Oh those upside down mouse things? It's called a trackball.
Jun 08 '01 (Updated Jan 03 '02)
The Bottom Line Buy something you like! Make sure you get the correct handiness too.
When choosing a trackball(also called stationary mouse, and sometimes "Upside down Mouse thing") you should choose comfort over price.
The first thing to look at is the comfort factor. If it doesnt fit your hand, your hand is going to get tired by being in a awkward position all the time. Most trackballs bought in the USA or Canada is designed to fit an adults hand. So they will not be very good for small children. On the other hand it can also keep your kids off your computer.
The size of the ball is not a big concern, however the larger the ball, the more you will be able to move the mouse cursor in one stride. I adjust my trackball so that I can make one pass across the screen with a single thumb movement.
There are two types of trackballs, the thumbEkind, which are usually right-handed. Then there are the ball in the middleEor "fingertip" types, which you move with the top of your hand or finger tips. People who use mice usually prefer these ones.
There are also two types of tracking used. The mechanical tracking, which is basically an upside-down mechanical mouse, and then there are optical tracking. Mechanical tracking just uses wheels (that need to be cleaned every so often) to track if the ball is going a certain direction. The advantage to mechanical ones is that you can spin them really fast and the mouse cursor will keep going in that direction. Optical tracking trackballs have no mechanical parts (other than a few bearings) and are tracked by patterns in the ball itself. The advantage with optical tracking is that you never have to clean it (except when its gummed up.) It actually works better when its not perfectly clean, since your fingers will stick to the ball if its perfectly clean. If you spin the ball really fast, the mouse cursor will actually move the opposite direction. Optical trackballs are not good for First Person Shooters (FPS) games because of this reason.
Since trackballs never need to be moved around, the cable seldom wears out (only when you have children fighting over it and ripping it out of the computer *sigh*.) Mice usually wear out their cables before they wear anything else out, mechanical trackballs can wear out (the LEDs uses in mechanical tracking are only really designed to last 14 years, however there are at least 4 of them, and the wheels can get gouged.) However the optical trackball uses a single infrared LED, so it will only wear out after 14 years. Mice usually wear out after one or two years, depending if you have children that use them. Optical trackballs will still work if the ball gets chipped and scratched too.
There are some optional features that appear on trackballs, which are in common with standard and optical mice. Trackballs are usually three-button, but depending on the configuration, they can have 2 or 4 buttons (one for every finger,) and have a scroll wheelEtoo. Usually the wheel replaces a button, but still acts like the button if you clickEthe wheel.
Logitech makes my favorite trackball, the Trackman MarbleE its a thumb-based optical tracking trackball. It doesnt have the scroll wheel, but current versions have it.
Overall, make sure you buy something you like! This is one area that you should always choose for comfort and not price.
Also, make sure that you get one for the correct hand, most thumb-operated trackballs are right handed, where as "finger tip" operated ones are dual handiness.
Any questions or comments can be directed at Kisai_Z@yahoo.com
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Kisai
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Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
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Computer Technician
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