I first started using a track ball when I was on line gaming back in college. Instead of running a mouse wildly over a needed large area, my track ball sat perfectly still while my palm and fingers did the work. It just made so much sense.
At work, I’ve always used a traditional mouse because that is all there is in the work place. I have never seen a track ball in any college computer lab or any work place that I’ve been at.
Because my cubicle is small and crammed, a mouse has always been a problem because, try as I might, I’m bumping it into either the base of one of my two monitors, the right side speaker, or the right side of my keyboard. So, I ordered a wireless track ball from Amazon, got it the next day, and installed it this morning. Oh, happy days! The only question is, why didn’t I do this long ago?
Almost no one uses a trackball. I’ve never surveyed people on the subject, but my feeling is that people are weened on a regular mouse, and a trackball just seems too strange to even try. The one comment I’ve heard on a few occasions is, “It’s an upside down mouse.” Maybe, a mouse is an upside down trackball!
Addendum: Now that I think about it, the touch pads on laptops work much more like a trackball than a mouse. It doesn’t move, your fingers do.
Never liked them. I also don’t like touchscreens or touch pads. If a laptop doesn’t allow for an external mouse and disabling of the touch pad, I won’t buy it.
Over 30 years ago I was a young graphic designer, who had recently transitioned from mechanical pens and rubylith overlays to doing all my work on a Macintosh. I was a one-man graphics dept. for a printing company, so we used a design house for overflow work. I visited the vendor one day and saw that all the graphic artists were using trackball-style mice. I was intrigued and got myself one.
Never looked back since then. To this day I use a Kensington Turbo Mouse. Has to be the large trackball-- I’ve tried a couple over the years with smaller, marble-sized trackballs, and they suck. The ball has to be large and heavy enough to be able to swipe it so the cursor travels quickly across the screen (which only becomes more useful as screen sizes get ever larger), yet it also allows for extremely fine motor control.
It may not be for everybody, but it’s an indispensible computer tool for me. Maybe my years of playing Centipede as a teen prepared me in advance for it
I used a track ball for a while many years ago. I did like it quite a bit. But never so much that I was motivated to not use the mouse my computers come with.
If they came with a track ball, I’d use it and I’m pretty sure like it again very much…Then I’d have to decide which I prefer…
I estimate I’d favor the track ball by a 60/40 split. but I’ll likely never know.
Have tried a trackball in the past, and I just prefer a mouse. I can’t remember why I ditched the trackball, but it may have been because my thumb was responsible for all of the movement. With a conventional mouse, I can spread the movements across my wrist, elbow, shoulder, and thumb/ring-finger (those last two digits are a good team for fine position adjustments).
It’s unfortunate that space is so tight at your desk, but I can see why a trackball might be necessary in that circumstance; I’m glad it’s turned out to be to your liking. FWIW, I’m baffled that people often have tiny mouse pads on their desk, even when they have a big desk. A while back I bought a giant gaming mouse pad that runs from the right edge of my desk clear under my keyboard, 46 inches wide. Now my mouse never hits the edge. Happy.
Thumb? Hmm … Did you have a trackball where the ball was on the SIDE of the device instead of on top? If so, I can see why you got rid of it! When I shopped for this one the other day, I saw that style featured prominently, and I did NOT like it. Fortunately, I saw this one instead.
Wow, you just taught me something! I had no idea they had “gaming mouse pads” even though it makes perfect sense. LOL
Once upon a time there was a Computer Museum near Fort Point Channel in Boston, next door to the still-there Children’s Museum. Its holding were long ago split between the Boston Museum of Science and the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
One of the things I miss about it was the “Walk-Through Computer”, a giant circa 1995 desktop computer with oversized mother boards, monitor, keyboard, etc. All the parts were labeled.
The Walk-Through Computer didn’t use a Mouse – it had a giant trackball, instead. I’m sure the reason they did this was because a huge mouse would’ve needed too much space to move around in. And, if “practical” (had moving parts), might’ve been a safety hazard (the trackball had pressable buttons and a movable trackball. Sadly, I don’t think the Walk-Through Computer was actually hooked up to work as a computer.)
My one complaint about not having an overblown Mouse to go with the rest of the WTC is that it deprived us of the opportunity to say, in a Sylvester the cat horrified lisp, “Giant…Mouthe!”
Actually, when I look it up on Wikipedia, it appears that the Walk-Through Computer WAS hooked up to play World Traveler. But, in my defense, it could have ben out when I toured it.
I had one of those for several years when they first came out and I loved it. There was something cool about being able to pick up the ball and roll it around on the desk. And I could clean the guts easily enough.
I also used the Logitech marble trackballs, the red one with spots. I tried the one that you use with your thumb, and at one point they had a much larger one that was in an odd frame and you could grasp both sides of the ball between thumb and forefinger.
It has been a decade or two since I seriously used a track ball, and I wonder why I stopped. Now I’ll have to buy another Kensington Turbo Mouse, just to be able to remember if there was a reason why I stopped using it!
I went to see prices for that Kensington Turbo Mouse and it seems that the original is long gone, replaced with a sleek black version that might do the trick.
I noticed an odd ring around the trackball and saw that it was a “scroll ring”, and then it hit me: trackballs don’t have scroll wheels, do they? I spend so much of my time scrolling through web pages and documents using a scroll wheel. So I had better know how scrolling with a trackball is before buying one.
How does that work with the Kensington track ball? Does that “scroll ring” do the same job, as seamlessly?
Most do have the option, but there are some outliers that I’ve found.
I feel like I have more control with a traditional cordless mouse. I’ve been using a Logitech M525 (or similar) for many years. I can cover the entire 17" of my laptop screen with very little movement, and it just feels more. . .accurate. . .to me.
Whatever floats your boat. I really can’t stand Track Balls. Not a fan of the touch pad but will use one if not on the laptop for very long.
I have a 43" wide monitor. I can get from one side of the monitor to the other with just wrist motion. I’m often working on three different computers with the one screen, the mouse works fine.
And if I want to sit back, I can put the mouse on my leg, and just use it from there.
The first ‘mouse’ I used was actually called a puck. Did not have a ball, was not laser. Electro/magnetic I think. Digitizing tables.
I’m sure I could get used to a track ball, but no point in it for me.
Logitech has three thumb-trackball models, each with a scroll wheel:
For some reason these don’t feature Logitech’s “MagSpeed” scroll wheel that they use on their other mice. This is a heavy steel scroll wheel on a low-friction bearing, and with a single gentle flick from your index finger, you can scroll smoothly down half a page; with a stronger flick, you can quickly whiz through dozens of pages. You can turn on the normal detent behavior if you want, and it will still automatically deactivate during high-speed scrolling, and then turn back on when you slow/stop the scroll wheel.
My preferred mouse these days is this:
In addition to the MagSpeed wheel for vertical scrolling, it’s also got a thumb-operable scroll wheel that can be used for horizontal scrolling or volume control, or whatever else you want to use it for. It also has two thumb buttons under that scroll wheel; I use them for “forward” and “back” while browsing. There’s also a third button below your thumb. All of these can be programmed to do different things while using different programs, e.g the thumb scroll wheel can scroll horizontally in Excel and also be a volume control in iTunes or Chrome, or you can open specific apps or perform keyboard shortcuts. They’ve also made the buttons extremely quiet; you still get a bit of tactile feedback so you know you’ve clicked, but you can mouse virtually silently. It also includes three different Bluetooth channels so you can quickly switch between devices. This is great for me, because I can use my personal mouse with my own computer, and also use with my work computer when teleworking. Built-in rechargeable battery lasts for a couple of months between recharges
The workplaces I’ve been at will special order a trackball or other PC accessories if a user needs it (especially if it’s needed as indicated by the ergonomics consultants).
My new one does right above the left click button for easy thumb access. I’m loving this. When my trackball at home wears out, I’m getting the model I have here at school for my home desktop.
Shoot, I never posted what it is! It is a Nulea Wireless Trackball You can the scroll wheel right above the left click button.
How come? Actually, there is a story to this. Back in college, the artist brother of my roommate and bestie painted that picture of me. I don’t have tattoos and don’t even like them, but he said that he wanted to bring out my “dark side” that he could see lurking in me. I eat a lot of fruit, and that’s why he has me holding an orange. At any rate, it became my avatar from the very beginning on.
