Kensington Expert Mouse Optical USB Trackball for PC or Mac 64325
by Kensington
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Kensington Expert Mouse Optical USB Trackball for PC or Mac 64325
Customer Review: One more for the chorus - this is a great trackball.
Summary: 5 Stars
Kensington's largest trackball is the result of almost 20 years of evolution, starting as the Kensington Turbo Mouse for the original Macintosh, Mac Plus, Apple IIe & IIc, to the Kensington Expert Mouse 7.0 optical trackball of today. If you've had problems with carpal tunnel or similar pain in your hand and arm after too many hours using a mouse, are tired of clearing crap off of your desk in order to mouse around, or simply want a precision input device with customization options out the wazoo, this is be the trackball for you.
The Kensington Expert Mouse is big, but big is good. The trackball is large, which allows for precision movements when coupled with their DiamondEye optical tracking system. The large size also makes it easy to find a comfortable position for you hand to use the trackball. Surrounding the trackball is a scroll ring and four large buttons, at the corners. The cradle itself is composed of black and grey plastic. It feels somewhat lightweight and isn't the prettiest thing, but if it's functional (and it is), I won't complain. Also included in the box is a small, ergonomic wrist rest which clips to the front of the trackball. Simply plug the trackball into a USB port and you're ready to go, but don't overlook the included software.
The Mouseworks 3.0 software that comes bundled with the Expert Mouse is the other part of the package that makes this trackball great. The software allows you to customize the function of the Expert Mouse in just about every manner imaginable. You can rearrange button assignments, assign key commands, execute programs, set scrolling and mousing speeds and accelerations, almost anything. And the best part - you can vary the assignments by program, so that when you're in Firefox, the top two buttons take you backwards and forwards, while using the bottom two buttons to chord (did I mention chording?) will open a link in a new window. Then, when you're in Word, you can assign formatting commands or spell-check, or you can assign various editing or replay options in iMovie, or swap weapons in Halo, or, well, just about anything. This is one nicely customizable piece of kit.
After working with it for a week, I've got one or two little complaints about it. It seems there's one little bug in the Mouseworks software when you're assigning custom key commands to the buttons that pops up when you're assigning a custom keystroke to one of the buttons. If you firs click and change the name of the key assignment, and then enter the desired key command, the 'OK' option never highlights. If you do the reverse - enter key command and then give it a name, no problem. I contacted Kensington technical support to tell them about the bug and they suggested I unplug and re-plug the trackball in. Dunno what exactly that says about their technical support (their suggestion didn't fix the small software problem), but their equipment is covered by a 5-year warranty, of which I've read of many (many) happy customers who have their equipment fixed or replaced by Kensington. Well done!
My other (little) complaint is that the scroll wheel around the base of the ball is well-located, but is only 95% accurate in picking up rotation action going on, which is a little odd. On a purely tactile level, the scroll wheel could be smoother, though I'm sure a set of proper roller bearings or similar (not sure what they're using currently) would only increase the unit's cost from the current $100 price tag.
The Kensington Expert Mouse is the progeny of the many trackballs that came before it. It's not the prettiest trackball out there, but it's by no means ugly. It works extremely well on many levels - functionally, ergonomically and customizationally (okay, I made that word up). The Expert Mouse 7.0 might not be the perfect trackball, but it's mighty close.
Customer Review: Kensington Expert Trackball
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned trackballs for years. I have a Logitech T- CH11 with 3 buttons that I really like. It's about 10 yrs old and has a lower and more comfortable profile than this one or the new Logitechs.
I've had this for about a month. I bought it for my 84 year old father who was just getting into computers. He was having trouble with desktop space to drive a mouse. He also had some trouble clicking and double clicking where he wanted with a mouse due to muscle control issues. He kept starting programs he didn't want and accidentally moving icons and folders around. I thought it would be good to separate cursor control and clicking. He tried the trackball but didn't want to switch from what he already knew (for a week)even though it seemed easier for him to use. The device is now on my backup machine used by my girlfriend who is 55 and uses it mostly for games and web surfing. Both she and my father tend to sit back from the machine and hold the trackball with two hands in their laps and flail at it with their thumbs.
Pros: Comes configured for USB and there is a small PS/2 adapter supplied that worked very well. Plug and play in XP.
Four buttons and the scroll ring can all be programmed from a list or to do most anything else. The programming can be global or application specific so games can be conrolled differently from your word processor or spread sheet. You can designate a control key or chord to switch to a "very slow" mode for detail work such as in a chart or CAD program.
The scroll ring is positioned well, has a good feel, and works fairly well but sounds gritty and cheap out of the box. It is optical so I lubricated mine with some silicone to cut down the noise. It is wearing in OK.
Cons: There is no "very slow" mode without holding down a control key so I had problems choosing a cursor speed for my father. I've not investigated using a button for the "very slow" key. No problems selecting speed or acceleration for my girlfriend.
The ball will fall out if it it tipped past 90 degrees.
The ball takes very little getting used to but is about 1/3 as heavy as a billiard ball and has more inertia than the smaller trackballs. It handles somewhat like the trackball on some of the old arcade games. Centipede comes to mind.
I thought the finger reach from the top of the ball to the buttons might be a concern for someone who wants to do flying clicks for a game. This was avoided with a little coordination and by programming the buttons differently for games.
The wrist rest and the "slow button" feature make this a very nice pointing device for charting, spreadsheet, and CAD applications. I program two of the buttons for "copy" and "paste" to speed up word processing and order entry.
I'd recommend this trackball for children as well. The ball is big enough to be used with the palm. Sturdy construction and I found no pinch hazards. I guess they could throw the ball but then they could throw the keyboard too. As with any trackball, the separation of point and click is also a plus.
Caution: The Kensington control software is very nice but replaced the existing mouse software. Uninstalling the Kensington software requires a reinstall of the previous mouse control setup. This was not a problem for me, and I don't think it will be for anyone replacing a generic mouse, since the Kensington software ran the old mouse well.
Customer Review: WORKS on MAC.. NEW INFO 7/21/6
Summary: 5 Stars
NEW INFO 7/21/6
My BAD.. it "does" support different applications for programming the buttons (IE: you can program buttons independantly for diff appl, such as browser, WORD, etc)..
MY SETTINGS:
CHORD TOP TWO BUTTONS: CLOSE WDO or DEL EMAIL..
RIGHT TWO: UP/DN or FWD/BACK (in browser)
CHORD BOTTOM TWO : COPY to clipboard..
UPPER LEFT: PASTE..
LOWER LEFT: CLICK..
*** END NEW INFO ***
I have G4 powerbook, and you never know when something will work or not (no matter what they tell you on the package). Typically you get a reduced feature set on mac (bacause they thrid party designers only half way support mac).
Overall I might have rated this mouse a 4 or 4.5 overall. Although Im no authority, I think 5 star might apply for mac (because it seems to work on mac).
I chose the USB over the wireless becauase I feared (dont really know) the wireless would cause problems (and possible reduce my feature set I can use). I suspect they were not thinking of using this mouse with a notebook. If the mouse was bluetooth I probably would have tried it. Since the wireless was not bluetooth, I had to plug something in everytime I used it, so it might was well be the USB. The other reason I didnt get the wireless was because of the bad reviews and the price.
Everything works. The scroll ring to the chording of the buttons (with chording I have 6 button choices). I do kind of wish the mouse would recognize different applications and change button choices accordingly (although this might be too confusing). Im not even sure if this is practical (or even offered on other mouses). The programability was good enough for me (I cannot evaluate but the programability was much better than the mac mouse I tried). I set my 6 to brw back, pull up mail and safari, right and left click (std), Ctl_W (to blow away safari wdo).
The scroll ring does kind of stick (as noted in other reviews). I still like it though, although it is annoying that the designers should have done better. I have had no problems with the trach ball sticking (as some other reviewers complained about.
I guess Im one of the few who like the wrist rest. Mine broke first day. I will contact kensignton (I expect they will send me a new one). It looks like one you snap it together, maybe you shouldnt try to disassemble it (like I did). The reason I did was because it wouldnt fit flat on the desk.
For anyone worried about the scroll speed, or the pointer speed, you can easilly adjust these things. On the mac you get a mouseworks icon under sys pref / other. From here you can program the buttons/etc. I have noted when you have 50 pages (ie: lot of pages) the scroll tends to be a little jumpy. But if you change to slower scroll it fixes it. I set mine in the middle and take my chances (when I get to a wdo with lots of pages it simply scrolls faster). I dont blame kensignton here; I suspece all mouses would have this (nit picky) problem. Perhaps someone will correct me here if Im wrong.
I bought two, so I can have the same thing at both my locations.
bobler
Customer Review: Now for Windows 7, better than ever
Summary: 5 Stars
Good news for all Windows and Mac users! In June 2010 Kennsington published TrackballWorks, which supports full functionality for all current Kennsington trackball models (including Expert Mouse) under all Windows versions back to XP and for Mac.
I work constantly on the computer and find that a trackball is much better and less stressful than a mouse. For my style of working, the Expert Mouse Trackball is the best I've discovered.
A number of the reviews here relate to older versions of the "Expert Mouse" Trackball, and are not completely applicable to the current (7.0) version.
When my Microsoft Trackball Explorer finally died I first tried a Logitech Cordless Optical TrackMan, which looks a bit like the Trackball Explorer. But my hand tended to slip back on its rounded housing and I could not adapt it very well to my style of working. So I decided to try the Expert Mouse Trackball, even though I had found an earlier version unsatisfactory. The new one is not perfect, but much better and is now my standard device.
There are many different ways to use a trackball and it is important to know whether a review is relevant to your style. I still use the style I was taught in connection with military systems decades ago (which was based on human factors research) and has never caused me any repetitive stress problems (as mouses do). My elbow is on the arm of my chair, at trackball height, and the heel of my hand is on the rest that comes with the Expert Mouse, with my index and middle fingers moving the ball and my thumb and ring and pinkie fingers pushing buttons. I use my ring finger to move the scroll ring, switching off with my thumb sometimes when doing lots of scrolling.
This is clearly the most ambidextrous pointing device of all -- it doesn't make any difference whether you use it right or left handed. That means that the button placement is not optimal for either hand, however. The lower (proximal) button on the pinkie (lateral) side takes more effort than the others. Thus you should assign your least-needed function to it. Fortunately, the Kinsington MouseWorks software allows complete flexibility in button assignment. It also allows a great deal of control over all of the functions of the device, so you can tune it to your working style and specific needs. Among other things, you can tell it to change its functions when operating under specific applications.
The trackball itself is excellent, the only consumer ball I've encountered that is up to the standards of the precision trackballs on high-end military systems -- big and smooth. The scroll ring is very nice, much better than any scroll wheel. Like a scroll wheel it is slightly notchy, but it has a much more solid feel and natural motion.
Installation is quite straightforward. Simply download the MouseWorks software from the Kensington site (the version on the CD with the ball is outdated), self-extract it to a temporary directory, install it from the temporary directory, re-start, and plug in the ball to a USB (or PS2) port. My Windows XP recognized it automatically and brought up MouseWorks so I could tailor the functions.
Customer Review: Intel Mac Users do not despair! Download Kensington V. 3.0
Summary: 5 Stars
Take all the good reviews about this product, and I agree with all the positives. I even like the Kensington Expert Trackball Mouse BETTER than my Microsoft Trackball Explorer (SHAMEFULLY discontinued by Microsoft) in some respects! But I have to admit that my Explorer mouse is a bit more comfortable for long periods of constant use.
I don't think the product description on Amazon mentions that you can assign SIX different functions at a time to this mouse! That's because not only can you assign a different function to each button (there are 4 buttons), but you can ALSO assign a function that works when you press both top buttons together, and another function that works when you press both bottom buttons together! I chose to assign "click", "right click", "cut", & "paste" to the single buttons, and chose "back" and "forward" for the simultaneous buttons. And just in case you don't want any or all of the buttons to do anything when they are pushed, you can assign them to "do nothing" as well. This might be useful for people who keep accidentally pushing a button because of their particular hand shape or hand position.
I've also found that the "fluid" vs. "space down" motion of the scroll wheel depends on the application that is running, and not a big deal to me. If you always want a fluid scrolling motion you can always choose one of your buttons to "drag" the screen fluidly up or down using the trackball.
I mostly decided to write this review to let all you Mac OS X w/ Intel chip and Leopard OS users know that you can get ALL the buttons programmed after downloading "Kensington MouseWorks® for Mac OS X Version 3.0" software from the Kensington website [...]. Never mind that it says it was last updated on 5/30/06 - once you download that version to your Intel Mac (do not click on "search for latest update" when the box comes up so you only download THAT particular version) you can then program ALL the buttons (I own a new 2008 MacBook Pro and it worked for me). At least we can use the available Version 3.0 until they create a newer updated Mouseworks Software Version that fixes the Intel Mac problem.
I LOVE the "keystrokes" option to add custom button settings (i.e. if you want a button to be "Back", first type the Apple "Command" button followed by the "[" key in the top box, and then label it "Back" in the bottom box; I've found that you must label/name it last so that the "OK" button lights up and you can click on it. Likewise, if you wanted another button to be "Paste", choose the "Keystrokes" option, then type the Apple "Command" button followed by "V" in the top box, and then label it "Paste" below and "OK" (save) it. It's so easy to assign practically anything to a button (even opening up an assigned URL or application)...very cool.
And if you aren't able to set some of the parameters for how the trackball mouse responds through the "Mouseworks" application settings, try tweaking the standard mouse application settings.
To think I almost returned this product! Thank goodness for internet searches!