Kensington Expert Trackball and Win7 64

[kyotokid]

OK, been using a Logitch Marble Mouse Trackball with my notebook to do 2d/3d work for the last year or so. While it is fairly decent for most applications, as I am about to bring my new workstation build online, I feel the need to step up to something with a bit more precision. Unfortunately for CG design work, trackballs appear to be losing out to the newer tablet technology. Because of severe arthritis, a tablet is no good to me as it is hard for me to hold the stylus pen for very long without downing a handful of Advil first.

The whole reason I became involved in 3D CG in the first place was that I had to give up painting and drawing as holding a pencil, pen, or brush for long periods of time became extremely difficult and painful. I also lost a fair amount of grip in both my hands which impacted my ability to vary pressure thus affecting the quality of brush strokes, line, and shading.

During my search, oname I kept running into was Kensington. While they have several models of trackball controllers available, the one that caught my attention was the Expert Mouse as it had a large trackball for greater precision and a fairly decent price. In looking at user reviews however I discovered that it apparently has some compatibility serious issues with Win7 64, in one case, triggering the BSOD. I checked Kensington's website and there is a driver update, but none of the reviews (several which were more recent than the date of the patch release) seemed to mention anything about it.

Is this a buyer beware situation? Are there other brands (better ones?) to look at?

 

[WyomingKnott]

A Kensington Expert Mouse made hand surgery unnecessary for me - the surgeon told me to try it for a few months first. So I have great confidence in them.

I am using one at home with Win7 64-bit daily. Not right now, since I am at work using the Expert Mouse Pro with my 32-bit XP system. The trick is... Don't install the Kensington drivers / software! The OSes both see the device as a perfectly good five-button scrolling mouse without that stuff. I just don't use the programmable buttons at the top, and that sacrifice is trivial to me.

When you get the BSOD (I thought that was gone in 7???), have you installed the Kensington drivers, or just plugged the trackball in?

 

[kyotokid]

...actually haven't purchased one yet. Just going on reports I read form others who have experienced issues with Win7. I just need something that is smooth and accurate without spending hundreds on a professional CAD model. Did see a couple other models which were a bit more expensive but also allowed for setting resolution.