The 10 Best Trackball Mice
10. ABCGoodEFG Wireless
- comfortable and lightweight
- solid and well-balanced feel
- ball tends to stick sometimes
| Brand | abcGoodefg |
|---|---|
| Model | WIREL-MOU-RED |
| Weight | 0.3 ounces |
| Rating | 3.6 / 5.0 |
9. AbleNet BigTrack
- requires minimal fine motor control
- offset buttons limit accidental taps
- takes up a lot of desk space
| Brand | AbleNet |
|---|---|
| Model | LYSB0006ZM7VY-CMPTRACCS |
| Weight | 1.9 pounds |
| Rating | 3.8 / 5.0 |
8. Elecom EX-G Series
- receiver storage port on the bottom
- forward and back browsing buttons
- instructions are in japanese
| Brand | Elecom |
|---|---|
| Model | M-DT2DRBK |
| Weight | 9.1 ounces |
| Rating | 3.6 / 5.0 |
7. Yumqua Y-10W
- good choice for frequent travelers
- 10-meter working wireless range
- button layout is a bit confusing
| Brand | YUMQUA |
|---|---|
| Model | Y-10W-US |
| Weight | 2.4 ounces |
| Rating | 4.1 / 5.0 |
6. Kensington SlimBlade
- lots of speed customization options
- very little pointer drag
- clicking noise is overly loud
| Brand | Kensington |
|---|---|
| Model | K72327EU |
| Weight | 14.9 ounces |
| Rating | 3.5 / 5.0 |
5. Clearly Superior L-Trac Glow
- up to 1600 cpi sensitivity
- precise laser-based navigation
- may occasionally pinch your fingers
| Brand | Clearly Superior Techno |
|---|---|
| Model | CST2545-5WGL-RC |
| Weight | 1.3 pounds |
| Rating | 4.2 / 5.0 |
4. Logitech Trackman Marble
- ball is easy to remove for cleaning
- helps reduce wrist fatigue
- scroll speed is a bit slow
| Brand | Logitech |
|---|---|
| Model | 910-000806 |
| Weight | 12.6 ounces |
| Rating | 4.3 / 5.0 |
3. Sanwa Supply MA-TB39
- minimizes accidental clicks
- as precise as an optical mouse
- central scroll wheel
| Brand | Sanwa |
|---|---|
| Model | MA-TB39R |
| Weight | 14.6 ounces |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5.0 |
2. Logitech M570
- 18 months of use per battery set
- very smooth cursor control
- easy-to-see led battery indicator
| Brand | Logitech |
|---|---|
| Model | 910-001799 |
| Weight | 9.9 ounces |
| Rating | 4.6 / 5.0 |
1. Kensington Orbit K72337
- ambidextrous design good for lefties
- includes a detachable wrist rest
- scroll ring for navigating pages
| Brand | Kensington |
|---|---|
| Model | K72337US |
| Weight | 10.4 ounces |
| Rating | 4.9 / 5.0 |
Keeping It Comfortable
If you spend a lot of time working at a computer station, you're going to be forced to use either a mouse or trackpad for the entire day in order to navigate your screen. This can get tiring after a while because you're constantly having to move your wrist and arm back and forth to get the pointer where you need it to be. A trackpad can relieve some of the strain from your wrist through the use of your fingers to move the cursor and pointer, but not all of it. That said, if you're a person who suffers from arthritis or chronic pain, you'll need a solution that keeps your wrist from being overworked. If you simply don't care for a conventional mouse with a clicker, then the trackball mouse is a good alternative.
A trackball mouse is a pointing device that consists of a freely-moving ball held in place by a socket with sensors for detecting its movement and rotation. A user can move the trackball with their fingers, thumb, or the palm of a hand. Unlike conventional computer mice, the trackball has no limits to its movement. A user can continue rolling the ball, even when the screen pointer has nowhere else to go. By contrast, a traditional sliding mouse has to be lifted and re-positioned should a user run out of room to move it across their desk.
A trackball offers several ergonomic advantages. Firstly, its usage encourages the freedom, flexibility, and independence of the thumb and fingers from the wrist and arm. It is often molded to support the wrist during operation, which provides extra cushioning and limits the possibility for pain or injury from extended use.
Unlike traditional mice, trackballs are not limited to use only on flat surfaces, as the ball can freely rotate on its axes while being held in place by its socket. This means it can be moved in virtually any direction without having to slide the entire mouse across a desk's surface. Such an application makes this mouse particularly useful on small desktops where space is limited. Additionally, it can be used effortlessly with a laptop from most any angle without impacting its accuracy. This comes in handy when using a laptop on unstable surfaces, such as a bed or on a boat.
One of the most popular applications for the trackball mouse includes the gaming industry. Because there is no requirement for a mousepad, a gamer experiences improved accuracy when playing first-person shooters, role-playing (RPG), and arcade-style games through the use of quick-spinning trackball action.
Large trackballs are used at computer stations with sonar equipment, at radar consoles in air-traffic control rooms, and even as part of computer-aided design workstations where precision and graphical work is common.
Trackballs are easily built into public internet access terminals and are more difficult to steal and vandalize than a traditional mouse.
A Brief History Of The Trackball Mouse
The original concept for the trackball was invented in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin. While working for the British Royal Navy Scientific Service, Benjamin helped to design a radar plotting system called Comprehensive Display System (CDS). Benjamin's project used analog computers to predict the future positions of target aircraft based on data points that were provided by a user with a joystick. Benjamin felt that the use of a joystick could be improved upon, so he invented a ball tracker system which he called roller ball. Although the concept was patented in 1947, only a prototype of the device was ever developed and it was kept a military secret from that point on.
Although Benjamin can be credited with the original idea for the trackball, the first practical application for this type of mouse was invented in 1952 by Canadian engineers Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff as part of their effort to design an improved target coordination system called Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving (DATAR). The DATAR system was similar to Benjamin's 1946 concept, but the difference was in the use of a digital computer for target calculations instead of analog. The DATAR system made use of a Canadian duck pin bowling ball weighing several pounds, which represented the first use of a trackball to move a cursor.
During the 1960s and 1970s, trackballs continued to evolve as high-cost, high-precision instruments for military use, each with a diameter range between two and four inches. By 1980, it was introduced into the gaming industry in the form of Atari's Missile Command. In 1989, Logitech introduced its first trackball called the Trackman. Logitech and Microsoft also launched trackballs designed for portable computers in 1991. With the evolution of more advanced optical tracking technology and standardized electronic interfaces (i.e. USB), the popularity of the trackball grew because it was easy to use as a plug-and-play device. It was also interchangeable with a traditional computer mouse.
Finding The Best Trackball Mouse
The trackball is ideal for comfort and practicality for your computer station. For that reason, any trackball device offering additional wrist cushioning (detachable or otherwise) is usually a good thing. This is definitely true if your motivation for investing in one is to relieve wrist pain and fatigue.
If you consider yourself a gamer, a trackball can be a godsend for playing involved first-person shooters, fighting, or racing games that require a lot of mouse precision and freedom to control what's on the screen.
Some of the best trackballs are wireless and offer up to a thirty-foot range, which can definitely come in handy if you're a graphic artist working on a large monitor and you require some distance to see and manipulate your work.
The trackball itself should also be easy to remove for cleaning, as it's inevitable that you'll spill something on it sooner or later.
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Ezra is a writer, photographer, creative producer, designer, and record label-operator from New York City. He's traveled around the world and ended up back where he started, though he's constantly threatening to leave again.