Kensington Orbit Wireless Trackball with Scroll Ring - Black-Red (K70990WW),

Out of the box, I was immediately impressed with the size of this mouse! I am transitioning from the previous Kensington Orbit Wireless Trackball Mouse with Touch Scroll Ring (K72352US) to give y'all an idea of where I'm coming from. Or -- just check out the photos attached and see for yourself! The new mouse fits the same space. It's not the huge monstrosity that the "expert" version of the Orbit trackball is. There ain't much information on this latest trackball -- so I literally was buying this with concerns.Hopefully this review helps others breathe easier -- and make that purchase confidently.One concern of mine was the scroll ring. The concern was that it would be fidgety, like the touch scroll ring was on the older version (in the photo you will see where I disable half the touch ring on the older mouse with putty). Well, I'm happy to report that this is not the case! The touch ring is physical, and has some friction to it. Best way to describe it is matte plastic on matte plastic — it’s not oiled, and so does not have a free-spin. It just spins when you want it to. Strangely enough, I am not finding myself accidentally bumping it either (though I will update this review down the road). So, now I have a RELIABLE scroll ring!Buttons feel the same as on the older mouse — but are positioned at a better angle for clicking.I have a weird way of holding this thing. See, despite the ergonomics, I was getting THUMB strain with the older mouse (possibly due to the angle they’re at), working at my computer 10 hours each day (4 days a week). This forced me to learn to click with my ringer finger (on my right hand), and right-click with my thumb. So with this new mouse, I am using the same fingers — but now I can also use my middle finger for the scroll wheel.Don’t forget the Bluetooth. Y’all Mac users know where I’m at: the BT connection allows you to free up an oh-so-precious USB port!EVEN BETTER: I was thinking of using this alongside the old mouse as I needed one for my work computer and one for my Mac -- but I figured out something better : I can connect the 2.4Ghz dongle to my work computer and then flip the switch at the bottom to use this one mouse with BOTH!Overall, I am impressed. I will update this review down the road as I gain more hours of actual use!UPDATE (After almost two years): So the first one got “sticky buttons” for a brief moment after a year, I was worried it was failing and decided to buy a second one as a back up. No buyers remorse here: it was worth it. Once I stopped transporting the original unit to and from the office — the button problem resolved itself and now I have two perfectly functioning units: one conveniently at home, and one in the office. I put the button issue down to the unit getting smooshed in my bag from transporting it everyday from home to the office.

This is my 5th Orbit, which is both the pro and the con. Very comfortable to use, and has the scroll wheel, which my beloved Logitech Marble Mouse never implemented. However, the first 4 orbits, all wired, ended up going bad within a year of purchase. The buttons started going wonky and not clicking or double clicking, etc. But there's nothing out there quite like it, so this time I went for the wireless one. First off, the wireless functionality is great. Always works, though it needs a little shake after the computer wakes up from a period of non-use. And I just replaced the 2 AA batteries today after 4 months of daily (all day) use. We'll see if it makes it past the 1 year mark with working buttons, but honestly, I'll probably just replace it again if it does.

Finally a trackball that isn't thumb-based and actually works!I was a user of the Logitech Trackman for years and loved it but that was discontinued and Logitech never replaced it with a finger-based trackball. So I've been trying different thumb-based trackballs ever since and only been disappointed.This Orbit trackball is the closest to what I've been looking for. Great build quality. The software isn't intrusive or awkward. The ergonomics make it easy to use for brief interactions with the computer as I work in a studio. I really like the scroll wheel. Since this device has Bluetooth AND the RF connection, I can connect it to my desktop and laptop and easily swap back and forth by just the switch on the bottom. This is really convenient! Just use Bluetooth on one computer and RF on the other.The only real complaint is I wish it were designed in a way that allowed for more buttons. There is really nowhere on this device where you could add another button though.Other trackballs that let me down:Elecom Deft - the left click started being a double click, all the time. Made it unusable. Also the software was awkward and support was basically nonexistent.Kensington Expert trackball - for whatever reason, moving the cursor across the screen in a straight line (especially up and down) wasn't easy. It would curve and there was no way to calibrate it. Unusable for me.Logitech Ergo M575 - thumb-based trackball movement. Gave it a try and can't adjust to using my thumb for movement. Otherwise, a nice item. Unusable for me.I ended up buying 2 of these Orbits. One for home and one for in the studio. It's working out great in both places, and as I said, when I bring my laptop home I can switch the home trackball to the laptop with the switch on the bottom. I just wish there were an additional button I could program, but that's ok.

A good trackball mouse needs: (1) a large ball, so it is easy to grip with your hand and fell you have full control over it, and (2) low resistance, which is needed to be able to make fine adjustments.At least for my size hands, I find the ball size on this is great, and it is the second lowest resistance ball mouse I've ever used. The lowest is the Logitech Trackman Marble, and while I love how the ball feels on that mouse, sadly that mouse has low build quality and in my experience it tends to break after a year. I have been using this Kensington for over a year and a half and have had not had any issues with it.The Logitech mouse also has no hardware method of scrolling, so you have to use software workarounds to be able to scroll. The Kensington mouse has a scroll wheel which feels very natural and is much preferred. This mouse is also wireless which is a nice plus as well.Currently, this is my favorite trackball mouse. The only thing that I think would make it better is if maybe there was just a tiny bit less resistance on the ball, and if they could make the scroll wheel actually click. Some games expect you to be able to click the scroll wheel, and so you have to remap that in the settings to a keyboard key.