Rating: 
Summary: From an owner of 3-gen of trackball.. this is the BEST EVER
Review: I own the original Kensington Expert Mouse (2-button), the TurboMouse wireless (with the internet quick launch buttons), and now the Expert Mouse 7.0.I have to say.. the original was VERY good. The wireless Turbo was a dud given that the scroller was unusable. This one takes an ingenious design of putting the scroller in a VERY usable place. It really perfects the design. 4-buttons are nice since they are programmable, but the scroller is the key to it all. I can't imagine using a trackball without now (and honestly I had wondered if it was possible to have a scroller given a trackball design.. but Kensington has done it!). I will admit however, that my original 2-button ExpertMouse is somewhat superior in terms of total control and feel of the ball. I had actually replaced my ball with a billiards 9-ball which adsd more weight, and an even better feeling of control. The newer Expert 7.0 is optical and thus probably better for anti-skipping, but is a bit light in feel. However the scroller makes it worth it. Overall I have to say this is the ultimate trackball. I also own a Kensington TurboBall and I have to tell you that trackball downright stinks. The Expert is expensive but definitely worth it. My original Expert has lasted me some 8 years now without a hitch. They are built to last. Now I just wish I could afford to have 4 of them, for my laptop, desktop, and other work PC.
Rating: 
Summary: Laptop + Standby = Big Mess
Review: I purchased this trackball for my wife for use with her laptop computer - which she uses around the house. This was to replace the standard mouse attached to her docking station. I ran into a variety of problems trying to get the driver to work w/ standby mode on the laptop. It seems everything works fine when the laptop is booted clean with the trackball attached. However, when put into standby and resumed, the mouse driver gets the button mappings all confused unless you leave them at the standard settings. While the built-in touchpad on the laptop works after a reboot, putting the laptop into standby and resuming with the trackball disconnected leaves the touchpad useless.
Finally, the button mapping in the driver remaps the touchpad buttons on the laptop as well - making it difficult to move back and forth if you so desire.
I tried to get support from Kensington via their website on this issue - however I received no response.
I also agree with the other scroll ring comments. Not a home run, maybe not even a single. While innovative, the ring is difficult to turn without also moving the ball unless you position your hand in a position which cannot be good for those trying to avoid repetitive motion injuries...
Rating:
Summary: Not a worthy sucessor to the Turbo Mouse
Review: I thought this was going to be the perfect input device. After all it looks like the old Turbo Mouse (v. 4 &5) and it does have that ingenious scroll ring. But after a few hours I packed it up and returned it. While it does look right, it doesn't feel right. The old Expert and Turbo mice had a steel ball bearing movement that felt great: smooth and steady. While the new Expert Mouse 7 may have better technology (optical tracking) it doesn't feel the same at all. Upon closer inspection you'll see plastic nubs that support the main track ball where there used to be steel rollers. While I'm not advocating that they lose the optical sensor I don't see why they couldn't have kept the steel wheels that gave the unit such great feel. That being said, it does look great and the scroll ring is also very nice. I just wished they hadn't changed what made the old Expert/Turbo mice so great.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best thing I have ever bought.
Review: I toyed around with different trackballs after my wrist began to hurt from a mouse. The microsoft versions, with there quarter inch ball just hurt me more. I tried to buy the legendary Trackman Marble FX, but I could only find a used version that dissapointed me. I bought this as a last resort, and oh my god it is amazing. The ball is huge, great if you have big hands (i'm 6'4). The ring is great for scrolling, and the 4 giant buttons are great as well. pick this up!
Rating:
Summary: They finally did it right, again!
Review: I used to be totally sold on the old heavy duty billiard ball expert mice. However, about 5 years ago something bad happened. They cheapened the fit and finish of the ball and mechanisms. I purchased a couple but quickly passed them down to my kids. I ended up getting a AMicrosoft trackball that felt much better than the crap expert mice. Ok, all that buildup to state that 3 months ago I got my son the KEM 7.0 when his crap KEM gave out. Wow! The smoothness of the ball/pointer movement is excellent. The old feel of what I remember of the KEM is back! If you like trackballs, I can heartily recommend these! Oh, BTW, I just got my new KEM 7.0 a week ago. Every bit as nice.
Rating:
Summary: Never want a "scoot-mouse" again!
Review: I'm not sure what the few unsatisfied reviewers found wrong with this product, but I'm glad I decided to take a chance. I agree with the majority; it is everything I remembered and loved about the Turbo Mouse. The scroll wheel is an awesome design addition, too! Just be patient and give your computer a minute or two to figure out what you just plugged in (I think it took my slow machine about three). Thank you to the vast majority who took the time to provide positive feedback. I'm very excited to have a track ball again!!
Rating:
Summary: great product
Review: I've used Kensington Expert Trackballs for many years, after upgrading from Logitech trackballs. My previous Kensington recently died after 8(?) years of great performance.
On this model, Amazon beat most brick and mortar store prices by about $20+, plus free shipping and no tax. It arrived ontime.
The installation on a Dell desktop running XP took about 2 minutes. I plugged the USB cable into the PC and was immediately recognized. I downloaded current drivers from the Kensington site, adjusted the settings and started using it. I find the feel comparable to my earlier versions, plus it comes with the ergonomic pad. I've read the other reviews and don't really understand the gripes.
One thing to be aware of is that the Mouseworks driver appears to have some incompatibility with the Firefox browser. Not sure which is the culprit. After each Firefox launch I have to reset the pointer acceleration and the snap-to setting. Plus Firefox does not recognize the scroll function; it shows the scroll icon on the screen after chording, but neither the ring nor the ball activate scrolling. I believe the problem is with Firefox since scrolling works in IE and I have no reset problems. Inconvenient, but not sure if this is a Kensington problem per se. I e-mailed them to ask, got a prompt response to install the default driver rather than the newer Beta version, but that didn't work either. (Aside: I wonder if the MS trackball recognizes Firefox?)
Great product, decent price from Amazon versus others. I highly recommend it even with the Firefox issue.
Rating:
Summary: Design and features are worth the price
Review: It's big, bulky and blocky so I'm amazed at how natural feeling and comfortable this trackball is. I had initially discounted this one from my search for a trackball for graphics work due the the price and the fact that it looked decidedly uncomfortable for small hands like mine.
When I took it out of the box, It felt a little "boggy" compared to the trackballs I was used to. It didn't take long to adjust the software to my preferences so that the fact that it doesn't spin freely becomes an asset to detail work. This trackball allows for excellent control and is precise enough for photo editing at the pixel level. The software is a huge asset. Not only does the software allow acceleration adjustment on a scale, but each of the 4 buttons are programmable with key and click combinations as well as by application, thereby providing an amazing number of options.
The scroll ring was slightly disappointing. For such an innovative idea, it doesn't seem to be quite there yet. As so many others have pointed out, it certainly lacks smooth movement, though not enough to make it unusable. The overall usability of the trackball and software more than makes up for that.
Rating:
Summary: Praise++
Review: Just another geek praising this mouse...
As far as trackballs go, it's a good price. The ball has a great surface and an acceptable weight. The configuration program that comes with it is just what I needed. All 4 buttons are programmable to GREAT EXTENT. No hardware conflicts. Easy to clean. The ball is also surprisingly scratch resistant. The scroll ring is simply brilliant, unquestionably the best implementation of this function.
The wrist rest could be bigger, but I'm fine not using it at all. It is a trackball, so if you're not used to them, there will be an adjustment period. I found that the ball work better once it had hand oils on it. The scroll ring (though amazing) sounds like turning an empty soda can on a concrete floor... (okay, it's not THAT bad).
Buy it, and say good bye to arm strain, inefficient design, and your productivity on the internet.
Rating:
Summary: Kensington is back!
Review: My old Kensington Expert Mouse Pro 6.0 (wireless) felt great, and solved all the health problems that my old Logitech thumb-trackball caused me. But it was a real dog -- Kensington sent me a new unit twice, but each one was as bad or worse than the last -- huge power drains; jumpy cursor; constant cleaning required; etc. BUT -- the new Kensington Expert Mouse 7.0 is a dream. Its ball is as smooth as silk and gives absolute total control over cursor movement, even in CAD and mapping applications. There is simply no comparison with the previous version. Maybe it's the optical pickup, or giving up on cordless, or maybe just better quality control at the studio and factory, but 7.0 is a trackball to get excited about!
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