge performance. We tried all 4 DPI settings and couldn't really find a sweet spot. That's not say the mouse fails at gaming, but there are many better options available on the market today from companies such as Logitech, Microsoft, Razer and Steelseries.

If you are looking for a more ergonomic design or suffer from a sore wrist/hand then we think the $50 price point is reasonable, and the Smartfish Whirl is a product worth considering.  Keep in mind  that in order to experience the full potential of the Whirl laser mouse your entire workspace should be configured with ergonomics in mind. The pivoting stand does a good job of allowing your wrist free movement but if your arm and elbow are not properly aligned you may not experience the full effect of this design.

Pros:

• Clean and appealing appearance
• Ergonomic design to help prevent Repetitive Strain Injuries
• Plug and Play
• Comfortable even after extended use
• Not that expensive at $49.95 USD

Cons:

• Limited features to choose from
• Needs buttons for better integration with the Web
• not ideal for gamers

KitGuru says: A specialist design and it works well but it is far from ideal for gamers.

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