Customer Reviews

Trackball Mouse

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

You know sometimes it pays to get the thing that has no reviews.

I bought this at Micro Center about a week ago, simply because I had tried all the other highly rated trackballs with none satisfying me.

This trackball is actually very comfortable to use. I like that it has the scroll wheel on the side, so I can use my thumb to scroll while my fingers roll the ball and click the buttons. There is no drag when using it. It rolls fine and smoothly, and the mouse on the screen reflects that perfectly.

But what I liked the most about this particular trackball is that THERE WAS NO INSTALLATION CD!! That's right, no funky software programs to configure, no special mouse button mappers, and no other-worldly drivers to install. It's just a straight up, plug and play trackball.

My only gripe with it is that the scroll wheel is a tad bit stiff when it comes to pressing it as a button, but it's not that bad now that I'm used to it.

Bought this based on price (lower than comparable Kensington Orbit) and its stated reliability and ease of cleaning. Also purchased a Kensington Orbit for comparison and to select one or the other after some limited, personal trials. Decided on the Adesso myself, as described below, with the technique of use being different and the smooth ball of the Adesso a big factor. See below for details, and Bottom Line opinion comparing these two options.

Like any Trackball, speaking as one having been accustomed to 8-10 hours per workday using a traditional mouse based on movement across a surface, there was a breaking-in period. During that time, I had to commit to which fingers to use for what activity, and how to get the most out of it while minimizing wrist strain.

While I was trying to find a technique that worked for me, I happened to read that one Trackball manufacturer had recommended using the middle digits to move the Trackball, in a position where the hand hovers slightly above the mouse, instead of resting upon it, as you would reasonably assume, based on its shape. I added a wrist support (the Wrist Assist by Allsop, about $8-10) and voila! I can use the middle three digits, mainly the middle finger, to move the Adesso Trackball (seems better than using the thumb for that). That leaves the index finger to click the left button and the ring finger to click the right button, and during the act of clicking the buttons, not disturbing the Trackball position, a big issue if your hand rests on the mouse all the time. What a difference! I get very accurate positioning of the mouse that way without straining my wrist.

I have not experienced any problem with the Adesso Trackball action, finding it very smooth and predictable.
But the Orbit model I purchased has a much-less smooth Trackball, a major disappointment.

Both the Orbit and the Adesso mouse have a removable Trackball for easy cleaning.

Ease of installation for both cannot be really improved upon as there is nothing to do but plug the Adesso or the Kensington Orbit into a USB Port, and I found that to be the case for both a Windows PC (Vista Ultimate or XP) and a Mac (OS X Ver 10.6.7). Neither came with any specific software to install, and that is a plus for me.

Major disappointment for the Adesso: I do think the Adesso scroll action is a bit rough, and the duration is a bit short, compared with the Kensington Orbit with its excellent, smooth and quiet scroll ring, which is the best I have seen on any mouse.

Overall, the Adesso mouse requires some kind of wrist or even forearm support before it shines, but it is great other than the scroll action. Interestingly, the Kensington Orbit comes with a wrist support, perhaps due to the same need I found with this Trackball mouse, however that wrist support provided along with the Orbit mouse did not work for me.

The Kensington Orbit mouse body sits a bit lower than the Adesso, however its Trackball is more "proud" so the top of its Trackball is about the same height. That difference seemed to fall in favor of the Adesso for me, although if you want to use your thumb for the left button on the Kensington, I can see that working out fine.

Due to that key difference in the digit used to click the left button, since I wanted to use the same mouse for my work computer and my home computer, I will not be keeping both. As I prefer the Adesso, I will be giving away the Kensington to a friend, and probably purchasing a second Adesso soon.

Bottom line: You decide for yourself. But if you do a load of scrolling, and you do not mind using your thumb to click the left button, you will probably like the Kensington Orbit over this model. Technique aside, my feeling is that the Adesso quality is superior and it is less expensive to boot. I preferred the Adesso and will use it full-time now.

Bottom line: This trackball seems to be designed by someone who doesn't actually use trackballs. It's like they took a mouse and put a ball in the middle of it. Fire the person who designed this thing. Save your money and buy a Kensington or a Logitech.

The product specs sound good, a scroll wheel is handy and very few usable trackballs have them. When they do have them, they're usually awkward to get to. This trackball has the opposite problem. The scroll wheel is very easy to get to but the buttons are not.

When resting my hand on this device, my first two fingers naturally reach for the ball and my thumb rests on what looks like the left click. Don't be fooled, the buttons are not easily clickable from that position. When I say not easily clickable I mean that the switch for the button is all the way at the top front of the trackball. With effort you can get it to click further down but you really have to press hard and it's not guaranteed. In order to use the buttons easily you either have to click with your fingers (taking them off the ball) or move your hand up in to an awkward position making it difficult to roll the ball and click the buttons at the same time.

I can honestly say that this is the only trackball I have every used in over 20 years that has the buttons placed so out of whack.

Problems like this are one reason buying things like this online is a gamble. It would only take me 30 seconds in a store to realize this thing is terrible. I'd consider sending it back but honestly don't feel it's worth the hassle. All I can hope is that other people will read this review and avoid this product.

I purchased this trackbal mouse for my husband. He prefers trackballs. He was disappointed when he tried to use this trackball. The ball itself does not roll freely. This defeats the whole purpose of the trackball. He can use the item but is not happy with it.

We will be looking for a different trackball to replace it with.

UBUNTU 10.10 USERS - The mouse, out the box was extremely sensitive compared to the Microsoft Optical Trackball I used on my laptop and just changing the mouse properties the usual way did not do enough. You can change the trackball's behavior by changing several settings and run a script at start up (the computer does not save the changes if it were just done in Terminal). Open your text editor and copy paste the following:

#!/bin/sh
xinput --set-prop "Trackball Mouse" "Device Accel Constant Deceleration" 3
xinput --set-prop "Trackball Mouse" "Device Accel Velocity Scaling" 3
xinput --set-prop "Trackball Mouse" "Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration" 2

Save the file and call it whatever you want but remember the folder it is in. Then, go to the folder where you have the script, double click it and select Run. The settings will now be applied. If you do not like the mouse's behavior, edit the script by putting in lower values then doubler click the file again and Run the script. Once you are satisfied, the script can now be run at start up. Go to Start, System, Preferences, Start up Applications and Add the script.

[...] explains what the settings are.

I have read a numbers of negative reviews here on the Adesso T1, and can only assume that those folks are trying to use this mouse like a 'regular' mouse. This ain't no 'regular' mouse, so many reviewers are missing the point. Here are some highlights:

~ Large roller ball is the smoothest I have used. It has weight to it, so it's easier to control.
~ The weight of the roller ball makes it easy to 'zing' the cursor across the screen with one quick movement. Graphics artists and CAD operators are sure to love this feature!
~ The scroll wheel/3rd button is on the left side under the thumb. Easy, easy to use. Scrolling control is great and is set up so as not to be accidentally moved.
~ There is a nice, long USB cord.
~ No setup, just plug and play!
~ In a separate review, it was pointed out that a wrist rest is best used with this mouse, as you really should not be resting the palm of your hand on the mouse's back. I use a "SmartGlove". It looks like a wrist brace from the doctor, but the difference is that in the palm of the glove is a thick pad or pillow filled with . . . rice? Buckwheat? Anyway, the pad conforms to your hand and to the surface it is resting on, like, Oh . . . an Adessa T1 mouse, fer instance.
~ Due to the wrist rest, glove or otherwise, the great ergonomics of this mouse are revealed. Walla! To use this mouse properly, you curl your index and middle fingers OVER the ball so the finger tips are touching the two mouse . . . er . . . levers, I guess, but they work as well and more smoothly than standard mouse buttons. When held correctly, the finger tips are at and touching the front edge of the mouse, with the ball positioned between the first and second joint of your index and middle fingers.
~ If used correctly (see previous paragraph), the mouse 'levers' are really easy to press and are quite smooth.
~ This mouse is very large and has a set of 5 rubber feet to keep it from sliding around. Since you do not 'hold' this mouse like a slide-around mouse (yuk) the size is a very nice feature. Also, the feet make it very easy to place this mouse on top of my right thigh, which makes my shoulder feel the best.

The Adesso T1 is a very well-made and solid mouse. I bought it because with my LogiTech roller, my middle finger kept accidentally pressing the right button, creating all sorts of trouble. There is a learning curve. Like any habitual action, it takes several days to be comfortable with this mouse, and 3 weeks to use it "without thinking about it". The tradeoff is much better ergonomics than the Logitech ball mouses. (Which created a painful ligament issue on top of and behind my thumb (side roller) and the beginnings of CTS from using the top roller version. With the Adesso T1, my thumb pretty much relaxes, and with the palm pad (wrist rest), the back of my hand near the wrist does not tighten up.

BTW, in setting up this mouse, there is little setup - plug it in to your USB port, and start computing. But, I found the T1 to be super quick and sensitive compared to other mice, especially the LogiTech ball mice. I had to get into the Control Panel, 'Mouse', and cut the speed down to only two clicks from the slowest setting. Now it is a pussycat when I need it to be, and a tiger when I want to get 'er done.

I knocked off a star in my rating because the T1 with regard to my hand, wrist, and arm, requires a right-hand twist in my wrist to align my hand with the mouse-top. This setup needs more of a hand-shake position. This is true of nearly all mice, though. No problem, though - I simply lifted the left edge of the mouse with a couple layers of an old yardstick that I had.

This isn't a great trackball. The only reason I bought it, is because Logitech has gotten insanely expensive for their (fantastic) product. I just couldn't see spending $250 for a trackball, when it used to cost about fifty bucks.

This trackball really isn't that good. It's not laid out well, and it takes a lot of pressure to actually press the buttons. Too much, for you to be efficient.

I hate to say this, but this is made in China, and it's just more Chinese junk.

I have the MS trackball explorer and if your looking for a substituet this is not it. The ball is good but the button placement and easy of activation is enought to cause corpral tunnel.
I just hope my explorer holds up till I can get a comparitable device. It's about 7 years old now but works as good as ever.

If you are looking for a basic trackball then this will do the trick. Nothing fancy but seems to be reliable. I like the feel of motion and it fits my hand well. If you want programmable features or something small you need to look elsewhere.

Product is gravely inferior to online reviews. Hard to click, temperamental and unresponsive on both mouse pad and smooth surface, greatly reducing productivity. Also the unit is really huge, actually bulky, and difficult for a small hand to maneuver, defying ergonomics.