Logitech Optical Trackball Marble Mouse

I was going to give it 4 stars, but then realized I couldn't really advise a way to improve on this mouse. I think there is more a need for user improvement, as it takes a while to get used to trackball navigation after being used to gripping the mouse to move the whole thing. I have a bad habit of squeezing the mouse unecessarily, which causes me to accidentally right-click a lot of the time. I also have a bad habit of flexing my wrist to hold it above the mouse, which is unecessary too. Ideally you place this mouse on a flat service in the perfect location so that your arm has support and your wrist can remain straight and supported. Then you fully rest your hand, mostly on the mouse, so that your index and middle fingers are resting on the trackball, your pinky is resting on the desk, and your thumb is resting on the left mouse button. It takes a little development of index finger dexterity, as well as breaking the habit of gripping the mouse, but once you get used to it this turns out to be a relaxed way to navigate, other than a little stress on the ring finger as it tries to avoid the right mouse button as you track towards the thumb. For me the perfect hand position for the middle and index finger to have maximum range on the trackball lands the ring finger right on the right mouse button some of the time. This is unavoidable if you want an ambidextrous mouse though. Some people, of course, are left handed and they should be able to buy this mouse too, so it's a small price to pay to have to sometimes lift up the side of your hand a litle instead of always leaving it resting on the desk. You can also page forward and back with the little silver buttons. I really love this mouse, which is something I never imagined myself saying. A mouse never seemed that big a deal to me to bother having any real opinion on it, but then I got an HP laptop with a horrific touchscreen that was driving me nuts, so had to get an external mouse for my laptop. I use an old fashion mouse at work, and thought to get that, but on my laptop I often work in an environment where I don't have that kind of desk space, so a trackball seemed the better choice. Now I like this one so much I'm getting another one to use at work. On top of it, I love how it looks. It's a very stylish design and it gives me pleasure to see it sitting on my desk. I may be a grown-up, but I still like my shiny new toys, I suppose. Anyway, this is a cheap and extremely functional little gadget that I am so glad I came across.

I have used this mouse for a month and a half, and so far it's smooth sailing. I bought this mouse to mitigate the constant wrist pains I had been getting due to excessive PC gaming. The pain is completely gone, and I can still compete against traditional mouse users in online gaming (I regularly get the highest score on TF2 with this mouse). It took about a week to get used to, but I am now as adroit at using this input device as I was on my traditional optical mouse. Some thoughts about the Logitech Optical Marble Mouse: -When I first used this mouse, the ball didn't roll smoothly. However, after a few hours of use, this cause of concern disappeared. -Cleaning is simple and necessary, as the rolling action becomes very stuffy after a couple days. I pop the ball out and rub my fingers against the three contact points, on which the ball glides over, to remove debris. I then polish the ball itself with my shirt and pop it back in; less than 30 seconds of cleaning. -There is no scroll wheel. It was perturbing at first, but I have gotten used to it. I click one of the side buttons and the software scrolling comes up; move the cursor up to scroll up and vice versa. -I set the scroll button to open and close tabs in the Firefox browser as I had done this with my previous mouse. For some reason it requires a double click now instead of a single click. -It saves a lot of space on my desk. I urge users who have wrist pain to buy this type of product to prevent any future carpal tunnel complications. Others who do not have wrist pain would be prudent to buy one too as they may have symptoms later. My only complaint is the lack of a scroll wheel; the middle right button could have been replaced with one. At this price point, however, this is a moot point. This product has my endorsement.

I had a PS/2 one that is still working fine, but I no longer have a PC with a PS/2 interface. Rather than go with adapters I bought a new one with a USB interface. The only functional differences are the extra mini buttons on the sides and a raspier feel when moving the ball. It has smoothed out somewhat with use and it may eventually become as smooth as my original. It may be that I had the same issue with the original and have just forgotten about that. I don't use the mini buttons so I never installed the Logitech Driver. I also mouse with 2 hands. I have a wireless mouse in my left hand and I use the Logitech for zipping around the screen, rarely using the buttons. I have a thumb tendon issue and very little desk space at home. So using a wireless mouse to push buttons with my left hand while using my palm and/or my index and middle fingers to move around the screen works great for me. Otherwise I'd either have a sore thumb or I would have to pick the mouse up and move back to the right (or left) multiple times to traverse the screen once. I only have about an inch of space on either side of the mouse/trackball and this setup solves that space limitation very well (and keeps my thumb feeling fine). Solid product, always recommend the Logitech trackman to anyone interested in them.