trackballs

I used to use a mouse until one day at work my Mac took a nose-dive and I was forced to use a co-worker's Mac while my machine was being repaired. My co-worker was on vacation, so I was at his desk for 3 days. He had this trackball connected to his Mac and I felt like a new baby calf trying out new legs.

I was so used to my mouse, I felt like I had just gotten my hand for Christmas and didn't know how to use it. After just one day of using it, however, I was hooked. When my Mac was repaired, I stayed at my co-worker's desk until he came back from vacation, just so I could use his trackball and I asked my boss to order one for me as well.

No more mousepads, no more picking up and moving a mouse when you run out of cord and/or desk-space, and a trackball carefully designed to fit a normal adult human hand with ease.

The trackball is easy to clean and there is never any skipping on the rollers - the friction of the ball against the metal rollers is superb. The buttons are angled at such a way, they are almost a pleasure to click. I have never had wrist discomfort using this model.

The MouseWorks software that comes with the trackball allows you to program the 4 buttons to do different functions and you can even program "chords"... that is the action that happens when you click 2 buttons at once.

It is truly a shame that Kensington did not port this same exact model to USB for modern users and instead fell in love with the shiny colored plastic with poor traction on the rollers.

You can acquire an ADB to USB adapter that will allow you to use this on newer Macs or even PCs. The Kensington Mouseworks software is available for older Macs and newer Macs, as well as PCs.

If you have an old beige Mac you're using as a fax server or for another task, this model trackball is a joy to use.

For those using a newer Mac without an ADB port, you will have to buy a separate adapter to use this mouse with your computer.

I have had the original expert mouse for a long time and it is much eaiser to use than a normal mouse. I would not buy it though if you play a lot of games becuase it is hard to move very fast to certin but is great for regular use. Buy it!

I've used a Kensington TurboMouse for a solid decade, and I use my computer 4-5 hours per day, so I can recommend it with confidence.

The first one I bought lasted nine years. The fat ball and easy-to-click, naturally positioned buttons were a welcome relief from the Macintosh mice of the early 90's. User definable functions such as right button and chord (clicking both buttons at once) made the TurboMouse even more functional than a mouse. Heavily weighted with non-skid pads, it sits in about 1/2 the space of a mousepad. It gives a feeling of sturdiness and absolute precise control over your cursoring. And it's easy to clean; the ball falls out when you turn it over.

When mine started to go on the blink after 9 years, I ordered another - the 4-button model you see here, compatible with Kensington's latest software. Then I got up the courage to peel the sticker off the bottom. Lo and behold, the rollers were visible! And you would not believe the brown gunge that was accumulated in there. After I cleaned that out, the 9-year-old trackball was again functioning perfectly. What a service record!

I do recommend a foam wrist support with this, although it is much easier on the old carpal tunnel than a standard mouse. Gamers beware: you may discover trouble with using the button definitions with such games as Myth and Starcraft; to be quite precise, these used to work on my old PowerMac 7300, but no longer work on the ADB port of my Yikes! B&W G3. But I don't care about that very much; it's a great product and I'd buy a third in a heartbeat.