Rating: 
Summary: Smooth, accurate, elegant
Review: I've used Kensington Turbo Mouse trackballs at work for years with a great deal of satisfaction. I especially like the solid feeling and control of the billiardball-sized trackball in my hand. But I recently bought a laptop, and wanted an input device that is more portable than the Turbo Mouse. I tried a co-worker's Kensington Orbit and hated it. The bearings seemed cheap and unresponsive and the trackball felt clunky in my hand. So it was with some trepidation that I decided to try Kensington's Orbit Optical trackball. It is everything that I had hoped and more.Appearence: It is smooth silvery plastic with an elegant sculpted shape. A matte black, slightly rubberized texured area runs down the middle. Beneath, and easily visible from the sculpted sides, is a translucent plastic that allows the varying-brightness of the red optical light to shine through -- lighting up the desk surface like a Close Encounter mothership coming in for a landing. The trackball itself is a grey-black marblized plastic ball about an inch and half in diameter. Comfort: It feels great in your hand. Can be used left or right handed. The black texure and shape of the casing orient your hand so you always find the sweet spot immediately. The two generously sized buttons are always where you expect and have a positive click for both feel and sound. Even using the Orbit Optical all day, your hand, wrist and arm are neither tired nor strained. Accuracy: The trackball feels every bit as accurate as the best full-size mechanical turbo trackballs that I've used. I make my living as a professional computer artist. I have no time or patience for inferior products. The Orbit Optical does the job in spades. The accelerating cursor flies when you want to cover some serious real estate across the screen, and yet will slow down to pixel-by-pixel accuracy when you need to bear down on fine detail. Kensington's simple-to-use Mouseworks software allows you to infinitely tailor the speed and sensitivity of the device to your individual needs and preferences. Mouseworks also lets you program each button for custom clicks, drags -- even launching programs and visiting websites. Works with PCs and Macs (including OS X). Portability: It's relatively light and small but without feeling delicate or fragile. Tucks into my backpack without a bulge. I considered some cordless models, but ultimately decided that the USB cord takes up little space, weighs next to nothing and is more bulletproof reliable than cordless. I keep most of it permanently wrapped up -- allow about 18 inches to unfurl to sit the trackball next to my PowerBook. Price: Although it is among the least expensive of Kensington's line and a bargain among other trackballs too, I am more than satisfied with its performance. Pretty cool-looking, too. Overall: If you're tired of pushing around a mouse, or find carpal tunnel calling, you'll likely be very pleased latching onto one of these babies. Kensington hasn't done a great job marketing these gems and their copywriting doesn't do the Orbit Optical justice.
Rating:
Summary: 3'rd Different Kensington Trackball
Review: This is my 3'rd trackball and it is very good - fast, smooth, very silent and easy to point. I like this better than the K64226 because of its quietness. I bought this to use with my laptop and the trackball is much quicker and easier to work with than the pressure pad. K64226 Orbit (2nd) trackball -My wife & I both like this one.She was a mouse user but finds the the ball much better for the same reasons that other user-reviewers have touted.Particularly, no more sliding, lifting, banging the mouse around on the table or pad. K64210 Turbo Mouse with 4 buttons - my first trackball - is also very good.The larger ball does provide better pointing, however slowing down the pointer speed will improve pointer accuracy. Feel /Touch-wise, both Orbit trackballs are about the same - fitting the hand comfortably (mine are not large). The center rubber-like strip does provide a wee-bit more traction for the hand to rest on. Which Orbit to choose? Basically which look do you prefer? These 2 orbit trackballs would be the ones to go with if you are looking for a mouse replacement or for on-the-go laptop use. Both work well, works like a mouse using the pc's given mouse controls and zips me thru my excel, word and graphics applications - cut, paste, edit, crop, enhance, etc. For the turbo mouse, if you like having 4 buttons to control menu functions (via the free Kensington download software) that is fine too. I have tried earlier versions, but left and right button functions are more than adequate. I have tried the L-tek t-balls. They are much smaller to carry but the control via the thumb is not very good vs. index & middle finger movement. Other slimmer models with the ball in the center are too narrow. One still has to curl one's fingers to trigger the buttons. With all of the Kensington's, you just rest your hand on top of the trackballs and your fingers will naturally fall onto the trigger buttons. No gripping, just clicking. Get a Kensington. Dare I say that you will have a "ball":) Note : I am right-handed but use my left hand to use the track-ball - the ring finger triggers the left click button while the thumb bangs the right click button. Frees up the right hand to input numbers via the 10-touch keypad, scroll or quickly bang on the enter key. Muscle fatigue in one arm and wrist is reduced since the right and left hands share the workload.
Rating:
Summary: my wrists dont hurt!
Review: this is the first time i buy and use a trackball. before this i was using a mouse for nearly 20 years. i am on my Mac nearly 14 hours a day if not more and my wrist was always hurting me. Since i got this orbit trackball the pain is gone! and in such a short time, took only a few days before my wrist stopped hurting. how is the trackball? since this one is optical u dont have a problem with dirt building up inside so it will always be smooth. if you sweat a lot you might find this trackbal could get slippery and in return harder to control. i am a graphic designer and for me the mouse is more accurate, but since this trackball really solves my wrist issues i dont mind the extra trouble in some situations. this trackball looks great and is very comfortable. i definetly dont regret my purchase..
Rating: 
Summary: Nice!
Review: Very nice optical trackball - love the sleek silver & black look (the one I have at work is the light gray orbit with the blue rolling ball - not as attractive!) The only downside to this one is that the white contact points get dirty real fast - I have to clean it every 2 weeks or else the movement gets slow and clumsy...I recommend this trackball for those who have tendonitis or cts.
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