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So there's the history, on to the modern day question: why is it so hard to find a trackball that isn't wireless? I don't think Logitech makes one anymore. I ca

by mark-r 9y ago

So there's the history, on to the modern day question: why is it so hard to find a trackball that isn't wireless? I don't think Logitech makes one anymore. I can see the appeal of wireless mice, but a trackball doesn't need to move so the wire is much less of a burden - and it removes the need to change batteries.

tetraodonpuffer 9y ago
have you looked into the kensington trackballs? the slimblade is corded and quite popular among the music producer crowd for example
- kps 9y ago
  +1 for the Slimblade. I keep a spare on the shelf, along with a spare Kinesis contoured keyboard, to be sure I'll never be caught without — although I've never had either fail. It's a well-behaved standard USB device (including the z-rotation for scrolling) amenable to 'xinput set-button-map'.
deleted 9y ago
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nextos 9y ago
I'm a big fan of the classic TrackMan from Logitech. Their recent release is wireless, BUT it comes with a rechargeable battery via USB. And they also provide you with a USB receiver. Furthermore, the scrollwheel is really good quality unlike their previous offerings. I like it. https://www.logitech.com/product/mx-ergo-wireless-trackball-mouse https://www.logitech.com/product/mx-ergo-wireless-trackball-...
- dboreham 9y ago
  I bought 10 or so of the original Trackman wheel back when I discovered it stopped my hand hurting (assuming, correctly, that they would stop making them at some point). I still have 2-3 of them new in the box. I have mostly switched to the wireless variant which as you note is ok. I don't like that it steals a USB port though: I would prefer it use Bluetooth, even if that made it 2x the price.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> So there's the history, on to the modern day question: why is it so hard to find a trackball that isn't wireless? I don't think Logitech makes one anymore. Googling “wired trackball” finds quite a few available from a wide variety of sellers and manufacturers, and Logitech clearly thinks they still have them. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/trackman-marble https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/trackman-marble
- pdxpatzer 9y ago
  big fan of Logitech Trackman Marble. I own like ten of them. I use them everywhere. They are indestructible, they don't require batteries and they occupy a fixed space of my choosing. With them I can easily navigate the large real estate of my dual monitor setup. Polish the ball with a little Pledge and your cursor flies cross the screeen with a little flick of the wrist.
  - markrages 9y ago
    Also, they are ambidextrous, so you can switch to left-hand mousing when the right wrist is starting to hurt. They are indeed everywhere: https://imgur.com/1toYn6A https://imgur.com/1toYn6A
stockground 9y ago
Kensington [1] still makes wired trackballs. Of course they also make wireless variants. [1]https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/trackballs https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/trackballs
SuperPaintMan 9y ago
I know you can get the Elecom Huge[1] wired or wireless, it's super comfy and has a giant marble.As far as why you can't find them in retail stores, most people don't want a trackball and it takes getting used to for gaming. http://xahlee.info/kbd/i2/elecom_huge_trackball_87142.jpg http://xahlee.info/kbd/i2/elecom_huge_trackball_87142.jpg
Isamu 9y ago
Trackman Marble. USB. I have been using this forever and swear by it. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/trackman-marble?crid=7 https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/trackman-marble?crid=... I was alarmed by your comment and had to go to the website to confirm it is still for sale. Also: I switched to this because of wrist issues. I really think having this large marble trackball at your fingertips could be helpful to a lot of people. Give it a try! It's cheap.
- flyinghamster 9y ago
  On the other hand you can't get a wired trackball from them that has the ball to the left; the M570 and the MX Ergo are wireless-only. I have an earlier wired USB Trackman Marble with a PS/2 adapter, which I'm glad I bought and squirreled away when it was available. My 20-or-so-year-old PS/2 Trackman finally started to show its age, and the "newer" one came out of storage to replace it.
  - MisterTea 9y ago
    I see that the wired USB/PS2 Logitech TrackMan Wheel is available from refurbished on newegg for USD 45. I'm tempted to give it a shot now.
    - flyinghamster 9y ago
      Hmmm... might be worth looking into. (The trackball I was referring to was that, not the Marble). It wouldn't be bad to have a spare, though if this one holds up as well as the ancient Trackman I retired, I won't be needing it for a while.
- mark-r 9y ago
  I could swear this was no longer available last time I looked - thanks!
  - jjwiseman 9y ago
    I think there's some confusion. The Trackman Marble is OK, but it's the Trackman Marble FX that is the best trackball, and no longer in production: http://weblog.mrbill.net/archives/2007/10/17/why-cancel-good-products-the-trackman-marble-fx/comment-page-2/ http://weblog.mrbill.net/archives/2007/10/17/why-cancel-good...
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ebikelaw 9y ago
You can just leave these plugged in all the time if you never want to think about the battery again. Unfortunately plugging them in doesn’t make the MX Ergo be a USB mouse. It only charges the battery.
- mark-r 9y ago
  So now your trackball takes two USB ports? No thanks.
zamalek 9y ago
> trackball doesn't need to move Unless you are using it on your leg, on a sofa. Trackballs are second-to-none for home cinemas. Regardless, most are semi-wireless (such as the M Ergo) - just keep it plugged in.
contingencies 9y ago
Try https://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacemouse/ https://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacemouse/ - it's designed for 3D authoring but can be used as a simple trackball type device and there is a non-wireless variant. The wireless variant can be tethered and untethered. Kind of pricey but great for CAD/CAM type work.
- tga 9y ago
  The SpaceMouse is a great (and somewhat unusual) device, but it's a joystick really, not a trackball.
hotsauceror 9y ago
Another vote for Kensington. I've got several of the wired Orbit trackballs with the scroll ring, I'm very happy with them. I've used the Logitech Trackman Marble as well but I think I prefer the Orbit. The scroll ring feels very intuitive. https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/k72337us/orbit-trackball-with-scroll-ring https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/k72337us/orbit-trackba...
wott 9y ago
Yeah, it is plenty stupid. I have read many people complaining the same, but to no avail. You can also add the lack of reliability to the drawbacks (more hardware, more software involved). I am fond of thumb trackballs, and the M570 I was forced to buy did not last very long ('forced' because I did not want wireless). It stopped working after a while, without any visible sign of damage on any component. Whereas my much older Trackman Wheel (the same as M570, but wired) is still my daily driver after more than 10 years.
thefounder 9y ago
Kensington has the best trackballs(slimblade and expert). Unfortunately their wireless version sucks big time
- arbie 9y ago
  The Kensington Expert Mouse is in the upper echelons of the sturdiest/most accurate trackballs ever made, but it has a flimsy wrist-pad attachment bridge and the sensor collects dust, requiring a thorough delinting every few months. Not a deal-breaker, but if your pointer acts erratically, clean out the enclave first!
z0r 9y ago
this has kept me happy for the past few years: http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/96U1114 http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/96U1114
aidenn0 9y ago
All of the elecom models are available both wired and wireless
- emily-c 9y ago
  My wired Elecom M-DT2URBK is the best mouse I've ever used. It's great if you have small hands.
  - aidenn0 9y ago
    The thumb trackballs are on bearings with higher static friction than the logitech thumb balls. You get used to it, but immediately feel the difference if you go back to a logitech. The buttons are great though, I remapped the middle-click away from the track wheel because with the 4-way wheel it's much harder to middle click, since my elecom has 3 non-scrollwheel buttons it still works great. There's a forthcoming linux kernel fix to get the right button to work on the EX-G models.

by mark-r 9y ago

tetraodonpuffer 9y ago

have you looked into the kensington trackballs? the slimblade is corded and quite popular among the music producer crowd for example

kps 9y ago
+1 for the Slimblade. I keep a spare on the shelf, along with a spare Kinesis contoured keyboard, to be sure I'll never be caught without — although I've never had either fail. It's a well-behaved standard USB device (including the z-rotation for scrolling) amenable to 'xinput set-button-map'.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

nextos 9y ago

I'm a big fan of the classic TrackMan from Logitech. Their recent release is wireless, BUT it comes with a rechargeable battery via USB. And they also provide you with a USB receiver. Furthermore, the scrollwheel is really good quality unlike their previous offerings. I like it. https://www.logitech.com/product/mx-ergo-wireless-trackball-mouse https://www.logitech.com/product/mx-ergo-wireless-trackball-...

dboreham 9y ago
I bought 10 or so of the original Trackman wheel back when I discovered it stopped my hand hurting (assuming, correctly, that they would stop making them at some point). I still have 2-3 of them new in the box. I have mostly switched to the wireless variant which as you note is ok. I don't like that it steals a USB port though: I would prefer it use Bluetooth, even if that made it 2x the price.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> So there's the history, on to the modern day question: why is it so hard to find a trackball that isn't wireless? I don't think Logitech makes one anymore. Googling “wired trackball” finds quite a few available from a wide variety of sellers and manufacturers, and Logitech clearly thinks they still have them. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/trackman-marble https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/trackman-marble

pdxpatzer 9y ago
big fan of Logitech Trackman Marble. I own like ten of them. I use them everywhere. They are indestructible, they don't require batteries and they occupy a fixed space of my choosing. With them I can easily navigate the large real estate of my dual monitor setup. Polish the ball with a little Pledge and your cursor flies cross the screeen with a little flick of the wrist.
- markrages 9y ago
  Also, they are ambidextrous, so you can switch to left-hand mousing when the right wrist is starting to hurt. They are indeed everywhere: https://imgur.com/1toYn6A https://imgur.com/1toYn6A

stockground 9y ago

Kensington [1] still makes wired trackballs. Of course they also make wireless variants. [1]https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/trackballs https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/trackballs

SuperPaintMan 9y ago

I know you can get the Elecom Huge[1] wired or wireless, it's super comfy and has a giant marble.As far as why you can't find them in retail stores, most people don't want a trackball and it takes getting used to for gaming. http://xahlee.info/kbd/i2/elecom_huge_trackball_87142.jpg http://xahlee.info/kbd/i2/elecom_huge_trackball_87142.jpg

Isamu 9y ago

Trackman Marble. USB. I have been using this forever and swear by it. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/trackman-marble?crid=7 https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/trackman-marble?crid=... I was alarmed by your comment and had to go to the website to confirm it is still for sale. Also: I switched to this because of wrist issues. I really think having this large marble trackball at your fingertips could be helpful to a lot of people. Give it a try! It's cheap.

flyinghamster 9y ago
On the other hand you can't get a wired trackball from them that has the ball to the left; the M570 and the MX Ergo are wireless-only. I have an earlier wired USB Trackman Marble with a PS/2 adapter, which I'm glad I bought and squirreled away when it was available. My 20-or-so-year-old PS/2 Trackman finally started to show its age, and the "newer" one came out of storage to replace it.
- MisterTea 9y ago
  I see that the wired USB/PS2 Logitech TrackMan Wheel is available from refurbished on newegg for USD 45. I'm tempted to give it a shot now.
  - flyinghamster 9y ago
    Hmmm... might be worth looking into. (The trackball I was referring to was that, not the Marble). It wouldn't be bad to have a spare, though if this one holds up as well as the ancient Trackman I retired, I won't be needing it for a while.
mark-r 9y ago
I could swear this was no longer available last time I looked - thanks!
- jjwiseman 9y ago
  I think there's some confusion. The Trackman Marble is OK, but it's the Trackman Marble FX that is the best trackball, and no longer in production: http://weblog.mrbill.net/archives/2007/10/17/why-cancel-good-products-the-trackman-marble-fx/comment-page-2/ http://weblog.mrbill.net/archives/2007/10/17/why-cancel-good...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

ebikelaw 9y ago

You can just leave these plugged in all the time if you never want to think about the battery again. Unfortunately plugging them in doesn’t make the MX Ergo be a USB mouse. It only charges the battery.

mark-r 9y ago
So now your trackball takes two USB ports? No thanks.

zamalek 9y ago

> trackball doesn't need to move Unless you are using it on your leg, on a sofa. Trackballs are second-to-none for home cinemas. Regardless, most are semi-wireless (such as the M Ergo) - just keep it plugged in.

contingencies 9y ago

Try https://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacemouse/ https://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacemouse/ - it's designed for 3D authoring but can be used as a simple trackball type device and there is a non-wireless variant. The wireless variant can be tethered and untethered. Kind of pricey but great for CAD/CAM type work.

tga 9y ago
The SpaceMouse is a great (and somewhat unusual) device, but it's a joystick really, not a trackball.

hotsauceror 9y ago

Another vote for Kensington. I've got several of the wired Orbit trackballs with the scroll ring, I'm very happy with them. I've used the Logitech Trackman Marble as well but I think I prefer the Orbit. The scroll ring feels very intuitive. https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/k72337us/orbit-trackball-with-scroll-ring https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/k72337us/orbit-trackba...

wott 9y ago

Yeah, it is plenty stupid. I have read many people complaining the same, but to no avail. You can also add the lack of reliability to the drawbacks (more hardware, more software involved). I am fond of thumb trackballs, and the M570 I was forced to buy did not last very long ('forced' because I did not want wireless). It stopped working after a while, without any visible sign of damage on any component. Whereas my much older Trackman Wheel (the same as M570, but wired) is still my daily driver after more than 10 years.

thefounder 9y ago

Kensington has the best trackballs(slimblade and expert). Unfortunately their wireless version sucks big time

arbie 9y ago
The Kensington Expert Mouse is in the upper echelons of the sturdiest/most accurate trackballs ever made, but it has a flimsy wrist-pad attachment bridge and the sensor collects dust, requiring a thorough delinting every few months. Not a deal-breaker, but if your pointer acts erratically, clean out the enclave first!

z0r 9y ago

this has kept me happy for the past few years: http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/96U1114 http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/96U1114

aidenn0 9y ago

All of the elecom models are available both wired and wireless

emily-c 9y ago
My wired Elecom M-DT2URBK is the best mouse I've ever used. It's great if you have small hands.
- aidenn0 9y ago
  The thumb trackballs are on bearings with higher static friction than the logitech thumb balls. You get used to it, but immediately feel the difference if you go back to a logitech. The buttons are great though, I remapped the middle-click away from the track wheel because with the 4-way wheel it's much harder to middle click, since my elecom has 3 non-scrollwheel buttons it still works great. There's a forthcoming linux kernel fix to get the right button to work on the EX-G models.