Optical Trackball Marble Mouse

I was going to give it 4 stars, but then realized I couldn't really advise a way to improve on this mouse. I think there is more a need for user improvement, as it takes a while to get used to trackball navigation after being used to gripping the mouse to move the whole thing. I have a bad habit of squeezing the mouse unecessarily, which causes me to accidentally right-click a lot of the time. I also have a bad habit of flexing my wrist to hold it above the mouse, which is unecessary too. Ideally you place this mouse on a flat service in the perfect location so that your arm has support and your wrist can remain straight and supported. Then you fully rest your hand, mostly on the mouse, so that your index and middle fingers are resting on the trackball, your pinky is resting on the desk, and your thumb is resting on the left mouse button. It takes a little development of index finger dexterity, as well as breaking the habit of gripping the mouse, but once you get used to it this turns out to be a relaxed way to navigate, other than a little stress on the ring finger as it tries to avoid the right mouse button as you track towards the thumb. For me the perfect hand position for the middle and index finger to have maximum range on the trackball lands the ring finger right on the right mouse button some of the time. This is unavoidable if you want an ambidextrous mouse though. Some people, of course, are left handed and they should be able to buy this mouse too, so it's a small price to pay to have to sometimes lift up the side of your hand a litle instead of always leaving it resting on the desk. You can also page forward and back with the little silver buttons. I really love this mouse, which is something I never imagined myself saying. A mouse never seemed that big a deal to me to bother having any real opinion on it, but then I got an HP laptop with a horrific touchscreen that was driving me nuts, so had to get an external mouse for my laptop. I use an old fashion mouse at work, and thought to get that, but on my laptop I often work in an environment where I don't have that kind of desk space, so a trackball seemed the better choice. Now I like this one so much I'm getting another one to use at work. On top of it, I love how it looks. It's a very stylish design and it gives me pleasure to see it sitting on my desk. I may be a grown-up, but I still like my shiny new toys, I suppose. Anyway, this is a cheap and extremely functional little gadget that I am so glad I came across.

I have used this mouse for a month and a half, and so far it's smooth sailing. I bought this mouse to mitigate the constant wrist pains I had been getting due to excessive PC gaming. The pain is completely gone, and I can still compete against traditional mouse users in online gaming (I regularly get the highest score on TF2 with this mouse). It took about a week to get used to, but I am now as adroit at using this input device as I was on my traditional optical mouse. Some thoughts about the Logitech Optical Marble Mouse: -When I first used this mouse, the ball didn't roll smoothly. However, after a few hours of use, this cause of concern disappeared. -Cleaning is simple and necessary, as the rolling action becomes very stuffy after a couple days. I pop the ball out and rub my fingers against the three contact points, on which the ball glides over, to remove debris. I then polish the ball itself with my shirt and pop it back in; less than 30 seconds of cleaning. -There is no scroll wheel. It was perturbing at first, but I have gotten used to it. I click one of the side buttons and the software scrolling comes up; move the cursor up to scroll up and vice versa. -I set the scroll button to open and close tabs in the Firefox browser as I had done this with my previous mouse. For some reason it requires a double click now instead of a single click. -It saves a lot of space on my desk. I urge users who have wrist pain to buy this type of product to prevent any future carpal tunnel complications. Others who do not have wrist pain would be prudent to buy one too as they may have symptoms later. My only complaint is the lack of a scroll wheel; the middle right button could have been replaced with one. At this price point, however, this is a moot point. This product has my endorsement.

I had a PS/2 one that is still working fine, but I no longer have a PC with a PS/2 interface. Rather than go with adapters I bought a new one with a USB interface. The only functional differences are the extra mini buttons on the sides and a raspier feel when moving the ball. It has smoothed out somewhat with use and it may eventually become as smooth as my original. It may be that I had the same issue with the original and have just forgotten about that. I don't use the mini buttons so I never installed the Logitech Driver. I also mouse with 2 hands. I have a wireless mouse in my left hand and I use the Logitech for zipping around the screen, rarely using the buttons. I have a thumb tendon issue and very little desk space at home. So using a wireless mouse to push buttons with my left hand while using my palm and/or my index and middle fingers to move around the screen works great for me. Otherwise I'd either have a sore thumb or I would have to pick the mouse up and move back to the right (or left) multiple times to traverse the screen once. I only have about an inch of space on either side of the mouse/trackball and this setup solves that space limitation very well (and keeps my thumb feeling fine). Solid product, always recommend the Logitech trackman to anyone interested in them.

I really like Logitech's trackball mice.....I own the excellent Logitech Trackman Wheel mouse. I purchased the Marble mouse because I wanted something that's usable with one's left hand; theTrackman is for right hand use only. The Marble mouse works quite well. The trackball is easily and effortlessly manipulated with any or all of one's three central fingers. Tracking is very smooth and accurate. Scrolling is accomplished with either of two small buttons just above the two larger ones(used for clicking) on either side of the mouse. Press the one on the left side, and it scrolls down automatically, the right one scrolls up. Scrolling is somewhat more jerky than with a manually operated scroll wheel, and the highest scrolling speed setting is still a bit too slow, especially for scrolling long pages. The manually operated scroll wheel on the Trackman Wheel mouse is superior; it' scrolls more smoothly and has far more scrolling settings, allowing for really fast scrolling, including an "accelerated" setting which the Marble mouse doesn't have. I've found the Marble mouse's ergonomics to be just fine; I've experienced no thumb problems using the buttons, even after using the Marble mouse for 6-8 hours a day for weeks at a time. The Logitech Trackman Wheel mouse is, overall, a superior mouse, though. True, it requires one to use one's thumb only, for tracking, and is for right hand use only, but it's just a slicker-feeling, more comfortable and more enjoyable mouse to use, in my opinion. However, the Marble mouse is no slouch; it's still pretty good. I'm glad I purchased it. Amazon's product description erroneously states that the Marble mouse uses two AA batteries. The Marble mouse uses no batteries whatsoever. UPDATE: A reviewer, above, states that he has a compatibility problem using this mouse with Firefox browser; he can't scroll down. I've got Firefox v 1.5.0.6 installed on my Mac and have no problems, whatsoever, scrolling with my Marble Mouse in Firefox or any other browser. I've experienced absolutely no compatibility problems with this mouse. Update #2: After spending the past several months with this mouse, I've found that the one area that needs improvement is the scrolling speed. Scrolling long documents takes too long, it can be a bit of a pain, and the fastest scrolling speed setting is still too slow. Otherwise, it's a really slick mouse. The Marble Mouse has been around for at least four years, now, and my gut feeling tells me that it won't be too long before Logitech discontinues it. If you want one, don't dally.

I received and installed the mouse less than an hour ago. I will only be discussing my experience thus far, and focusing on installation and instructions, so you may want to look at other reviews to get an idea of durability. Summary: Easy to set up, feels good in one's hand, compact, useful, inexpensive, but the Amazon product information was poor and almost caused me not to make the purchase. Also, the Logitech help is confusing because it provides only one set of instructions for all their models and leaves it to you to pick through the information that is irrelevant to your model. Amazon wasted a substantial amount of my time by including incorrect product information. First of all, the product info blurb said that the product requires batteries, which would have been ridiculous for a wired mouse and would have dissuaded me from making the purchase. However, since none of the reviews referred to batteries, I decided (correctly, as it turned out) that Amazon must have made a mistake. Secondly, I needed the mouse to fit into a narrow space on an extendable shelf below my desk, so the dimensions were important to me. The good news is that the mouse is actually a good deal narrower and shorter than the product information indicates, so it does fit, and doesn't force me to extend my fingers way under the desk itself. The fact that the mouse is so low (2 inches -- the only dimension that the product info got right) is great. Just wish the other info had been more accurate. I would have wasted less time researching the product and bought it sooner. I intentionally ignored Logitech's installation instructions, which asked me to power off the computer before connecting it and then to install the software. I hooked up the USB directly to my computer, which was already on. No puff of smoke, no hung computer, and I saved myself a good five minutes by not restarting. The mouse's rolling and clicking actions worked even without installing the software, but I couldn't figure out how to scroll with the mouse, so I did install the software. I found that the default "Universal Scroll" was not good for me, since it scrolls horizontally as well as vertically. Since I almost always want to scroll in a purely vertical direction, I changed to "Auto Scroll", and was glad I did. It's a little unintuitive at first, though. You have to press the button and wait a fraction of a second for the icon to change before you start scrolling. I also found that I needed to change the scrolling speed to the slowest available. I can imagine that people with slower reflexes (perhaps myself in a few decades!) would have liked slower speeds still. I don't know why anyone would like to scroll at their default speed, let alone faster, since the words become a blur. Finally, the Logitech one-size-fits-all instructions wasted my time by mentioning a lot of features that were not relevant to my model without segregating these sections from those that apply to all models. I'm not sure if their intention was to make me toss the mouse I'd just bought and buy one of the other versions, but if so, it didn't work. Ideally, they'd write a different set of instructions for each mouse, but failing that, they could do a better job of using special formatting to set off the model-specific information. Also, finding an explanation for the unusual terms used in the UI (e.g., "Document flip") took far too many steps, since "Index" and "Search" took me not to the relevant page, but only to a page that led to the relevant page. In conclusion: I like the mouse. Not crazy about Amazon's or Logitech's written material, or Logitech's defaults, but those are easy to get beyond.

I have bilateral Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and have had both hands surgically repaired within the last year. I do application design work and need to have very fine control over the position of the pointer. Not wanting to have a regression in symptoms, and looking for the most comfortable pointing device that allows me to work without moving my wrist, I've tried several different trackballs. I have bought the Kensington Expert Mouse Optical USB Trackball for PC or Mac 64325 , the Logitech Trackman Wheel , and this Logitech Optical Marble Mouse. The Expert Mouse was very well built and included a nice wrist rest, but it was a bit too large even for my large hand. I still had to move my wrist around in order to move the ball and press the buttons. I used it for two weeks before giving up on it. The Logitech Trackman's ball is manipulated by using the thumb only, and I found myself straining in order to hold the ball steady while clicking the mouse buttons. The main issue here is my own limitations rather than a design flaw on the mouse. Due to the nerve damage I suffered in my right hand, I can't hold my thumb steady enough to use this mouse. The Logitech Marble Mouse is perfect for my needs. The design is the most comfortable I have tried and I am able to move the ball using my index and middle fingers while letting my thumb and ring finger rest comfortably on the left and right buttons. An added bonus for me is that the buttons are not as sensitive as most others I have used. This allows me to relax my hand and let the fingers rest on the buttons without inadvertently clicking. I am able to comfortably work with this mouse without moving my wrist at all. There are two additional programmable buttons that are well-placed so that I don't accidentally click them, but they are handy when needed. The mouse is well built and has a nice heft to it. The rubberized areas underneath keep it from wandering across my desk. I highly recommend this product to anyone who either suffers from CTS or wants to avoid developing it in the future. I'm updating this review (1/14/2009) now that I have had this device for some time. My CP did begin to flare up again, and I have finally settled on a solution. I removed the ball from this trackball, and use it with my right hand only to click. I then gutted a regular mouse to disable the buttons (so I could relax my hand and let it rest over the mouse) and use it with my left to move the cursor. Yes, mousing is now a two-handed operation, but it is the only way I can avoid the damage to my wrists. Ideally, I would love to have a flat touch pad for my left instead of the mouse, but I haven't found one yet.

I'm a long time (since these were originally introduced in the 1990s) user of the Marble Mouse and hands-down, it beats any mouse or trackball I've ever used. The fingertip control means no need to move the mouse or your wrist, cutting down on the risk of repetitive motion injuries and saving desktop space (important if you use a desk like mine that has next to no space for a mouse). Action is smooth and the buttons hold up for years--I replace mine on average of around 5 years or so (this will be my 3rd). Cleaning out the socket is easier than a standard mouse as you have full access to all the hardpoints and electronic eye inside, ensuring you get every bit of dirt out when it comes time to clean it. While I'm not a heavy-duty gamer, I have used this a lot with a wide variety of games and in fact find it wholly invaluable for 1st-person shooters (currently playing Fable: TLC and the smooth movement and lack of need to pick it up and move it back makes fight sequences much smoother). If there's one complaint it's that there is no mousewheel function (which some games make use of) nor any 3rd mouse button; but these are relatively minor complaints for all it's good points. The two added navigation buttons, to be honest, I almost never use so I can't comment on them. I typically use this without the installed Logitech software; I did at one point but the added features did little for me, so I mostly use it as a standard PS/2 mouse. All in all, you can't go wrong with this one, and I highly recommend it for casual, business and gamer uses alike.

This is the 3rd time I have purchased a Logitech trackball type mouse. The others are still in working order and are still getting a lot of use. The first Logitech mouse I bought was the Trackman Marble, which I have now used for about 10 years (??), or so, probably more. That mouse requires you to move the cursor with a trackball located on the left side of the mouse, meaning you move the ball with your thumb. This style, I think is designed better, as the ball is in the middle and you can use various fingers to move the ball, meaning that your thumb is not doing all of the 'work'. Note, however, that it does take a bit of getting used to: you move the mouse cursor by rolling the ball around with your fingers. The software is simple to install and lets you adjust the sensitivity of the trackball. Using the software, you can also program (various preset options available)the two little light gray buttons at the top of each of the right and the left (dark gray) mouse buttons. As the mouse itself stays put, I find that it cuts down on the stress on my hands. As I am not constantly shoving a mouse here and there, my hands cramp less and using this type of mouse is less stress on my arms/shoulders. All in all, a great mouse for a reasonable price!