ELECOM DEFT Trackball Mouse, Wired, Finger Control, 8-Button Function with Smooth Tracking, Ergonomic Design, Windows11, macOS (M-DT2URBK)

This trackball is one that is obviously going to work with some peoples hands better than others. It fits my hand perfectly. I have sort of large wide hands with short, thick fingers. I've been using the modestly priced Logitech Marble Mouse ambidextrous trackballs since they first came out in a very light beige with only two buttons. I've always preferred a trackball because I usually use it on the arm of a recliner (sometimes with a jury rigged extended platform). I found the Marble Mice to be extremely comfortable to use with a very smooth rolling action. My remaining ones are starting to get pretty beat up and the lack of a scroll wheel is getting intolerable. So I've been trying out various used, discounted trackballs to find a replacement. I found a couple of Kensingtons. Their scroll rings are nice, but they feel clumsy to use and are nowhere near as comfortable as the Marble Mice. I found a used Elecom Deft on Ebay for about $30 which is what I'm reviewing here. It must not have been used much because it is very clean. There seem to be a lot of them on Amazon for $30 so I ordered another one for a spare and maybe to attempt a bearing swap.It's sort of tall with a small footprint and my hand curls around it nicely. The main buttons are within easy reach and it did not take long for muscle memory to get used to them. They tend to be rather small, which to me means I don't hit them accidentally. It of course has a scroll wheel which can also be pushed down or in as two programable extra buttons, although I can only get them to perform the same function. There is a software program called Elecom Mouse Assistant that works on Windows and Macs. To get it out of Japanese, you have to choose English when installing and then set it to English on the bottom left and then close the program with the OK button. There is a thin line of three buttons that fit under the index finger. I set the forward one to shift so that I can easily extend or adjust highlighted blocks of text.The ball is a little smaller than the Marble Mouse's. It has ruby bearings which are reputed to be not as smooth as the zirconium ceramic ones on the Marble mouse. The Kensingtons also have ruby bearings. One of them is the large square Expert model with a much larger ball. The other is an Orbit which came missing the ball, but it works fine with one of my old Marble Mouse balls. They are both considerable less smooth than the Marble Mouse. The Deft is also less smooth than the Marble Mouse, but nowhere near as much as the Kensingtons. My guess is that it's because of the ball's smaller size and therefore less mass. I find it very usable. There's a switch in front of the scroll wheel for two levels of sensitivity. I use the slower more sensitive setting. I find that by holding three fingers together I can easily move the pointer the full width of the screen in one motion. It's still not as slow and sensitive as the Marble Mouse. I am not a gamer and use it mostly for web browsing and writing. I do do CAD and Graphics once in a while and will probably use one of my more sensitive trackballs for these applications.One thing I really like about it's form factor is that the base is very easy to grip and is always in close proximity to my fingers. Trackballs always seem to wander and twist and this one is very easy to reorient and even pick up and move.If there's anything I could change, I would put the scroll wheel (or a second one) in the front between the ball and the right mouse button. I would also give the right mouse button a more sideways motion so that it could be opposing the left mouse button's motion. It feels a bit incongruent to push down on the right button and then sideways on the left one to choose a menu item. And it would also be nice to have the Deft Pro's bluetooth and USB-C cable. With the Huge, it looks like Elecom is moving towards the Deft Pro's button arrangement. If they discontinue the Deft, I will miss the line of three extra buttons under the index finger.Overall it's an ergonomic masterpiece.__________________________________________________________Edit: Looking closer, I see the Deft Pro and Huge do have a line of two buttons under the index finger with the third one apparently moved next to the right mouse button.__________________________________________________________Edit: Looking closer still, I see I have mistaken a picture of the Huge for a deft Pro. The Deft Pro does not have the line of two buttons under the index finger. It has the flat area under the index finger as one extra button. The other extra button is down by the thumb.__________________________________________________________One more correction. The Elecom Deft Pro has a micro USB connector -- not a USB-C connector. I know this because I just bought a used Deft Pro to try out, having become something of a trackball buff.

I bought this as a replacement for my Logitech Marble Mouse trackball as the scroll button was wearing out. I wanted a scroll wheel on a finger operated trackball that supports Linux out of the box. The construction is fairly solid. Each button is has a firm Click when pressed, but is not hard to press, so there is no fatigue. There are something on the order of 12 buttons according to xev, more than I'll ever need. The 10-12 buttons don't seem to do anything out of the box, but I was able to remap them with libinput. The buttons are in a fairly natural position and I don't have to "stretch" my fingers to reach any of them.The only caveat with this trackball is that is it on the smaller side. If you have smaller hands, it is very comfortable. If you happen to have large hands, you might find more comfort from one of the larger models.

I've had this mouse for a few days, so I can't speak to durability.This is a beautifully designed mouse.Like many others, I used the Microsoft Trackball Explorer for many years, until it stopped working and I discovered they were discontinued. For MS Explorer fans looking for a replacement, this is the closest thing commercially available today.As mentioned by other reviewers, this mouse is too small. I wish the whole thing were scaled up 150% or 200%. But it's useable, and the ball is very precise with very little loss of movement. The ergonomics are very familiar to Explorer users.There are seven buttons on this mouse. Right click, left click, forward, backward, Fn 1, 2, & 3. It also has a cursor speed switch with two settings. I haven't been able to reassign the buttons yet, but I hope to be able to do that by downloading software from the manufacturer's website, which is in Japanese. As an Explorer user, I am accustomed to the right click button being where the backward button is located, so it would be ideal to reassign that function. The default right click is positioned to the left of the trackball, similarly to the backward and forward buttons on the Explorer. It only responds to downward pressure and resists being pushed from the side. After a couple days of use, it feels fairly normal but I would still prefer a right click under my thumb.The bottom line is there is no other finger-controlled trackball with multiple thumb buttons and the ergonomics & functionality of the MS Explorer being currently manufactured. The left click button position is a drawback, and the size is less than ideal. But the function and design are excellent.

Bought these before many years ago. Loved them but they finally wore out. Just bought more.