jacobdrj's Full Review: Logitech TrackMan® Trackball (904353-0403)
The Race Track...
My father was starting to stress his wrist out from constant computing. (Hardwood Spades addict) He also had extremely limited space to work with on his desk. He wanted an alternative to the conventional mouse. We went to some old-fashioned brick-and-mortar computer stores, and after some exhaustive research, the only alternative he liked, trackball or otherwise, was the Logitech TrackMan thumb-controlled trackball.
What's Under the Hood:
This device uses optical tracking. 800dpi. It is fairly light, which actually creates some issues. I'll get into that later.
The cord is about 6'.
The TrackMan is plastic, with a rubberized scrollwheel.
The default connector for the TrackMan is USB, but a PS/2 miniDIN adapter is included, and works fine. In fact, the PS/2 miniDIN connector can work even better, faster, and smoother than the USB connection if you know how to tweak it (see below).
The ball is fairly smooth and made of an almost indestructible plastic material. The ball sits on three ball-point pen-sized stationary nodes. The nodes do not roll, and they are made of what appears to be teflon coated plastic, not metal, and therefore these nodes do not allow for as smooth of a spinning motion as possible. (At $30, I guess you get what you pay for.) The sensor is between the three nodes, and is rectangular. It must be clear of debris to function. Directly under the ball is a hole where you can stick a pen to pop out the ball for cleaning (which despite being optical, must be done quite regularly, but still more easily done than old-school mechanical tracking systems).
The TrackMan is unique in that it is one of a few trackballs whose trackball is thumb-controlled. This allows for the inclusion of the ever important scrollwheel. The scrollwheel does not tilt, but is wider than most mice scrollwheels, is rubberized, and has a relatively fluid clicking motion
The Interior and Upholstery
This mouse is NOT ambidextrous. Left-handed mousers need not apply.
The TrackMan has a small rubberized area near the pinky finger that is intended to help keep your hand from sliding around on the mouse, or something. Quite frankly, I think it was just put there to look cool, and I don't think it really accomplishes either goal particularly well.
Your hand rests on the mouse, with the thumb on the ball, your index finger on the left click, and either your middle finger or 3rd finger controlling the right-click and middle click (the scrollwheel).
The Paint Job, Detailing And Spoiler:
The mouse body and cord are a dark grey. The trackball that comes with the mouse is ruby red with black pin-sized polka dots. The rubberized areas are a darker gray.
It has a good footprint, not much bigger than your hand, and way smaller than a mouse/pad combo. I know some people carry one around with their laptops, so that may give you some insight into just how convenient these are to carry around and how light it is.
Start Your Engines: Get Ready. Get Set. GO!!!
The first TrackMan I got my father died in a month. The buttons would not longer depress. The second one has lasted a while, and is still in use. Reliability not withstanding, my father couldn't be more pleased with the TrackMan. I also find myself using this mouse on his computer from time to time, and I have to say, while occasionally cumbersome to get used to, it is refreshing, and a relief not to have to move your wrist around so much.
The tracking is fairly good, and fairly smooth. On default settings, the when the TrackMan is connected via USB port, it is smoother than when connected through the PS/2 miniDIN adapter. However, when tweaked, the PS/2 miniDIN port can leave the less flexible USB setting in the dust, and has the added benefit of not wasting a precious USB port on your computer.
The software for this mouse is cumbersome, and not necessary. The software does not work for Visa 32 or Vista 64. On XP, the software does install a driver that automatically tweaks the PS/2 miniDIN port, as well as give you a more user-friendly venue to manage the motion of the mouse, including speed, sensitivity, and even macro button control. There is some bloatware with the software, so I do not recommend that you install it if you are happy with the default TrackMan motion.
Gaming with this mouse is a double-edged sword. In theory, you have a lot of control, because you can let the ball slide, and you can move your thumb with more speed than your whole hand, and not even have to disturb your fingers on the trigger (clickers/scrollwheel). However, because it is your thumb doing all of the controlling, you never seem to have truly full accurate grasp of a given situation. Maybe it is just me, but no matter how much I use the TrackMan, I can never seem to be as accurate in games as with a conventional mouse in First Person Shooters.
My brother hates the TrackMan all together, and his use of the computer with the TrackMan has plummeted since its installation. My father considers this to be a bonus ;)
This trackball, like almost all Logitech mice, has a hard time with KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) switches. Tested on two completely different KVM switches from two different companies, the mouse failed to be properly detected by the Logitech software. Motion also became more choppy. This wasn't a problem for my father playing Spades, but me being a stickler for these things, and an avid gamer, yeah,it was pretty darned annoying!
I Am Blacking Out During The Turns!
The reality is that you are not truly negating the effects of wrist strain by using this mouse. You are simply shifting the strain over to your thumb. Over the long haul, the thumb becomes sore, just like your wrist would on a conventional mouse.
The TrackMan itself has a tendency to move all over the place, as it has almost no heft to it, and its rubberized base evaporates after a week or so. The solution: Putty. We effectively glued the TrackMan to the desk. The good news is that it put this mouse in its place. The bad news is that cleaning the mouse becomes a bit more difficult. Here is why: You can remove the ball without turning the TrackMan upside-down, but it isn't easy, particularly if you have sausages for fingers and/or if you use hand lotion, where you will loose grip. Also, the hole that was intended to be the release point for the ball now has a tendency to collect a lot of dust. It is gross and a pain to clean, but it must be done.
As mentioned above, the miniDIN port can be tweaked to increase the speed of the mouse. This is done in Windows XP with a simple setting change in control panel. There is no easy way to tweak it in Vista, but it is possible. I have not done it myself, but have seen articles online showing how it is done. For the purposes of this review I will not rehash the directions, but will gladly help anyone who wants to know how to do this. Just drop me a message. In Windows 9x, you must install a utility to change the PS/2 rate.
A Photo-Finnish...
Well, this mouse does what it sets out to do: It gives you a choice of which body part to slowly destroy over the course of your computing career. Making your thumb sore is a lot better than wrecking your whole wrist with a conventional mouse, and the TrackMan has the added benefits of having a smaller footprint than a mouse/pad combination. Overall, I would recommend this mouse to someone wanting something different, but I think this mouse could be made to feel more hefty and sturdy, and to include ball-bearings to improve the ball's motion.
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