Logitech Optical Marble Mouse (USB/PS2)
by Logitech
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Our Price: $109.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $28.95 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Optical Marble Mouse (USB/PS2)
Customer Review: Loved it so much I just bought a 2nd one
Summary: 5 Stars
I won't go into the specifications of the Marble Mouse because other reviews here have done a very thorough job. What few reviewers have mentioned, however, is how useful the Marble Mouse is for applications that require a lot of precisely controlled cursor movement. If you work a lot with Powerpoint, or Adobe Photoshop, basically any application which requires you to frequently click and drag items to specific locations on the screen, this is the mouse for you. Unlike a regular mouse, whose motion is registered by your hand dragging the entire unit over a surface, the marble mouse lets you move the cursor with a fingertip, allowing much more sensitivity and control of the cursor on screen. And as an added bonus, you can work for much longer without muscle fatigue. I've resorted to wrist braces several times after a couple of very long weekends doing this kind of work with a standard optical mouse, but after purchasing my first marble mouse, I've never had that problem again. I just purchased a 2nd mouse for the laptop, and since the "mouse" doesnt actually move over a surface, it works beatifully perched on a sofa armrest when my laptop is sitting in my lap. Ive also found that gaining experience with a trackball has made it much easier to adjust to using the touchpad on the laptop when necessary. Even if you think you could never adjust to a trackball, I'd suggest giving this one a test run for at least a week. Youll be surprised just how easy it is to use and how much you wont want to go back to anything else.
March 2011 Update: I'm STILL using this same model, after all this time. I have one for my home computer and one for the desktop at work. I have gone through about two of them in each location. After awhile (I'd say 2-3 years) the buttons start to have some issues (the computer perceives a double click when I only click once). I am thoroughly glad logitech is still making these, though, as I haven't found anything else that is even remotely as ergonomic as this. Still highly recommended.
Customer Review: Love it, but where's the wireless version?
Summary: 5 Stars
I reluctantly gave up my Kensington Expert Trackball (ADB) when I replaced my ancient Power PC Mac. I didn't want to pay $130 to replace it, so I tried the Marble Mouse. Man, what a steal! I've been perfectly happy with it. It fits my hand and works well for whatever I'm doing, with minimal hand movement.
In the interest of reducing clutter, we've gone wireless with our desktop G4 (purchased the Logitech Cordless Desktop S 530 Laser for Mac ( 967664-0403 ) cordless keyboard and mouse combo) and I took the Marble Mouse to use with my iBook. My only gripe is that the optical mouse won't work on our black desktop without a pad (or a sheet of white paper). I'd love to have a wireless Marble Mouse for our new setup, but for now, I'll have to go with the Logitech Cordless TrackMan Wheel. How about it, Logitech?
Update 10/6/08: I tried the cordless TrackMan wheel and neither my wife nor I liked it, so we stuck with the cordless mouse that came with the keyboard.
Don't drop the ball! After a couple of years of daily use, the track ball tends to come out of the housing more easily than when it's new. (It doesn't help when your toddler takes a fancy to it and wants to carry it around the house.) My ball fell out and got a nick, and whenever I hit that spot, the ball stopped dead. That's a good way to get killed when you're playing Halo: Combat Evolved online. There's really no way to smooth out the surface, and I couldn't just order a replacement ball, so I purchased a new Marble Mouse. It arrived today and the controls are crisp and precise. It makes me happy. I would still like to see a cordless version, though.
Customer Review: A great trackball to make the switch from a mouse
Summary: 5 Stars
Because of the way you drap your hand on this trackball, it feels very familier and natural for mice users. But, unlike mice, this requires no side-to-side movements of the wrist and therefore, is SO MUCH BETTER on your hands, wrists and arms.About five years ago, I was having all kinds of problems with my wrist. I looked up some info and picked up one of these. It was the best - and most inexpensive! - solution. Though it does have a slightl learning curve, it's really a lot less then you'd think. It's very comfortable and right away I noticed that my wrists never hurt anymore.
I used this trackball happily at both home and work for five years (it lasted that long as well before it finally started to wear out). This year, I decided to upgrade to the slightly more complex Cordless Optical Trackman, but the Marble Mouse is still a GREAT input device.
* It's small, doesn't take up desk space and doesn't require a mouse pad.
* It's optical, so the ball is lightweight and sails easily with the slightest touch of your fingers. (You can control with software the speed of the cursor if you don't want it to move quite as zippy as perhaps I like it to go).
* It's a very logical step up from a normal mouse and still gives the benefits of being ergonomic and comfortable.
* It's a great laptop addition since it can be used on a lap or other small surface without the problems of a mouse.
* It also has the benefit of being 100% right OR LEFT HAND usable. It's utterly neutral and can be used by either.
I've always liked Logitech's trackballs and find them to be far superior to other ones on the market. I prefer the finger-controlled ball rather then the thumb-controlled ball since the thumb one caused a LOT of fatigue and actual pain in my thumb. It wasn't nearly as natural as this one is. Try it, give it a few days and you'll wonder how you ever got by with a regular mouse.
Customer Review: Excellent Product
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used this mouse for a month and a half, and so far it's smooth sailing. I bought this mouse to mitigate the constant wrist pains I had been getting due to excessive PC gaming. The pain is completely gone, and I can still compete against traditional mouse users in online gaming (I regularly get the highest score on TF2 with this mouse). It took about a week to get used to, but I am now as adroit at using this input device as I was on my traditional optical mouse.
Some thoughts about the Logitech Optical Marble Mouse:
-When I first used this mouse, the ball didn't roll smoothly. However, after a few hours of use, this cause of concern disappeared.
-Cleaning is simple and necessary, as the rolling action becomes very stuffy after a couple days. I pop the ball out and rub my fingers against the three contact points, on which the ball glides over, to remove debris. I then polish the ball itself with my shirt and pop it back in; less than 30 seconds of cleaning.
-There is no scroll wheel. It was perturbing at first, but I have gotten used to it. I click one of the side buttons and the software scrolling comes up; move the cursor up to scroll up and vice versa.
-I set the scroll button to open and close tabs in the Firefox browser as I had done this with my previous mouse. For some reason it requires a double click now instead of a single click.
-It saves a lot of space on my desk.
I urge users who have wrist pain to buy this type of product to prevent any future carpal tunnel complications. Others who do not have wrist pain would be prudent to buy one too as they may have symptoms later.
My only complaint is the lack of a scroll wheel; the middle right button could have been replaced with one. At this price point, however, this is a moot point.
This product has my endorsement.
Customer Review: When you go trackball, you don't go back.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been an optical mouse junkie for years now and my main problem is with the best feature they have... the scroll wheel. I've had several mice in my time and they all eventually begin sticking at some point. As from what I found, the first thing to go would be the wheels or balls. This has none of that. It has the optical light inside, so no side-by-side wrist movements. My only gripes are using your thumb. It probably wouldn't be a huge deal if I would have had a mouse previously that involved my thumb in some interaction. The other would be that this particular trackball mouse doesn't have a scroll wheel. However they do have two other programmable (actually all four buttons are programmable) buttons that you can easily tell one to scroll up and the other scroll down. So in essence, they do same effect of flicking the scroll wheel would have. Even clicking both large buttons have the click down effect that a scroll wheel would.
The design is kind of strange, but it's logical. It's like an upside/backwards mouse to lightly rest your palm against while you use it. It's great for gaming to do a complete spin without "petting" your mousepad with your mouse at least twice for a 360 spin. The disc was effortless to install and easy to understand. It even works in Firefox, because that's the primary browser I use. I have my presets to auto-scroll with the double click function and the up/down silver buttons to do just that... scroll up and scroll down. Set it to "Cruise Down" and "Cruise Up" and it's almost as if you have a scroll wheel again. I reccomend this to anyone who is planning on buying a new mouse or looking to change their current mouse.
There are possibly better trackballs out there, but they can easily cost you twice or three times the amount that this one did. Remember, when you go trackball, you don't go back.