Microsoft Trackball Optical

Rating:
Summary: Productivity is up
Review: I thought I made a huge mistake....I purchased this trackball first (through another retailer), then I decided to read some reviews on it here. Needless to say my expectations were not too high. Fast forward to now, this trackball has performed admirably in pretty tough conditions in our shipping dept.'s warehouse. It's never sticky and never needs cleaning. I'll probably never use a mouse again.



Rating:
Summary: Constantly skips and sticks
Review: While the ergonomic layout is great (it really feels natural in your hand) the buttons are too close together and by FAR the WORST problem with this mouse is that it sticks, and get stuck even when the ball and the socket and bearings are clean! Horrible, horrible...I'm throwing this crap away, and will get a logitech like I had before.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, but inconsistent.
Review: I'll keep this short and sweet. I bought one of these when I upgraded my last computer, and it's beautiful. The thing still works like a dream 2 years later. When I got my new comp, I couldn't find them at retail anymore.

Now this model really appealed to me, for several reasons - smoothness of motion, ease of use, you don't have to clean it, fully customizable five-button versatility, and it's safe for your wrist, unlike any non-trackball mouse out there (I also found that it surprisingly effective in FPS games, great precision aiming) - so I wasn't about to give up. I went online and purchased it directly from Microsoft (bad idea, they charge waaay too much for everything. If I'd even thought about amazon...).

I got it, and was incredibly disappointed. The motion was horrible. There was a manufacturing defect in both the one I ordered and in the replacement Microsoft sent. One of the bearings that supports the trackball's motion was set too far back, so that the TB didn't rotate freely. Instead, it scraped along the socket and was extremely difficult to use.

I'm glad I was tenacious and eventually gave it one last try. I ordered from Amazon and got a good one. So now I have two beautifully functional models in my house. 2 out of 4? Inconsistent quality, but if you get one that works properly, there's no other mouse I'd recommend more highly.

Rating:
Summary: More of what Microsoft does best
Review: Just as with it's software, Microsoft has copied someone else's design (in this case, Logitec's Trackman) only to create an inferior product. The construction and plastic are cheap and toy-like. Right out of the box, the ball movement feels sticky and makes an annoying scraping sound. Others have complained about it collecting gunk too quickly, but I frankkly wonder if some good greasy gunk might actually make it smoother. Total waste of money in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: waste of money, bad engineering, won't move smoothly
Review: I browsed to this review using my new Logitech Trackman Wheel. I wish I could have used the Microsoft Trackball Mouse that I purchased a couple of weeks ago but that has been deposed to the junk bin. It's sticky and no amount of cleaning, chemicals or modifications will make it move smoothly. It seems that the ball is composed of a plastic that gets slightly soft and the steel bearings in the carrier tend to drag into it.

I've used thumbwheel trackballs for years and I think a lot of the positive reviews for this product are based on the layout alone. Unfortunately the mechanism is screwed up and will have to be redesigned if it is to work adequately.

[...] The Microsoft Trackball Optical Mouse is crap.

Rating:
Summary: the best (or unusable)
Review: Most people I know dislike, or simply cannot use, one of these. I love it. If you have the manual dexterity to use one, then this is the best input device around. I wish they would come out with a mini bluetooth version for laptops.

Rating:
Summary: Just not smooth.
Review: Count me along with those that don't like this trackball. I made the switch from the conventional mouse when I started to notice my wrist aching. The thumb control seemed like a good idea.

I like the ergonomics of this trackball. The buttons are well placed and the scroll wheel works great. But this device fails miserably in the most important area - the trackball itself. Quite simply, it is not smooth. The motion is jerky, making it difficult to get teh cursor on words when editing type. I do a lot of word processing and cut and paste throughout the day. This is a nightmare with this unit.

Gunk quickly gets caught up inside the ball cradle, which must be cleaned daily. And I thought the opticals would be maintenance free. I am always taking out the ball and wiping it down to try to make it spin smoother. It works for a bit and then I am back to the jerky motion.

My best advice, which I will follow from now on, it try it before you buy. Not recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Great product
Review: Like another review, I have multiples of this trackball. Great design, hand-hugging curve, 5 buttons. Only wireless would make it better.


Rating:
Summary: Help! Where can I buy an old Trackman Marble+?
Review: I've used Logitech 'thumballs' for CAD work for over 15 years. I've bought at least a dozen including every Logitech model except the most recent. The curent Logitech trackballs (thumballs) are too small for a normal sized hand! I can't imagine what kind of computer user they based their size on. Their previous model, the Logitech Marble is what I've used for the past ~6 years, is almost large enough; not quite, but it works. But when a button started getting flakey, I had to find a new one. As I said, I believe the current Logitech models are too small, so, against my better judgement, I bought this Microsoft trackball. It is large enough for my hand. The extra buttons are useful, but would take some getting used to. But all of that is irrelevent. The ball simply does not move smoothly. It sticks and is generally 'heavy'. The ball on my 6 year old Logitech feels better. Some other reviewers mention the ball riding on plastic 'nubs', however this may be a newer model as the ball definately rests on three metal posts. That is just like the support on my old Logitech ball, but there it works; the Microsoft trackball doesn't. An associate bought one at the same time and it feels the same way. Along with the other reviews mentioning the same problem, I would have to conclude that the sticky ball is endemic to the Microsoft trackball, and could not recommend it under any circumstances.