Pros: Build quality, mouse shape, natural hand curl and positioning of the wrist
Cons: Thumb-actuated trackball kills the thumb muscles with unnatural motion
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for an ergonomic replacement for the mouse, look further. The thumb actuated trackball will likely cause more problems in the future.
azielce's Full Review: Logitech TrackMan® Trackball (904353-0403)
I work at the computer as part of my job. Recently I've been feeling pain in my wrist and palm using my mouse (Logitech MX1000) and have since been looking for an ergonomic solution. Websites and some coworkers have recommeded a trackball as solution, so I have been trying several trackballs out.
I tried out the Logitech Trackman. The mouse-like shape with the left and right click buttons was very appealing to me. The presence of a scroll wheel was also a plus. Clicks and scrolling felt solid, as expected from Logitech.
The fit of the Trackman to my hand was excellent. My hand rested in a natural position, with a nearly neutral position for my wrist. If this was a mouse, I would probably be very comfortable using it because it kept my wrist from arching or touching the table.
However, the main mechanism of the mouse, I believe, is flawed. Moving the trackball with my thumb is a huge ergonomic issue for me. After only 20 minutes of use my thumb was complaining from the repetitive side-to-side motion. Since this was the main selling point of the mouse, I had to return it because of my pain.
I tried to reduce my thumb movement by increasing the mouse sensitivity. As an optical device, the track ball sample rate leaves a something to be desired. By setting the trackball to higher movement sensitivity, I lost the ability to move the pointer accurately. The dot matrix printing on the ball surface paired with the slow sample-rate camera does not accurately detect minute motions. As a result, I have to operate the mouse at low sensitivities, requiring even more thumb movement than I could tolerate.
If only it was truly a mouse rather than a thumb-actuated trackball, I would probably have kept it.
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