Customer Reviews

Kensington 64213 Expert Pro Mouse (PC/Mac)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've recently made the decision to begin using a trackball at work, mostly due to comfort reasons. I'm very attracted to the idea of not having to move my whole forearm around just to move the mouse pointer. I have evaluated 3 trackballs so far, one of them being the Kensington Expert Mouse Pro (the other 2 being the Microsoft Trackball Explorer and the Kensington TurboRing). The winner was the TurboRing in my book, but here are my thoughts on the Expert Mouse Pro.

The ball is excellent. It is by far the smoothest, nicest feeling ball out of any of the trackballs I've tried. My big complaint is that it is not NEARLY as comfortable as the TurboRing, and that the scroll wheel is in the worst location I could possibly dream of for it. If the scroll wheel were located directly to the right (and left, to keep it symmetric) of the track ball, then it would be a MUCH nicer device. But the way it is currently laid out, you've got to lift your hand and reach above the ball to hit it, which is rather ridiculous. If Kensington would put the metal rollers from the Expert Mouse Pro in to the TurboRing, it would be hands-down the ultimate trackball IMO. But for my purposes, the TurboRing still won strictly because of it's extremely logical layout, and superior ergonomics. It's definitely the most comfortable pointing device I've ever used.

I know many people prefer either a mouse or a trackball. Sometimes both. This review is mainly helpful for those accustomed to the trackball especially the older Expert Mouse Trackball (K64215).

I recently bought this trackball for use on my G4 Macintosh at work. Since the trackball is USB-ready, there is no need for an adapter. The Expert Mouse Pro is just a larger version of the older model with many, newly added features.

The six buttons at the top act as shortcuts linking you to files, applications, and/or websites. This is extremely handy. Adding and editing these features is easily done through the control panel for the Expert Mouse Pro. The location of the buttons is a bit awkward because you have to move your hand up from your working position to push the buttons. The scroll knob is handy for moving up and down the window. My only problem with the scrollling knob is that the trackball just below it makes it hard for you to access it since it elevates your hand a bit too high.

The trackball, itself, glides without any problems. It's smooth and responsive. The color of the device (grey) may not be to some people's liking. The large size and shape of the Expert Mouse Pro may not appeal to those who like small, more aerodynamical input devices.

Overall, this is a wonderful device that is not without its own minor flaws. But if you are willing to overlook those details, the Expert Mouse Pro is a great input device for your computer.

While I don't use any of the buttons except for the bottom two (which are the typical right/left buttons on a mouse), I find this mouse to be extremely useful. First, it's a trackball mouse. I personally find regular mice to be hard on my wrists (and somewhat annoying over time as the mouse become less sensitive.) Second, this mouse can be adjusted so that it is not only extremely sensitive, but also useable. Although every mouse can be set so the cursor flies across the screen, this mouse can be finely set so that you not only have an extremely fast mouse, but also one that is manageable in terms of stopping the cursor. All in all, I find this to be the most functional mouse (in terms of speed and positioning of the cursor) that I have ever used. The biggest downside is that it is quite large.

My old CTO swore by the original Expert Mouse(all white) and replaced them every couple of years as they tended to not last very long. When the new Expert Mouse Pro appeared with scroll bar and quick launch buttons, I requested one through my IT department. Here were my observations:

Pro's:
(1) The best alternative to regular mice, period. The biggest and smoothest trackball there is. Very easy to use and great on the wrists.

(2) Good looks.

Con's:
(1) VERY pricey. For what it is, I have to imagine that Kensington is making a killing on these. The price is too much to bear for me to purchase it personally. Given that I spend more hours computing at work than at home, it's appropriate that I need it at work, but not at home.

(2) The scroll wheel is not placed in a convenient spot, thus I found myself not even using it.

(3) Quick launch buttons. Again, not very convenient to have to raise your entire hand off of the trackball to push the buttons.

(4) Not "solid" as the original. The original seemed better made and was heftier, thus would not move as often as the Pro version.

Summary:
I am ALL for ergonomics, especially for those who make a living at computing. I own a ...Kinesis ergo keyboard which I find invaluable for everyday use. It's not great for games, but at least it helps me to break my gaming habit :) With the right combo of seating, monitor placement, keyboard, and mousing, you should be able to effectively avoid RSI. The Kensington product is great for that purpose, but the cost will be prohibitive for some, in some instances. The Expert Mouse with some modifications and lower price, should be the office worker's pointing device of choice.

Short review:
Features: A+ (nobody better)
Accuracy: B+
Compatibility: A+
Configurable: A+
Durability: B
Ergonomics: B (but still better than most)

Let me start by saying that I'm appalled by how much I use my comptuer. Between work (consultant for web databases and groupware both Mac and PC) and surfing (I'm here, aren't I?), my comptuer time has really squeezed out my TV time.

Every two years or so it's time to buy a new Kensington trackball. Why? Because Kensington is the best bar none (and yes, I've tried tons of them). Ergonomics is huge with me so let's start there: Trackballs are easier on the wrist and arm than mice are. If you're at your computer for more than 8 hours a day, you already know this. Mice are too much work. Thumb-balls and finger-balls are not precise enough (and also put a strain on the rolling finger). Nope, Kensington has done it best so far and I've been using them for 8 years now.

So two months ago my old Turbomouse gives out. I'd been popping the ball out twice a week to "de-gum" it and finally the vertical wheel just stopped spinning. It was only two years old (but remember, I'm averaging 12 hours a day). While I loved my turbomouse, the new "Expert Mouse" called to me and so I answered.

It's great. I got the wireless model programmed all the buttons (a huge time saver) and started using the mouse. Right away I hit the biggest problem with the mouse. When I used my old turbomouse, my hand enveloped the ball and I could rest my entire hand. But this device requires me to hold my hand above the ball. Kensnigton compensated for this by suppling a "wrist rest", a thin plastic shell that feels weird and doesn't give enough support. You really need one of those thick foam wrist rests they give out at conventions (which is where I got mine).

Also, even though it's only two months old, I'm already getting the skipping that I didn't use to get until the mouse was a year old or so. This does not seem to be as durable as my old turbomouse.

The good news is the features: I'm at the point where programmable mouse buttons are MANDATORY. ESPECIALLY in the one-button Mac world where it's option-click this and control-click that. The wireless function is extra nice since I can move the trackball without having to untangle.

The best features, though, are the new launch buttons. You can program macros or launch applications through them. A+ A+ A+.

But I still kind of miss my turbomouse and if Kensington continues to make them, I'll probably end up buying one when this one dies out.

Enjoy!

I'm basically going to say what everyone else has said:

It's very comfortable (I, too, had carpal tunnel, but no more!).
It's expensive (therefore only 4 stars).
The programability is wonderful!!!
I don't have the problems that others do with the scroll wheel (bigger hands, maybe).
I don't ever use the 6 top buttons, that was a waste for me.
I have cats and I believe they've ruined them with their hair getting caught up in the rollers, which leads to:

Kensington's warranty service has been excellent! I've had a couple of trackballs go bad and they've replaced them promptly.

I'm out of warranty now, so once this one dies, I will get the optical version with the 5-year warranty.

I wouldn't hesitate recommending this mouse to anyone.

Let me give you some background before you read my review.
I'm in my 30's. I use computer 8+ hours a day and start developing RSI symptoms.

I have tried / owned the following trackballs

Logitech TrackMan Marble FX Trackball
Logitech Optical Marble Mouse
Logitech Trackman Wheel Optical
Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman
Original 3 buttons Kensington Expert Mouse
Kensington Expert Mouse Pro

The Kensington Expert Mouse Pro rated among the top of the list.

Pros:
Huge trackball (did I mention HUGE?)
Huge buttons
Scroll wheel
Lots of programmable buttons (4 + 1 + 6)
Can be used either right or left handed

Cons:
Expensive
Average build quality
Not as smooth as optical trackball
Scroll wheel not quite usable

OK. I won't repeat what others have said. The huge trackball is the most stand out feature of this product.

The four buttons are large and easy to click. Buttons are located horizontally, not 45 degrees like the Logitech ones. This is subtle but a big ergonomic advantage because you don't have to secure the device with your other fingers when you click one of the buttons. This translates to a lot less stress / effort to use over a long period of time.

The scroll wheel is positioned awkwardly at the top of the huge trackball. You have to arch your hand to reach it. I give up using it after a period of time.

The Kensington software is very good (always download the latest from its website instead of using the one shipped with the cdrom). You can customize every aspect of the device.

All the buttons are programmable. I'm a control freak and I love it. I have Drag lock on the upper left button, which reduce a lot of stress. It is very convenient while surfing the web - I just drag lock on the scroll bar of the browser, and then I can scroll the page up and down effortlessly using the huge trackball.

I have the top row of the buttons mapped to a few of my most used programs. I also configure one of the buttons to type my password automatically (you should not consider doing this if others can access your computer).

The trackball is not as smooth as logitech's optical alternatives. I haven't tried the newer Kensington optical model yet. But they remove the extra 6 programmable buttons which I cannot live without, so I'm not going to replace it anytime soon.

This product is expensive. I'm sure that Kensington are not selling these like hot cakes because most casual users won't spend that much on an input device.

I'm not complaining though. If they stop producing it, it will be bad news for poor soul like me who suffered RSI.

Highly recommended if you want to protect your wrist / hand from injury (and your career if you depend on it).

After 20 years as a heavy computer user my right arm, elbow and wrist just started to go. I immediately started paying attention to ergonomics. My three best purchases were a good chair; the MS split keyboard and the Kensington Expert Mouse Pro.

Although I see some complaints here about quality, mine has functioned flawlessly for over a year now (knock on wood). The ball pops out easily for cleaning with a soft cloth and a squirt of compressed air cleans the contacts. Two minutes to clean the thing.

I switched to trackball to start mouse-ing with my left hand. The transition was easy. The Kensington was easy to install, configure and use. The mouse has four easy-to-program action buttons and a scrolling button. I set mine to left-click; right-click, double-click and show running applications. Since your hand rests on top of the ball it's easier to click the buttons and a lot less stressful on your wrists. Pressing once for double click is a godsend. "Show running applications" allow me to hide the task bar and gain another 5% of screen real-estate.

There are also 6 buttons on top of the mouse that will activate any task you want. I'm using mine to pull up a couple of favorite web pages and applications. Since my MS-Natural keyboard has a dozen buttons I'm finding I mouse a lot less and my wrist and arm have healed. I've also learned to use the "windows" short cut keys, especially CTRL-a,x,c,v (select all, cut, copy, paste),

The Kensington menu also has click speed, scroll speed, rest reminder, pointers, and acceleration and movement options. I find the rest reminder very helpful. A custom message pops up at your pre-set time to remind you to get up and move around! I've got the movement set to snap to the default button on the page which is usually very handy. I'm not sure why some users are complaining about the scroll button. I agree with some users here that the scroll button takes some getting use to since the scroll button makes this a 5 button mouse! But, you can set one of the action buttons to auto scroll as an alternative. I set the scroll speed to "very slow" and that helped a lot (1.8 Athlon here).

The mouse does take up 8K in background processing, but in this day of 128K RAM that should not be a problem.

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase and my wrists are estactic!

Up until a couple of months ago I was a hard-core mouse user. I wouldn't even consider a trackball. Then, I started having problems with motor control and sensation in my hands (there were other symptoms but they are not necessarily germane to this discussion) which made using a mouse very difficult. After going to doctors and being subjected to numerous tests I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. For the time being, the worst of my symptoms have been reduced dramatically down to almost nothing. Take my advice, early detection and treatment is the way to go. My doctor says that with a little bit of luck old age will take me out before I become totally disabled. The only symptom that is currently bothering me is my hands. Motor control has returned however I still do not have much feeling in my hands.

That's where the trackball came into play. This trackball has numerous programmable buttons that have greatly improved my ability to use my computer. Now, I wonder why I never tried the trackball before. Even with my disability things are easier than they were before. At least as far as using the mouse pointer is concerned.

For those who have disability in their hands I highly recommend this track ball. In combination with a good voice recognition software package it cannot be beaten.

I had my first Expert Mouse failure. I, my wife, daughter, and granddaughter have used it for close to twenty years. (I always get the newest one.) I've used all of Kensington's wired trackballs since the original two button one. The 64213 is the same old quality with more buttons (eight years of near daily use and still trucking). The new all-optical version isn't quite as smooth and the "ergo-pad" falls off. (I don't expect it to last eight years either.) An extra little plus is that you can replace the track ball from the 64213 with a standard pool ball. I actually traded mine for an 8 ball with a local collector.
Kensington customer support has apparently gone off-shore and is definitly not what it used to be. If you buy a 64213, you probably won't need it anyway. (A caution: Kensington's cheaper track balls aren't any better than the competition.)