Customer Reviews

Kensington K64224 Orbit USB (Mac)

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

 

 

If you don't really care about precision don't bother reading. The Turbo Mouse, despite its name, is another kensington trackball. It's not as pretty as the orbit (just gray) but it is far superior to ANY trackball on the market and it has 4 buttons. After having to leave my old Turbo Mouse with a former employer I tried several cheaper substitutes (FYI: Macally products are nearly useless) but ended up spending the loot on the Turbo Mouse. Check it out...take apart your trackball and look at the guts. The ball rests on low friction surfaces right? Look closely now, they may try to fool you. The turbo mouse is the only trackball I've found that rolls on bearings. Smoother than a baby's...uh....frictionless surfaces. Oh... don't even get me started on optical trackballs...have you ever tried to use PhotoShop with an optical trackball? It's like painting with mud. But if you just use Word and EMail ignore me...don

Do no listen to Frances. This trackball rules! He is unaware that he does not need the extra software to adjust the speed of the trackball. He simply needs to go to the control panel and adjust the mouse sensitivity as he would with any other mouse.

The Orbit is easy to install. Very fast and smooth operation. My five year old daughter much prefers it to a mouse for her games and such. Its clicks and speed of movement are entirely adjustable. With a half an inch of finger only movement, your cursor has moved thirteen inches across the screen. It takes two inches of wrist movement to do this with a mouse. The Orbit isn't perfect. It's actually too fast for some games where you need the drag of the mouse for control. Use both. Keep the mouse connected and plug the Orbit into a serial port. Works great!

I prefer trackballs to mice and this is a good one. Wanted to compare mechanical tracking (this has rollers inside under the ball) to optical tracking- found very little difference. Have read complaints that trackballs hurt your wrists and this is probably true if you don't rest your forearm on the copious extra desk space you'll have because you don't have to move it around. Wish it had a scroll ring (innovation to substitute for scroll wheel) but it's an older model. Kensington makes the best trackballs and the newer versions have scroll rings and optical tracking. The little glass beads inside collect dust, but the ball pops out for easy cleaning. The rubber rollers on this one will decompose over time from age and skin oils so it's more of a collector's item- my newer Kensington optical does the grunt work. Cordless is a more expensive option- maybe someday.Thx...

i haven't had any of the problems of the other people that have written reviews. Sure it gets durty, but it really isn't that hard to clean. It is a great product and like i said before, i have NOT had any of the problems that the other people have complained of and i've had mine for 3 years. It really deserves a better score than a 2/5. and like i said in the title of this review, it is simpely the best trackball that i have ever used.

I initially chose this mouse at a local computer retailer because of its comfort and Mac-friendly compatibility. In my opinion, it is quite comfortable (a very natural feel), and worked decently well. However, there was a catch, as I was soon to find out. After about 3 months of rigorous usage, the mouse began to perform poorly; and it only got worse. I finally diagnosed the problem--dust had collected in the tiny roller pins, and attempted to clean it but with poor results. I would use the mouse at 7 in in the morning, and it would be fine. Then I would go back at around noon, and it was a radically different story--I would barely be able to obtain any steady range of motion, eventually having to spin the trackball as fast as i could, which resulted in sparatic dashes of the cursor from one side of the screen to the other. Absolutely nightmarish!!! I put off replacing it for quite some time, and in the meantime I simply used keystrokes and other desparate measures in a desperate attempt to retain some level of function on my computer. Yesterday, I purcahsed the Logitech Optical Marble Mouse (ASIN: B00005T406), and I am overwhelmed at the difference. I [happily] unplugged the distraught Kensington Orbit, and simply replaced it with the Logitech. It seemed as if nothing ever happened. Flawless change. Not even a whirring buzzing sound inside of the machine to alert me I had done something wrong. Because the Logitech is optical, I will no longer have to worry about dust buildup (a huge relief!!).
IN CONCLUSION: Skip the Orbit. Get the Logitech ...

I liked the idea of not rolling a mouse around my desk; particularly since i have a laptop and i don't like the track pad at all.
The Kensington Orbit was fantastic at first; up and running in seconds, easy to use and feels great in my hand.
However, after approx. 3 months use, I find that the left-right action gets stuck very easily and is very hard to start again. Getting the ball out to clean the rollers is easy, but actually cleaning those tiny little rollers is a nightmare, much harder than a normal mouse.
Plus, the rubber is so small it is deteriorating really quickly.
I discovered the roller itself gets stuck inside the casing and doesn't spring back as it should, so the roller is not touching the ball.
In conclusion: you get what you pay for: cheap and nasty!

I purchased the Kensington Orbit because I have Arthritis in my hands. I have tried to download the mouseworks' software from the web. I was unable to do so. Thusly, I am writing about the Orbit. I have to move the trackball several strokes to get it to move the arrow to move. I have an Ibook and this insures me a small screen, but I have to move the ball too much. I am very unhappy with the outcome of the Orbit Trackbball