Kensington SlimBlade trackball for the smooth operator
By Nilay Patel 
posted January 15th 2009 4:49PM
posted January 15th 2009 4:49PM
[Via Engadget Chinese]
posted January 15th 2009 4:49PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
it could be fun if Apple came with a trackball...
call it the iTrackballs
Umm, don't they?
@noyp
...Read the comment again and think about it. Think long and hard.
long and hard? thats what she said
It's too hard!
Ya, I got the joke.
=) ..... you said balls.
Ooh! I love those! They're so fun to mess with, but not so accurate ime, but I used a cheap low-end one.
wow, talkiing about shitty jokes
talking about a shitty comment system that doesn't let me reply to the right comment.
wow, talkiing about bad spelling
he speak elvish... "talkiing aboit shitty" mean "that second pork chop was harder to digest"
I love me a trackball, something about the spinning and stopping it turns me on. Though, it may just be the song doing that to me.
When are they going to stop making the mouse? All the clicking and dragging and chasing the dam thing and how in the world do gamers do it? It seems the worst way to stay alive while being sniped.
I will probably be first in line for this thing, the video has sold me!
I loved the ancient kensington trackball I used years ago. The thing was built like a tank and worked great. If the quality is still there I'd be willing to give this a shot. The only problem with my old one was that the spring in the left button was shot, if this is as good as those it'd be worth $130.
Or you could buy the fantastic Logitech Marble Mouse for $20. Used them for years and years. Usually only have to replace them when the springs in the left button finally craps out.
Trackballs kick ass. So much faster and compact than a mouse. I hate dragging the whole thing all over when I can just use my thumb.
Balls to the Trackballs !!
This one is so huge, I wonder how ppl could use it !
That's what she said.
I've used a logitech TrackMan for nearly 10 years. I love it and find it much easier to use than a traditional mouse.
Yay for 1980's operator videos!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBXXrUBHsOY
Hey, trackballs rule! Well, not this one, I go with the Logitech Trackman, having the ball controlled by your thumb gives you all the accuracy you need, but without the need for any desk space. A trackball is perfect if you're using your laptop in your lap on the couch, as I often am. But anyway, it's always good to see a company still supporting trackballs.
They're also perfect if you ever want to try challenging me at Missile Command or Centipede.
-jp
You know I absolutely love freekin trackballs but I could never quite get the accuracy right when like editing in Photoshop. Maybe I was doing something wrong. Other than that, they are the shieet.
I have 2 Logitech Trackman Wheels, I love 'em. Though I do get envious whenever Engadget posts about a billion-dpi gaming mouse and I'm playing Counter-Strike Source with this thing thats like 800 dpi I think.
Does this mean that the Expert Mouse can come down in price? Awesome... I always heard good things about Kensington trackballs but I never could really justify the price for what was essentially an experiment.
This is sad to admit but sexy trackballs give me boners
It gives you a boner to put your hand on a big set of balls?
Don't you know? Tom is ambidextrous. He enjoys the usage of two trackballs at the same time.
The Kensington trackballs are *very* well built. I've had two in the last 20 years of computing. Wouldn't have replaced the first one except for the interface change & fact that the rollers wore out. Their software isn't so great, so I use it with the built-in OSX drivers. Expensive but worth it.
I have a Kensington Expert Mouse Pro on my work computer for the past 5 years. This thing is a tank (that's smooth as glass). Works great, nary a problem (just the occasional cleaning, must stop eating at the desk)
Well worth the $100 it cost.
yes. i have the same one.
It is expensive, but totally worth it.
I actually preferred the discontinued microsoft trackball. I like to scroll with fingers and click with thumb.
http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/product.aspx?view=22&type=ovr&pcid=a9fdd4c0-41da-4045-9d6f-f087c17ffd30
I had one actually go out about 8 years ago. I called Kensington and the tech's response was: "Ok, I'll send you a new one!" I asked him:"Don't you need a serial number or something?" His response was:"Nah, have a nice day!" Best customer service ever. The entire call took about 10 minutes from start to finish.
I'm with you; the MS trackball explorer is probably the best trackball out there: 4 buttons and a scrollwheel and excelent build quality. And it's wired! I hate wireless trackballs...what the hell is the point except to spend a fortune on batteries. Plus wireles mice are generally slower.
That's how I got my TrackballExplorer in the first place; I bought a Logitech trackball something (the black one with the huge ball and many buttons)...but the wireless just didn't update smoothly enough for, no matter what settings I used...so the next day I exchanged it for the MS trackball.
Now I think I'll have to hit up ebay to stock up on some Trackball Explorers in case this one wears out...
My MS Trackball Explorer is going on six years and counting now. I've checked out new ones as they came out over the years, but none even come close to the Explorer's comfort and design. The buttons are all in the perfect locations. The scrollwheel IS a scollwheel. The ball is nice and big.
With no proper replacement ever emerging, and the fact that they sell for FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS USED on amazon, I don't know what I'd do if it ever gave up the ghost. The Kensington is intriguing, but trackballs are so much harder than mice to judge without actually giving them a test drive.
I love my Kensington Expert Mouse trackball. Can you buy a replacement ball for these in other colors? My expert mouse looks so nice on my desk... it wouldn't be as nice if it had a red ball.
It _might_ be the same size ball, so you could swap it out...
why don't they make trackpads for desktops? Big ones, of course.
Honestly, who likes trackpads?
"They" used to, where they was CH products, a nice big beige-grey one (much in the style of computing equipment at the time. Built like a tank, lasted years with (as pointing devices in households with small children get) more abuse than any peripheral deserves, and that big trackball just gave such nice control for precise motions.
I'd probably still be using it, except it happened to be my Dad's, not mine. So when I went to school and got my own system, I used a succession of cheap optical mice instead of hunting for an out-of-production trackball like I should have.
But Kensington does make some decently-sized ones, so I'm not sure why you think they don't?
Whoops, I just realized you said trackpads, not trackballs. Your query makes much more sense, and I rank myself down now. :o
But in fairness, "they" used to make those too, also big, also beige-gray, but not really industrial. In this case, "They" = Cirque, now owned by Alps. My Mom had a Glidepoint, and she really liked the thing. Me, not so much. Give me the (aforementioned) CH trackball or a Summasketch any day; the Glidepoint was neither better nor worse than a generic mouse, IMHO.
To atone for my misreading, I even hunted up a link (with picture) this time:
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Cirque_Glidepoint_Touchpad__6200876
Lenovo released a keyboard with integrated trackpad a while back - the ThinkPlus keyboard with UltraNav - https://www.insight.com/search/minippp.web?materialId=31P8950
The trackpad isn't very large but it also includes the TrackPoint from the ThinkPad line... if they keyboard has the same feel as the ThinkPad keyboards then it's second only to the Apple aluminium keyboards, imo.
i feel rick-rolled by the video :(
i prefer thumb-operated trackballs, like the Logitech trackman wheel. But they're getting rare.
hope Logitech or Razer make one with more buttons.
who isn't touching their balls right now?
whats a trackball?
Thanks for the tips, give it a try (Mac solutions). Also found Freeway Pro but can't get it to work in Leopard so far.
Sorry if it makes no sense this was caused by 1Password auto-login/autofill.
Looks great, but if Kensington wants me to change from my Macally QBall they'll need to come up with a Bluetooth version.
@Mikofox
> Looks great, but if Kensington wants me to change from my Macally
> QBall they'll need to come up with a Bluetooth version.
Okay, I can understand the desire to not be dragging a cord around the desk as you move a mouse, but a trackball is stationary. Why would you want to use batteries and get a slower update rate with Bluetooth? I'm perfectly happy with my two Kensington Expert Mouse trackballs (real men always have two), cords and all.
My girlfriend uses a trackball because of carpal tunnel. Made a big difference. I use them (Kensington Expert Mouse trackballs) because they give finer control than mice.
Once you get away from the Joe-Hobbyist-AOL-user world, you'll see that trackballs are used extensively by pros who edit video, audio, and images/photos.
never could figure out how gamers could use a mouse that you had to keep picking up and bring it back. just seemed weird that trackballs never caught on more in the world of gaming. so much easier imo. anyway if they made it so you never had to clean the rollers i'd probably have 2