Customer Reviews

Logitech Trackman Wheel Optical (Silver)

5 star:		(571)
4 star:		(132)
3 star:		(49)
2 star:		(29)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I have used a Logitech Trackman Marble (this product's predecessor) since it was released in 1995. I still use that original one at home. (When was the last time you used a computer product for eight years?) I use it enough that I can feel the difference between the muscles on my right thumb verus my left. I love it so much I have gone so far as use my soldering iron to replace the worn-out button switches. (They happen to use the exact same switch as the ubiquitous MS mice.)

This device fits my hand like a glove, and saves desk space since it never needs to move. The lack of rollers isn't such a big plus since the advent of optical mice, but it is still nice.

While this is a stupendous product, you should never buy a pointing device or keyboard for the first time via mail-order. The only way you will know if it fits your hand is to go to a physical store and try it out. It may fit my hand like a glove, but it may not fit yours.

I have had this product for well over a year now. I am a heavy computer user and using a mouse was just putting a huge strain on my wrist, so I decided that maybe I should look into mouse alternatives.

Well, my first choice was the Kensington Orbit trackball, based on reviews on this site. All-in-all, it is a great product, but it has 1 tragic flaw which killed it for me - it gunks up incredibly quickly; I am talking on the order of every hour or two. I returned it to the store from whence it was purchased (hint: the one with a big yellow tag). Strike one.

My next choice was what is essentially a corded version of the Logitech Cordless Trackman FX Optical Trackball, which was probably simply called the same thing, minus the "Cordless". The up side - it has several buttons; this device did nothing about my wrist cramp problem, however. Strike two. (Side note: I don't really see the point of getting a cordless trackball or keyboard, unless you are just dying to have more battery-powered things.)

Choice number three: the Logitech Marble Mouse (which is a trackball, despite its name). I just plain could not get used to the feel of it and it did very little to ease strain anyhow. A lot of people on this site have good things to say about it. I, however, do not. Guess the third time is not always a charm.

Well, I finally ended up with (you guessed it) the Logitech Trackman Wheel Optical. While it takes some getting used to, once you get a feel for this, you will never even want to go near another mouse. It has two buttons and the scroll wheel which also doubles as a third button when pressed in, although I never find myself in need of this third "button" myself. This is probably the most ergonomic pointing device you can hope to get...that is, assuming you are right-handed. Sorry, lefties, looks like your choices are considerably more limited when it comes to trackballs.

While being an optical device, the ball bearings upon which the trackball itself rests do tend to need cleaned off once or twice a day, but this only takes a few seconds and is not nearly as time-consuming as cleaning off the roll bars on the non-optical Kensington Orbit, and these cleanings aren't nearly as frequent, either. I don't think you are going to be able to buy a trackball that doesn't need cleaned fairly often, and this one does a nice job of making it a relatively painless affair.

The software allows you to set the directional orientation (which way is "up"), among other things, though I have not even bothered installing the software since I started using Windows XP.

Bottom line: If you are right-handed and have your own computer, buy this. Just make sure you give yourself a day or so to adjust to using it. You shan't be dissapointed.

This is my third Logitech trackball. The trackball it replaces is a Logitech Trackman that I bought in 1995. Nothing attached to my computer was anywhere close to that old.

I finally got tired of cleaning the ball on the old Trackman. My wife has both an Logitech marble trackball and a Logitech optical cordless mouse, and I wanted the best, too.

While each new Microsoft OS has had problems with the older version of Mouseware software, in my experience, Logitech is always the first to have updated drivers available shortly after release of new OS's.

After using the trackball for about 5 months, I'm still thrilled. Sure, the gunk from my oily, sticky, food-covered hands still builds up on the ball, but unlike mechanical mice and trackballs, it doesn't cause sticking and jumping of the cursor. The action was still smooth. I had not even noticed that it was getting harder to move the ball until I popped the ball out, and gave the contact points a quick cleaning.

So even with five months of built-up grime, it was still working just fine.

Now not everyone likes trackballs. I use a mouse at work, and it's probably better for me to be moving my whole arm. But at home my desk is too messy. There's no room to move a mouse, and even if I were able to, I'd hit my elbow on something else.

Not for one minute have I regretted buying this trackball.

Yeah it looks funny, but its what you call "ergonomic"- which has to do with making the workplace fit the worker. Perhaps the oddest looking thing is the little ball on the side. So what's that about? Well, its the whole reason you'd want to buy this device.

If you're satisfied with your regular mouse, it works well, and you have no hand, wrist, or elbow pain, don't be in a hurry to run out and get this mouse. However if you do have pain in any of those areas, I'd highly consider getting one of these little babies. Why? Well, because this is a "trackball" mouse, which means that you'll be moving that little arrow on your computer screen around- NOT by moving your hand and arm- but by simply rolling the ball with your thumb! So, as you can probably guess, little or no wrist and arm motion equals less stress on these areas--> and less pain!

Simply put, this device cuts down on how much you need to move your hand and arm around which can help you prevent or eliminate such nasty problems as tennis elbow or carpal tunnel. Yeah!

A few other good reasons to consider getting this mouse...

-you'll probably be able to work at a computer much longer and in more comfort because you won't be using your muscles as much

-you might find that its a bit quicker scrolling around web pages

Now it does have a cord, but that's about its only drawback (but it does work on glass).

So when all is said and done, if you're looking for more efficiency and less pain- get it.

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 Logitech Trackman Wheel Optical does not score well in my needs - eliminating / reducing my RSI related pains.

Pros: Reasonably priced, good build quality, scroll wheel included, programmable buttons.

Cons: Cannot be used left handed, small trackball.

This is one of the few trackballs that has a useable scroll wheel. The Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman and the Kensington Expert Mouse Pro for example, has a tiny scroll wheel that you won't even bother to use after a period of time. This one however, is positioned like all the other mice and you can use your middle finger to scroll effortlessly.

However, the biggest problem for me is that the trackball is controlled by the thumb, instead of index/middle fingers like the other models. Precise movement is harder to control using the thumb. Also, you can move from point A to point B much faster by using the index finger.

Consider this experiment, point your mouse pointer to the bottom right of the screen (which you can conduct in any local electronic store before you decide to buy this product), and then try to move the pointer to the upper left corner. Take note of how much effort it requires and how much stress it is putting on your thumb, rather than how long it takes for you to complete this task (for those who own a 30" lcd, you should record your time and post it here!). Now you should understand why using the thumb to control the trackball is a bad idea.

If your local electronic store has the kensington expert mouse on display, you can compare how superior it is to use a huge trackball with your index/middle finger.

There have been some comments posted here that "you don't need to clean it" or that "it works great without being cleaned". It DOES need to be cleaned, or the friction keeps going up. The good news is that this takes only about 15 seconds to do, and is nothing like digging cat hair out of mechanical gears with a long thin knife, which I've had to do before. There's a hole in the bottom. Stick a pencil eraser in there and push up. The ball will pop out. Clean the three support points by wiping them with a finger and stick the ball back.

Once cleaned, while in motion it is almost frictionless, and it is easy to very quickly move where you want and to stop almost exactly. Once stopped, the static friction is higher, and with the shorter movement distance of the trackball, it is, as has been pointed out, harder to move just a few pixels accurately than with the longer distance traveled of a regular mouse, but this should only be a real issue where you need single pixel precision.

I find that it works better than a regular mouse for almost all normal tasks, including games, but where single pixel precision is required, it is a bad choice.

The buttons are well placed and easy to use, after a couple days to get used to them.

It's very nice to not have to worry about having a mouse-pad space available. I've knocked it down to 4 stars principally due to missing having 2 extra buttons. This has a standard right/left button plus a clickable scroll wheel as the middle button.

It is basically unusable with the left-hand.

Overall, I'm very happy with it.

I have always thought trackballs to be bulky and awkward, until I bought this one. My Belkin optical mouse would not work on my IBM Thinkpad via USB; the laptop does not have a PS2 port. So, back to Logitech who has never sold me a bad product.

I was not disappointed. I plugged the trackball into the USB port and it worked flawlessly without installing any software. It behaves wonderfully with both the touchpad and touchstick still enabled. The scroll wheel works very well with both Netscape and MIE, again without installing any of the Logitech software. Nice, painless and worked right out of the box. I am thinking of upgrading all my mice to this one.

I bought a trackball to give myself a more space-efficient alternative to a mouse. After deciding against most of Kensington's trackballs because of cost and against a Microsft trackball because of my smaller hand size, I settled on the Logitech Trackman.

I had never used a trackball for even a short amount of time, so adjusting to the feel of the Trackman took several days but was definitely worth it.

-Ball movement. The ball glides smoothly on several mini ball bearings and is a comfortable size for me to operate with my thumb. Plus, it is also optical and thus has less parts to clean.

-Familiar mouse-like shape. The Logitech Trackman is more mouse-shaped than many trackballs, and the buttons/scroll wheel can be used with the usual fingers. Unlike a mouse, of course, you don't have to worry much about desktop space and don't need to move the entire device around.

-Simple buttons. If you don't like mice/trackballs that are loaded with buttons, this is for you. This trackball only has the standard left/right buttons, plus a clickable scroll wheel. The main buttons aren't too stiff, and the wheel moves easily and has a muted click when you scroll (pretty much the same as a Logitech optical mouse).

-Curves. The entire device is curved to fit the right hand. There are grooves on the two "mouse" buttons to give your fingers a place to rest, and there are additional grooves for your ring and little fingers to rest on. There's also a bit of rubber along the right edge, presumably for comfort reasons.

-Size. One of the reasons I've bought Logitech mice instead of the equivalent Microsoft products is that the MS mice feel large, chunky and unwieldy in my hand. This trackball is no exception; my palm, thumb, and fingers rest exactly where they should be. If you like the size of Logitech's optical scroll mice, you will probably like this trackball as well; if you have larger hands or generally prefer the larger size of Microsoft's mice, it would be a good idea to try this out in a store before buying.

-Long cord. If your only free USB ports are several feet away, under a desk, etc., hooking the Trackman up shouldn't be a problem. It's a bit more cumbersome if you have it plugged directly into your keyboard and have lots of extra cord left over, but it's nothing a simple twist tie can't fix.

-Construction. The Trackman is available for less than $30, but it has the usual Logitech quality. Three rubber feet keep the Trackman from slipping around. The bottom is held together with four screws and can easily be opened using a Philips head screwdriver if necessary; the ball can be popped out from above by grabbing it between your thumb/forefinger and giving it a good tug. All in all, much easier to open up and clean than, for instance, an Apple peripheral, but at the same time it won't come apart by accident during regular use.

-OS X compatibility. The two mouse buttons and scroll wheel work fine without any Logitech drivers installed, though the trackball is a bit slow. Installing the Logitech Control Center allows you to bump the tracking speed up further and program the middle (scroll wheel) button, among other things. If you already have installed it (for use with a Logitech keyboard or mouse, for example), the Control Center should detect the Trackman and allow you to program it without installing any trackball-specific software (you can even leave your mouse connected without any real problems).

**If you use OS 10.3, download the latest drivers! Earlier Logitech drivers (such as the one included in the box) caused several kernel panics on my Mac when used under recent versions of OS 10.3.**

Unlike "most Logitech trackball users", I'm not new to trackballs. Prior to this one, I've had two Trackman Wheels over the course of about 6 years or so.

The old white one was great in that it was very comfortable on the hand. It fit what I'd call the "3 finger" style of button pushing where the middle three fingers never moved horizontally. The ring finger rests on the right button and stays there, while the middle finger rests on the wheel and stays there. This new style one seems to stray from that feel and cramps things up. It seems to assume more of a "roaming middle finger" style where the middle finger handles both right-click and wheel duties. My hands are quite small, and I still have a hard time holding it in a three finger style on this thing.

I don't know, it just seems most mice, as well as the old Trackman and the MS counterpart to this, all feel pretty comfortable in the three finger style.

Positives:
-Thumb trackball moves well under most conditions unlike the Microsoft version.
-Still curvier than MS's, which conform well to the curvature of my hand in a resting position.
-Seems more accurate and less flimsy than Microsoft's thumb trackball.
-No wrist movement whatsoever. And, IMHO, my thumb seems to be able to work trackballs better than my finger on the finger trackballs from Kensington and Logitech. Plus, those non-thumb trackballs are totally different than any mouse out there. They just seem very tough to use for precision work like Photoshop. I feel like I should be playing Missile Command or Marble Madness with them!
-And seriously, it's just as easy to play games once you're used to it. No problems with getting smoked in Call of Duty or other shooters and RTS games!

Negatives:
-You need "piano fingers" to do a three finger style of clicking around. Otherwise, people with double duty middle fingers will feel very comfortable with this one.
-Would love at least one more little button somewhere, for double-clicking or whatever, to relieve wear on the left button. Microsoft has two extra buttons. Most Logitech mice have extra buttons.

I'm a computer nut. Between work and being online at home I'm probably on a computer 15 hours each day. As you can imagine that takes quite a toll on your wrists after a while. While I love the old-style roller-ball mice, moving that mouse all day pretty much paralyzes my wrist. To address this problem I bought nearly every mouse on the market to test them out, and ended up returning all but one. The Logitech Trackman Wheel optical mouse was the only one I kept.

This mouse is very easy on the wrist due to it's fixed position. The ergonomic design is extremely comfortable. The trackball, operated by using your thumb, takes some getting used to but is super smooth and ultra precise. The mouse buttons are also comfortable to use and the scroll wheel glides like butter. This mouse really enhances the computing experience, in my opinion.

Aside from the steep learning curve involved in using the thumb-mounted trackball, the only other caveat to this mouse is that it makes playing games a bit difficult. If you are a hardcore PC gamer good luck using this mouse, it is very awkward. I tried it for awhile and got slaughtered in every game I played. Now when I want to play a game I always switch back to my old roller-ball mouse. Once I'm done gaming I switch back to the Logitech Wheelman for relaxed wrist-healing mousing. All in all I wouldn't give up my Logitech Wheelman for anything.