Reddit reviews Logitech TrackMan Marble FX Trackball

Well, I honestly couldn't tell you. I kinda suspect it's because the Logitech Trackman Marble FX that we had used your fingers in... somewhat unusual ways.

It's this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-TrackMan-Marble-FX-Trackball/dp/B00000JBUI

If you're used to a regular mouse, you use your hand to move it, your index finger for the left button, middle finger for the right button.

On the Trackman, you'd use the side of your thumb to hit the left mouse button, you'd use the pad of your thumb, plus index and middle finger to move the ball and you'd use your ring finger for the right mouse button. If you grew up using one like I did, you'd love it.

My older coworkers weren't great at using the PC anyway, so adding the unusual trackball to it was just too much for them. They couldn't work out how to move the pointer accurately.

As per earlier comment, I can't tolerate thumb-ball trackballs. If you need one, the Cordless Optical TrackMan is nice (although I much prefer my mouse) and more comfortable than the ambidextrous models.

This used to be my favorite trackball in the world. It was bigger than the crap they put out now and more comfortable.

I have dealt with RSI as well for a few years. It's been gone for neary a decade now. Here's what I did. Maybe some of these things will help you:

• physical exercise: I started getting more fit. First by playing volleybal, later by running and doing Western Martial Arts. Just don't overdo it. Training too hard and fast can be equally bad for you.
  
  
• dump the mouse: I switched from a regular mouse to a trackball. They come in all shapes and sizes, so try them out and see what you like. I swear by the good old Logitech Trackman. The only one I liked better is the old Trackman Marble FX which is discontinued and sells for insane prices. I still have a regular mouse connected to my PC as well, but I only need to use it for graphics applications like Gimp and Inkscape where the trackball is too inaccurate.
  
  
• love the keyboard: I have heavily modified my PC experience so that I hardly need to use my trackball at all.
  
  For code editing I use Vim with a whole bunch of plugins (here's my config).
  
  For browsing and e-mail I use Firefox and Thunderbird with the Vimperator and Muttator plugins. These give me vim-like commands, modal browsing and scriptability. Meaning I can work without using the mouse at all.
  
  Finally I use the Awesome Window Manager. I'm on Linux so if you're on Windows or OSX you need to find something similar, although I doubt i exists. Awesome is not so much a window manager as it is a toolkit to write your own WM. Here is my config. This gives me a fully automated tiling window manager with vim-like keybindings. No more need for a mouse to move and organize my workspaces.
  
  Vim, Vimperator and Awesome pretty much cover 95% of my time spent on a PC. Everything is automated or just a shortcut away. No need to use the mouse or trackball at all.
  
  I hope this gives you some ideas!
  
  Edit:My first gilded comment. Thanks! :-D

You know how sometimes you try something, and it just feels "right"? You come into contact with it, and something twangs deep inside your gut, and you know you'll never find better than that. My first and only trackball mouse is the only computer component that fits in that category for me.

Logitech's brilliant-but-cancelled Trackman Marble FX(ridiculously overpriced link) is the standard that all other trackball mice should strive to achieve. Amazingly comfortable, no sense-memory learning curve, ridiculously precise -- best they ever made. Used mine for the better part of a decade (though it was terrible for many games). When it finally gave up the ghost, I discovered to my great lamentation that Logitech had discontinued it. I am pathologically unable to use any of their trackball thumb mice, so now I'm back to a traditional mouse. It saddens me to know that I'll likely never have another one, but at least I can tell my future grandkids that there was a mouse like that.

I have owned about 20 trackballs, 50 mice, and a collection of other pointing devices in the past 18+ years, and two pointing devices stand out:

• The Logitech Trackman Marble FX (not the plain Marble).
  
• The Kensington SlimBlade.
  
  The LTMFX is over $100 on eBay (and worth it), but it's PS/2 only and there's no way to scroll with it. Also, you have to buy a $15 PS/2 -> USB adapter to use it on a computer w/o PS/2.
  
  The SlimBlade has a lower profile than the Kensington Expert, and the ball is denser. Also, you can scroll with it. I swear by it now. It's extremely ergonomic: I use it for 10+ hours a day with no fatigue and no pain. The only negative is that it needs a good couple months to break it in properly. A bit of lip balm on the contacts helps until it's broken in. Another negative is that the top 2 buttons are practically useless on Windows (but nicely remappable on OS X with any number of utils).

Take it one step further and get a high quality trackball. Not only will you take strain off your wrist and arm, most people find them to be much more efficient and accurate to use.

I haven't used a mouse (at my own desk anyway) for over fifteen years.




EDIT: These are the two i have and recommend:




Microsoft Trackball explorer. Been on my desk for over a decade.

Logitech TrackMan Marble FX

Ignor the high prices in those links, they can be found much much cheaper.

I loooooooved my old Logitech Trackball MarbleMan FX. It looked like something out of an HR Giger painting -- but that was a bonus because it scared people away from using my desk when I wasn't there.

When they were discontinued, I bought four of them. The problem is that a small plastic nub that held the ball in place tended to wear out and break after a year or so. So I haven't had one for a decade. And you'll see the "new" price of $399 on that amazon page...

The Logitech Trackman Marble FX. Best input device ever made, as far as I'm concerned.

Ewww I hate 'hand on top of trackballs' ever since needing them for SPARCstations. This is my fav, though has same button issues: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-TrackMan-Marble-FX-Trackball/dp/B00000JBUI