[dvessel]

What gives the finger controlled track balls an edge is that it's controlled with the finger tips and that ball is pretty large giving precision. I've used it over 10 years ago when it was called a Turbo Mouse. Great for Illustrator moving those bezier handles.

With a mouse, even if you wanted to keep the pointer still. You'd often have the "jiggles" since the hand is always on it. With the trackball, you can define precise movements and let go when need to keep it still.

So IMO, it depends on application (and preference). For some apps, a trackball can add precision. The cording behavior is nice too on the Kensington. There are the four buttons but you can also "cord" or click a combination of two buttons to give alternate input. Definitely handy.

These days, I'm happy with my trackpad. Amazing what we can get used to.

 

[fjf]

Right now I am trying the logitech cordless trackman optical. Why a trackball has to be cordless is beyond me. In addition, the left click button is clicked with the thumb pushing towards the center of the thing, which usually moves it. To avoid it, you must push the other side with the small finger, but there you have the right button. In top of that, the left button is sooooo close to the back and forth buttons (for the browser) that left clicking is reeeeeeeeally difficult. Bad, BAD design. Another logitech back to the shop. I'll have to purchase the kensington trackball through internet.

 

[VeipaCray]

Sadly, I'm not coordinated enough to use a trackball.

 

[Imaginary Fanfare]

I recently got the kensington expert mouse, and I can't imagine why anyone would consider any other trackball. It's just that good. The only gripe is the scroll ring feels kind of gritty at times, but other than that this thing is incredibly comfortable.

 

[Riboge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjf /img/forum/go_quote.gif Right now I am trying the logitech cordless trackman optical. Why a trackball has to be cordless is beyond me. In addition, the left click button is clicked with the thumb pushing towards the center of the thing, which usually moves it. To avoid it, you must push the other side with the small finger, but there you have the right button. In top of that, the left button is sooooo close to the back and forth buttons (for the browser) that left clicking is reeeeeeeeally difficult. Bad, BAD design. Another logitech back to the shop. I'll have to purchase the kensington trackball through internet.

I've used one of these for quite a while and never have experienced any of the difficulties you describe. If you rest your thumb on the bottom of the indented area and move it to the right to left-click you never hit the forward and back buttons by mistake. You are meant to rest your hand on the unit, so your last two fingers naturally hold it in place when clicking with the thumb. I have used trackballs for many years so I guess they seem natural to me. Obviously they require much less desk space. The wireless feature is often superfluous but sometimes important: I use it to control my pc playing thru my speaker system from 12 feet away using the ht monitor to display the player software.

 

[appophylite]

Here's the Logitech Cordless Trackman Wheel that I've been using for the last 5 years. I love the thing to death and it's comfortable as hell (palm rests on back, thumb on trackball, index finger on left click button, middle finger on wheel and ring finger on right click button). I'm hoping to get a few more good years out of it as I really don't want to get a new one any time soon.

 

[dgbiker1]

I'm still a mouse person...
But I've become quite enamored with the trackpad on my macbook thanks to the two-finger scroll and right-click. I don't even use the mouse anymore.

 

[StanleyB1]

I started using a trackball since my days of owning a Commodore Amiga. I have been using the A4Tech trackball since it has both horizontal and vertical scroll wheels. I also got a Logitech marble trackball.

 

[TheRobbStory]

WACOM.

 

[Repooc]

mouse FTW

end thread.

(4 more posts to go)

 

[Cousin Patty]

I use a trackball explorer for day to day and use a razer diamonback plasma for games

 

[BIG POPPA]

Old School, just a 2 finger mouse user.

 

[D-EJ915]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG POPPA /img/forum/go_quote.gif Old School, just a 2 finger mouse user.

to be old school you have to be a 3-button user

/me hates how apple and microsoft perverted the mouse into the defiled 1 and 2 button failures that the mouse became

 

[dura]

I got some pains in my underarm from mouseusing 10 years ago and switched to a logitech marble, even though I'm lefthanded and that thing is righthand-only. I loved it very much and it was a sad moment when last year the left button stopped respnoding. I switched to a logitech cordless trackball, slightly less ergonomical, it took some getting used to, but now I love it. And there's lots of little buttons that can bep ut to good use.

 

[littletree76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjf /img/forum/go_quote.gif Right now I am trying the logitech cordless trackman optical. Why a trackball has to be cordless is beyond me. In addition, the left click button is clicked with the thumb pushing towards the center of the thing, which usually moves it. To avoid it, you must push the other side with the small finger, but there you have the right button. In top of that, the left button is sooooo close to the back and forth buttons (for the browser) that left clicking is reeeeeeeeally difficult. Bad, BAD design. Another logitech back to the shop. I'll have to purchase the kensington trackball through internet.

I first started with Logitech Marble Mouse (actually trackball model) then Cordless Trackman with my iMac. Trackball provides much better control and comfort than mouse. Since switching to trackball few years ago, I have never want to use Apple Mighty Mouse which is bundled with every desktop Mac.

Yes, you have to rest your palm on the Logitech cordless trackman rather than trying to handle it with just two fingers. That is the reason why the trackball is contoured in this shape to fit the palm. You should find using trackball is less fatigue than using mouse. Avoid those trackball models with thumb ball instead of finger ball, it is quite difficult to control trackball with the thumb instead of index finger with sufficient accuracy (frustration is guaranteed).

If you are running Mac OS X, avoid installing Logitech driver completely as it will cause problem to other applications due to the fact that the driver depends on hacks provided by Application Enhancer utility. Instead purchase and install versatile third-party utility such as ControllerMate (OrderedBytes :: ControllerMate) for custom programming with all controls on the trackball. In fact the generic mouse driver of Mac OS X works reasonably well with the trackball for basic controls without the need of dedicated driver. With ControllerMate helper running in background, you can have a lot more control functions than what the Logitech driver can provide.