Microsoft Trackball Explorer

Microsoft Trackball Explorer is the greatest mouse you can have but they don't make them any longer and if you have one keep it I have wore out the berrings out on two of them and now i am lost.

The best trackball mouse produced. Why aren't these still available. The Kensington and Logitech alternatives don't come close to these. I well recommend the Microsoft Trackball Explorer PS2 USB but unfortunately you cant buy them anymore it seems?

Having used a few mouses in my time, this one is by far the best. I have read comments about it being "flimsy", "and "could" this, and "might" that... but it's all non-sense... experience has shown that even for gaming, this mouse offers the best of both worlds. it's buttons are well placed for regular use, and for gaming, it is very precise, and the buttons are programmable in most games. I would recommend it to anyone. I truly love that product.

I have been using Microsoft Trackball Explorer PS2 USB for 4 years, and still love it. I use it for 8 - 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. Before buying it I tried 3 of the Logitech trackballs and didn't like the feel of any of them.

I tried many pointing devices:

Regular (Ball) and optical mice are limited by desk space, and they run out of their last breath once you reach this limit while scrolling. So, the pointer waits on the screen while they catch their breath. You end up sweeping your desk like a traffic man who ushers cars in one direction or the other; his sweeping movement is just a guide and he doesn't feel the pleasure of actually driving the car.

PC Tablets (not tablet PCs) are tricky: everything is smooth until you lift the pen for any reason like picking another object on the screen, opening a menu or even if you wish to take a brake to sip a cup of tea. When you have the guts to land your hands again you get the feeling of trying to pin the tail of the donkey in the right place while you are blinded! I wish the mouse is dressed as a 'dog' because I felt always as a blind master who steps into a dark room, and his loyal dog jumps to the source of noise of his footsteps every time. My mind landed my hand on the point it imagined not the actual point, and the pointer ran to where I landed.

Wireless mice are seized by an epileptic fit each time a mobile (any mobile phone not necessarily mine) rings beside them! You can see the poor scared and shivering pointer squeezed at one corner of the screen immediately before I hear the ring or hear the noise in speakers.

The trackball feels natural because:

1. You can move the pointer across the whole span of the screen without loosing fingertips contact with the ball.

2. If you leave the trackball and land your hand again, the pointer is still in place (unlike PC tablet).

3. You can control the speed and precision of the pointer movement directly and simply by the pattern of your hand movement it takes the speed, angle, precision and pattern of movement of your hand.

4. Every hand and every mood has a characteristic set of movement parameters. As this device moves exactly as you move your fingertips, you can see the reflection of your mood on the screen (rushed, relaxed, lost, depressed, know what you are doing....etc) and you can see the signature of your wrist and fingers movements. Therefore, I feel the screen is more comfortable and personalized. My machine should carry my personality to feel 'it's mine'.

5. Very comfortable to maneuver since you can roll it by any finger, group of finger or even by the palm of your hand, which ever is closer to the trackball at the time you want to move the pointer

6. Can put it anywhere and scroll. So, I can lie back on the couch in front of the PC, put it on my thigh and watch a slide show, presentation, movie (forward and rewind), check emails. Having 5 programmable buttons means that I don't have to keep going back to my keyboard to press a shortcut.

7. Dual interface; original USB, and with adaptors PS2 can be useful if you have busy PS2 port. But be aware!!! This may not be USB2.0, so, if you have USB2.0 hub, SPEED OF ALL DEVICES ON THAT HUB WILL DROP TO USB1.0. Therefore, USB mice are one of the worst peripherals because they are always active, and thus, they are always chocking the other USB2 devices. I have not tried this myself because I don't have to re-invent the wheel, and I don't have anything else occupying the PS2 port. Therefore, if anybody finds otherwise please tell me; [email protected]

8. The other model (Trackball optical) caused much strain on my brother's thumb, and he has to rest it from time to time, and move the ball by other fingers instead. He wishes he'd listened to my advise and bought my model.

Nevertheless, I'm sorry to encounter some troubles with this piece of art:

1. don't believe that this device doesn't need cleaning; it's a BOLD lie!!! I could survive with my mouse a month or two before it starts complaining, while with this device I have to wipe dust and dirt off the tiny little metal bearing points every 2-3 weeks if I want to get smooth and precise movements. Maybe because the scrolling wheels in the mouse are bigger and can tolerate more dust. In an over polluted city surrounded by desert like mine (Cairo, EGYPT) fine dust is daily life feature that you have to live with. It's true that the beam can still read motion through dust, but bearing point become jammed easily, and I can find dirt filling the pits around them. Each bearing point is implanted in a ditch to collect dirt by the way, so, they knew this right from the beginning.

2. The fancy red ball falls very easily even if you flipped the device. A couple of falls will leave unseen marks on the surface, and they made my scrolling less pleasurable with sudden heaviness at some moving angles. I can come around by continuously rotating the ball to find a smooth part of the surface to roll over the bearing points, but this much decreased my pleasure. Jamming of bearing points by dust can make this device NOT suitable for precise applications, like graphics design. Also, pressing Rt and Lt buttons is not as easy as regular mouse.

3. It's Microsoft!!! So what???? It means that it's not designed to -and probably will never- work under other OS like Linux, which is becoming rapidly common. In fact, I tried it under Linux, but it was recognized only as a regular PS2 mouse. No role for the extra buttons, nor I could I program the others.

4. I don't know why the Intellipoint 5.0 software ran mad, and failed to work on start up! Now I have to activate it manually to get the programmed functions, and it suddenly terminates.

5. My wife finds it difficult to use since it's still feeding the good old stinky mouse. Of course it needs training to ride such a beautiful horse, but I find it a blessing since no one can stand few minutes on the back of MY (MINE, MY PROPERTY) horse. Use it as a defense line to deter your annoying co-workers from messing your computer and printer. They will look dumb and idiot when they shake the brick and feel that aches in their wrest while bagging the staggering pointer over the screen to reach the desired Icon, and dragged files will fall everywhere over the desktop.... LOL

I've seen a lot of good stuff written about this Microsoft Trackball Explorer. It's an optical one and is very well built and has a smooth action. I loved everything about it except for it's feel in my hand - it never became comfortable or natural feeling to me, and left me with strange aches in my hand and wrist after prolonged use. There are a lot of folk who have very positive things to say about it in this department though, so your best bet might be to go and find a store with one on display and try it out for yourself.