Kensington Wired SlimBlade Trackball Mouse (K72327U), Black

Quick and easy setup. Just take it out of the box. Plug it in. Download Kensington Trackball Works and you're set.EARLY IMPRESSIONS: Coming from having owned the best of the best mice and trackballs from Logitech such as my current Marble Trackball, the M570 (which possibly contributed me the De Quervane syndrome I have now) and the Anywhere Mouse, not to mention scores of other mice and trackballs over the years include the 1990s version of the Kengington Expert Mouse -- I was, at most, expecting to marginally impressed by the Kensington Slimblade Trackball.But it took me only 15 minutes of acclimating and fine tuning the settings that I realized that this is a vast step up from my Marble Mouse. I'll have more to see in an updated review, but for now, here's few quick impression 5 star ratings, 5 being best:***** Buttons: Excellent feel and "just right." In fact, were it not for the fact that some people mentioned the issue of having to press the buttons harder than they would expected, I never would have given this issue a second thought. The click pressure is about what I'd expect and has been a non-issue for me. I suspect that some people have this problem because the are pressing the keys to close to the hinge. But where my thumb and fingers naturally tend to fall are the areas that are farthest distance from hinges.***** Scrolling: One of the best innovations since Xerox PARC invented the mouse. Honestly, even after all the glowing reviews in Amazon, I wasn't expecting it to be this natural, not to menion -- fun. Try it and you may never want to go back to a scroll wheel.***** Ease of use and precision. Pointing and click is what you'd expect from a $99 trackball. Using a bigger ball than is the case on my Logitech Marble Mouse, does improve precision. This is especially the case because I am right handed, but need to use my left hand for this trackball. Many times when using my previous trackball, the Logitech Marble, I'd aim to put the mouse arrow on top of a small screen object (such as a line on my DropMind Mindmap) and found it difficult. So far, I'm finding myself about perform the same surgical actions more easily with the Kensington.***** Smoothness of the ball. Initially, I found that would you do a rapid twist when scrolling, there's some kind of weird slight scraping vibration. The sound went away after a few days after natural oils from my fingers lubed the ball sufficiently.***** TrackBallWorks Software. Works find and allows me to control all the buttons and chordings. So I was able to switch the traditional mouse click buttons to left-handed mode, use the top buttons for back and forward with browsing the Internet, refresh with bottom chord, and launch volume controls with upper chord. This is way more than what I could do with my Logitech Marble Mouse.**** Construction. ON THE PLUS SIDE, it's a beautiful, gleaming piece of modern art on my desk.ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE: The should have engineered the click buttons so that needed pressure to click is the same no matter were you click. While click-pressure has not been a problem for me in general, there are occasions where I click different areas of the button and it's unexpectedly harder than my finger expects. AS FOR THE BALL: My ball has dropped onto my hardwood floor about six times since I got this thing. Each time, I'm wondering if I dented or scratched it. I really wish they had fingered out a way to hold it in there.Conclusion: The days and weeks will tell. But for now, this is a candidate for being the best mouse/trackball input device I've ever used.UPDATE 9/18/2013Well, I've come to the conclusion that this is the best mouse/trackball input device I've ever used. It beats all trackballs I've ever used. PLUS, it beats all mice I've ever used. That's a major shift because until this point, I've never had a trackball that has been as accurate, precise and easy to use as a good mouse. This Kensington Slimblade finally does it. It totally trounces Logitech and I've deleted all Logitech drivers from my main computer. I am amazed that it's not at or near the top of the charts. Well, for sure, in opinion, it deserves to be there.UPDATE 10/16/2013Still going strong. No complaints. The one unfortunate thing is that many people might be scared off by the early reviews which reported problems with the the TrackBallWorks driver. That problem has long been fixed and it's been smooth sailing for me and many other users. If you're looking for the greatest trackball in the world and an alternative to the Logitech Marble Trackball (which I also own), this is worth a try.

I've been a trackball user for years and have used several different models. When my last one broke I began researching new models to purchase. I really liked the look of the Kensington Slimblade and from past experiences knew that I liked the feel of a bigger ball. I read a ton of reviews on the product and to paraphrase the majority of them, the hardware was amazing but the software was lacking. This gave me some concerns. However, I looked on the Kensington site and noted that the most recent release of the software was after the posted dates of the review. Kensington must have paid attention to the reviews, listened to their customers, and upgraded their software. After this I decided to make my purchase and I couldn't be more happy. The trackball is a bit pricey, but worth every penny in my opinion.Personally speaking, there are 3 criteria that make or break a trackball. The first is the amount of friction the ball has against its base. The second is the overall design in regards to comfort and hand movement. And third, is the driver software allowing you to customize your experience.The Slimblade's friction is perfect. My previous trackball, a Microsoft Trackball Explorer, had too much friction. The ball would stick when initiating movement from a still position. This was very aggravating when I required precise movements like working with a graphics program. The Slimblade never sticks. It glides smoothly and effortlessly all the time. The minimalist amount of pressure will coax the ball to move.The Slimblade's overall design is sure bliss. The comfort of using it epitomizes ergonomics and the hand movement is practically nothing. I can guide my cursor and click all of the buttons with my fingers without ever moving my wrist. Whenever I use it, I feel like I'm using some futuristic input device you only see in slick sci-fi movies.Lastly is the Slimblade's software. From most of the reviews I read prior to purchase, the initial software was severely lacking. However, I can tell you that is no longer the case. The options offered in the most recent software are cutting edge. While it has the expected options such as button customization, cursor speed, etc. It also has some features I've never seen in any input device. You can program the Alt, Control, or Shift to lock the cursor movement to a single axis allowing you to move precisely up and down or left and right. You can also program one of the aforementioned buttons to slow the cursor. So you can normally have the cursor movement very fast and then press a button to slow it temporarily. This is a wonderful piece of functionality when you require precise movements. The last option I'll mention, and it's my personal favorite, is the scrolling. You twist the trackball on its horizontal axis to scroll. See the videos on the product to get a visual of this feature. This feature is just flat out cool. There isn't a product in existence that has a more elegant way to scroll. Whoever came up with it at Kensington is a sheer genius. It even provides an oh so slight clicking feel to provide feedback to the user that the movement is a scrolling movement.In summary, this is the best trackball made. I've used trackballs for over 10 years, and while I personally believe they are superior to mice, all of the models I have ever used have had at least one flaw...until now. I've been searching for the perfect trackball and this is it. If mine ever breaks, I will immediately replace it with the same model. It is an absolute joy to use.