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Microsoft Trackball Optical

Microsoft Trackball Optical

List Price: $44.95
Your Price: $19.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Microsoft optical trackball
Review: I have ALWAYS prefered a trackball over a traditional mouse. Somehow trying to keep the movements of the mouse on that tiny pad always eluded me. The trackball had problems of it's own though...gunk was always getting onto the rubber wheels and messing up the preformance.
Now comes the optical trackball! It is a GREAT product. Whoever came up with the notion that it was cleaning-free though made a grave mistake. Dirt and gunk still collect in the areas around the "eyes" and after sometime the ball seems to feel "glued" in place. After a cleaning sometimes the ball is still hard to move around until it gathers enough natural oils from your hand. I think they need to come up with a more slick ball-to-mouse contact point for more effortless use.
Don't get me wrong...I love this newest trend. It's the best so far. That's why I gave it four stars. Until they come out with a trackball that doesn't require so much cleaning though, four stars is as high as I can go.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible decision!
Review: First of all, my trackball came in damaged. The infrared ball is not working at all; only work the center and the two other buttoms. What happened? I really don't know.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Your wrist will thank you
Review: I am a former user of the Intellimouse Optical, which in my opinion, is probably one of the best mouses (by the way, the plural of 'mouse' when referring to a computer mouse [not the animal], is 'mouses'... now you can be all grammatically correct and impress your coworkers with your incredible wealth of knowledge and sophistication. You should have no problem getting dates and scoring big at the office after busting out with that little bit of grammar trivia. It's virtually guaranteed) on the market. The optical laser tracking is of course fantastic.. mooth accurate, no mouse pad required, and you don't have to pull those little hair/dust/black-junk caterpillars of the mouse ball wheels ever few weeks. Plus, the addition of two extra buttons allowing for back/forward quick browsing on the net, or any application, in addition to the great scroll wheel technology, including the 'press down' option that allots you dditional scrolling options was fantastic. I liked it slightly better than the Intellimouse Explorer, only because it's size it my hand better, and it could be used by either hand, unlike the right-hand designed IM Explorer.
ANYWAY, my wrist started to get sore and I suspected the mouse was the culprit. I decided to try to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome and try a trackball. All I knew about trackballs was that every time I tried one, they were a real pain to use, but that everyone who had one said they were the greatest thing since they canceled The XFL. Upon arrival at my local gigantor computer/music/video/tv/appliance store, I was mad there were only a few trackballs to choose from, as opposed to the six million mouses to pick from. I decided to go with the Trackball Optical, because it was the closest to the mouse I'd been using, and I've always had good experiences with Microsoft pointing devices.
This trackball is exceptional. It's design is sleek and low profile. It fits your hand like a glove, with just enough grip to keep your hand from sliding around, without being to abrasive. I have pretty good size hands (I'm 6'4") and have had no problems with the buttons.. they're just the right size. My 4'10 roommate likes it too, she says it fits her hand better than her mouse. The ball itself is really nice, and has that red-glow coming from around it that we all got used to from the bottom of the optical mouses. It's also good sized, and allows for easier movement with your thumb. Plus it comes with all the great features that I mentioned above from the Intellimouse Optical. You will NOT be sorry if you buy this product. It's a cinch to set up, and my mouse-to-trackball-proficiency time period was much shorter than I expected. I've tried many other people's trackballs since, and this one is definitely the best. If it were my prize pig, it'd bring home a blue ribbon from the 4-H fair every time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: *Former* Logitech Trackball User
Review: Trash your Logitech trackball and buy this. My Logitech trackball died of old age the other day (6 years), and I bought this one in its place. What a blessing in disguise! It fits my larger hands better, it's more comfortable and fluid to use, and it's additional two side buttons are very handy.

Trash your old mouse and buy this one. You'll thank yourself you did.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Logitech falls and Microsoft rises
Review: I've used Logitech trackballs for years, but they've moved on from comfort to high-tech, Star Trek looks...cool-looking, but uncomfortable. This trackball is very close to the last of the beige-colored Logitechs, but it's better. I bought and re-sold one of these just last year, because the ring didn't hold the ball into the socket, but either the engineers fixed the problem or I just bought a lemon and the MS techie didn't know that the deficiency wasn't the norm. Anyway, buy one soon because they are harder and harder to find. The world wants glitz, not comfort, so these will soon be dinosaurs. Stock up for the future!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best.
Review: Microsoft should stick to making hardware, it's what they do the best. I've been a serious (50+ hours/week) computer user for over 10 years and this is *by far* the best pointing device I've ever used. I'll never go back to analogue, let alone a mouse. To quote Eric Raymond, "Optical Trackballs *rule*".

Smooth operations, little maintenance (clean out the guck every couple of months), extreme precision, programmable. if it was cordless, that would be the only possible way that it could get better.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Logitec is better...
Review: I'm with Marek. The ball tends to stick a lot with this trackball, it's not so bad when the mouse is cool. The problem is the heat. The lights in it look cool and all... But, I game alot and the light is on almost constantly. It starts making my hand sweaty and uncomfortable, and makes the ball stick big time. I have a Logitech trackman marble wheel and don't have that problem. I thought buying this would "update" my trackball as my trackman marble is about 3 years old. I'm going back to my Logitech.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Trackball Optical
Review: There is a fix to the "bad movement" problems with this device. After a few months of use lint and oil gets trapped in the stainless steel bearings surrounding the ball. All you need to do is pop the ball out, wipe it down, and use a tooth pick to clean around the three support bearings that hold the ball. Pop the ball back in, and it should work like new. Any device that contacts a human hand will accumulate oils and lint. This device is a thumb operated trackball, so if you want to use your fingers, go with the trackball explorer, or some other brand.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Almost a great device
Review: I agree with reviewer Marek that the ball sticks. My experience is that it seems to stick when it gets warm and must expand a tiny bit so it binds in the housing. Wiping it off does not help. Curiously what does help is to put it in the freezer for 5 minutes (not always a practical alternative)or just leaving it alone for a while. The click is a little too sensitive as well. Barring these 2 things, I would probably buy 5 or 6 to keep for spares. It fits my hand well and I like the thumb control (definitely something some people need time to get used to).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: MS Trackball Very Nice!
Review: I found MStrackball to be very hand friendly, and comfortable. The pointer is very smooth moving, and accurate. I also liked the back and forward buttons to be quite nice when surfing the net. Even the led light is neat. The only problem that I've noticed, and is a slight one. The back and forward buttons should be either half their sized, or raised up and be rounded. They seem to get pressed alot, when I'm just trying to use the normal click buttons. Other than that, I'm quite satisfied, and am happy with this mouse. I also found the price to be cheaper than most of their competitors.


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