Editor’s Choice Winners
My personal favorites, best value and best selling trackballs
Overall Best Trackballs
These are my personal favorite trackballs. Best suited for larger hands, professionals or people that want a seriously good trackball.
Best Value Trackballs
Don’t want to spend a lot of money on a trackball? There are some great options for around $20.
Best Thumb-Operated Trackballs
If you are looking for a thumb-operated trackball, these are the three best options.
I have Parkinson’s Disease and my hand shakes. I am looking for a trackball wireless mouse that will limit the shake -not high priced
What you need is some mouse or game software that will do the reverse of mouse acceleration so if your making fast sudden movements then the mouse pointer should ignore it.
I bought a Logitech M570 and it worked much worse than its predecessor, LogitechTrackman Wheel. I thought it was defective and got a new one. Same result. As I have seen in Internet, I’m not the only one. The M570 is not smooth at all; you will end up changing it for something better.
Ditto on Hector’s comment. The ball was so loose, it just spun, when touched. I have an old one that’s not that bad, yet. I’m looking for inexpensive, with a ball with some tension on it.
Unfortunately, I have been through 3 Logitech M570s. At first, they worked fine. But they don’t last long. I used them for gaming and although they were fairly accurate, the limited number of buttons and the overall quality had me searching for something else. So I started searching for a “Gaming trackball”. I did not find any devices that claimed they were for gaming, but I did find the Elecom huge. I LOVE IT. I’ve thought of getting one of the smaller models for use at work. The build quality is excellent, the software to program button use profiles reminds me of gaming mice, and the action of the ball itself is silky smooth. Pair that with the ability to switch from 500-1500 dpi on the fly and has 10 programmable buttons and I have found a real winner. It is a steal at the $65.00 I paid for it. I highly recommend it
I can confirm what Hector said about M570. Exactly the same.
The wired Elecom I bought was terribly poor. The grommet at the front where the wire goes into the mouse interfers with LMB depression, causing unintentional clicks or interrupting click and holds. Shame really as it has all the features I want, just badly made. I also had to put in a ball from a previous mouse to make it move more fluidly. Pro tip there folks never throw away your old mice, bits can still come in handy.
I have used trackballs since they were invented and for CAD use.
The Microsoft Explorer was the best one ever made.
Button placement, scroll wheel operation and sufficient trackball size and smoothness.
Needs to be cleaned out periodically, but ball pops right out so easy to clean.
Sadly they stopped making it and I have only one good one left (After 15 years or so they do wear out.)
My other computer has a Kensington Expert on it (Wired) and it is very good, just overall hand placement and scroll wheel on the Microsoft are somewhat better than the Kensington.
Many of the newer ones have too small balls and that makes movement less precise and results in more frequent jamming due to contamination.
I have literally worn the paint off of several Microsoft Explorers and their buttons do eventually fail.
Since you can’t reasonably get a Explorer, get a Kensington Expert wired or wireless.
Watch out for bad scroll wheel placement on other trackballs too as you really don’t want to have to move your hand to use the scroll wheel.
Mad, I can’t comment on the wired Elecom you got. I have a wireless Huge and so don’t have to deal with wires. But I can comment on the actual trackball function itself. I started using trackballs in the early 90s for Photoshop and Illustrator. At the time, there was really only one game in town for professional use, as the size of the ball contributes to the accuracy you get from the device,
The Kensington’s I used had balls that were very nearly the size of pool balls. They were huge. I wanted a trackball for home, but at the time the Kensington’s were quite expensive for input device and I ended up with an inexpensive trackball that had a ball about the size of the M570s in the middle and two large buttons, one on either side. I liked it, but it was nowhere near the accuracy of the Kensington.
With that said, the Elecom Huge I have has a trackball that is very large. I think the Kensington’s may be bigger, but I would have to compare them. And all the other functions that the Huge has have sold me over buying a Kensington. Its a lot like making a choice between a BMW and a KIA. I drive a KIA Optima SXL that I would not trade for a BMW. It has all the options the BMW has at a much lower price and will hold its own against the BMW on the street. And the newer KIA Stinger is an Optima that has all the options and comfort of the BMW while being able to go 190mph at a price of $48,000. You would pay twice that for a BMW that could perform like that with the same level of comfort and amenities. And you would find in the end that the BMW would not attain 190mph. For that, you would have to purchase a model that runs in the 6 figures.
Of course, the Kensington’s rightfully have a reputation for quality trackballs. They have been the standard for 30 years. But if you have the opportunity to try an Elecom Huge WIreless, I suggest you do. You might be surprised at the level of quality, at a lower price, with more controls. Just my two cents.
Cybermachiavelli, aren’t you affected by the Stick-slip phenomenon in small-slow precise adjustment ball movements of this trackball? I bought a HUGE wireless a year ago, and I quited using it because of that stick-slip problem. Besides, the “left” button is to appart for my hand. Furthermore, it forces too much upward bending of my wrist. Now I’m just back to the old built-in laptop touchpad… 🙁
has anyone reviewed the ITAC evolution mouse-trak?
i have been using the Microsoft Trackball Explorer for years and in my opinion it is a fantastic trackball it’s just a shame Microsoft stopped making it. Due to the lack of spare parts and the overinflated prices of the few Trackball Explorers that are still available i’ve now decided to look for a replacement and the Elecom Huge WIreless is looking like the one i will go for as it is the closest ergonimically i’ve seen to the Microsoft Trackball Explorer…………….Unless Microsoft suddenly listen the many calls for the Trackball Explorer to be put back into production.
My MacBook Pro does not have a USB port – what do you suggest if I want a wireless mouse?
The Logitech Trackman Marble is a bad trackball. The buttons are too far back from the ball and there is no scroll wheel. To comfortably use the buttons you have to be using the ball with the very tips of your fingers, which is uncomfortable. To comfortably use the ball you have to contort your thumb and fingers to reach the buttons. For a budget trackball the Kensington Orbit is far superior.
Currently I use a slimblade at work. Love using it, but I have to tilt the trackball up sideways to be comfortable. My absolute favourite trackball was the Logitech Marble FX.
I am thinking of getting the new Kensington Orbit Fusion. Or a Ploopy.