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[hubaduba]

I've never used a Kensington - don't see that any of them have that 3rd button I'm used to.

 

[Ditchinit]

Any experience with Kensington? I have no idea how they compare with other brands. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be much competition in this space.

Trackballs | Trackball Mouse | Kensington

Enjoy the comfort and productively of trackballs, available from Kensington. Our trackball products ensure a pain-free computing experience.

www.kensington.com

I tried to use several different models of Kensington trackballs. In fact, I used one on my Mac IIci way back when I had that one. It was ... serviceable, it had more than a single button (mac mice only had one back then), and the model I had was designed specific to the Mac ecosystem. When I migrated to the PC world I tried to find a PC equivalent. Pro tip: you can replace the ball with a billiard ball for extra coolness factor.

The MS Trackball Explorer (and later Optical) was miles better ... so much so that when my first one died, I tried to use a Kensington replacement, but it felt awkward, stiff and clunky by comparison. So I ordered a replacement MS Trackball Explorer. The games I played back then involved a lot of clicking - a lot. And I went through several. Eventually when MS stopped production of their trackball line, I tried a few other alternatives, but decided to enter the mouse world - suck it up buttercup and get used to it. You can still find the MS trackballs for sale occasionally, but they are very expensive or they're refurbished. I just surfed an Amazon web page and see there are modern knock-offs but at this point I'll probably stick with using a mouse instead.

A popular trackball for many years was the one where you control the ball with your thumb (e.g., Kensington Pro Fit Ergo). That felt so non-intuitive and imprecise since the thumb is the least dexterous digit on the hand - the index and middle fingers are the most dexterous, respectively. And precise mouse movements are preferred when gaming or CAD work.

I also think trackballs with the large ball in the center and four large buttons in plane to either side of the ball (e.g., Kensington Expert Mouse) may contribute to repetitive stress injury (e.g., carpal tunnel) since that configuration is not very ergonomic ... or at least not in the way I used one with my wrist resting on the desk and hand flexed backward and upward to hover over the ball and buttons.

I had a couple Kensington Orbits (with and without the scroll ring) but found them limiting having only two buttons - no middle mouse button - and the scroll ring felt awkward after using a thumb wheel.

All of these are subjective, and everyone is different and will likely have different experiences.