Trackball

[Nowhere]

(unrelated to Brian's thread )

Short story: I was thinking for some time about seriously trying to use trackball (the idea seems very appealing to me), tried old version of Logitech Marble Mouse (photo) recently and it felt very good. Together with the thing that it might be helpfull for my right hand (was recently broken), I think I'm buying a trackball.

So just asking if there's, perhaps, something other that's good and around Marble Mouse price range (OTOH this thing already seems to fit my hand...)



PS. Too bad that while Trackman Marble FX looks...intriguing at least, it's out of supply, apparently...

PPS. Also, too bad there's probably only one user of trackballs here and I know what his response will be (and no, I don't want Kensington - not only they're impossible to find, the newer ones are "ricer's dream" (os, beeing serious - can you turn the lightshow off on optical models?))

[Gurm]

I still have a trackman here somewhere... can't remember if it was a regular trackman or a marble... You want it? Cover shipping.

(No, not kidding. Lemme go scrounge it up and take a picture...)

Definitely a marble... the kind with the thumb ball, though. Thumb ball and a scroll wheel.

[Helevitia]

Nowhere, I have tried almost all Locitech trackballs until recently. The Marble Mouse is by far, the best trackball out there, unfortunately, the design limits its ability to grow with the modern mouse(no scroll wheel). The one that you have pictured is the modern design. The old ones didn't have the extra buttons. The trackman that Gurm shows seemed to be very popular but I hated it. It would cramp up my thumb in minutes. Once I got used to the wheel, there was no going back. So now I use mice. I have the MX 1000 and the bluetooth part of it sucks. I have problems all the time with keeping it connected and some minor tracking issues here and there. I wish there was a nice trackball that met my needs. I've tried the Cordless Optical Trackman which has a wheel, but it feels to bulky and unnatural. I used it for 4 weeks and bought a new mouse. So now, I feel like I'm "settling" for a mouse for lack of a decent trackball. Bottom line, you will love the Marble Mouse. It feels "perfect" IMHO. They just need to figure out how to out a scroll wheel and I'd buy it again.

[Nowhere]

Yep, it definatelly felt very good when I tried it (oh Gurm, thanks, but I suspect it's possible I'd hate thumb-operated trackball; I'm not from cellphone generation )

And, oddly, I noticed that for some time I almost don't use scrollwheel, usually preferring to grab scrollbar with cursor (when quickly searching/etc. document) or hit page up/down, so I think I'll be fine...

[ALBPM]

I'm still using my old Trackman Marble FX..... I've looked too and there aren't any out there anymore.

[VJ]

I've been using a Kensington Expert Mouse 5 for years now, and am still pleased with it. But I don't know about those more recent models (about the leds and stuff).


Jörg

[az]

The marble mouse looks to be still available, at least it's still on Logitech's trackballs page.

The Cordless TrackMan Optical also looks interesting:



Or try and find a used Microsoft Trackball Explorer:



Or just buy this:



or this:

[Nowhere]

That MS Trackball Explorer also looks interesting...and most probably impossible to find (it's really quite simple - if any computer equipment is not popular in, say, US, it's even less (much less) popular here, especially if it's expensive and there are cheaper, "standard" alternatives). Besides...I think I prefer my pointing device to be new (I guess I think of it as "personall stuff"...though, oddly, I don't mind at all using public PCs in cafe, I probably see them in different category, as equivalent of prostitutes )
And yes, Marble Mouse is available everywhere, but Trackman Marble FX isn't (see it on google image search)
Also I wonder what's the point of cordless trackball...inflating price even more? (Cordless TrackMan Optical could be interesting for me...if corded)

[az]

Price inflation and buzzword factor, I guess.

[VJ]

Less cables on the desktop...
It can look nicer in for instance a travel agency, where the keyboard and mouse/trackball are just wireless (otherwise one is looking at the cables going round the back of the table).


Jörg

[ALBPM]

Just got the cordless Optical Trackman today. I'm still playing with the settings to get it
to run smooth.



It's just not as smooth as my Trackman Marble FX but has a lot of buttons/features not
on the FX.

I've updated to the 310 setpoint drivers already.

[dbdg]

My physio has recommended that I start using a trackball, which is the best for a newbie, thumb or finger wheel.

[Jessterw]

I would love to use a trackball, but I've just never been able to get used to them. Maybe it's time to give one another whirl, especially now that I've long since stopped gaming on the PC (helped of course by using a Mac ).

[Wulfman]

I'd say go for this:

cheers,
wulfman

[ALBPM]

My physio has recommended that I start using a trackball, which is the best for a newbie, thumb or finger wheel.

Get anything that doesn't require just your thumb to use.

Marble mouse


Or the one I got - Cordless Optical Trackman.