Logitech Brings Back Old School With Trackball

[dark_lord69]

I hate trackballs!

 

[g00fysmiley]

i have a trackball mouse for my lapton i hate the sensor pad and it works great once you're used to it, no need for a mouse friendly surface, just put it on the traytable on the flight and good to go

 

[dalta centauri]

Trackballs are great, but take alot of use to get a hang of. My old logitech trackball cost over 80$ and worked great, had to clean it once every day or two or else it began acting weird, but wasn't bad. Aiming became easier, due to not running out of mouse space when you need to quickly turn around(you just run your hand over the mouse and you'd do a complete 360 in less than 1 second.

Bad parts - No scroller, came with like 5 buttons and I only used left and right click D:

 

[ratman6161]

[citation][nom]dark_lord69[/nom]I hate trackballs![/citation]
One more time - they are not gone. They never were gone. As I mentioned above almost everyone either loves them or (more commonly) hate them. With no in between those of you in the hate them crowd stopped noticing them. But they never went away.

 

[cadder]

I have the previous version of that trackball (silver). I still use it and it works great. My computer is by my sofa and I use it while sitting on the sofa, so the wireless feature is of benefit. I thought I wouldn't like a trackball but it was easy to get used to and is easy to use. It's a little slow for things like CAD but for general use it is almost as good as a mouse. (I couldn't use a mouse very well on my sofa.)

 

[ram1009]

I've been using a Kensington Expert trackball since the first day I tried it 15 years ago. I find it superior to a mouse in every way including gaming.

 

[jjamess]

[citation][nom]iamtheking123[/nom]First, logitech isn't just making this for nostalgia reasons or because people have limited desk space as the author claims. Some of my coworkers use super-expensive kensington ones because they prefer the precision and comfort a trackball offers over a mouse (although I disagree with their assertions and would much rather have my G500 on a proper mousepad).Second, this mouse is absolutely pointless. Your thumb has nil precision compared to your index and middle fingers. There's lots of other existing trackball mice out there that are much better.[/citation]

Just because your thumb has nil precision, doesn't mean everyone's does. I prefer the thumb and am very accurate with it. Bottom line is, you get skilled at which ever form of mouse input you use.

 

[azcoyote]

Using a trackball now and would not have it any other way...

Gimme!! Need one at home!!

 

[dallaswits]

I already have two customers that are chomping at the bit to get their hands on this.

 

[HavoCnMe]

I still have an old Kensington Expert Mouse that works, the track ball is actually a queue ball from a pool table. If i need i can take it out, put it into a pair of socks and use it as a weapon. LOL

 

[Guest]

I have a ten year old Kensington ExpertMouse trackball. It is the best pointing device on earth. Long live the trackball!!!

 

[eddieroolz]

One of my friend insists on a trackball, nothing else. He'd rejoice at this.

 

[ram1009]

As I mentioned previously, I'm a Kensington user for over 15 years. Someone mentioned "lots of other" trackballs available. I'd like to know who makes them. I own the current Logitech wireless trackball very similar to the one in the article. It's OK but the Kensington has a much bigger ball which I find is far more accurate regardless of which finger is used. Accuracy is the greatest feature of any trackball, I do a lot of CAD work and there's no comparison. I play only FPS games and find the large ball to be the most accurate for aiming and head movement. I definitely favor large balls.

 

[Guest]

I like that it is wireless, I might get one for controlling my htpc from my couch.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

My girlfriend still uses an old trackball mouse.

 

[Guest]

You people are retarded. Why wireless? Why not!?! First perfectly good reason...because when you use a wired one with your laptop on the couch, in bed, etc. moving it around, the cable is a bitch and even worse, when you set the laptop down, often blankets etc put pressure on the USB port causing the solder joints to eventually fail and rendering those USB ports useless. If you had wireless, no more issue. Just wish they were BT instead cuz then you don't have to worry about a dongle, etc and you can just sync with various devices. This is perfect for my HTPC in my living room too, hard to use a mouse on a couch.

Use a small smidgen of creative thinking and you will find many uses for this. Been waiting forever! I'm in for at least two at launch.

 

[ram1009]

[citation][nom]jimbeam[/nom]You people are retarded. Why wireless? Why not!?! First perfectly good reason...because when you use a wired one with your laptop on the couch, in bed, etc. moving it around, the cable is a bitch and even worse, when you set the laptop down, often blankets etc put pressure on the USB port causing the solder joints to eventually fail and rendering those USB ports useless. If you had wireless, no more issue. Just wish they were BT instead cuz then you don't have to worry about a dongle, etc and you can just sync with various devices. This is perfect for my HTPC in my living room too, hard to use a mouse on a couch.Use a small smidgen of creative thinking and you will find many uses for this. Been waiting forever! I'm in for at least two at launch.[/citation]


There's no need to wait. As I said, I've had an older version of this for years and have considered it for exactly what you want to do. You might even find the old one cheaper.

 

[waethorn]

Remember the SpaceOrb 360?

How about the Sidewinder Dual Strike?

 

[ram1009]

[citation][nom]Waethorn[/nom]Remember the SpaceOrb 360?How about the Sidewinder Dual Strike?[/citation]

I still use my Dual Strike whenever I can. Best game controller ever. I'm amazed Microsoft didn't incorporate the features instead of the POS X Box 360 controller they sell.

 

[mr_tuel]

Strangely, I have had several customers asking about wireless trackballs. Where there's demand, there is supply.

 

[beoza]

Ive owned the Logitech Trackman and Trackman Marble, love them great for RTS games even games like Diablo. I can see how they would be good for and FPS game, you would have better control when sniping someone, hand twiches your mouse moves all over, with a trackball you just take your thumb off the lil ball. These mice were very comfortable on my hand. Glad to see them bringing it back and making it wireless, I currently use the budget Logitech M310 it's wireless (Blue Tooth) and I have had absolutely no interference and I use it on my laptop. Have Wireless router, home phone, cel phones and bluetooth headsets in the house and nothing interferes with the signal. Logitech will likely be using the same reciever for this new mouse so I may get one though I would like to see it rechargeable which would actually be easier to do all they would need to do is put the plug in the front for the power and you could recharge on the fly while still keeping it wireless with the nano reciever, like on their Performance MX.

 

[adamovera]

OMFG! I have used (and still do) the Logitech Trackman series for well over a decade and actually have been bothering Logitech to update the series for over a year. This is EXACTLY what I wanted to see in an updated trackball - back/forward buttons and the nano receiver. I'll be ordering at least one! Oh, and thank God it's not Bluetooth. THANK YOU Logitech!!!

 

[ChromeTusk]

Even if I wanted one... why WIRELESS!?!

A wireless trackball makes sense if you already have or plan to have a wireless keyboard. Even though it is stationary, that is one less cord on your work space.

One word - laptop!

I've owned the corded version of this model for six years now, and still use it, simply because it is the best in comfort, precision, ergonomics and durability.

I actually wrote an article a while back on my blog about trackballs:

http://lgponthemove.blogspot.com/2009/11/tech-tips-6-trackballs.html

My only wish now is for Logitech to make a BLUETOOTH VERSION (!!!) that I can use without the silly USB dongle. That said, I'll be picking this baby up as soon as it hits retail - the luxury of not having to deal with wires when I'm on the go all day with my notebook/netbook will be sweet!

Another great reason for wireless and I agree with you about making a Bluetooth version. It's the reason why I have a wireless mouse for my laptop.

 

[Graham_71]

I used a Logitech trackball many years ago, moved on to mice for two reasons,
1. you can get more fluid movements in games with a mouse
2. prolonged use made my thumb ache.

Anyway seeing the trackball pictured here has given my an idea, it looks like a mouse with a trackball on one side, so if it were, it could come with drivers allowing for separate sensitivity settings for mouse & trackball. Use either / or both as you choose & in FPS games possibly use as a mouse to turn quickly then with the trackball set to a lower sensitivity take aim for a head shot.

Personally though I would like a mouse like the Logitech MX518 gaming mouse but replace the scroll wheel with a trackball. Its use could be toggled between trackball & scroll wheel and when in scroll wheel mode the left/right movement could also have another function.