In this Anker vertical mouse review, we shall see what a vertical mouse is, and how it works. When most people read about a vertical mouse for the first time, they are intrigued. One of the questions they ask is whether the vertical mouse is “really vertical.”
And why not? After all, the traditional mouse that we have so been used to is a horizontally aligned mouse. This means there is no reason why we should not have a vertical mouse. It is vertically inclined.
Just imagine using a mouse that does not require you to twist your wrist to a horizontal position. That would be incredible and incredible is another name for the Anker vertical mouse. Naturally, your wrist stands vertically on the desk. Thus, when you use a vertical mouse, you will find it more comfortable than using a horizontal one.
It will take you some time to get used to the Anker vertical mouse. However, once you do, you will not have enough of this mouse. This is a wireless mouse, so you are rid of the encumbrances that come with cables on your desk.
This mouse was released to the market about six years ago. That explains why it has positive reviews in their thousands. Frankly, as you will see in the upcoming sections of this review, it is hard not to like the Anker vertical wireless mouse. It is so functional, stylish, performance-oriented and incredibly good at anything that you throw at it.
The Good
- Minimal twist to your wrist as you work – leaves you feeling comfortable
- Optical sensor works on all surfaces including laminate and glass
- It is very affordable
- The ergonomic design fits nicely in your hands
- Responsive and readily accessible buttons despite the design
- Sold with a warranty of 18 months
- Uses AAA batteries that are easy to get
- Works with different operating systems like Linux, Windows and Mac OS X
The Bad
- Not very good for gaming
- Casing is a bit too smooth
- Flimsy packaging – discard after unpacking
For more details and price, click here.
Bottom Line
The Anker vertical mouse comes with adjustable DPI, long battery life from AAA batteries and a comfortable, ergonomic design. Despite a few downsides, this still remains the vertical mouse of choice for keeping the wrist naturally aligned as you work.
Contents
Design and build quality
If you love solid packaging so that you can store your mouse in the same when you are done using it for the day, or when traveling, you will be disappointed with the packaging.
But hey! This is a very affordable mouse. It is sold at $20 and even less if you care to look around first. Thus, you can only ask for so much. For that price, we would take the mouse if it came without any form of packaging.
Straight away when it arrives, you will see it sitting serenely in the packaging. Even without opening it, you will be able to tell whether you got the right product, or not. As you open the package, look for the USB dongle. That is what you will use to connect to the computer.
Apart from that small detail, (the devil is in the details, right?) you will find that the Anker Vertical wireless mouse is quite a piece of a work. We mean that in a good way. It is an intriguing mouse, especially if you have never seen a vertical mouse before. Tell you what, for this price, you can buy this mouse just to try things out. You will be surprised!
You will find that the casing of the mouse is a bit smooth for your liking. Again, that is not a big deal and you can live with it. The color is matte-black, so this mouse is not a fingerprint magnet.
Let us talk about the size of the mouse, right? That is why rubber meets road. Despite how it looks, it is not an overly big mouse. It measures 4 by 3.2 by 3.1 inches. The weight of this mouse is 95.3 g only, quite manageable and maneuverable on just about any surface.
Performance
It does not matter what the design of a mouse looks like. As long as it is a good performer, we will buy it. Now, many things determine the performance of a mouse. In fact, a wireless mouse requires more features than a wired one to perform well.
If you read an Anker vertical mouse review and see that its sensor works great even on reflective surfaces such as glass, do no be surprised. It is the truth. This mouse works really well on reflective surfaces. However, there is no need to test your optical mouse that way, just buy a mat or use the mouse on a regular wood desk.
This mouse fits well in your hands. Ok, it would not fit as snugly in the hands of a child. Heck, going by the size of 4 inches of length, by our standards, this is a small mouse and people with large palms would have some trouble using it. However, since you are not required to envelop the mouse with your palm the same way you would a horizontal mouse such as the Magic Mouse 2, you will find it ok.
Once you insert the USB dongle into your computer, the mouse connects automatically. You do not need to do anything else, apart from install the software if you would like to customize your mouse. If you choose to use the default settings, this mouse is also going to work great.
Another thing that you need to know about this mouse is that it is compatible to almost all operating systems. We have seen some mice that only work with certain systems. This one works with Mac OS X, Linux and Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10.
DPI
As much as we say that this mouse is made more for ergonomics and comfort than for productivity, well, you can still put it to some good work. The first thing that you will love about the mouse is that it has 1600DPI. This good for most of the regular displays that we use in the office and at home today. The optical sensor also performs very well as there are no drags at all. You can also increase the DPI or reduce it with the DPI button.
The DPI can be adjusted upwards or downwards in intervals of 800, 1200 and 1600. You will find that the mouse has better tracking ability, accuracy and performance than the regular office mice that we use in the office.
Button setup and scroll wheel
Since this mouse is not made for gaming or other specific tasks, there are only enough buttons, such as you would find on a regular office mouse. In addition to the left and right click buttons, there are two thumb buttons – for backward and forward movement. If you have small hands, you may find the thumb buttons a bit inaccessible.
The left and right click buttons are easily accessible and they respond very well. You will also note that because of ergonomics, these buttons and the scroll wheel are placed to the right side of the mouse. When using the mouse, you will find that your fingers align perfectly with the scroll wheel and the left and right click buttons.
While we said that this mouse is not made for gaming, we just meant that it is not the first choice for gamers. That does not mean that you cannot use it for gaming. You can, especially as it comes with the thumb buttons. You can be able to play FPS games with it.
To be able to play games with it, you will first have to get used to it, and you have to be of the right palm size. However, instead of going to any trouble, you can surely afford a better gaming mouse while you get to keep the Anker Vertical mouse for its ergonomics.
Wireless receiver
If it is a wireless mouse, then we know that it can only connect to your computer in two ways – through the USB dongle or Bluetooth. Anker uses the USB dongle, which you should find in the package. Just insert it into a USB port, preferably a 3.0 one and no calibration is required.
This is a 2.4GHz wireless receiver. As a result, users experience little to no latency. You will hardly realize any pause between the time you click a button and when the command is displayed on your computer screen.
We do not know the range within which you can use this mouse. However, do not take it too far. Overall, you will find that the wireless 2.4GHz receiver suffers little to no disruptions as long as you are within range.
Anker Vertical mouse batteries
In any Anker vertical mouse review, one of the things that most people consider is the battery. Now, this mouse uses regular AAA batteries, which are easy to buy anywhere. It also preserves batteries a great deal. You will need to buy 2 batteries, but not to worry because these will last a long time, from one year to 18 months! That is a long time by any standards.
This mouse has some inbuilt mechanism for saving the batteries. If you leave it idle for 8 minutes, it goes to sleep. When you have to use it again, you will have to wake it up, takes a couple of seconds wait.
Conclusion
We have tried to cover as much ground as possible in this Anker Vertical mouse review. If you love trying new things every now and then, get this mouse, if only to experience the comfort of working without twisting your wrist. You will really love it. Long battery life, nice grip and zero latency in data transfer are just some of the benefits that you can expect.
