The 3M Renaissance Ergonomic Mouse is a departure from all ergonomic mouse predecessors. Described as the first vertical mouse that is not a joystick, the 3M Ergonomic Mouse design principle is to keep the arm in a more comfortable, natural position and the hand in what is known as the handshake position. Ultimately, the vertical grip design aims to reduce pressure on the wrists median nerve and discomfort associated with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and repetitive stress injury.

As outlined in the user guide, it did take me a couple of days to become comfortable in manoeuvring this rather radical looking mouse. The handshake grip is comfortable, so much so that, until I adjusted to using this mouse I was probably a little heavy-handed with it. Your thumb rests across the two-way rocker button (which is for left and right click) and every now and again I would rest too heavily and click the left button. Similarly, your hand grips around the middle button on the mouse stick, and I would find myself involuntarily clicking on it and bringing up the scroll feature. However, these incidents decreased as I became more accustomed to using the mouse. Mastering this mouse was not as difficult as I initially expected. To obtain maximum benefit from this mouse, its helpful to observe other basic ergonomic principles such as support for your forearm, taking frequent breaks from your computer or alternating tasks when possible and removing desk clutter.

Overall, I did find the mouse comfortable to use and the very design of this mouse encourages you to use it correctly. However, its worth noting that the handshake grip may not necessarily be comfortable for all. For instance, if you suffer from arthritis in your hands, having your hands in the handshake grip could leave your hands feeling more stiff than usual.

One of the features I enjoyed using on this particular mouse was the scroll button (also known as the X button). It is conveniently located on the middle of the mouse stick where the trigger on a joystick would be. It provides 4-way scrolling, is programmable and opens the Quick Access Menu software (PC models only). The Quick Access Menu is a little pop-up screen that appears in the current application you are running to allow you to access any other applications you have running at the same time or access a recently used document.

Apart from the physical design change, this is a conventional mouse using traditional ball and sensor technology. In terms of popularity, this could be a slight drawback considering some of the innovative mice currently available on the market. The mouse was simple to install and the accompanying software comes with the option for daily ergonomic tips. With the recommended retail price of $89, its priced at the higher end of the market but for the extra comfort it may well be worth it.