Quite a while back, I was complaining about my dead Microsoft Trackball Exp lorer which Microsoft discontinued, and for which there was no replacement. The only ones available on ebay were new old stock which I wouldn't trust since the plastic breaks down, and cost upwards of $500.
Recently, I cam across this:
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. I pre-ordered one, and it arrived a couple of weeks ago. It is as close to the Microsoft unit as I've seen, and has 8(!) programmable buttons.
I'm a happy guy. This trackball will increase my productivity.
"2.4GHz Radio wave outreach When we use on one of magnetic material (including desk of iron): When we use on 3m, one of nonmagnetic material (including desk of tree)"
Having found that mouse use caused ergo problems with my wrist and right shoulder, I moved to a Logitech portable trackball. It had a vertical stature with the ball on the left, to be moved by the thumb. This prevented me from having to hover my arm over a mouse or bend my wrist. The minor carpal tunnel pain and sore trapezius were gone a day or two later.
Logitech stopped making my favorite trackball, but they now make a horizontal wireless model which is my new favorite, the M570. It has
4 programmable buttons (front and back browser, left and right mouse), scroll wheel, and one laser optical trackball. I use it on a desk of tree with top of woodglained prastic.
One of my TV-recording laptops is on a table beside an armchair and difficult to use. I have an M570 on it which is better than the built-in touchpad but I'm still not really comfortable with it. However the M570 is better than the other things I tried including a K400r wireless keyboard.
The problem (for me) with the Logitech offerings is that they use a thumb-only ball. I have a slight tremor in my thumb which makes that a very difficult setup. Their trackman marble mouse gets around that, but doesn't have a wheel.
I don't know how long the batteries will last in this new device, but I have rechargeables.
Their "manual" is full of entertaining chinglish. Their software (a download) is somewhat better.
I am, in fact, using on desk of tree. But that brings up another, totally u nrelated point: This desk of tree is actually a custom countertop from Home Depot. The core is solid tree - actually a bunch of pieces fastened togeth er to form, essentially, a single piece. I assume they use those corrugated fasteners to do the job.
I have a pretty powerful spherical magnet. Sometimes when I'm fidgeting dur ing a boring phone call, I'll roll that magnet around on the desk top. It v ery reliably finds the fasteners. Likewise, if I roll it around on my floor (also of tree), it finds the nails easily.
Questions is, has there ever been a tool that works like this? Should there be? I'm aware of the old magnetic stud finders that you's slide along the wall near the baseboard looking for nails, but this is different.
How about a metal detector? It reacts whenever metals changes the magnetic field it puts out.
Oh, there is. It's called "money", and when it is flashed, it draws both loose women (and men) and bad women (and men) to it. Also, it usually repels itself from the flasher, as directed by the Mafia (and worse) men at the top.
Yeah, this is crazy. I also prefer a trackball, as I do a fair amount of CAD design, and the death grip on the mouse to keep it from moving while I click the button gives me carpal tunnel syndrome or something. The trackball doesn't do that.
But, a trackball is really SIMILAR to a simple mouse, why does it cost 10X more? Heck, the early ones actually used a pool cue ball! Otherwise, it was just the same parts as in a mouse, only turned upside down.
I used to be able to buy used Logitech and Memorex trackballs for ~ $15 on eBay, now people are selling USED trackballs there for close to $100! I keep replacing the button switches, but eventually the roller-encoder mechanisms start to wear out. (Yes, I DO use them a lot.)
The Logitech M570 which we have been talking about here don't use roller-encoders. Instead, the trackball is speckle finished, and optical sensors detect the motion. The earlier wired versions of the trackball used a red speckled ball, while the M570 uses a blue speckled one, FWIW.
The two complaints I have about the M570 are:
1) The middle button (under the wheel) eventually dies, and while I can get replacements from Digi-Key, Mouser and others, it is a pain to get the old one out without damaging the board.
2) If you eat things like Fritos or potato chips, your thumb gets lubricated, and it is hard to move the ball in the left/right direction (though up/down seems to still work.)
As for the batteries -- first clue is that the green LED just uphill from the two new buttons will flash steadily, when the battery (cell, actually) gets low. This LED also comes on for a number of seconds when you switch the power on to the trackball.
I never had the button fail but the desk lint/dirt accumulation causes encoding errors by occluding the optical windows and the little "jewel" bearings get packed with crud (even w/o the chips :) ). Eventually, every one I've had got where it simply could not be cleaned up and be reliable...
There also seemed to be some sort of failure mechanism that they generate phantom pulses and the cursor just drifts off the screen on its own...never could isolate whether it was hard or soft -ware end causing it for certain because if would remove the Logitech drivers and use basic drivers it functioned normally (w/o the additional functions, of course) but a new unit would operate normally with the same driver...go figure.
I got so frustrated I have a new one sitting on the shelf over there that's been there for 2 yr because I just know it'll act up again and I'll have to go through withdrawal yet again if go back...
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