Logitech's patented Optical Marble technology ensures smooth cursor movement, while 27 MHz cordless digital radio technology gives you reliable cordless freedom. The product offers advanced navigation features in a form-fitting, right-handed design. Its special drag-lock functions let you move text and images with ease, while Cruise Control scrolling lets you scroll rapidly through Web pages and documents by merely pressing a button. With conveniently located thumb-operated forward and back buttons, you can easily move through applications and Web pages without having to move the cursor to the browser's onscreen buttons. Two AA batteries (included) keep you powered for six months or more.

Disadvantages:
1. The styling of the mouse could have been better designed. It takes a little getting used to using the trackball with fingers other than your thumb.
2. Logitech erred in the device drivers. I repeat, please do not install the drivers shipped with the package. Go to Logitech.com/support and download the 9.75.0 verson and install it, not the 9.60.0 version as it will damage your compatibility with other mice already installed.
3. The price of this mouse will set you back and have you looking elsewhere. But, the advantages of this mouse far outweigh the little-bit-above-customer-expectation price ...
4. This mouse requires a learning curve, as its design and the use of a trackball may not be familiarized with everyone's use. For those of you who have never used a trackball or is used to using a trackball with your thumb, this mouse does take a day or two to get totally used to.
5. Use the initial orientation/setup process seriously. Because of the nature of the styling of this mouse, the way you position the mouse on your desk while orienting/setting up the mouse will have an impact on usage.

Advantages:
1. RF frequency is used to the best capabilities in this mouse. I've used mice from other manufacturers and this one tops all of them. Using digital radio technology, this mouse allows you to place the RF receiver pretty much anywhere you'd like up to 20 feet away from the computer.
2. The many buttons on the mouse help you to minimize use of keyboard. It has Back/Forward, scroll, Drag Lock, Fast Scroll, and conventional buttons.
3. The compact receiver helps to minize clutter on your desktop and helps when you want to carry it and the mouse around (if you're blessed like me to have a laptop).
4. Customer support is one of the best in the industry, with lifetime phone support and a 5-year warranty.
5. Installation was a breeze. a) Download Logitech Drivers version 9.75.0 or above b) Install drivers c) Connect hardware d) Press Connect button on the hardware for 20seconds - 1minute e) You're Done! Enjoy!
6. This mouse comes shipped with a serial port adapter, giving you total flexibility to connect via USB or serial - I strongly recommend using the USB ports due to the advanced nature of the hardware and the reliability of USB ports.
7. The name of Logitech speaks for itself.

All in all, I recommend this product wholeheartedly to you.
If you do purchase one, buy from Amazon.com as they did an excellent job of fulfilling my order the same day.
Bang for your Buck: 10
User Friendly: 9
Service and Customer Support: 10
Installation: 10
Design: 8
Battery Life: 10
Performance: 10


Very comfortable after a few days   November 28, 2002
 92 out of 98 found this review helpful

This device is very comfortable to use after a few days adapting. Movement is very precise, BUT probably not suitable for 3D gaming. (except sniping :^) Adjustment is possible, but result is either too sensitive for useful gaming, or far too much movement needed. (IE, roll ball 3 times to turn 90 degrees) Luckily for gamers, under Windows it is very happy being plugged in USB at the same time as a PS2 or USB mouse, both work simultaneously.

Vertical/horizontal orientation is VERY far off out-of-box, (about 30 degrees, but feels like more at first) but can be adjusted under WINDOWS ONLY. (If you are a Linux user, you should probably pass, Linux mouse drivers don't currently offer orientation adjustments or extra [>3] button assignments) [Maybe some consumer pressure can convince Logitech to spare a few programmer-hours to add this support to the Open-Source driver? :^) Worth a few emails a week...]

Take placement warnings seriously:
The receiver is VERY sensitive to nearby metal. As an example, I placed the receiver on top of my steel computer housing, only 8 inches from the trackball, (right underneath it!!) and it was unreliable. I placed the receiver on my wooden desk, but on top of a few CDs, and it was unreliable at 12 inches. I turned the receiver UPSIDE-DOWN in either of those locations and I get 3-4 foot range! Obviously the antenna is located in the bottom of the receiver, which is IMHO a design flaw, but easy to overcome. When placed on wooden desk with no metal within 4 inches, I get up to 8 foot range before movement starts to stutter from transmission errors. Quite acceptable. Ability to mount on a vertical desk side would have been a very handy addition, however.

The rollers inside are VERY susceptible to dirt accumulation, and I find myself cleaning them AT LEAST once a day, but this is a very simple process. (push the ball up from the bottom, rub the three micro-ball-bearings with a fingertip, blow loosened crud out, drop the ball back in - about 7 seconds total)

All in all, apart from desktop wobble and a sticking button (...) and limited Linux configurability, I'm quite pleased with this trackball.

I would recommend it to anyone with limited desk space for a mouse, wanting/needing precise cursor control, and/or just wanting to try a trackball. There IS a 'learning curve' since you use fingertips to control motion, thumb for 'left-mouse' and two other buttons, but RMB is located to the right of the ball (not clear in pictures) and you can remap functions of all eight (that's right, 8) buttons in whatever way suits you.

j


Smooth motion, wireless, but button placement not as ergonomic as alternatives   October 11, 2005
 68 out of 71 found this review helpful

Let me give you some background before you read my review.
I'm in my 30's. I use computer 8+ hours a day and start developing RSI symptoms.

I have tried / owned the following trackballs

Logitech TrackMan Marble FX Trackball
Logitech Optical Marble Mouse
Logitech Trackman Wheel Optical
Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman
Original 3 buttons Kensington Expert Mouse
Kensington Expert Mouse Pro

The Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman does not score well in my needs - eliminating / reducing my RSI related pains.

Pros: wireless, good build quality, good battery life, lots of programmable buttons, smooth scrolling trackball.

Cons: Cannot be used left handed, buttons are not located in convenient position (cruise buttons, scroll wheel are too small, awkward position of the forward/back buttons).

By far the biggest complaint is the most used left button.
This key is clicked N times a day so it should be easy to locate and click.

Instead, this button is concededly smaller than the one in Optical Marble Mouse and Trackman Wheel Optical.

Also, this button is positioned 45 degree on the left side of the mouse, and it requires some extra effort to click it, since you have to hold the trackman in position using your ring and little finger to counter the force you acted on using your thumb.

Consider this experiment, using only your thumb(without holding the trackman in position) and try to left click on it. You'll be tempted to secure the trackman using your other fingers. If you have to repeatedly do this, your muscle will be sore.

This is not the case for the kensington expert mouse or the Logitech Optical Marble Mouse, where the button is faced up and you can click directly on it without securing the device in position.

If you are young and not suffered from RSI, this might not be an issue for you. But for the others that who are seeking an ergonomic pointing device, this one is a no go.


Wrong finger layout   December 21, 2003
 26 out of 29 found this review helpful

I have been in love with the Trackman Vista for years, but they have long since gone out of production, and my last one died, so I needed a replacement. If Logitech made an updated version with optical tracking I would instantly buy enough for a lifetime.

This one comes close, and has several good features: Wheel, 3 buttons easily reached by thumb, ball almost exactly same size and weight as the Trackman Vista (no need to change a good design; the oversized ball in FX was a mistake), precise tracking, etc.

But it has this strange 30-45 degrees wrong orientation. And the wheel is a litte hard to reach with any fingertip. And there is only one button to the right of the ball, the Trackman Vista had two, which was right.

That is, until you realize that Logitech's idea of finger layout:

Thumb: 3 side buttons
2. finger: Wheel
3. and 4. finger: Ball
5. finger: Right button

Try this and all criticism is moot. The angle is right, and all the buttons are in the right place.

It is just the wrong layout. The 2. finger ("index"?) is the most sensible, flexible and precise we have, so it should be reserved for the ball. Thumb is reserved for side buttons. That leaves you with at least two fingers to the right of the ball, and none to the left.

Logitech should move the wheel to the right of the ball, and I will buy a stack of them. For now I will try to get used to this one.


Finally, A Great Trackball for Macs   February 11, 2004
 25 out of 25 found this review helpful

After reading the other Amazon reviews, I thought I would respond to some of the issues other reviewers raise from a Mac user's perspective. I run a new PowerBook 15" with OS X 10.3.2.

Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't notice any directional/orientation problems--the cursor follows the ball movement very well, even before installing the included Logitech software. Perhaps the necessary drivers are now universally available, or perhaps the Mac version is just better. Also, the "finger layout" has not proven to be an issue for me--I can use any or all of my fingers to control the ball without any cursor-direction problems.

The wireless function has proven flawless on my Mac. The reciever is a couple feet away and actually off the desk (no line of sight) and works fine. It was essentially plug-and-play on the Mac--I didn't even have to push the 'Connect' buttons to establish a signal, it just worked.

The software is necessary, however, to re-assign new functions to the several buttons on this model. As a former PC user, I can't go without a right-click button (one of the reasons I bought an external device for my notebook at all). The Mac software is very easy to use, and one can re-program all of the buttons and the wheel if one so desires. You can set a button to automatically double- or triple-click, or select keyboard shortcuts (e.g., Command and W to close the current window). Very easy, and quite useful--I use buttons to close windows, quit programs, delete files, and still have a handy web-browsing 'Back' button.

The only possible drawback to the Mac software is that one cannot "train" the ball's orientation (from what I can gather from other reviews, this option is not available on PC either). This really only matters if you know you hold trackballs at a different angle than most people do.

Please note that the software I'm reviewing is for Mac OS X only; the program for those running OS 8.6-9.2 is a different piece of software, which is also included in the package.

Those are all the Mac-specific comments I can think of at this point; if you're a Mac-user you're probably used to things "just working," and this device is no exception.

I'll also comment on some of the more universal issues raised by other reviews:

Ergonomically, there is a period of adjustment--anyone moving from a conventional mouse to any trackball or from one trackball to another should expect that. It's never a bad idea to try one out in-store to see how they feel, especially since trackball models vary from one to another much more than mice do.
This is not, as some have termed it, a 'disadvantage'--all new things take some time to get used to. If you've never used a trackball, it's weird for a while; it's also ergonomically superior/healthier in the long term.
Also, I use trackballs for computer drafting/design, and find superior control to mice--finger-control is just more precise than either thumb-controlled trackballs or wrist/arm-controlled mice.

The optical ball-tracking technology requires almost no cleaning, and there are zero moving parts to clean. Just pop the ball out and blow any collected lint out of the socket if necessary--which very rarely is.

For any pointing device that's wireless, optical, and has this many buttons, this price is pretty decent--lower, I think, than my previous trackball that was wired and lacked the wheel.

As for Logitech's reputation/reliability, I have had good experiences. My first trackball had to be replaced during the warranty period, but its replacement has lasted the four years since--I only replaced it now because it wasn't Mac-compatible. Now Mac-users can rejoice with a high-performance trackball that works seamlessly in OS X.