Trackball thread

Trackball thread

Been thinking about getting one of these lately, are there any trackball users here? What are the pros and cons of switching over to a trackball?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=eDoXMJyimDU
experienceit.pl/download
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

Thumb track balls are the best because no wrist movement which is slow

I use one of those for on the go stuff, since it's great for places with no real mouse space. I wouldn't recommend one for stationary stuff, but for use with a mobile workstation I'd recommend nothing else.

I've been using that exact model at work for the last 4-5 years. I love it and can't imagine I ever spend time using a mouse.

Personally I like free rotating scroll wheels so I removed the spring to achieve that.

Those are basically the best trackball, but it sucks because they use shitty clickers that wear out after 6 months and start double clicking and they also don't have a bluetooth model.

I use that same exact model. It's pretty damn nice. The pros for me is that it requires very little room to use and is easy on your wrist. It's great for a laptop and the battery lasts forever.

The only problem is that it can be difficult to get pixel-perfect precision unless you want to give up speed. Trying to color grab one pixel for example, takes way too long. Outside of that, the precision difference will mainly be in your head until you get accustomed to using it.

The con with that model trackball is that I've noticed that even if it's not incredibly dirty, it acts as if it is and gets stuck mid-travel. It's definitely not a dealbreaker, but I have to clean it about twice a month.

>it sucks because they use shitty clickers that wear out after 6 months and start double clicking

It's not too hard to fix.
youtube.com/watch?v=eDoXMJyimDU

I use a trackman marble, I got it because its enormous and I have big hands. it has a finger ball. you click with your thumb and ring finger. pointer and middle work the ball

Its a good mouse, scrolling sucks natively but there are 3rd party drivers that fix it. sucks in games because middle click is sort of non-existant without remapping things and games don't seem to appreciate what the 3rd party scroll drivers do.

my two cents on trackball mice
They are better because you don't have to scoot them around the desk at all. they need no mousepad, they only need the amount of space that they take up in footprint

The ball enclosure does gunk up with finger crud after a while and its kind of gross, but if you keep your shit clean a trackball can be much better

also you can easily pull the ball out and play with it

one of the most important features in a mouse imho

I use that model, it's the best mouse I've ever used at work. I highly recommend it.

Official trackball rankings FROM BEST TO WORST

Microsoft Trackball Explorer
L-TRAC trackball
Kensington Slimblade Trackball
Kensington Expert Mouse
Elecom M-XT1DRB with M570's ball mod
Kensington Orbit Trackball
Sanwa MA TB39
Logitech Trackman Marble
Logitech M570

I used this for a while and am now playing around with the Trackman.

Thinking I might go back, though. I like the thumb ball a lot more than a finger tip trackball. The index + middle finger doesn't seem nearly as dexterous as the thumb, at least in my case.

They're both comfy.

I love my M570. I don't want to touch a regular mouse ever again.

>Microsoft Trackball Explorer
What is this abortion

I have one of these at work and I love it

it's awesome if you're coming from a regular mouse since you'll get used to it super fast and can game on it reasonably well. for more office type of work, kensington mice might be better but will take some getting used to.

experienceit.pl/download can help to deal with the button issue. the issue usually is that it'll double click randomly when you single click, annoying as fuck and soldering a new click switch will fix this, but the program gives you a lot more time in killing those phantom 2nd clicks.

there's also an autohotkey script to deal with it, and it might be better since the issue can happen with the other buttons.

I've got an old kensington turboring that I use everyday. It's nice for work and surfing the web, much more comfortable than using a mouse.

However, you should not even consider using one for games.

yfw you see they sell for crazy money on ebay

not that user, but guess what... they are fucking incredible. I can't believe there isn't a chink-shit version

Fingertip ball placement is better than thumb, but both are pretty dope once you get used to them.

I bought one since I sometimes use my computer from the couch, and honestly, I prefer it over a mouse now. It took a little bit of getting used to, but once you get used to it, it's more comfortable and requires less desk space.

I use one of these as well, but I have small hands, so it seems like they're for all hand sizes. It's not perfect, the tracking and acceleration are a bit inaccurate. I still like it despite that, it's very comfortable to use.

>The only problem is that it can be difficult to get pixel-perfect precision unless you want to give up speed.
That's why you use finger balls instead of thumb balls. You get precision and speed.

Trackballs are great for manipulating source code, documents, and spreadsheets. If you decide to get one make sure you get one like or
where you manipulate the ball with your index and middle fingers--they have the greatest dexterity on your hand. Trying to control a ball with your thumb is tedious and error-prone.