Looking for new Trackball (maybe mouse too)

Hello all, I am currently looking for a new pointing device-be it a trackball or mouse. I currently have the Logitech Trackman Marble (rebranding of the Marble Mouse), a Wacom Graphire 4, as well as a Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical I scrounged for 5 dollars a few weeks ago..

With all of that out--I want to get another one as more of a primary device-the others I will keep for backups of course. I really want to get the Microsoft Trackball Explorer as it seems to be the ultimate solution-the Logitech trackball I have as mentioned above is okay, but for scrolling-its really not up to par, particularly since I can never seem to get them configured correctly for scrolling via Logitech's SetPoint software.

The Trackball Explorer looks really neat, and I think it'd be perfect for me, but the price is the iffy part, I suppose. If its really worth it, I'll go for it, but I can't seem to find any trackball I think I'd like-I rather dislike the thumb ones, and the index ones (other than the Microsoft trackball) seem funky in some way or another. Perhaps I'm just picky, who knows.

So yeah, there you have it.

torch

One trick I found with logitech mice/keyboards is you're far better off never installing the logitech drivers and using the default mice and keyboard drivers. The logitech drivers are always loaded with bugs and useless features.

I recently got mt first trackball and it's the Logitech M570 and is wireless. I like it but my favorite pointing device is a pen tablet, I have a Wacom Bamboo pen tablet as my main pointing device which is about my 5th tablet I had.

I have a Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical, the one with the side mounted ball. I find that after a while - or more quickly if doing anything precise - my hand starts to ache at and along the line of the thumb.

My work place recently bought me a wireless trackball mouse. It is a Logitech M570...it is okay, the only problem I have with it is the track ball is set too close in for me. I have big hands and I have to bend my thumb more than I would like to. I have another trackball at home and it is by far the most comfortable mouse I have ever used. I will get the info for you when I go home.

Edited by Yoldering 2011-08-09 1:08 PM

I don't see anything wrong with the Logitech Setpoint drivers. As long as you download the newest version instead of the one that came with the keyboard or mouse, it should be okay. I really like Setpoint because I can use all the extra buttons on my mouse and see the battery level with it. But I don't understand all the rage about trackballs. I would only use one if I didn't have any desk space for a mouse, which to me is much more natural, the cursor mirroring the motion I make on the pad. Rolling a little ball just isn't the same and seems like it would take more time.

I agree on the quality of the "drivers". Logitech have always been like this. They spend more time trying to brand your system with their image and logo, providing gimics and intrusive utilities than they do making drivers actual drivers.

For people with RSI or carpel tunnel trackballs are 100% necessary. I don't have either fortunately, but I have been rotating between a normal and a trackball to give my wrist and arm a rest from the repetition. Some trackballs allow a higher level of accuracy too as you're not moving your arm and have more subtle control just with your thumb or fingertip for less effort.

I had to get a tack-ball mouse because the physical therapist ordered my company to get me one. the drawer my keyboard sits in is 4.5 inches lower than the top of my desk. I was having to reach over a foot to move my old mouse. My shoulder's feel much better now!





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aab, I like the pen tablet I have as well, very good. SetPoint can be irksome after an install with that silly product registration stuff.

C:Amie, is it the Microsoft Wheel Mouse optical? I search engine'd it and came up with the standard intelli-mouse esque one.. Do you mean the Trackball optical?

MobilePro Master, well, I was mainly wanting [a trackball] one because after using a mouse/trackpad for casual use, it hurts my wrist. If anything, the trackball would be switched around between my Wheel Mouse optical I got for 6 bucks.

Yoldering, yeah I see what you mean, that Chinese netbook is hard for me to type on lol. As for wireless, I wanted to look at the cordless optical trackman by Logitech, but it has this huge dongle for the wireless (it does not work with their microusb adapters, or bluetooth for that matter).

Anyway, I've been looking around, and it seems there are four trackballs I think I'd like, I'll list them here with pros/cons of each.

Microsoft Trackball Explorer-seems PERFECT, but too expensive
Logitech Trackman Marble FX-same form factor, seems solid; still a bit too much for me, plus not usb native (PS/2), scrolling still seems clunky like my Trackman Marble Mouse and the USB/ps2 adapter'd be clunky, but maybe I could deal?
Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman-has a huge wireless dongle. Why is it even wireless if the dongle is huge? It seems like a good trackball, but it really needs to utilise bluetooth, or Logitech's newer USB micro adapters
Adesso Trackball a la listed . Seems great, including scroll wheel, which I really like, but worried about construction. It also works with default mouse drivers, so it could be a win..?

Anyway,
Thank you all for your responses and help..

In reply to C:Amie, what more could you ask from a driver other than it allowing you to use your mouse and all it's buttons/functions? Some Logitech mice have a cool button that allows you to see all your windows in a way different from the views built into the OS.

MobilePro Master, I agree 100%, I rather dislike installing a bunch of stuff. I already have Intellipoint and Setpoint on my laptop for my respective devices.. I even did a cleanout, I finally nuked Java (I know, that's sooo radical), Adobe Air, and Adobe Flash (Chrome has Flash built in as well as updating automatically).

The only time I installed any Logitech drivers, was for my G-15 gaming keyboard. Other then that, as long as I can point with them, I'm happy.

Tell me why it needs to be a 90MB install file to make a mouse work

It's a trackball optical 1.0

I don't really care about how much space anything takes up on my laptop's HD, it being 640 GB. I don't know what to do with 640 GB in the first place...

Yoldering, I'm sorry-I missed that post by you. Yeah, I feel better when using the trackball sometimes.. Just wish I had a better one lol.



Oh okay, cool, C:Amie, that makes more sense. That one looks like one of the better trackballs with the thumb.. By the way, C:Amie, Intellipoint 8.2 came out this week! Are you psyched?!



Yeah um, you're fortunate, I need to get a new hard drive. I have 30gb left on 120 (and that's with removing a bunch of stuff, it'd probably be at ~7gb free if I didn't..

I still understand what you guys mean when you need to delete/uninstall stuff to make room. On the 40 GB hard drive in my old Compaq desktop before I thought about upgrading, I uninstalled Office. I might re-install it on the new drive. I had less than a gig free.

By the way, multiple versions of Flight Simulator take up about 20 GB on the drive. Torchood4, why do you need a new drive if you have 30 gigs free? Does anyone else agree that giant hard drives like the 1 TB ones in desktops today are too big for practicality? I think they should only include those on computers that will be used to store hours of media - TV shows and stuff like that. It would save money. No one normally uses more than 100 gigs it seems.

Edited by MobilePro Master 2011-08-10 10:41 PM