Budget trackball for CAD work

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a trackball. I use Autodesk Inventor a lot, and I have big hands. Can you recommend me some budget options? I am interested in Kensington orbit, because of it's scroll ring. I have read that many users report issues with low polling rate. Is it a problem for cad or light gaming?

Thank you for any help ;)



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Finger vs Thumb Trackball – Poll

Hey!
I know this question has been asked before, but I wanted to create a proper poll to see which type of trackball people generally prefer.

Feel free to explain your choice in the comments!

View Poll

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Notes on Kensington Expert Mouse sensor replacement

I bought a wireless Expert Mouse K72359 in a non-working state, the buttons and scroll worked but the ball wouldn't move the cursor. A new sensor fixed it, so here are my notes about the process:

Screws are under the rubber feet. One is T8 (or at least, a T8 bit grabs it cleanly).
Sensor is marked A3000, datasheet for the Avago ADNS-3000 is a match. This is what I bought as a replacement. Element14 don't have them but they're not hard to get from China.
Confirmed that the LED next to the sensor was alive using my phone camera. Cameras with proper IR sensors may not be able to see it (works on TV remotes too).
Confirmed the old sensor was dead by putting an oscilloscope to the MISO and MOSI lines. The sensor chip was receiving data from the main controller but not sending anything back.
Sensor is attached with lead-free solder, as usual getting it out was a pain. Soldering iron at 320C and solder sucker wasn't getting it loose. I ended up clipping all the legs off, pushing out the remaining bits then cleaning the holes with an 0.7mm drill bit.
Correct orientation for the sensor has the camera hole closer to the LED.

For some reason I thought the sensor could only go in one way due to the staggered pins; it's half true (it can't be mounted to the back of the board) but the pins will fit with the chip facing the wrong direction. In that state the trackball stopped connecting to both bluetooth and the wireless dongle. Unplugging the sensor PCB didn't fix it. Once the sensor was reinstalled in the correct direction it all came back. The blue LED was showing some blink code on startup but I didn't record it.

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ProtoArc EM06: Latest Update

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Ploopy Adept vs Efog.tech Endgame

I'm leaning towards the Endgame, but have never tried either. Any thoughts? Anyone tried. both?

I like the additional buttons, and the option to have BTU out the gate without having to do a mod. Also the scroll wheels, although they look like a bit of an ergonomic disaster on those positions, I can't imagine they're easy to use naturally.

But the Ploopy is more established with a range of user generated additions, like longer buttons for the top you can print yourself on Printables, also angled bases and wrist rests etc. Not even sure how a wrist rest would work with the Endgame due to the position of it's scroll wheels. I know I could design these myself for an Endgame, but it's just something I wouldn't have to do!


Comfort and ergonomics are important to me here which is why the angled support and wrist rest are of intereest.

Thanks

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The Sanwa Gravi Trackball Mouse: An otherwise brilliant device with an infuriating design flaw

My Sanwa Gravi trackball mouse arrived a few days ago and I would love nothing more than to spend a paragraph or two gushing about how smooth and comfortable and easy to integrate it is -- because it *is*, indeed, all of those things. Regrettably, it has one design flaw that has me so exasperated that I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. An unsightly mod will be the least-undesirable path forward and I'm not even sure how to make the mod, so the much more likely outcome here is that I'll ultimately end up throwing the device away and starting over.

The flaw is this: The left mouse button -- the one most important and most frequently used -- wraps around the raised surface of the left side of the device to form part of the curving bottom edge of that side, floating a few mm above the table that the mouse sits on. This means that it's all but impossible to return one's right hand to the device without inadvertently clicking the left mouse button -- often with disastrous consequences, especially if typing with one's left hand at the same time.

This is completely unacceptable. To begin with, the product should have been beta tested and this would have been discovered immediately. Second, it serves no useful purpose: It's pure design aesthetic to have a clean bottom edge of the left side of the device instead of a left mouse button that stands off from the bottom edge as a self-contained square. And third, the consequences of this problem are out of all proportion with the ease with which it could have been caught and fixed.

Right now my plan is to glue some kind of spacer to the curved bottom side of the device, then glue a near-vertical edge strip to that glued spacer, then glue a small overhang to the top of the edge strip. This will look absolutely terrible, completely ruin the resale value of the device (if any), cost me most of a day to figure out, *AND* probably not work, anyway.

tl;dr: Avoid. Sorry, because it should be a great product, but avoid. Do not buy.

\(Mouse tilted up by about 45 degrees for ease of illustration; actual orientation is with left button more on side of the device\)

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Am I overreacting, or does the left-to-right movement on the Elecom Huge Plus have very noticable stiction?

Hey all — relatively new to the hobby. My first trackball was the Gameball. Absolutely love it, feels like the perfect mouse for me. I work from home and do not like how using a laptop all day makes my wrists feel, so I decided to try the Huge Plus so as to have a separate mouse to use for non-gaming tasks. I absolutely love how the form factor fits my hand, and even though the software...is what it is...it's been mostly a pleasant experience so far. Looks sleek, nice build, fits my hand well. Cool!

But...the movement along the x-axis. Left to right. It is sticky. Up and down feels terrific: not as smooth as the Gameball, but I can't complain about any friction at all. But left to right is just night and day. It's jerky. I've done the forehead/nose grease trick and it helps a little...but it goes back to feeling a little herky-jerky fairly quickly. (Edit: herky-jerky insofar as what is seen onscreen. It's not so bad that it's visibly catching in the physical socket)

Is this the "break in" I've heard about? Is this par for the course and I just need to be more patient? I want to love this thing, and if it's just a matter of giving it a few months then terrific, I'll trust the process. But if this sounds off to any of you, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I have a lot to learn with this stuff and this community has come off as really welcoming from the short time I've been lurking. Appreciate any responses in advance.

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Kensington Konnect vs. CAPS lock

After the nightmarish odyssey of updating my Mac to Sequoia OS 15.6.1, it subsequently broke a number of things including the tried & true Kensington Works software. After installing their new Kensington Konnect software and reprogramming my trackball shortcuts, I noticed a couple of things:

recently, it seems my caps lock stopped working. The keyboard indicated it was on, and the OS software indicated it was on. But when I tried to type anything in all caps, it still typed lowercase.

(I also noticed oddly that sometimes my copy & paste queue would work only once. I couldn't repeat the paste after a single occurrence.)

After lengthy trial and error including SMC reset and various other things, and confirming caps lock worked as expected in safe mode startup, I found that only after I disabled the Kensington Computer Products Group in System Settings>Login Items & Extensions did it work.

I called Kensington tech support who, while great and responsive, acknowledged that they are aware of the issue with their Kensington Konnect software/startup and are working on a fix.

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Elecom Huge+ plus extra balls
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TB800 Kensington Support ignoring return

For those that have returned the TB800, how long did it take for them to give you return instructions?

After their initial email and link to their press release about the issue, they have been ignoring my emails. I am a bit concerned.

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Nulea M505 replacement

I wanted to give a trackball a try as I have a lot of wrist/elbow issues so I decided to give the Nulea M505 a try because it was cheap and had decent reviews. I have used it as my main pointing device for about 6 months now and I have to say I really like using a trackball. Lately though I have been using the computer a lot more for work and I keep having tracking issues where the pointer stutters a lot. I do clean it often but tried giving it a thorough cleaning (the ball, bearings, and sensor) with alcohol but am still having issues. It seems to be a certain spot on the ball that has the issue because if I roll it a bit the issue seems to go away.

Anyway the point is, now that I know I really like using a trackball, I am looking for recommendations for a higher quality replacement and I was hoping to hear from people who have used this trackball as well to compare. I like the form of the Nulea but I would ideally like more buttons. I used a Logitech G604 for many years and I miss the 6 side buttons with the trackball. I keep looking at the Elecom Huge but I read a lot about quality control issues with Elecom. I don't mind spending some money on something as long as it is good quality.

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If youre into music production youve got try the kensington slimblade

twist to scroll feature for turning knobs on VST's feels so organic and expressive! Sold on trackballs alone with this feature. Is the slimblade the only trackball that does this? Do trackballs with scroll rings give the same natural feel?

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Switching between 2 devices - Logitech ErgoM575s

Hi guys, new trackball user here. Ive got my mouse connected to my work laptop via bluetooth and want to use the Logi receiver in my personal laptop but im struggling to figure out how to switch between the two?

Ive read online you just press the button on the bottom but that doesnt seem to be working and when I hold it the mouse just goes in to pair mode.

Any help would be great!

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Trackball selection by a picky trackballer.

I guess it will be another post of “how I got into trackballs” or “my journey into the land of balls.”, but hopefully it will help someone to save some time and money in search for a perfect trackball. I will try to keep it short, structured and filled with decent amount of ball-related jokes.

**Background**: I am a long time trackball user with an RSI in the right wrist. I am comfortable ~~with fingering my balls with~~ using both index finger and thumb, and use them for both work and play (balls, not thumbs – if it matters). Yes, contrary to the main belief in the church of the mouse – ~~you can play with your balls~~ game on trackballs.

# My legacy trackballs:

* Logitech Trackman Marble
*   **Reason for change:** switched because wanted to go wireless.
*   **Bought:** \~2008.
*   **Status:** Still works.
* Logitech M570
* **Reason for change**:  switched because wanted to be able to switch between two devices.
* **Bought**: \~2013.
* **Status:** Still works. Scroll wheel’s coating slightly degraded.
* Logitech MX ERGO (non S)
* **Reason for change:** left click button’s switch is glitching and soft touch coating degradation.
* **Bought**: 2023.

·        Everything was fine until the left click started to fail and soft touch coating degraded to the state when it looks like I stole it from a hobo. Also it is sticky. Srsly Logitech? 80+ EUR device that turns into a pumpkin after 2 years and 10 months? Nope, I am not buying it again. It was comfortable though, nice device if you are OK with buying new one every 2-3 years.

 

[An accurate representation of a trackball selection process.](https://preview.redd.it/j7j5ym3fgzag1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=b97ce5da5b2b314b48eb986eca96d5d0208dd6fa)

 

# Tested trackballs and impressions:

As usually - ergonomics are very individual. Something that fits me - may not fit you and vice versa.


**Nulea M512.**

Initially it looked like as if Kensington Expert, TB-800 and SlimBlade and a threesome and later had a baby. Later it felt as if Master from the Fallout dumped all these three into a FEV vat, pulled it out and posted listing on Amazon.  In reality… well – what you pay is what you get. Matt (not soft touch) plastic becomes shiny within a few days. Left and right scroll tabs were too far to reach comfortably. Sticky ball. Combination of a large, heavy ball and stickiness caused me to actually move it with a wrist-mouse-like movement, which in turn – triggered my RSI.  Bluetooth and 2.4 dongle, rechargeable built in battery.

Tested at \~50 EUR. Did not like, do not recommend.

 

**Kensington SlimBlade Pro**

Butter smooth, big ball, very easy to finger it even with a pinky finger. Scrolling by rotating the ball feels natural (I could not think of any joke other than: “I cast testicular torsion”, but had no clue how to smoothly integrate it here, sorry). Smooth plastic seems durable.  4 buttons are enough and are comfortable. Did not have any issues with using it. Bluetooth and 2.4 dongle, rechargeable built in battery. Additional pro-s: it looks like HAL or Palantir. Downside – ball is gravity-held. It will fall out if you walk around with it.

Tested at \~100 EUR.  Like, recommend.

 

**Elecom Delft Pro**

I really wanted to like this one, I really did. Shape was comfortable. A LOT of buttons (maybe to many, you will click something as soon as you pick it up), scroll wheel is in a comfortable place, replaceable AA battery as a power source and BT +2.4 dongle. The only problem was the ball – sticky on small movements. It takes some effort to move the ball from the starting position. Especially noticeable if you are making small, precise movements. Not a Nulea M512 level, but enough to be annoying. I read that people are replacing stock bearings with something custom, but I am not willing to spend a cent on top of 100 EUR that it costs. In my opinion device that costs \~100 EUR should not require any tweaks.

Tested at \~100 EUR. Liked the concept, can recommend if you can get past the jerkiness

of a ball or if you can get it cheaper and have skills (and willingness) to replace the bearings. Does not feel like 100 EUR device, feels more like 70-80 EUR device.

 

**ProtoArc EM05**

Looked promising, steeper angle seemed to be ergonomic. But ended up being both too big and too small at the same time. Ball was located too close for my taste. At the same time the body of this trackball felt too large. Mushy (quiet?) buttons. Soft touch all over the thing. A bit scratchy ball.

Tested at \~45 EUR. Can recommend if one actually NEEDS such a steep angle. Usable.

**ProtoArc EM01**

Feels like an MX Ergo replica. Almost fine, but the base is non-magnetic, and the angle is adjusted by door-hinge-style thingy, and there is a soft-touch on the BUTTONS. Why ProtoArc, why? How long will this coating last before turning into sticky gunk? A bit scratchy ball. Bluetooth and 2.4 dongle, rechargeable built in battery.

Tested at \~45 EUR. Usable.

 

**Logitech M575s**

Bluetooth and 2.4 dongle, AA battery. A bit scratchy ball out of the box, became smoother once I replaced it at with the ball from MX Ergo – became much better. No soft-touch on the body or buttons. To be honest -I’d say it is a perfect trackball. Cheap, durable (if the internals are similar to M570). No unnecessary bells and whistles. It just works. Some people say that they need MX Ergos’ higher angle, but it is solvable with a 3d print.

Tested at \~40 EUR. Recommend.

 

# Conclusion.

I ultimately kept a Kensington SlimBlade PRO and bought an Logitech M575s as a spare and for travelling. Who knows… maybe Logitech will stop manufacturing or upgrade it to something with a soft-touch all over it and a built in battery.

 

 

 

 

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TB800 3D Printed base and wrist pad

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