Rating: 
Summary: Good idea
Review: My favorite trackball. I'm not convinced that its the most durable of all time (some cheap internal parts), but I do like the feel and the ability to totally customize all four buttons, two on each side of the ball. This lets you program 4 separate features into the buttons, or use them like I do with buttons on both sides programmed the same so I can switch hands (top left and right are single click, bottom left and right are double click - pushing in middle scroll button closes an application; clicking both bottom buttons is a right mouse click).
Rating:
Summary: The question is - do you like trackballs?
Review: My husband hates this trackball and is hooking up a mouse in addition to it for his own use. I swear by it and won't use the mouse if I can put hand to a trackball. This has a very comfortable hand feel, the buttons are with one exception well placed, and overall I'd say it's excellent. I took away a star because the scroll button is in a wierd spot (but with a trackball, who needs a scroll button?) and because the optical sensor gets dirty rather quickly (fortunately, the sensor is very simple to reach and cleans much more easily than a mouse). This was a fantastic value - I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: The question is - do you like trackballs?
Review: My husband hates this trackball and is hooking up a mouse in addition to it for his own use. I swear by it and won't use the mouse if I can put hand to a trackball. This has a very comfortable hand feel, the buttons are with one exception well placed, and overall I'd say it's excellent. I took away a star because the scroll button is in a wierd spot (but with a trackball, who needs a scroll button?) and because the optical sensor gets dirty rather quickly (fortunately, the sensor is very simple to reach and cleans much more easily than a mouse). This was a fantastic value - I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Constant cleaning ...
Review: That's the only way to keep this trackball working. It does work smoothly when it's clean ... but it's very hard to keep it this way. I am amazed at how fast the rollers inside gum up - and the only way I have found to clean them is to gently and carefully scrape the crud off them with a sharp blade. There are also three tiny beads that hold the ball in place - these get covered in crud too. The only way to clean these is pop them out of their holders - very tricky.In general a nightmare cleaning effort. I have been on my hands and knees looking for these little beads many times when I have dropped them. I finally lost one and now the trackball is headed into the trash. My last duty is to give this review to warn you off it unless you have a good obsessive streak for cleaning (I don't). I also agree with the bland ambi-dextrous shaping. Doesn't really rest your wrist because of this.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible
Review: There are several problems with this trackball: 1. The shape of the trackball contours your wrist downwards. This can be a major problem for those of us who buy trackballs to save our wrists. 2. The design of the trackball is generic, meaning it is just as usable for lefties as righties. Downside? It doesn't work for either very well. The position of the ball itself puts a lot of strain on the index finger, while the side buttons are too far apart to be easily useful. 3. The wheel is placed in the dead center of the trackball, which puts it just below the palm when using the device. Therefore the only way to use the wheelie function is to move your hand down and place your fingers on the wheel. This almost completely negates the usefulness of the wheel. (The wheel is also stiffer than I was used to) 4. Last and worst, the trackball itself jammed up a great many times on me. I could still make large movements across the screen, but getting the pointer to anything small on the screen took a lot of effort -- and effort is not what you want in a trackball.
Rating: 
Summary: Just flat out awesome
Review: Yeah, it needs to be cleaned every so often. Not a big deal, since it requires less cleaning than my optical Logitech Trackman (yes, I said less than an optical). I've had this one about a year, the 2 button (Orbit) version for about 5 years (and still use it with the original rollers), and the Logitech for about a year. The Logitech was a horrid mistake. Very comfortable fit, but not quite as nice as the 2 button version, but still fine, and better than the more ergonomic looking Logitech. The scroll wheel is useless unless I am reading long documents, in which case, I let go of the whole thing except for a finger on the wheel. But it doesn't really matter, because the drivers allow you to set the buttons so you can hit a button (or 2 at the same time) and use the main wheel to scroll. On to the drivers. They are what make this trackball awesome. You can set the buttons to function with a default set with a whole bunch of options (including bizzare keystrokes), and then set them for specific programs. I use many programs on a daily basis, and this allows me to keep basic functions like zoom in/out in the same place, no matter what program I am in or what the keystroke is. It also allows "chording" where you hit 2 buttons at once, and they act as an extra button, for those less than common functions. If they made this with an optical ball, it would be perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Just flat out awesome
Review: Yeah, it needs to be cleaned every so often. Not a big deal, since it requires less cleaning than my optical Logitech Trackman (yes, I said less than an optical). I've had this one about a year, the 2 button (Orbit) version for about 5 years (and still use it with the original rollers), and the Logitech for about a year. The Logitech was a horrid mistake. Very comfortable fit, but not quite as nice as the 2 button version, but still fine, and better than the more ergonomic looking Logitech. The scroll wheel is useless unless I am reading long documents, in which case, I let go of the whole thing except for a finger on the wheel. But it doesn't really matter, because the drivers allow you to set the buttons so you can hit a button (or 2 at the same time) and use the main wheel to scroll. On to the drivers. They are what make this trackball awesome. You can set the buttons to function with a default set with a whole bunch of options (including bizzare keystrokes), and then set them for specific programs. I use many programs on a daily basis, and this allows me to keep basic functions like zoom in/out in the same place, no matter what program I am in or what the keystroke is. It also allows "chording" where you hit 2 buttons at once, and they act as an extra button, for those less than common functions. If they made this with an optical ball, it would be perfect.
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