Kensington Expert Wireless Trackball Mouse (K72359WW)

Full disclosure: I have Fibromyalgia which effects the movement of my hands. I spent more than 40 years working in IT. I am an old female online gamer (not many of us around). I used to play Star Trek on the mainframe back in the 70s. I use my computer all day long, from espresso to bedtime. Lets start with the competition. Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball - Now I will admit I have never used this device but I have used its grandfather. This is a thumb trackball. I used to have one at the office and one at home. I loved it and used it for seven years until my thumb stopped working. I stopped using it over 15 years ago. Recently I started getting thumb pain for no apparent reason. Then I realized that even though I had quit using it I still had trackball thumb and was getting arthritis in it. It is kind of like quitting smoking and then 20 years later getting lung cancer. Use at your own risk. Logitech Trackman Marble Mouse - This is what I currently have and am trying to get away from. This is a finger ball like the Kensington Expert. We will start with the good. It has a smaller ball which I prefer. Due to the ball and the software your pointer will fly across your screen at the speed of light which I like. I have found the buttons are put in a convenient location. They take very little hand effort to press which I like and need. The bad is the universal scroll which is not so universal. For me it works in my Firefox browser and it will work with Microsoft programs and thats about it. If you want to zoom in or zoom out (which is quite common) in another program you are out of luck. So if you play MMORPGs like WOW, Rift, EVE, SW, GW2, TSW you are out of luck. If you play single player games like CIV 6, HOMM7, MOO, Endless Space, Gal Civ III, Stellaris, you are out of luck. I had to write my own code and assign it to keyboard keys so I could zoom and I dont have a programmable keyboard. It sounds like Logitech needs to hire better help. My dogs are pretty good coders and they only charge $50 an hour. This device may be usable if you only do office work. Now lets get to why we are here, the Kensington Expert Wireless Trackball. I know there have been complaints about the scroll ring but I dont know why. I love it. It is a thing of beauty. It is located in just the right place and requires just the right amount of pressure to operate. People who dont like it need to get out more. I find the ball really big making it a bit awkward for me. It takes some getting used to. It is also quite heavy. Even with the software set to the fastest speed it takes some hand effort to get the pointer across the screen. Its like watching molasses in January. This is something I dont need. After a couple of hours I end up with hand pain. I need a trackball I can use all day. I find the upper buttons awkward to use. Reaching across that big ball every time I want to do a double-click is a bit awkward. I havent been able to double-click in 25 years. I have to have a button do it for me, so yeah, this is awkward. Having four buttons beneath the ball I think would be a better design. The good news is you dont have to be a programmer to use this device. Summary Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball - use if you are a masochist Logitech Trackman Marble Mouse - use if you are only going to do office work or you are a programmer Kensington Expert Wireless Trackball - use if you have healthy hands and are not a programmer

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First, this review is for the Expert WIRELESS Trackball. In typical Amazon fashion, the wired and wireless reviews are lumped together. I hate that Amazon does this, because it skews the rating system. Its basically the same product, but if there are tons of issues with the wireless feature, it would be good for viewers to know. The reason for my purchase was so that the user, my daughter, would not be tethered to the computer and forced to sit next to it. When I was a teen, I bought a similar Kensington trackball with a generous amount of cord. I would play games on my computer from the comfort of my bed. This is similar to how my daughter now uses it. I point this out, just to show the flexibility of using a trackball. If you had a decent size display, a wireless keyboard and this trackball, you could use your computer just about anywhere. When I first started searching for trackballs, I ended up with a decision between the wired and wireless version of this trackball. A few weeks ago the price difference for the two was over $20, but for some reason the wireless just jumped to within $3. Seeing the mimimal difference in price, I bought the wireless version. Installation was as easy as plugging in the USB dongle (found in the battery compartment). Its actually very thoughtful to have a space for the dongle in the battery compartment, as some people may travel with this trackball and its a great way to store it. Batteries were included, which isnt too uncommon these days. What was uncommon is that they were Energizers, not the Happy Fun Power 3K batteries that Im used to recieiving. You know the ones. The batteries with the three week shelf life and 6hr run time. Putting the batteries in the compartment was a little fiddly though. They both go the same way (just an FYI) and have a cheap strip of plastic under the batteries for removal. Ive never been a fan of the plastic/cloth battery removal strip, as they tend to break and rip off. After the batteries were installed, it was as simple as turning on the trackball with the off/on switch. Theres also the USB/Bluetooth switch, not to be confused as both are labeled. I did not install the software, as currently just using two buttons and the scroll ring is all that is needed. Using the trackball is pure nirvana. Just kidding, but it is nice. The ball is of good weight, great size and just the right amount of drag to it. One thing you wont be using it for is playing Centipede though. The ball is not retained in any way except by Newtons Laws. Cmon, who doesnt want a little physics lesson in the middle of their trackball review? Gravity. I like the fact that the ball can be easily removed for cleaning, rolling around the desk as a stress reliever or as a personal defense weapon. The ball itself is silky smooth and the cursor just glides across the screen. I wish the same could be said for the scroll ring. For all the attention, tech and detail, that was put into the trackball... the scroll ring just seems to have been added as an afterthought. The ring is textured and rubberized, and one caveat I have with rubberized things is that many times the rubber starts to peel and flake off with decent amounts of use. I cant say this will be the case here, but its just my experience with numerous rubberized surfaces. And now we come to the scrolling. Know how your Microsoft mouse has that little scroll wheel in the middle? Remember how it has little click stops you can feel as you scroll away? You know how its smooth ams easy rolling? Well... forget about all that with trackball scroll wheel. Its a plastic ring that feels like its sitting on top of a piece of plastic. No smooth scrolling, no click stops and no use as another button (yeah, I forgot to mention that above). I wouldnt say the scroll wheel grinds as it goes, but its just a free spinning plastic on plastic wheel. It actually does "hang up" as it spins. You can feel the slight variations and bumps in the plastic as you spin the wheel. Now, for me, this isnt a deal breaker by any means. It functions fine for my needs, but just be aware of this and know that when scrolling with the wheel, it may be a little jumpy at times. The rest of the trackball is constructed well. No complaints or high praise about the placement of buttons or their feel. Everything is good. It would have been nice to have smoother edges on the bottom since this device will be held during use, on occasion, but just a line item for the wish list. I have not used the included pad that attaches to the front of the trackball. Ive had similar things for keyboards and just find them bothersome, but it seems pretty durable and well made. The only "issue" Ive had is that once when I turned on the computer, it didnt recognize the trackball. I think that was just due to my daughter fooling around with the switches on the bottom though. Speaking of switches, remember that youll need to turn the trackball on and off everytime you use it. I dont know how long battery life is, but I cant believe that this thing would suck down power like the Starkiller Base, so Id expect a fairly long time (even if left on at times). The two star dings come from A, the price. I cant yet decide if this is a great value or not for this price, but in the day and age where I can buy a new laptop for $300 (albeit not the best) the $80 price tag seems a bit steep. I think the premium comes from this trackball possibly being the best on the market and now weve hit the law of diminishing returns. And the second star C, the scroll ring. Apparently all the tech and design went into the ball with its cool metallic red surface and not into the scroll ring and battery compartment. At least they didnt name this the Pro Kensington Expert Wireless Trackball Mouse. If it was Pro (like every other fifth item sold today) Id have expected more ;)

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This is my FAVORITE trackball. Ive been using the same trackball for over 8 years. 8 YEARS. Its sooooo good that I needed a second one. But when I arrived I noticed a few things: 1. The ball itself does not glide like my original expert mouse... It grinds... Making a plastic on plastic feeling that is akin to nails on a chalkboard. I cant move the cursor as freely as my old one, it just has too much resistance on it. 2. The scroll wheel also has the same problem as the ball. It has this feeling to it like two pieces of sand paper rubbing against each other, and it also no longer glides like the older production trackballs. 3 The buttons feel loosely set, and two of them sometimes make a buzzing sound due to the force of another button click, even when lightly pressed. I really love this trackball. There isnt any other pointer device I would rather use. It just breaks my heart that they cheaped out so much on production quality.

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I purchased the Kensington Expert Wireless Trackball Mouse to replace a Logitech wireless trackball which developed the notorious Logitech double-click problem (one left click produces a double-click, a hardware failure common to their trackball product). I have always been a fan of Kensington trackballs and was very excited to finally see a wireless expert-sized version on the market. This one does its job but set-up was tricky, the BT connection is glitchy, and there are a few of what I consider design flaws: PROS: 1) Wireless ability makes this a great pointing device for a living room HTPC type setup where there is no desk for a traditional mouse. 2) Advanced customization features, such as slow, and linear options (press and hold a key while scrolling) facilitate precision movement. The extra buttons can be programmed with custom functions in the device configuration software. 3) Smooth roller (after device is broken-in) movement 4) Ability to use the same pointing device with two computers: pair one via Bluetooth and use the USB dongle on the other. The BT on/off switch underneath the device allows you to switch between computers ("BT-on" uses only the BT connected device, "BT-off" uses the USB dongle). 5) Battery life is excellent. Im still on my first battery after using it on a daily basis for several weeks. CONS: 1) USB dongle (storage location is inside the battery compartment) was not recognized upon plug-in. Product did not arrive with a CD. I went to the Kensington website and found the product support page to download the drivers and software. After downloading and running the installer the USB dongle has been working fine. Also the dongle has no distinctive markings, so if you use more than one small USB plug-in, you need to remember that the plain blank one is the Kensington dongle. 2) BT pairing is easy but maintaining the connection is intermittent. Every ~10-30 minutes the bluetooth connection resets, which is an annoying first world problem. It disconnects, causing the trackball to stop working, and then within 5 seconds re-connects and works fine again, like a hiccup. Other reviewers have reported this issue and have not resolved it so I am assuming it is a BT driver issue and hope that an updated driver will fix it in the future if Kensington puts the effort into bug fixing. 3) Scroll ring feel is pretty bad. The scrolling ring is notchy and feels very cheaply made for an expensive trackball. The scrolling action is jumpy no matter how you configure it in the settings. 4) Having the ability to use the same trackball on two computers is nice, but it is awkward to get to the switch. Underneath the device there are two similar looking small switches, one turns the trackball on and off, and the other controls bluetooth on and off. Toggling the bluetooth switch is what makes the trackball switch between the BT connected computer and the USB dongle connected computer. This means picking up the unit and turning it upside down to locate and flip the tiny switch. Clumsy people (like me) may also find that the ball will fall out if it is not held the right way while doing this. Suggested Improvements for Kensington ("Dear Kensington,"): 1) Change the scroll-ring design, perhaps keeping the scroll ring as a volume control and adding another thumb-wheel towards the front of the unit (in front of the ball) for scrolling (like where the Logitech wireless trackball puts the scroll wheel). 2) Fix the bluetooth connectivity issue where the device disconnects and reconnects intermittently. It seems that, for whatever reason, the battery-saver activates despite the device being in use while in bluetooth mode. It does not do this cycle while connected via USB dongle. 3) Stop driving your customers crazy with off-shore scripted tech support agents who ultimately cannot fix the error described above (#2). They will waste time while messing up a lot of settings in their futile effort to help. Just declare it a known issue and then fix it. Please. 4) Move the BT on/off switch to a side, front or back of the unit so the user doesnt need to turn it upside-down to find the switch, risking a drop of the track-ball from its cradle. Extra functionality suggestion: allow more than one BT connection to be stored for pairing with 2+ computers. Slider switch for USB-BT1-BT2-BT3, etc. 5) Allow the front-to-back angle (rake) of the device to be adjustable. Adding a "kickstand" or snap-on wedge to the bottom rear of the trackball would allow for more ergonomic variability of the tilt, which affects wrist extension. 6) Packaging & Instructions: "out of the box" frustration for customers can be reduced by: providing instructions on how to locate and download updated drivers, revealing the secret location of the USB dongle (hidden inside the battery compartment), and notification that it is normal for trackball motion to be coarse for the first few hours of use during the break-in period. Overall it is a nice trackball even though it feels like a 1.0 design. I am looking forward to Kensingtons next iteration of the wireless expert trackball.

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