Both the Everglide Large Attack Pad and Giganta Mousemats have a little bevelled curve set into the front of them. This is presumably a nod at ergonomics, attempting to give a more fitted resting place for your wrist during periods of intense mouse-usage. Both pads are made from hard plastic, however, and are a little taller than normal cloth mousepads. Both these factors add together to a less than entirely ergonomic experience - not incredible uncomfortable and probably not injurious, but it can be improved upon. Everglide themselves obviously realise this because they have released a little squishy wrist-rest which fits neatly into that curve and gives you somewhere more forgiving than your desktop to rest your wrist upon. There's nothing amazing about it, it's full of some kind of squishy jelly or perhaps a gooey foam, coated in a soft wetsuit-like finish. The base is bendy plastic and the bottom surface is some incredible shiny sticky stuff. You can lift it straight off the table and it leaves the table unmarked, but there's no way this thing will slip from side to side. That's fine, you move your wrist around on top of it as you mouse around.
Mice are, to be honest, one of the least ergonomic things you'll use in your life (unless by day you operate a pneumatic aphalt packer or jackhammer). Chances are if you use one intensely for years at a time, at some point you will notice discomfort. I've been regularly using computers since a very young age (programming at 9 on a VIC-20 - no mouse, admittedly :) ) and in the last few months I've noticed a dull ache in my right wrist after long surfing or gaming sessions. This is not an intelligent thing to ignore - carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive strain injuries are, while perhaps abused for false compensation claims, very serious and painful when they genuinely exist. I'd like to avoid that as I've discovered I use my hands for quite a few things and I'd miss their full functionality. To this end I have examined a few claimed-ergonomic wrist devices including sculpted plastic handrests, wrist braces and little pads like the Everglide unit. The chief advantages of this kind of unit are that they're comparatively cheap, and they're easy and non-intrusive to use - this is important, so you won't "forget" to use them, lose bits of them, spend time assembling them before each use of the PC or find them uncomfortable. I'm no trained ergonomicist (in fact, I just made that word up :) ) but I've made a few observations of myself, my friends and co-workers for what seems to cause long-term discomfort of the wrist. I've also done a little reading on the subject. I'm no expert but I will share my observations here.
The first basic thing you're trying to avoid is having the tendons that control the fingers rubbing on the wrist joint. This is one of the major causes of carpal tunnel syndrome, because the tunnels which house those tendons will become irritated, swell and it will become painful to move your fingers. In order to do this you need to have your elbow and wrist at the same height so that your wrist is not bent. This pad is quite high, so if your elbow is already below your wrist you will find this accentuates the problem. However, this is more an issue with your chair-table layout. If your chair is a little high this wristrest will lessen the angle by elevating your wrist - this is a good thing. You probably want to consider a keyboard pad as well because you move your fingers much more when typing.
The second basic thing to avoid is having the soft tissue under your wrist being crushed between a hard surface (your desk) and the bones in your wrist. This soft tissue can be damaged because of lack of blood or the sheer pressure over an extended period. The simple solution is to put a soft surface under the heel of the hand and wrist to absorb the pressure. This is exactly what the Everglide Wrist Rest Plus is for. It's quite firm, but does have a bit of give in it - much more so than the desktop. It seems to absorb heat from your wrist and keep it warm, too, which is also good for promoting blood flow.
Overall, I'd say the unit has definitely increased my comfort. Certainly, the painful feeling of my wrist resting on the table is gone. Also, this lessens the height issue I mentioned in my reviews of both models of Everglide mousepads - they're a little tall and can force you to bend your wrist. This pad can alleviate that problem. They're cheap, they go well with the Everglide pads and they work fine. Obviously, they're not a medical aid and if you have genuine discomfort I urge you to get it sorted early, it's much harder to fix later.
Addendum
A recent review of this unit on Dan's Data seemed to
insist that the major drawcard of this unit was that it felt like
a breast. I value Dan's opinion and, being a scientist at heart,
this statement of course aroused my.. scientific curiosity. I
set out to perform a comparative analysis and here are my results:
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After much study I can confidently say there is no comparison. But, the Everglide's pretty good anyway. :)